Morta Skuld recently brought their classic Death Metal origins to a new production, with the release of their 7th album, Creation Undone, via Peaceville Records. Frontman Dave Gregor and Drummer Eric House gave some insight into the making of the album, connection with the label, and Milwaukee Metal Fest:

Congrats on the awesome Death Metal work that is Creation Undone! “We Rise We Fall” is a perfect single to start the album with, it gives a strong intro to Morta Skuld for those who haven’t heard you before, and a nice treat for the long-time fans to have a new album. How did you begin the process of following up the 2020’s full-length Suffer For Nothing?

Dave Gregor: I appreciate the kind words, and basically it just starts with the itch to write. We also like to remain current with our music and try to release something every 3 years or so, to remain not only fresh but to give fans new material when we can.

Dave, aside from some session work with Lycanthropy, Morta Skuld has been the main band you’re known for since you founded it. During the hiatus before reuniting the band, were you still working/performing in the music world at all?

When the band broke up in 1998, I tried for a couple of years to find replacements but was finding that it was just too difficult at that point and basically got impatient. I then decided to start another original band from scratch but something that was a little different, a little bit more radio friendly, which had hints of Fear Factory and other bands of that genre. The goal with that band was to try to get to a different level and to be a little bit more mainstream and basically after 6 years that band ran its course.

You kept a connection with Peaceville Records, though it was under their sub-label Deaf Records when you were working with them originally. What was it that brought you back to this label?

When we first signed to Deaf Records, we released Dying Remains, and then later on when Deaf Records went out of business so to speak, that is, when we got picked up by the actual Peaceville label. I have always remained in contact with Peaceville since we started on that label and I just felt that since we already had three prior releases on Peaceville Records it would just be a great homecoming for us, not to mention I always have felt the label has treated us really well and had some iconic releases as well.

“Unforeseen Obstacles” feels like one of the more “old-school” sounding tracks to me, with that perfect classic Death/Thrash tradition infused into it. Any background to share on this song?

“Unforeseen Obstacles” was just one of those songs that just came together really quickly and I don’t think we really had any premeditated idea for it to sound that way. I think it was just something that was a natural progression between the four of us and just came out naturally.

“The End of Reason” either feels like two different time signatures in sync, or some deceiving syncopation – can you talk about what’s happening here songwriting-wise?

Eric House: It’s a syncopated/polyrhythmic feel that puts a feel of 4 against 3, or the other way around. I didn’t know what the exact term for it is, but it’s something that I like to incorporate with my drum beats when I can.

Morta Skuld performed at Milwaukee Metal Fest last year, but that wasn’t the first time, as you were also part of the lineup in 1998. How does it feel to have this major metal festival back again, and so close to home?

Dave Gregor: Having the Milwaukee Metal Fest back was such a great thing to happen for not only us but for our city, it was iconic for so many years and we were pretty much a staple band of the Milwaukee Metal Fest for many many years in a row. It was definitely very enjoyable to play, but not only that, was very very cool to reconnect with a lot of the bands that we haven’t seen in so many years, or haven’t had the chance to play with in so many years. It was definitely our honor and pleasure to have played this last year. We look forward to playing the Milwaukee Metal Fest again in the years to come.

“Perfect Prey” stood out to me, especially because of how prominently the bass comes through. You played this one at Milwaukee Metal Fest, and also have an upcoming music video for it. What can you tell us about the making of the video?

“Perfect Prey” was one of those songs that we really wanted to showcase since we felt it had a lot of the basic elements of a good Death Metal song. We have been looking around for quite a while to figure out who we were going to work with on this video and Jason Meudt had done some really cool videos in the past that we really liked, so we teamed up with him and basically went to a friend of his’ farm and basically filmed it in one of the barns on that farm.

Chris Djuricic and Dave Otero both worked on the production for this album. How did you end up connecting with them?

We have worked with Chris many times before, especially on the last record Suffer For Nothing, his input not only recording but getting a good song recorded in the process that it takes has always been something we enjoyed and not to mention it’s different every time we go in the studio. David Otero was somebody that we were looking at to master our last effort Suffer For Nothing, but unfortunately the timing just didn’t work out, so this time around we teamed up with him as we really loved a lot of his mastering works on his other efforts with other bands and we really wanted the sonic sound, and just the heaviness, but with the clear production that he gets with his mastering.

