Queensrÿche’s Todd La Torre On His New Album “Rejoice In The Suffering,” Drumming & More
Todd La Torre joined his first band Blackwell as its drummer, performing in high school talent shows and entering into the club rock music scene in Tampa Bay, Florida. In 2009, La Torre 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, eventually joining as the band’s new permanent vocalist. La Torre served as the lead singer for Crimson Glory from late 2010 until he resigned from the band in early 2013.
In 2012, Todd La Torre became a household name 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 album Queensrÿche. To date, Queensrÿche has released 3 studio albums with Todd La Torre: Queensrÿche (2013), Condition Hüman (2015) and The Verdict (2019); La Torre also contributed drums to Queensrÿche’s 2019 album. Currently the band is writing new material for a fourth release under Century Media Records, while also contracted to do a fifth album for Century Media Records.
Rejoice In The Suffering is the debut full-length from Todd La Torre as a solo artist. Written with songwriting partner Craig Blackwell, Rejoice In The Suffering hit at #1 on Billboard’s “Top New Artist Albums” chart, #2 on the “Hard Music Albums” chart, #2 on the “Current Rock Albums” chart and #19 on the “Billboard Top Albums” chart. Its deluxe version features 3 bonus tracks — “Fractured,” “Set It Off” and “One By One” — which were finished and released during the COVID-19 pandemic.
On April 1, 2021, I had the pleasure of speaking with Todd La Torre via Zoom, as embedded below. We not only spoke about Rejoice In The Suffering, but also his near-decade in Queensrÿche, life during COVID-19, future plans and drumming. More on La Torre can be found online via toddlatorre.com, facebook.com/Official.ToddLaTorre, twitter.com/ToddLaTorre and ratpakrecordsamerica.com.
About the Author
Darren Paltrowitz Darren Paltrowitz is a New York resident with over 20 years of entertainment industry experience. He began working around the music business as a teenager, interning for the manager of his then-favorite band Superdrag. Since then, he has worked with a wide array of artists including OK Go, They Might Be Giants, Mike Viola, Tracy Bonham, Loudness, Rachael Yamagata, and Amanda Palmer. Darren's writing has appeared in dozens of outlets including the New York Daily News, Inquisitr, The Daily Meal, The Hype Magazine, All Music Guide, Guitar World, TheStreet.com, Businessweek, Chicago Tribune, L.A. Times, and the Jewish Journal. Beyond being "Editor At Large" for The Hype Magazine, Darren is also the host of weekly "Paltrocast With Darren Paltrowitz" series, which airs on dozens on television and digital networks. He has also co-authored 2 published books, 2018's "Pocket Change: Your Happy Money" (Book Web Publishing) and 2019's "Good Advice From Professional Wrestling" (6623 Press), and co-hosts the world's only known podcast about David Lee Roth, "The DLR Cast."
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