INTERVIEW: Michael Wilton, Queensryche

- Dan Birchall

Seattle-based progressive metal gods Queensryche have just embarked on the second US leg of their theatrical, multimedia-laden Promised Land tour. They're also preparing to release a multiple CD-ROM Promised Land set later this summer, featuring documentary footage, interviews, and five interactive worlds to explore. The band's label, EMI, has established a World Wide Web site to provide information on the CD-ROM set, at http://www.rockonline.com/emi/qryche/

I touched base with guitarist Michael Wilton as he and his bandmates - vocalist Geoff Tate, guitarist Chris DeGarmo, bassist Eddie Jackson, and drummer Scott Rockenfield - rested between tour dates in the southern US. Here's what he had to say about the tour, the forthcoming CD-ROM set, and technology in general.

Consumable: Do you think the folks on Internet really reflect a significant market segment for you?

Michael Wilton: It's really hard to justify that - I know there's a percentage of people who are just getting into that aspect. There's a core of Queensryche fans that - I wouldn't say they're fanatical, but they'll usually check out everything we do. That core is something that we've built over the last fourteen years, playing live and putting out music that they like, that they've become part of. Hopefully we need to reach out to more people and bring them into... the web. (laugh)

C: So it's the old world domination thing all over again.

MW: Yeah - we don't want to change the world, we just want to change their mind. (laugh)

C: Have you gotten to the point now where you can plot your own course and do what you want without the label complaining too much, since you have that core of fans who'll stick with you?

MW: I think so. We're really at a crossroads in our career right now, with the whole shift of the music industry happening in the last two or three years. We're seeing before our eyes a new generation of young kids that want their own bands writing anthems for their generation, which is the same thing that happened when we were around. Thus, the almighty circle has started. We're seeing rock radio formats changing, some crumbling and turning alternative or classic rock, and seeing video formats drastically change.

It's really an interesting area for us, because we've never really been a band to try and jump on trends or the whole fashion part of it. We've always done it through hard work, touring, and pretty much tried to stay away from the sponsors and all that. After this tour, we're going to go back to Seattle, and we're going to put another record out, fairly quickly this time - we're not going to take four years off. And really get something going, get our minds together, and plot out an even bigger, better show to outdo this one (laugh) - I don't know how, but we'll do it.

C: About the show, you've just started being out on tour again after a week off. How's this leg going so far?

MW: This is the hot leg (laugh). We're down in Texas - actually, we're in Oklahoma today - and it's really hot. But in the South, they still like to rock and roll. They're an area of the country that still has hard rock stations. It shows in the crowds. They hear our tunes and they know our tunes, it's really good. So it's been really good so far.

C: The CD-ROM you have coming out this summer - there were some rumors that there were going to be clips from it incorporated into the actual projection part of the show on this leg of the tour. Has that been done, or is it still in the works?

MW: That was a wish from the people at Mediatrix. They wanted to somehow promote it, and they saw the perfect opportunity up there, but they don't know the logistics of, and cost involved in, trying to transfer that onto a laserdisc format that's already been done, burned in. So no, as far as that being incorporated in our live show, we can't do that. The only thing we've done is at a couple shows, we've had media rooms set up for people, and we've had the alpha disc there, and they can mess around and maneuver their way through it.

C: EMI has teamed up with a company called RockOnline to put up a WorldWideWeb site on the Internet, with some samples from the CD-ROM and things like that.

MW: That's what they were talking about a long time ago. EMI and Capitol, they wanted to jump into this new format, and we said, "Hey hey hey, pick us, pick us! We're into this stuff, you know, we're computer literate, give us a chance, we'd like to do that." This whole CD-ROM venture has been very informative for us, seeing how it works and how it's developing in the beginning stages, QuickTime motion and memory. It still has a long way to go as far as I'm concerned. I'm still edgy around some of the movies, and the standard has to be brought up so that it gets run on faster machines. But I really think CD-ROM is going to be a viable part of the market in the near future, based on the sales of computers and CD-ROM apparatus. I think it's good - I think it's trendy in a way, but then I think there's going to be some really interesting information you can get on a CD disc. And then there's a whole new area to be policed as well - there's pretty disgusting stuff coming out. (laugh)

The whole Promised Land CD-ROM was brought up to first do just an informative documentary. So, in recording Promised Land at Big Log Studios off the coast of Washington, we filmed it all - Chris DeGarmo's brother, Mark DeGarmo, filmed it. We digitally rendered the film in a three-dimensional format, and began placing everything that was in the log cabin back, so that you could have full screen. You can wander around through the log cabin, click certain things and find certain things, and bits of information will pop up. Basically, the first disc is going into the recording studio, clicking things and finding things, finding interviews and documentary footage.