What’s on the horizon for Morta Skuld?

As far as plans for us this year, we’re going out with our friends at Skeletal Remains for a short run on the west coast, and then we are going to South America to share another run with Malevolent Creation.

Any message to share for the longtime Morta Skuld fans?

We just really appreciate our fans and we thank them for all their support. We definitely are hoping that they like our new record Creation Undone as much as we do.

And any message for the brand-new ones just finding you now?

For the new fans, please go check out our Facebook page or Instagram page, check us out on Spotify, go and follow us and that way they can keep current with what we are doing and hopefully come out and see us on one of our tours.

Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions! Creation Undone is incredibly heavy, feels old-school and new-school at the same time, and has some very interesting things happening musically. Great work and best of luck to you!

I thank you for your time and I thank you for your interview. I appreciate all the support and appreciate your time and effort. Cheers.

Listen to Creation Undone via Bandcamp here and follow Morta Skuld via Facebook and Instagram.

Vinnie Moore recently released his latest solo album, Double Exposure, via his own label, Mind’s Eye Music. This is the first of his solo work to feature guest vocalists, including former members of MSG, Riot, and more. I spoke with Vinnie about the making of the album, producing his own music through his own label, how he became known as a guitar authority, working with Alice Cooper, the latest on UFO, and more. 

Joined on the phone here today by Vinnie Moore, excited to talk to you about your new album Double Exposure, so thank you for joining me today. How are you doing?

I’m doing great, thanks so much for having me on. It’s good to be talking to you.

Awesome. So of course I’m super excited, Double Exposure is an awesome record, and it’s not your first run at a solo album of course, but it has been the first in a few years. So to start things off, what brought you to this album as we hear it today?

The album started during the lockdown time frame, and you know, I was basically at home. All the shows that we had planned were kind of canceled or postponed or whatever, and you know, I just got bored and thought, I need to do something to keep busy and be creative. So I came up with a scheme to release an instrumental EP, 6 songs. And so I recorded some stuff, and that was pretty much how it started. But as I was listening to the songs, I started hearing vocals in my head and singing along with them. I got this idea like, “Hey, I could get some of my singer friends and maybe do two versions of each song – one with a singer and one with the guitar singing”. So this kind of dual album/dual song thing kind of popped into my head. It wasn’t really planned, but you know it just kind of happened and I just kind of rode with it. 

Cool, and I love the way you phrase that, “one side with the guitar singing”, that, of course is what you’ve kind of always done with your instrumental. It was also a first to find vocals on your solo album, so my question on that is, how did you arrive at the lineup of vocalists that you did? I mean, did you have the songs first, and decide which song fit which vocalist, or did you already have some people in mind while you were writing?

Well, the songs were written and I actually, once I got the idea that I would like to do vocals on the songs, I pretty much started, you know, jotting down some lyrics, and I sang on everything myself. Because I always have a lot of melodies in my head, so I might be sitting around doing the instrumental thing, and get a vocal in my head, and you know, start recording and just like lay down a vocal. I presented each singer with both versions, the one with me scatting with my temporary lyrics, and the ones with just the music. And told them, you know, totally get creative, do your own thing, or listen to what I’ve come up with. But yeah, to go back to your question, it did take some thought. These were all friends of mine that I knew that I always wanted to work with, but some thought went into like who would be right for which particular song. For instance, like “Hummingbird”, there’s obvious, like…That’s gonna be Keith Slack. He’s a Texas guy, he’s got that southern twang and that big husky voice, and I just knew he would be right for that because it had a southern kind of vibe to it. And, you know, just kind of put some thought into it and just chose who I thought would be right for each song. There was no real right answer like, every one of these guys would have been good on any of the songs. But, I kind of tried to tailor it to each guy specifically. 

Yeah, that makes sense, kind of just feeling the style and the vibe and which one seems suited to – because, of course, like you said, they could have handled any one of them but it’s like, which one was best for them as an individual, which is cool. 

Exactly, that’s right. 

