For over 20 years, Queensrÿche have been taking their distinctive brand of progressive metal to the masses through consistent album releases and heavy touring. Though the group has undertaken numerous tours across the United States, in some other parts of the world, such as Australia, have missed out on the ‘Ryche experience. That is until recently when the Seattle five-piece finally touched down in Australia in August for handful of performances across the country. The Australian leg was part of the band’s current world tour in support of the group’s most recent studio album American Soldier.
This tour was only the second time ever that the group visited Australian shores, their first was back in 2006 as part of their Operation Mindcrime tour. In keeping with the
Queensrÿche mode of operation, this tour saw the group performing selections not only off
American Soldier but also off the albums,
Rage For Order And Empire. When the group arrived in Melbourne for their performance, Ultimate-Guitar was given exclusive access to the group’s sound check where
Joe Matera sat down with the group’s guitarist
Michael Wilton to discuss touring, sound checking,
American Soldier and
Wilton’s plans for a solo outing.
UG: This American Soldier tour the band is undertaking is a multi-media show and you’re concentrating solely on three albums: Rage for Order, Empire, and American Soldier?
Michael Wilton: Yeah we took a poll from our website to find out what fans wanted to hear. And because they’ve been bombarded with Operation Mindcrime, they wanted to go back a little bit further to the Rage For Order album and hear that again live. And because Empire is our biggest selling record, everybody wanted to hear that too. And because we wanted to promote the new record as well, we kind of sandwiched that and the other two albums in together and it has worked out really well.
When it comes to sound checking, is it always different in how you approach it for each respective venue?
The main thing really is that we try and get as much of a vocal balance, especially with the backing vocals because they’re the ones that need more time and work. But for me it is just, plug in and play. It is like a walk in the park for me mainly.
You’re also currently writing a solo album while on the road?
Yes I have been. I had a few days home before heading out on this leg of the tour and I got about three or four tunes down. I’m going to get a vocalist to come in when I get back home and some other musicians. As soon as we finish up this Australian tour, I’m going back home to continue working on the tracks. I’ve also got my other band Soulbender working on stuff and I’m also working with “Ripper” Owens. So I’ve got a lot of projects going on man.
Returning to the subject of American Soldier, you handled all the guitar parts on the latest album, so what was your approach, knowing you were the sole guitarist?
It was a lot more hard work because there wasn’t a lot of preproduction to really familiarize myself with the material. We just had a big pool of songs, and basically, I didn’t really know completely which ones were going to be on the record. So it was a bit of a puzzle. In actuality, I recorded a shit load more tunes.
"We try and get as much of a vocal balance, especially with the backing vocals because they’re the ones that need more time and work."
Yes, but with no vocals…So anyway, the most expedient way we could get things done when it came to the recording process was, I just set up seven amps and used a JD7 which is made by Radial Engineering, and which allowed me to run the seven amps all at the same time. I had everything from a Marshall Jubilee, a Hughes & Kettner, a Fender Reverb, a Matchless…I had a whole gamut of different sounds along with some Marshall cabs and Hughes & Kettner cabs. And I just miked each one and each situation in the room. So we had seven auxiliaries going into the board. I would be playing in the control room and Kelly Gray, who engineered the album, he’d be sitting there moving the aux levels up and down until we got the sound we wanted for whatever song we were working on.
So you’d blend the different amp tones for each track?
Yeah that is right. Like I’d have the Hughes & Kettner on the super high gain and the Marshalls would be like, on a high mid punch and all that and I would just sculpture my sounds in that way. I had the Fender Twin Reverb and the Matchless for my clean tones. Then I added a little flange and chorus to the mix on the clean stuff and boom, you’ve got the Queensryche sound!
One thing I noticed from listening to the record is that though you’re the sole guitarist, it sounds at times, very much so like a DeGarmo – Wilton era Queensryche record?
