Queensrÿche’s Michael Wilton on the Band’s 1st 1982/1983 Release: “We sold 60,000 units of that EP and then we were scooped up by EMI Records” – 2022 Interview – NEW ALBUM ‘Digital Noise Alliance’
Exclusive: Michael Wilton sits down with us for a sneak peek at ‘all-encompassing’ new Queensrÿche album, ‘Digital Noise Alliance.’ You can read the entire interview @ this location.
INTERVIEW EXCERPT:
Tell us a little about the sound of Digital Noise Alliance.
Michael Wilton:
It’s an album that kind of stretches and encompasses the whole music genre of Queensrÿche. It’s got some very melodic moments, it’s progressive, it’s heavy metal and it’s very album-oriented visual music that is going to be just a good all-around Queensrÿche album.
Are you able to comment on the ongoing lawsuit with former drummer Scott Rockenfield?
Not really because it hasn’t progressed much. I really don’t have anything to say about it other than it will definitely play its way out in the future. But everything is so slow in the legal systems so it’s like, who knows?
It’s coming up to 40 years since Queensrÿche independently released its self-titled debut EP. Looking back on it today, what are your memories of that time?
I was 20 years old, and it was like my fourth job in my life. The whole scene back then was pop radio and there wasn’t a lot of metal. All the metal was coming from England and Europe so we were listening to the imports that came in from the likes of Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Tygers of Pan Tang, Accept and all these bands that you could only get their albums that way.
We wanted to write loud rock ‘n’ roll and loud metal, and we made a conscious decision to do a four song EP of original music. So we went into Triad Studios in Redmond, Washington, and because we didn’t have a lot of money, we had to record during the graveyard shift, which was from 12 to six in the morning. But that’s where we created the first four songs. We released it on our record label, 206 Records, which was actually the local telephone area code. We sold 60,000 units of that EP and then we were scooped up by EMI Records. The 206 Records pressing actually came out in 1982 and then the pressings from 1983 onward were changed to EMI Records on their covers.
You can read the entire interview @ this location.
