Todd La Tore

Queensryche

Metal Temple's FedeRock got the chance to chat with the legendary QUEENSRYCHE's new vocalist Todd La Tore. These Progressive Metal giants from the US recently had a hard time with ex-singer Geoff Tate in terms of legal issues but now with Todd on the job and a new album up their sleeves, they seem all ready to rock again! 
By Fede "FedeRock" Taich
October 23, 2013
Interview - Todd La Tore (Queensryche) interview
Hi Todd! How are you? Where did I catch you?

Hi Fede, it's all going great! I'm in Florida now getting ready to fly to Seattle in a few days to plan the release of the album and to kick-start the tour!

Can you tell us about how you connected with the band when you first joined?

I met Michael in a music convention and we talked about starting a project that he had in mind while Geoff was busy with his solo project and QUEENSRYCHE didn't have any touring plans so it was a great time to do it. He said, what if we start a band to play all classic QUEENSRYCHE music while the band is not on tour? That was the initial plan.

Your vocal range is really amazing! Did you take singing coaching sessions?

I never really learned how to sing but I did take some vocal coaching classes especially for warm ups. It is really important to know how to breathe correctly while singing.

I've been a QUEENSRYCHE fan for a long, long time and I just love the new album! Can you tell me a little about the writing and recording process?

Great to hear that! We really wanted to make and album that is all we feel that QUEENSRYCHE is. The last few albums didn't sound like QUEENSRYCHE to me and we worked really hard to get back to what this band is all about!

Everything on the record was real and live from the drums, guitars, vocals, to the bass, all recorded with real amps and real mikes to get a big, rich sound. The chemistry is really healthy and fun so it's a great beginning and we're already writing the next record as we speak.

Can you tell us how involved were you in the writing process?

Everybody stamped their mark on the record in terms of lyrics and music. Eddie wrote the lyrics, Michael wrote vocal melodies and I even wrote some drum parts and even a guitar part.

The album does sound really live! Was it recorded live or only at some parts?

Well, all the instruments were recorded separately but we used real amps for guitars and bass and Jimbo (producer James "Jimbo" Barton) just knows how to get a great drum sound from Scott so the drums sound really live and huge. Eddie recorded his bass and got a 120 dB sound because Jimbo knows how to get an almost distorted, big sound that way!

What's your favourite song on the album?

Right now my favourites are "Spore" and "Open Road", but it changes every day because I just love the whole record. But "Open Road" is just a great song! The ending just has a nice finality to it that feels really good.

How much of the album are you planning to do live on tour?

I hope someday we'll do the whole album but right now we're doing "Redemption" (the album's single).vWe're gonna rehearse the entire album. "Where Dreams Go to Die" will be in my opinion a great song to play live.

That's my favorite song on the record!

You know, Parker wrote that song and then Michael added the intro part but Parker wrote most of the song including the lyric. But, the vocal melodies were mine because I really wanted to let myself put my side to his and it came out in a way that Parker really loved!

It's great to hear that the whole band were part of the writing! What can we expect from QUEENSRYCHE in the near future?

Well, we are planning a really big world tour and some videos to promote the album and yes, there is some talk about a live DVD but nothing concrete yet. We have new merchandise and a really great live show that will combine the classic songs and some new songs from the new album.

What is your opinion about social media, YouTube and how it has affected music? How do bands live with it?

Recording-wise it's great because you can record a lot of parts in home studios and not spend crazy budgets on huge studios. With social media, it became easier to promote yourself without doing it via the record company, and you get better connection to you fans. On the other hand, you do one show and all the world can hear your new tunes because some guy filmed the show and it kinda takes away the surprise element for me. And also, if you want to make a live DVD it won't be such a surprise too because the same show will be on YouTube. And also it really sucks when you spend so much money making a record and it's already out before the release date because someone put it on the internet. We respect that people want to share the music but it sucks that people just steal it and that way, there's no money in it and bands will have to quit playing because we need to play our bills. Record sales today are not as they were and it's hard today even if you're in a successful band.

I agree with you. Anything you want to add?

I just want to thank you, Metal-Temple and the fans for their support and hope to see you all on the road. Thank so much for you time! 

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