But then on the second disc, we decided, "Let's make something for the fans. Hey, this is CD-ROM, and you know there's a CD-ROM market out there, and there are people who are CD-ROM-heads - I mean, they're into this stuff. So let's give a little visual interpretation of Queensryche, and give a little gaming element into it as well." So if the user chooses, he can venture outside the log cabin into our forest, which is kind of the magic forest where things happen, and as you wander around, you find ways to transport yourself to different worlds. There are five worlds, representing the ideas and beliefs of each band member. As you venture through these five worlds, you have the choice - or it's inevitable, basically, that you'll trip a natural disaster. You have time periods and certain maneuvers that you have to do to clean up the disaster that you tripped, or else something really bad happens.

So thus, it has kind of an ecological theme to it, taking care of certain situations, teaching the user to be responsible and think things out. So as you venture from each of these worlds - which, by the way, are all very different, Eddie's is like a game show, mine is my brain, they're all very drastically different - after you've ventured through all of them, and successfully tripped and solved all the things you need to solve, you find your way to this place where we come out and play a track on the computer, live. It's a track that will never be released on album. I don't know, if you spend a lot of time on it, you could probably do it in a couple weeks, three weeks, maybe. If you're just a casual user, then it's three months. Some of it's challenging, but then again we didn't want to make it so hard that it would piss people off. There are some gaming elements, some gaming puzzles are harder than others in certain worlds.

C: So you've essentially geared it toward the average thinking metal fan.

MW: Well, the average thinking computer CD-ROM puzzle-oriented fan (laughs). The objective is to find each little link that transforms something into the mighty totem pole, and then, "boom."

C: In the mid 80's, you put out songs like "Screaming in Digital" and "NM 156," where you seemed wary of technology. Now, you've got all these DAT players, you've got one of the largest online fan bases in the world, and you're writing songs like "My Global Mind". Would you say your view of technology has changed?

MW: I think we've always valued progressing, and technology progressing - I'm all for that. I think what we try and bring up, which is just a point of view, us being objective, is that too much of anything can be detrimental, and taken in the wrong context, it can be disasterous. I think that's basically a philosophy that we've taken in technology. Our whole philosophy is to question everything. We always hope people, instead of just accepting the norm, question it. "Why do we do this? Why does this happen this way? Why does this have to happen this way?" Never stop asking questions.

As far as the media blitz, my backyard - I live right next to MicroSoft. There are so many little sub-companies in my neighborhood, like Virtual Media. There's all these little companies spawning up just because of this huge thing called MicroSoft, this thing Bill Gates has done. They're coming up with stuff that you can't even dream of, and it's already done. I mean, it's scary.

C: So do you think your neighbor, Mister Gates, might be playing a role in technological world domination?

MW: Definitely, definitely. I mean, he's going to have his own TV channel. He's putting up satellites everywhere, he's buying up little companies. Paul Allen is doing the same, he's on the board of every virtual company and CD-ROM based company that's successful. These guys are just on a rocket into the future, you know, and it's like "Woah, fasten your seat belts, 'cause it's just around the corner." (laughs) I think some of it is going to be very useful, in organizing things, organizing data, keeping everything, keeping your desktop clean, so basically you're not cluttering your mind all the time. And then there's the interfacing with other computers, and the networking with other people, and the online services. Lots of information is going to be all via electronics.

When you start theorizing on this and thinking about this, it's like, "Wow, what's going to happen to cash? Is everything just going to be credit? Is everything just going to be electronic? Is money going to cease to exist? Are Blockbuster Videos going to be a thing of the future, are they going to be archaic, because all movies will be like hotels - you can just order whatever you want, and Blockbusters will just be these huge vaults playing movies all the time?" The shopping channels, the golf channel, 24-hours-a-day golf, 24-hours-a-day soap operas. Everybody's setting up their own world, what they want to see, their own personality, on the television, on the computer screen. Everybody's setting up whatever they want; they're personalizing everything to their need. And is that right? Is that healthy? Is that isolationism? Is that healthy, isn't isolationism what causes war, what causes fear?

So that is a thing we ponder. You realize balance is the key. You can spend half your days on the computer, but spend the other days socializing with people in your community, at the bar, the library, a sporting event, whatever. And talk to people, you know - tell them your views, tell them your opinions, tell them what you think. The whole decay of suburbia - and believe me, I live in suburbia, and I know - is everbody isolates themselves, nobody wants to talk to anybody, everybody is scared of what they have, they don't want anybody to know about it, and they become opinionless. It's a serious thing, this technology (laugh) - that could happen.

C: We might actually see more songs along the line of "too much technology is a bad thing" in the future?

MW: No; it's ironic that we use the technology to make what we talk about.

C: You don't view that as an integrity failure, though, it's not a conflict.

MW: No, not at all. Like I said, it's an organization of data. It's being more efficient and creative and resourceful.

C: So the CD-ROM, the second disc particularly, is going to reflect a very personal and independent side of the band.

MW: Yes - The Psyche of the 'Ryche."

