QUEENSRŸCHE vocalist Todd La Torre was interviewed on the latest episode of the GUNS N’ ROSES-centric “Appetite for Distortion” podcast. You can now listen to the chat below.
Asked if it’s true that he used to perform GUNS N’ ROSES covers in his earlier days as a musician, Todd said: “Back in my teens, when ‘Appetite For Destruction’ came out, I was playing in a band as a drummer. And so we would cover ‘Rocket Queen’, we would cover ‘Mr. Brownstone’ [and] ‘Paradise City’. But I always liked to sing, even though I wasn’t the singer in the band, and there was a lot of stuff that I could mimic really well from, like, the song ‘Patience’ and experimenting with, ‘What makes this singer sound the way he sounds?’
“When that record [‘Appetite For Destruction’] came out — and keep in mind, I was a big metalhead, and GUNS N’ ROSES, they’re not a metal band — the glam scene, I wasn’t into that, and so GUNS N’ ROSES wasn’t that to me,” he continued. “They came out with this sound that was, like… Everyone was playing pointy guitars or Strats, and then here comes this guy with a top hat and a Les Paul, and you’re, like, ‘A Les Paul? C’mon.’ And then they played, and it was, like, ‘Okay. This sounds like nothing else right now. There’s something different here.’ And they were edgy and raw, and goddamn, the melodies of those songs are just — they’re perfect. And it’s one of my all-time favorite records still, and worldwide, it’s a very coveted album.
“That was a very influential album for me in many ways, and I loved drumming it,” Todd added. “But the singing on it was — Axl Rose has a very identifiable sound.
“Yeah, [they’re a] great band. It’s cool to see them still playing.”
Todd‘s debut solo album, “Rejoice In The Suffering”, was released on February 5 via Rat Pak Records. Todd created the LP with his songwriting partner Craig Blackwell and producer Chris “Zeuss” Harris.
La Torre joined his first band BLACKWELL as the drummer, performing in high school talent shows and entering into the club rock music scene in Tampa Bay, Florida. In 2009, Todd was suggested to CRIMSON GLORY guitarist Jon Drenning by a mutual friend to help with some vocal rehearsals in preparation for a CRIMSON GLORY memorial concert. This would pave the way for more collaborations with the band, with Toddeventually joining CRIMSON GLORY as the group’s new vocalist. La Torre was the lead singer for CRIMSON GLORY from late 2010 until resigned from the band in early 2013. In 2012, Todd became a household name in the metal world when he officially became the new lead vocalist of QUEENSRŸCHE. The band immediately began touring globally and started writing new material for the self-titled 2013 album “Queensrÿche”. To date, QUEENSRŸCHE has released three studio albums with La Torre: “Queensrÿche”, “Condition Hüman” (2015) and “The Verdict” (2019). Currently the band is writing new material for a fourth release for Century Media Records.