You mentioned the genre there as well, because of course it is, a rock record fundamentally, but I like that there is a little bit of layering of genre. There’s a little bit of a southern, you know, twang here and there, and then you’ve got the blues element, which a lot of people seem to be picking up on the blues element of it as well. Was there any specific idea in mind with genres? Or you were just kind of experimenting and seeing what came up as you were writing? 

I just kind of let it flow, you know? Without much thought. And I’m into so many different styles of music, so many great things out there, and I’m just like, inspired by all of it and, you know, I just kind of let it come out, when I’m writing. I try not to think too much and have a plan, I found that if I think too much, it doesn’t come out as good. You know, let it happen, so to speak. Put a guitar in my hand, whatever happens happens, wherever the road leads, you know, it leads, and I follow it, just follow the inspiration. A lot of my early Southern influence came out on this record, that probably hasn’t come out a lot in the past, like on “Hummingbird”, for instance. So yeah, it’s just go with the flow for me, and not think. 

That’s good, I mean I think a lot of artists can tend to do that. If they set out with something too specific in mind, like, “I want to write in this style, this genre, this particular sound”, you can get kind of caught up in that thinking you have to fit into a mold. So it definitely is better to just let it flow, you have a certain idea and then say, “All right, let’s see where this goes”, just start playing and jamming and messing around.

Right, especially since it’s a solo record, and not a band scenario. Pretty much, can it be experimental and really do anything I want, whereas if there was a band such as UFO, we have a collective, like, style, you know? And there’s a certain area you have to stay within, like a certain boundary for that. So…kind of more boundary-less.

Definitely, that makes sense, yeah, UFO has a certain kind of expectation to it from the fans as well. You expect a UFO record to sound a certain way, and then, you know, if you come out of left field with a full-on southern record, people would be like, “Huh. Okay, that’s different” *laughs* So, I agree there’s an expectation, but it’s cool to be able to do it yourself. And I noticed that it came out on Mind’s Eye Music, I’m sure it’s no coincidence that that shares the name with your first solo album. So is that your own label, Mind’s Eye Music?

Yeah, definitely my own label, I just, at a certain point, it made no sense to try to do solo instrumental records on record labels anymore, and I just thought I could do better for the record myself. Having my own label and releasing it that way, and being more in control, and then also I could make whatever record I wanted without having to get any feedback externally. So it’s worked out well so far. 

That’s awesome, and congrats on that. 

Thank you.

Do you do your own production as well, or do you work with anyone else to help with production?

I produce it myself, and you know, I usually find a good engineer to record the drums and to mix it, and that helps out as well. But I’m the overseer of the whole creative process.

That’s awesome, and yeah of course, it’s like you said, it brings you that extra level of control to it. You can just make it whatever you want to make it, and then promote it out there in the world as, you know, “This is fully mine, this is my music, my creation”. I specifically wanted to ask you about the track, “Breaking Through”, because that really stood out to me, and I like that track a lot, and I feel like it’s such a unique instrumental tone going on there. And to me it almost resembles, like, dual guitars with yourself, I like the layers in there. So I want to ask more about the ideas and the work behind that one. 

Thank you. There’s harmony guitars on that one, and I used to do lots, tons of harmony guitars back in the old days, like especially on the first couple records, and you know, I guess there was…some of my Brian May influence was coming out, or whatever. I’d harmonize almost all the melodies within the song, and then I just kind of broke away from that, I felt like I had to move away from it, and do something different. But for this specific song, I knew, I was hearing in my head that I wanted to harmonize the melody, and I had a specific idea, I want to go a fourth above. And then I started experimenting with this plugin, Harmonizer, and I ended up adding 2 harmonies to my melody, one higher and one lower. Back in the old days when I did harmonies, I’d actually track them both. So I’d track my melody, and then I’d go back and add the harmony to the melody, play along with it. In this case, both harmonies, the higher one and the lower one were actually there while I was playing the part, so it kind of inspired me to do some different things. And it just sounded massive when I was playing it. I think I came up with a couple cool things because the harmonies were there as I was tracking and playing. 