C: Basically that's not something that the label came up with at all, that was entirely your idea.

MW: No, that's one way that this CD-ROM is going to be different than other CD-ROMs with bands. We've been completely involved in the whole process. As far as the graphics, the gaming, the routing, the coding, everything - we've stayed in contact with the company that's been doing it, Mediatrics. We've actually flown down to Santa Cruz to meet all these guys working on our stuff.

It was just amazing - it's this shack with all these PowerPC's and SGI computers, and the guys just look wild. Long hair, goatees, bull rings in their noses, purple hair, leopard-print hair. These guys are on the computers, and they're coming up with all these wild images for our CD-ROM. We got in there and started talking with them, and they got ideas of what we were like, and started putting things together. So it's a very good representation of us, it wasn't just "Okay, here's what we want, do something with it." That's what made it fun.

C: This thing's supposed to be coming out in August?

MW: Yeah, the end of July. I think they're trying to figure out if it's going to go on 3 CD's now. Probably because of my world (laughs). Mine's the last one - Eddie's and mine are the last being done. The coding is going down right now.

C: With it going on that many CD's, there's got to be some effort to keep the price down. You don't want to price it out of the market.

MW: It's going to be competitive with anything that's out there. There are some other CD-ROMs, the one with Tina Marie in it - Daedleus Control, or something like that - I think that's three CD's, and she's in it. Eleventh Hour is coming out, but they're the masters of compression.

C: Those are more a game-playing thing, and they don't really have the musical focus.

MW: Right, but the making of Eleventh Hour - I saw it, and there's lots of heavy filming, blue-screen filming involved. So that's something again that might be happening in the CD-ROM area. Hollywood invading, actors and producers getting in on it, putting movies on discs, and driving the price up, you know, the production costs and all that.

C: Steven Spielberg and the other guys are now getting really into the technology.

MW: Right. As soon as they have it all worked out and have all the compression, and can put a full-time animation on a full computer screen, then I think it's going to get really serious. There's people like Todd Rundgren, Peter Gabriel - who have previously ventured into this. We researched the market, I got Myst and Seventh Guest and Iron Helix and some other ones, and we all just thought what was appealing to us about these games. The interactiveness, and the act of making the user think, not letting the screen do everything for you - that was very intriguing for us.

C: So if you're all playing CD-ROM games, what's the Queensryche computer hardware collection looking like these days?

MW: Let's see... four-fifths of the band are Mac, and one-fifth is Atari. Scott owns the Atari. He doesn't own a CD-ROM yet. He's going to acquire one as soon as he gets home. He doesn't have any use for it out here, right now. We run MIDI sequencing software on the computers. We have them out on the road, and we're writing music.

C: You guys are doing pretty well with the technology. You don't actually drag them out on stage, do you - they don't control the keyboards or anything?

MW: We're scratching the surface. They're backstage in the tuning room. That's all MIDI-driven. This time around we're not using 35mm film, that was a pain. Now it's all laserdisc driven, so it's a much more efficient operation. The ADATs are actually doing the MIDI.

C: How many of them do you have?

MW: We've got five of them that are recording the show, and back in the tuning room I think there's three of them, and there's one with the MIDI signal on it that's on the side of the stage, that runs the laserdisc.

C: And of course that doesn't count all the fans that have their own DAT decks out there taping.

MW: That's right - we've seen some pretty amazing setups out there. We saw one guy in Chicago bring in a tower with two microphones, and he had four decks. (laughs) Hopefully he got something good out of it.

C: So you're not too concerned about bootlegging?

MW: No, not at all. I have no problem with it, because I think the people who would go to the trouble of bootlegging a Queensryche concert, and wanting to hear one, already know us anyway, and most likely already own one of our records anyway. And if somebody gets turned onto it just because it's a bootleg, then they might go out and buy the real thing anyway. So to me, it's kind of like a little personal thing between the Queensryche people, just like it is with the Grateful Dead and Metallica.

C: So by letting them bring in stuff and not having security take it away, you're raising the quality of the bootlegs out there?

MW: Well, it's up to whoever's bootlegging. And also, you flood the market, too, make it less volatile as far as people who are doing it for big money, you know, reproducing thousands of tapes. Now, everbody can have their own personal one and do it themselves, if they want.

C: If somebody says they have a tape of a show, everyone else will say, "So what? So do I.

MW: Yeah, exactly. And that's what's happening. (laughs)

C: You don't think this will have a negative effect on releasing a live album of the tour?

MW: No, because, like I said, our core will buy it anyway.

C: True, and of course, you guys are plugged right into the soundboard.

MW: Yeah, I mean, the fidelity's quite a bit different.

Dan Birchall is the founder and editor of a weekly online Queensryche digest, "Screaming in Digital". To subscribe to the digest, which has been active since 1991, send a mail message to qryche@ios.com with your first and last name.