MICHAEL WILTON, Born February 23, 1962 in San Francisco, California.
At the age of 8, I inherited a bass from my uncle, who died tragically in a
motorcycle accident in San Leandro, CA. My parents then relocated to
Bellevue, Washington where I acquired a nylon acoustic from an aunt and
began listening to my father's vast record collection. My early influences
were The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, Mountain, The Allman
Brothers, Bob Dylan, Lou Reed and the San Francisco scene. Having a love for
the bass I learned the notes and a few scales and began emulating some of my
favorite tunes. I figured out how to hook into my father's receiver and get
a really distorted fuzzy sound. I began to learn some Mountain songs and
played until I blew up my father's speakers; he was not amused. So I
convinced my parents to UPS my uncle's Fender Bassman and speaker cabinet.
That became my amp all the way through high school.
While in junior high school I sent away for a mail order Les Paul copy and a
fuzz box. I also bought a guitar book and began learning the basics. I began
playing bass in some garage bands and soon took over the guitar position
because I could play Zeppelin tunes. In high school, I started to listen to
hard rock; bands like Judas Priest, UFO, Iron Maiden, and Van Halen and
began practicing a minimum of 2 hours a day. Then, I met Chris DeGarmo and
the two of us played in several garage bands, most notably Joker and
Crossfire.
After high school, I attended the Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle
where my studies included jazz and classical music, and where I learned to
appreciate ethnic and improvisational music. Chris and I then met Scott
Rockenfield and Eddie Jackson, and began collaborating on original music as
well as some heavy cover tunes. We played some parties and roller rinks with
different singers calling ourselves The Mob, but was not satisfied with that
direction. We then met Geoff Tate, and asked if he would be interested in
recording a demo of some original tunes. In the late summer of 1982 we
recorded four songs during the graveyard hours at Triad Studios in Redmond,
WA. We played the tape for the owner of Easy Street Records and agreed to
have the tape sent to various sources. A magazine in the UK called Kerrang!
gave us a great review and the phone calls started coming. We decided to
press a small amount of EPs on our own label, called 206 Records. We then
signed a deal with Harris management, quit our day jobs and changed the name
of the band to Queensr˙che. The rest is just a work in progress....
Pleaes visit http://www.michaelwilton.com
You can also find Michael Wilton
featured on the following albums & side projects:
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SOULBENDER :: |