I like it a lot and that’s interesting about the technology element of it – which is really cool because it kind of helped you, you know, assisted you in the song writing, and I like the idea that you’re embracing the technology. Because occasionally, musicians who have come from more of a classic or an analog kind of…origins and background prefer to stay that way. And it’s cool that you’re embracing the technology in the sense of what it can add to your songwriting. Kind of takes some of the extra work and extra recording time away, and lets you focus more on what you’re actually writing and coming up with. 

Yeah, anything that inspires you and makes you go in a direction that you initially wouldn’t have gone in, is a really cool thing. Like, I was using this program, I guess it was like almost 10 years ago, more than 10 years…called Asset, where I was listening to different loops, and that was inspiring me, and I came out with this record called To The Core, and if you listen to that you can hear even influences from techno music. I was following inspiration from loops and whatnot, which was different, and fun, and exciting at the time.

It seems like you’re very open about your gear and technology, and things that you use as well, like…You’re not somebody who’s trying to keep major trade secrets and things like that, it’s like, when people ask you about gear, you’re willing to tell them what you work with, what you like, your plugins and pedals, and programs and everything that you use. Which is cool as well, that you’re very open about it. 

Yeah, I don’t mind sharing information at all, because I’m also at times on the other end of things where I go, “Hey, how’d you get that sound, man?” And it’s always great when people tell you how they’ve achieved certain things. I still wanna know how Jeff Beck did some of the things he did.

Aww, yeah. It would be great to ask him. You’re not only a great player though, but you are considered a guitar authority in your own right, with good reason, for a majority of your career. I mean, with the guitar clinics and columns, etc., when did you first realize you like the teaching side of guitar too?

That’s something I never considered doing, that sort of was offered to me and I was scared to death at first, to be honest, like I don’t know if I could do that. I’d rather be on stage with a band. And I went out and tried it, and I got good at it, and I realized, “Hey, I can do this”. And it was good exposure for my music and my playing, so it turned out to be a really good thing. When I was in the studio recording The Mind’s Eye record, which is my first record, I had Tommy Aldridge on drums, and he had just done a Hot Licks instructional video, and he told them about me, recommended me, and then I started talking to Hot Licks, Arlen Roth, and I ended up doing that instructional video because of Tommy’s recommendation. That’s something I never considered I would be doing either, it just sort of happened and you know, I went with the flow. 

I mean, that shows the humble side of you as well. Whenever somebody is an authority in a subject, they usually don’t feel that way. I mean, they’re like, “Oh, I’m just doing this, this is my thing, this is what I do”. And when other people are seeking advice, you don’t feel like you are the “supreme authority” on it, but people do see you that way, out of your instructional aspects of what you do.

Yeah, I mean, I’m not an authority on anything. I’m just learning as I go along, and happy to pass on anything that I’ve learned, and there are some things that like, I’m reluctant though. I get protective of, like, certain licks or something that I think are really…I know I came up with on my own, and there have been times where people have said, “Hey, how’d you do this?”, and I’m like, “I don’t know, what part are you talking about? I’m not sure”. I’ll avoid talking about it, and I feel selfish, but yeah, for the most part I’m pretty open. 

No that’s fine, you have every right to have certain things that are unique to you, and you protect those secrets, and that’s totally fine. And if anything, if somebody’s trying to figure it out, they can just work a little harder to listen closely and figure it out themselves, you know?

Exactly, yeah, like I did when I was a kid, like we all did. There were no instructional videos or YouTube, you just listen to the record over and over again, you know, picked up the needle, and try to figure it out the best you could. 

Exactly, and some people could you know certainly do with doing it that way these days, instead of trying to take shortcuts and everything.

Yeah, nobody wants to use their ears anymore, like, kids just want to get tablature. But I mean, it’s great that tablature is available, and can help you learn things faster, but there’s something to be said about using your ear and learning things. You know, it helps develop that whole thing.

And to me, I feel like it’s more satisfying that way when you do figure it out yourself. I play guitar as well, I mean certainly not on any level close to you, but just in general, you know, I play a little more casually, and there was a newer song I was listening to that I was trying to find some tabs or, something that someone had put out there for it, and there was absolutely nothing out there for it because the song was still pretty new. And I ended up just doing exactly that, just putting it on a loop, listening over and over, figuring out the notes, and it was just a lot more gratifying and satisfying to be like, “Okay cool, I play this now because I figured this out myself from just listening to it by ear”.

