QUEENSRŸCHE’s MICHAEL WILTON: Split With GEOFF TATE ‘Needed To Happen’

Asked if the incident during QUEENSRŸCHE‘s appearance at the 2012 edition of the Rocklahoma festival when the band’s then-singer Geoff Tate told the crowd “you guys suck” as he tried to get the audience to respond more enthusiastically was a turning point in the group’s decision to part ways with Geoff, Wilton said: “I mean, it was a bad day, obviously. You know, things in a career run [their] course. And to do it so publicly, I think, may [not] have been the way that it had to happen. But anyway… Just like with any business, you have your ups and your lows, and when you get to the point where no one is seeing eye-to-eye anymore, it’s time to move on; something different needs to happen. And that’s basically what it is. It needed to happen. Nobody, really, was vibing in the band. So that was the only alternative.”

Wilton also spoke the role the new QUEENSRŸCHE singer Todd La Torre has played in rebuilding the band’s classic sound and reconnecting with some of the early QUEENSRŸCHE fans who didn’t care for the last few albums that the band recorded with Tate. “Well, obviously, it’s critical,” he said. “I mean, just how [the pairing with Todd] happened, I guess, it’s fate. But thrust into that position, it’s not an easy deal, and he’s a trooper for doing it. He has the musical ability and he has the songwriting frenzy that we need. And we’re touring a lot and everything, so it’s been a good gelling, growing process for Todd. It’s not easy when you’ve got such hardcore fans, but he’s won the fans the over, he’s won so many people over, and it’s so great to see all the great crowds that are coming to see QUEENSRŸCHE now with Todd. The energy’s back, the band’s playing great, and he’s a great frontman. He’s the guy that’s given everybody in the band a good shot in the arm of adrenaline. And we’re having fun playing all over the world. He’s definitely at home. And we get so many compliments of, like, ‘You couldn’t have found a more perfect person to replace your old singer,’ and it’s just like that every show that we go to; people are just so into Todd.”