Again it was more about not really thinking about it too much but just being in the moment. I would hear a phrase and would hum it and then I would just go from there and build from it. And then I’d do three takes and we would piece together the best parts and maybe go for another one. The main thing creative wise was for example, on the track ‘At 30,000 Ft’, the solo section where the pilot is in the air and getting ready to drop the mother lode, I had to really sustain the notes as I was trying to emulate the feeling the pilot was experiencing. So a lot of the songs, I would try to follow what was going on in the vocals and that helped me a lot. Otherwise, it was like a vast open sea, and there would be some tunes where I’d just solo over the whole song.
When it came to the gear what did you use for the album?
I used my signature ESP guitar, a Fender Telecaster, an Edwards Flying V which is actually a sister company of ESP in Japan, and an Edwards 335. For the clean stuff, I used a Fender Strat, an ESP Strat, and an ESP electric 12-string which is on a lot of the stuff on the record and an old GMP which was a guitar that was really popular back in the early Nineties but later, went out of business. It is somewhat like a Strat combined with a Paul Reed Smith.
What about acoustic guitars?
When it came to acoustic guitars, I mainly used a Taylor 710 and an Alvarez 12-string.
How many guitars do you normally take out on the road?
It depends, I’ve been trying to take about three guitars with me when I have to fly to other countries, but I found out that we were putting our gear on the airplanes and they were getting beat to shit So what I did on this run was we went to Japan first and ESP there hooked me up with two guitars so I only needed to bring my signature model with me. So I have those three with me right now. When touring the States, because we use proper trucking, I will bring out six guitars along with an electric classical guitar for ‘Silent Lucidity’. The way you travel these days with flights, it’s a matter of survival for the guitars, as when you take them home, you may find cracks in the lacquer or the neck or what not so you have to take extra precautions with the guitars.
How much does the live set-up differ from country to country?
Well out here, I’m using mainly two Marshall JCM 900s, a Digitech GSP 1101, a Bradshaw RS-10 pedal board and a Digitech pedal board with a Wah in it, and my AKG 4000 wireless system. And that’s it for this tour out there. When we tour the States, I normally use my “A” rig and that is really a whole different scenario, but mainly its’ got a Bogner Fish pre-amp, a Marshall JMP-1, a Marshall power amp, and all of my effect pedals.
How many guitars do you have in your collection these days?
I don’t know as like I just said, I just got two more to add to it.
When it comes to touring today, how does it compare to touring say twenty years ago?
It is very different touring today than it was twenty years ago as today we do gigs back to back, one after another. But twenty years ago it was a little more relaxed, where we’d do two shows and have a day off, do three shows and have a day off and so there were lots of days off. Now, it is like ‘bang, bang, bang’. It is non-stop. Touring is very much so a discipline and you have to be committed to touring as it is all about each guy not letting each other guy down. It is all about, ‘hey, we’re here because of the music and we’re playing as a band’. And that is what keeps you driving otherwise the traveling can get kind of tedious.
"I want to do a couple of solo records for sure, and I want to stretch out on some other recordings with other people."
Well we were like three quarters of the way into the tour but they [EMI] didn’t just hang us out to dry, they gave us a deal with Virgin Records and so they [Virgin] finished out the tour. But man, it sucked big time for us and it was a low point in our career.
What else would you like to achieve musically in your career?
I want to do a couple of solo records for sure, and I want to stretch out on some other recordings with other people. I’ve already done one with Tim “Ripper” Owens and I just did another one with Ronny Munroe from Metal Church, where I played a couple solos on his album. And I’m getting a number of other people interested too so that is what I want. I want to collaborate, a little bit more. And of course I want to keep banging them out with Queensryche.
Is there any defining album that influenced your guitar playing the most?
Yeah it was the first Van Halen record. I remember there was a time when I was in high school, and I saw them live opening up for Black Sabbath in Seattle and when Eddie went into ‘Eruption’, I was like, ‘Holy cow!’ Then we all got copies of the album and we would sit in our cars listening to that album and it would always just get me going.
Looking back to when the band first started, did you ever expect the band to still have its longevity as it has today?
It does amaze me. But we are just a process that keeps evolving. But when I take a step back and think about it, it is pretty amazing. But for me it is all about, ‘come on man, let’s get to work and let’s give the people what they want’…
Interview by Joe Matera
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