QUEENSRŸCHE's MICHAEL WILTON says his solo album is about halfway done
08-11-2023
During an appearance on today’s episode of SiriusXM‘s “Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk”, QUEENSRŸCHE guitarist Michael “Whip” Wilton was asked if he is involved in any outside music projects away from his main band. He responded: “Yeah, I’ve got a project that’s gonna come out, hopefully, maybe the end of this year or the beginning of next year. And it’s just hard rock music, nothing QUEENSRŸCHE progressive or anything like that.” Asked by host Eddie Trunk if it will be released under Wilton‘s own name, Michael responded: “Yeah.” Pressed to clarify that it’s “basically a solo record,” Wilton said: “Yeah.” Asked if he is singing on it, Wilton said: “No, I’ve got a bunch of guys from Seattle.”
According to Michael, his solo record is “about halfway done” with a projected release date of “six months or so” from now.
“I’m just constantly keeping myself busy,” Wilton explained. “But when the Whip album comes out, I’ll come on and I’ll do an interview for you.”
Asked if it is going to be called the “Whip” album, Michael said: “We’ll see.”
Around two decades ago, Wilton launched a side project called SOULBENDER. SOULBENDER‘s self-titled debut album was released independently in 2004. A follow-up effort, simply titled “Soulbender II”, came out in September 2014 via Rat Pak Records. The disc contained four all-new songs as well as the ten original tracks (remastered) from the first album.
QUEENSRŸCHE released a cover version of the BILLY IDOL hit ‘Rebel Yell’ in September.
In an October 2022 interview with the “Heavy Demons” radio show, QUEENSRŸCHE guitarist Michael Wilton spoke about the band’s decision to cover “Rebel Yell”. He said: “With the record company, we have to have 10 or 11 songs on an album; that’s what you’re contracted for. And then they like extra songs, bonus tracks or whatever. So this time instead of giving a bonus track that’s a live recording of one of our songs, we said, ‘Let’s do something different.’ So we came up with the idea of doing a cover. Originally we were gonna do a CULT song, ‘She Sells Sanctuary’. But Todd (La Torre, QUEENSRŸCHE frontman) didn’t feel comfortable singing that. So he brought up the idea of doing the Billy Idol song. And it was really cool. We put a little spin of QUEENSRŸCHE in the song, but it’s very reminiscent of the original. And Todd killed it on the vocals; it’s awesome. So who knows? Maybe we might play that live; I don’t know. But it’s something that I think people are gonna be very surprised. They’re gonna go, ‘What?’ They’re gonna scratch their heads and then as they listen to it, they’re gonna go, ‘This is badass!'”
Guitarist Mike Stone, who rejoined QUEENSRŸCHE in 2021, contributed guitar solos to the band’s new studio album.
Since late May 2021, Stone has been handling second-guitar duties in QUEENSRŸCHE, which announced in July 2021 that longtime guitarist Parker Lundgren was exiting the group to focus on “other business ventures.”
Stone originally joined QUEENSRŸCHE for the 2003 album “Tribe” and stayed with the band for six years before leaving the group.
For the past six and a half years, drummer Casey Grillo has been filling in for QUEENSRŸCHE‘s original drummer Scott Rockenfield, who stepped away from the band’s touring activities in early 2017 to spend time with his young son.
In October 2021, Rockenfield filed a lawsuit against the band’s fellow original members Wilton and bassist Eddie Jackson, alleging, among other things, breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty and wrongful discharge. A few months later, Wilton and Jackson filed a countersuit against Rockenfield, accusing him of abandoning his position as a member of the band and misappropriating the group’s assets to his own personal benefit. That dispute is scheduled to go to trial in January 2024.
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