In a recent interview with Robert Cavuoto for MyGlobalMind, Queensrÿche's guitarist Michael Wilton opened up about the band's plans for a follow-up to their 2022 album, Digital Noise Alliance, and reflected on the pivotal moments in their decades-long career.
Wilton revealed that the group is in the early stages of crafting their next record: "Yeah, we have submitted a bunch of demos to each other, and we're working on that. We hope to get Chris 'Zeuss' Harris, the producer, to do this one," he said. However, he acknowledged the challenges of balancing touring with studio time, explaining, "But, basically, we're in a situation of touring post-pandemic, where the bands have to tour a lot. And we do a lot of fly dates as well. So it's hard to pick a certain amount of time to get another album done. But we are gonna do another one. And hopefully, we can get it started or recorded in 2025."
The interview also touched on a significant turning point in the band's history: the 1997 departure of founding guitarist Chris DeGarmo, who left to pursue a career as a pilot. When asked about the impact of this shift, Wilton reflected, "Yeah, I think we had reached a certain peak at that point. And he was looking for a change of pace. I mean, you could see in the last album he wrote — he was talking about flying a lot. So he literally started going to school for flying, and to this day that's what he's doing. But, yeah, I think we needed some time to just kind of refresh and see if we could go on without him. But anyway, we gave it our best shot, and it took a while. And now you've got all these different versions of the band throughout our career."
Despite the initial uncertainty following DeGarmo's exit, the band eventually found its footing. Wilton recounted the strong creative partnership he shared with DeGarmo, saying, "Chris and I were great writing partners. We just kind of knew what each other was thinking when we would write double solos or write parts for songs and just bounce ideas off each other. So, those were great times. But, yeah, it just kind of burned itself out."
Today, Queensrÿche continues to thrive, blending their classic material with fresh work. "We're doing great right now. We're having a great time and still playing the old stuff but playing the new stuff as well," Wilton added.