Right, you feel like it’s rewarding at the end when you’ve done it.

Exactly. So another thing I do want to touch on while I have you is, of course, touching on the UFO front. I mean, we’re all pretty aware of what happened last year with Phil’s health, making the official farewell show last summer but, you know, some people are still questioning whether it really is a farewell for UFO, whether there might be more music recorded in the future…Is there anything you can share for updates on how Phil’s doing, or anything with UFO?

I know he’s doing a lot better, he’s feeling good, he’s in good spirits. We text almost every day, and we were texting yesterday, and it’s usually joking, to be honest with you. Sending one another funny memes and videos and what not. I think he would like to do more, and it’s probably just a matter of him just kind of making sure that he doesn’t push the limits too much. He just needs to feel that everything’s okay, and, you know, that he’s not risking anything. 

Of course.

I think that it could happen next year as long as he feels good about things, but I really don’t have an answer at this point. 

Of course, definitely just good to know that he is in better health and spirits all around, fans will of course be thrilled if anything new comes out, but of course the priority here is his health and making sure he’s all good, so that’s totally understandable.

Yeah.

The other thing I’d like to touch on real quick is to talk about your time with Alice Cooper, because he happens to be one of my favorite artists as well, and the Hey Stoopid record is also one of my favorites, I love that it became this collaboration with so many guest artists on there. So, can you take me into the recording studio for that album, and what did you personally take away from that experience? 

Man, I heard about him having the guests on the record, and I was asked to be a part of it, which was kind of an honor for me, you know? It was amazing. I live like 4 hours drive from the studio, which was in Bearsville, New York, Bearsville Studio. I drove up there one winter evening, I think it was in January, spent the night, got up the next morning, drove right to the studio. They had given me the 2 songs in advance, “Dirty Dreams” and “Hurricane Years”, and I just went in and knocked them out, you know? I think it took maybe 6 hours, and then we all went out to dinner together, and said our goodbyes, and I drove home that evening. So it was pretty much “Wham bam thank you ma’am”. But it was a lot of fun, that’s the first time I met Alice, and having him there in the control room while I was recording stuff going, “Hey maybe you could make it more like this, or you know, get a little more sloppy and sleazy, or whatever” back from him was like, totally cool.

That’s awesome, I love that, and that’s funny, that feels appropriate for Alice’s music too, that kind of feedback. 

Yeah, it was almost like, well…I played one of the rhythm tracks, and he was like, “you obviously know the song, but maybe you’re playing it too perfectly, maybe you could just swap it up a little bit”. Very cool.

That’s great, yeah, I feel like that comes from that instrumental guitarist element, you are very precise with notes and that sort of technical aspect of it that I guess certain kind of rock is like, “Listen put some attitude into it, too”, which is funny. 

Yeah, there was attitude, but I think you just kind of, the more you play, you get more proficient and better at it. 

So coming back to the present day with Double Exposure, it’s a great record getting lots of attention, I know everyone’s happy to hear something new from Vinnie Moore, so tell us what’s on the horizon for you now.

I want to get out and do some shows, I have some stuff shaping up for Europe in September, and working on some USA stuff, and I don’t know exactly when that’s gonna be. And then I want to get more of a band together instead of the solo artist thing, you know, with a band name, and make vocal records and go out on tour. Especially since UFO was coming to a halt, I’m going to need another band to kind of replace that. 

We’re all looking forward to seeing what you come up with next, so thanks so much for taking the time to talk me today, Vinnie, this has been awesome.

Oh thank you, I totally appreciate it, thanks so much. 

Keep up with Vinnie Moore via: https://vinniemoore.com.

Queensrÿche recently released their new album, Digital Noise Alliance, and I spoke with guitarist Michael Wilton about the making of the album, their tour with Judas Priest, and more. 

I’d like to start off by asking you what inspired this album and felt like the right time to release it?

