In a recent interview with Bruce Moore and Kris Siegers of the “Brutally Delicious” podcast, Todd La Torre shared his perspective on stepping into QUEENSRŸCHE in 2012 as the replacement for original frontman Geoff Tate.
He said:
“I think that we did a really good job overcoming such a huge obstacle.”
“There’s a lot of bands that have great singers that come in and kind of, I don’t like to use the word ‘replace,’ but we’ll just use it for simplicity, that replace a very iconic singer in a band, whether it’s Gary Cherone joining VAN HALEN — he’s a great singer — or John Corabi [joining MÖTLEY CRÜE], who’s [also] a great singer. Some people think that those records they did with those bands were amazing and better than even some of the earlier stuff. But I think that we couldn’t have asked for a better outcome.
“I think that, obviously, music is a very personal thing to a lot of people and they can’t just separate their biases and their emotions from the actual music they are hearing, so a lot of those biases permeate and distort a fair judgment of what you’re listening to. We have to contend with that. And I think, by and large, we’ve really kind of won over the majority of the QUEENSRŸCHE fanbase.
“I wasn’t just a one-album guy, so I think it really helps to solidify the lineup and the fact we’re still doing very good business. People are really interested to hear the new material live also, which is a great thing. I think it’s been a great success. You’re never going to please everyone no matter what, and that’s okay. But I think we’ve done a really good job and, obviously, thanks to the people that give this band a chance without Geoff Tate. I’m not that guy. I really couldn’t ask for a sweeter situation, to be honest.”