Just like most bands, we were waiting for it to be safe to travel with the immunization and shut-downs and all that. We had just gotten off our last tour when the government shut everything down, so we were just like every other musician wondering what was going to happen. Basically, when it was deemed safe to travel, that’s when this whole thing started, we had a meeting with the band and the producer, Zeuss. That’s when we started what we call “think tank sessions”, where we’d all fly into a certain spot and just start experimenting and coming up with ideas, and Zeuss would archive them, and that’s kind of how it got started. We decided that this album would be better served by everybody being in the recording room and contributing ideas, rather than doing the whole email thing. I think that was something that we hadn’t done in a while, and lo and behold, it turned out to be so efficient and I think we decided to come up with all new ideas, which is not regurgitated songs from the past or anything like that, this is all pretty much improvised. Most of the songs started from a guitar riff, and they were just built up into a song. This is kind of like what we did back in the early ‘80s, before technology, cellphones and internet and all that, we would get together in a room and show each other riffs, ideas, lyrics, and everything. So we did this with Digital Noise Alliance in a modern sense. I think it just gravitated the whole energy of the recording. 

We had, I believe, three or four of these big Queensrÿche get-together think tank sessions, and each time, we’d come in with ideas and just start writing and compiling and building, and we were starting to get on a roll. We were starting to see that, “Wow, this was really working cool”, I’d record a riff, and Zeuss would tell Casey Grillo to put a drum beat to it, and Todd would come up with a melody, and Eddie would come up with a bass part. You know, so we got this momentum and it was so efficient, we were coming up with probably three to five songs a day. We got to a point where we had like, 22 songs, and we had to cut it down to 11 or 12 songs, and that’s when we started to microscope the whole recording and start moving to where we actually start printing. I think the whole idea behind this was just, “let’s let this flow, let’s let this just be organic, and create as we go”. And Zeuss goes, “Michael, do you still have those old Marshall heads that you recorded with?” and I said, “Yeah, they’re in my closet”, and he says, “let’s bring them, let’s record that”. So we set up, I brought six of my Marshall heads in, and I think those things just have such personality, that we would combine different amplifiers, they all have different sounds and everything, and it gave it that whole unique, vintage-y feel in a modern situation.

Absolutely, that’s awesome. And it sounds like there definitely was a lot of great creativity flowing, I mean, 22 songs sounds like you’ve already got another album on deck, which is really cool. But yeah, so many bands did have to go the whole remote writing and recording style, like you said, emailing back and forth for the past few years. So with DNA, that must have been great to get back to your roots in a sense and create everything in person and feel that creativity. 

Right, I know, it’s just a concerted effort that we made. Once it was safe to fly *laughs*, it was like, “let’s do this”. 

And of course you mentioned the classic gear there as well, your Queensrÿche guitar tone and sound was unique in the 80s and it’s unique today. You seem to be someone who’s very open about discussing your gear, what do you think has been the most unique factor to your guitar sound over the years? Something that stands out as a favorite, or a key piece of your tone and sound?

I’ve endorsed ESP guitars for decades, and I think that has a lot to do with it. And I think the amps that I use to record, and I think it’s just kind of the way that I attack my playing, and how I do what I do. Which is, not try to complicate things, just let things flow and just kind of go with whatever ideas in my head. I’ve got Zeuss by my side archiving, and I’ve got the guys giving me thumbs up or thumbs down. I really can’t describe how I play, other than I just do what I do. I write what’s in my head, streaming through my brain.

Well, you do it well. You’ve mentioned Zeuss a couple of times, you had worked with Zeuss on the last two Queensrÿche albums, so was it just natural and par for the course that he would come on board for this album too?

Yeah, there’s such a trust that’s built. He’s efficient, he knows our style, he knows our personalities individually, and he’s a fun guy to be around. He’s great to hang out with as well. So obviously, we give him first shot when we’re doing a record, because everything that he’s done has just really been so outstanding. We hope to use him on the next album, whenever that happens. 

You mentioned that you had so many songs ready for this album, do you think you’ll end up carrying forward any of the songs that you ended up with, or do you want to start fresh for the next album?

I don’t know, we don’t preplan, when it’s time to do the next album, we’ll make that decision and it could be something completely different, who knows.

I also want to ask you about the single, “Behind the Walls”, because of all the singles that came out, I feel that one stands out to me the most because it’s a very intense song, it’s heavy, but it has such a classic, quintessential Queensrÿche vibe and tone to it. I’d love to hear more on the making of that track specifically. 

Right, that song was in the first batch of writing. It’s a riff that I wanted to make powerful, I think that it was something that just kept building and as we put layers on and built the process, Todd came up with great lyrics. We were just in a stream of creativity, right? So we didn’t know that this song was going to have such an impact until we did a video for it that was on YouTube, and it kind of took off, and it was like, “wow, okay”, and consequentially, we’re playing it now on the Judas Priest tour. So it’s great and it kind of fits with the songs we’re playing, and it’s something that the fans are enjoying, but the song has taken on its own life, it’s really a lot of fans’ favorite song off this album. 

And that’s awesome, because that is something that can happen in that stream of consciousness/creativity that you were saying, not necessarily something you’re thinking too hard about, not over-calculating the sound, you’re just like, “you know what? This is a good vibe and we’re going to roll with it”, and it ends up being a hit in that sense. 

Exactly, sometimes there’s just energy in a riff that needs to be unleashed *laughs*.

Definitely. And of course you mentioned the Judas Priest tour, you guys have been touring almost non-stop, with a few breaks here and there, but pretty much for most of the year, with Judas Priest. Can you first talk about that tour and how everything’s going with that creative energy, but also about your connection with Judas Priest, and what was your first experience ever touring with them?

I think that was back…I may be wrong, don’t quote me, but back in 2007, I think we toured with them. So that’s the beginnings of meeting the guys and everything. And this year, after the pandemic, it was a great opportunity to springboard back into the industry and get on the spring tour with Judas Priest. When they announced a fall/winter tour, we said we were available, they picked us again, and we were grateful for that, and it’s going great. This tour that we’re on right now is going to go until December 1st and then probably going to take a bit of time off, maybe do a few fly gigs, and then 2023, end of February, we have a Digital Noise headline tour already booked, so that’s going to be fun. I know they’re already booking shows in Europe again, so that will be great to get to Europe again. So we’re going to be busy for the next few years on this album. 

That sounds like you’ve got a ton of stuff on the horizon for Queensrÿche. Another thing I noticed about DNA, there’s been several special vinyl editions of the album coming out, and I’m sure that was something you did when the classic Queensrÿche albums were coming out. Now it seems it’s back to vinyl again, so I’m curious about your thoughts on that?

Oh, I love LPs, I love vinyl records. I think it’s very cool. I have a turntable at home, although I haven’t tried to play the color vinyl yet, I just play the standard black ones, but they sure look cool, I love them.

I’m also curious because you mentioned the connection between Priest and Queensrÿche, and something the two bands have in common is that dual guitar factor, both guitarists working together on layering and building while still showing each one’s style. That’s something you do in Queensrÿche, but lately you’ve had a returning guitarist with Mike Stone, so can you talk about him being back in the band, and that dynamic?

Yeah, that worked out great for us, because when Parker retired, we were possibly considering going the audition route, but Eddie still had Stone’s phone number, and just on a whim, gave him a call. And he said, “Sure, I’ll help you guys out”. So he’s been with us, he knows most of the songs, so it was a no-brainer. We brought him in to do some recording on Digital Noise Alliance as well, so he’s back with the band in full force, everybody’s digging it.

Another thing about DNA, we were talking about the single “Behind the Walls” and how much that really resonated with everyone who’s heard the album, but for you personally, what did you feel was the track that really stood out to you the most when you finished that flow of creativity and took a step back and looked at what you guys made?

I think probably the song, “Forest”, because it was so different from the other songs, because it was probably the last song that we wrote. I just like listening to that and how we created something a little bit different. 

I think the whole album is definitely something different, it has a classic Queensrÿche vibe while still being very new, very modern, and fits in well in 2022. I think you guys came up with something awesome, and you’ve got some great stuff on the horizon for Queensrÿche, so thank you so much for taking the time to talk with me today.

Thank you for having me, thank you for supporting Queensrÿche, and tell everybody to support live music because the bands need their help. 

For the latest on Queensrÿche, visit: http://www.queensrycheofficial.com.