Michael F. Wilton (born February 23, 1962) also known as The Whip, for how fast his fingers "whip" around the guitar

fretboard The fingerboard (also known as a fretboard on fretted instruments) is an important component of most stringed instrument String instruments, stringed instruments, or chordophones are musical instruments that produce sound from vibrating s ...

, is an American musician, best known for being a guitarist and

songwriter A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music gen ...

in the

progressive metal Progressive metal (sometimes shortened to prog metal) is a broad :Fusion music genres, fusion music genre melding heavy metal music, heavy metal and progressive rock, combining the loud "aggression" and amplified electric guitar, guitar-driven s ...

band

Queensrÿche Queensrÿche is an American heavy metal band. It formed in 1982 in Bellevue, Washington, out of the local band the Mob. The band has released 16 studio albums, one EP, and several DVDs, and continues to tour and record. The original lineup ...

, which he co-founded in 1982.

Childhood

Wilton was born in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, but his family moved to

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

when he was 6 years old. His father took him to concerts from an early age and introduced him to many musical styles, especially

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

, including

John McLaughlin John or Jon McLaughlin may refer to: Arts and entertainment * John McLaughlin (musician) (born 1942), English jazz fusion guitarist, member of Mahavishnu Orchestra * Jon McLaughlin (musician) (born 1982), American singer-songwriter * John McLaug ...

Larry Coryell Larry Coryell (born Lorenz Albert Van DeLinder III; April 2, 1943 – February 19, 2017) was an American jazz guitarist. Early life Larry Coryell was born in Galveston, Texas, United States. He never knew his biological father, a musician. He w ...

and

Al Di Meola Albert Laurence Di Meola (born July 22, 1954) is an American guitarist. Known for his works in jazz fusion and world music, he began his career as a guitarist of the group Return to Forever in 1974. Between the 1970s and 1980s, albums such as ' ...

, but also to rock music like

Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin were an English rock band formed in London in 1968. The group comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham. With a heavy, guitar-driven sound, they are ci ...

The Allman Brothers Band The Allman Brothers Band was an American rock band formed in Jacksonville, Florida in 1969 by brothers Duane Allman (founder, slide guitar and lead guitar) and Gregg Allman (vocals, keyboards, songwriting), as well as Dickey Betts (lead guita ...

, and

Eric Clapton Eric Patrick Clapton (born 1945) is an English rock and blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is often regarded as one of the most successful and influential guitarists in rock music. Clapton ranked second in ''Rolling Stone''s list of ...

. At age 8, he started practicing on the

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

, learning songs by bands from his father's collections, such as

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...

Jimi Hendrix James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as one of the most ...

The Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the gritty, rhythmically d ...

and

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...

. At age 13, he also got a nylon string acoustic from his aunt and accidentally blew his father's speaker. He convinced his father to give him the Fender Bassman and

speaker Speaker may refer to: Society and politics * Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly * Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture * A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially: ** I ...

cabinet Wilton inherited from an uncle who died in a

motorcycle A motorcycle (motorbike, bike, or trike (if three-wheeled)) is a two or three-wheeled motor vehicle steered by a handlebar. Motorcycle design varies greatly to suit a range of different purposes: long-distance travel, commuting, cruising ...

accident. While attending

junior high school A middle school (also known as intermediate school, junior high school, junior secondary school, or lower secondary school) is an educational stage which exists in some countries, providing education between primary school and secondary school ...

and

Interlake High School Interlake High School (IHS) is a public secondary school in Bellevue, Washington, one of the four traditional high schools in the Bellevue School District. Its mascot is a Saint Bernard named Bernie, and the school's sports teams are known as th ...

, Wilton began to explore the guitar world further by listening to

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard ...

and

heavy metal music Heavy metal (or simply metal) is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the United Kingdom and United States. With roots in blues rock, psychedelic rock and acid rock, heavy metal bands developed a ...

such as

Judas Priest Judas Priest are an English heavy metal band formed in Birmingham in 1969. They have sold over 50 million albums and are frequently ranked as one of the greatest metal bands of all time. Despite an innovative and pioneering body of work in th ...

UFO An unidentified flying object (UFO), more recently renamed by US officials as a UAP (unidentified aerial phenomenon), is any perceived aerial phenomenon that cannot be immediately identified or explained. On investigation, most UFOs are id ...

Iron Maiden Iron Maiden are an English heavy metal band formed in Leyton, East London, in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris. While fluid in the early years of the band, the lineup for most of the band's history has consisted of Harri ...

Van Halen Van Halen ( ) was an American rock band formed in Pasadena, California, in 1972. Credited with "restoring hard rock to the forefront of the music scene", Van Halen was known for its energetic live shows and for the virtuosity of its lead gu ...

, and

Deep Purple Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in London in 1968. They are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal music, heavy metal and modern hard rock music, but their musical style has changed over the course of its existence. Ori ...

, and he began practicing seriously, for 2 hours per day. He changed his mind about playing bass guitar, and chose to play

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

instead. At age 16, his guitar teacher said, that Wilton "whipped on the guitar", which got him the nickname "Whip". He bought a

Les Paul Lester William Polsfuss (June 9, 1915 – August 12, 2009), known as Les Paul, was an American jazz, country, and blues guitarist, songwriter, luthier, and inventor. He was one of the pioneers of the solid-body electric guitar, and his prototype ...

copy and a fuzzbox, and joined some

garage A garage is a covered structure built for the purpose of parking, storing, protecting, maintaining, and/or repairing vehicles. Specific applications include: *Garage (residential), a building or part of a building for storing one or more vehicle ...

bands with his school-mates, such as Joker, which was formed in 1978. In 1979, new sophomore

Chris DeGarmo Christopher Lee DeGarmo (born June 14, 1963) is an American guitarist and songwriter, best known for being a rhythm and lead guitarist, backing vocalist, and primary songwriter in the progressive metal band Queensrÿche from their formation in 1 ...

was briefly part of this band. By the end of the 1979–1980 school year, they disbanded.

Career

Queensrÿche

After high school, Wilton attended the Cornish Institute of Allied Arts in Seattle (now known as Cornish College of the Arts), where he studied among others

music theory Music theory is the study of the practices and possibilities of music. ''The Oxford Companion to Music'' describes three interrelated uses of the term "music theory". The first is the "rudiments", that are needed to understand music notation (ke ...

jazz improvisation Jazz improvisation is the spontaneous invention of melodic solo lines or accompaniment parts in a performance of jazz music. It is one of the defining elements of jazz. Improvisation is composing on the spot, when a singer or instrumentalist inv ...

gamelan Gamelan () ( jv, ꦒꦩꦼꦭꦤ꧀, su, ᮌᮙᮨᮜᮔ᮪, ban, ᬕᬫᭂᬮᬦ᭄) is the traditional ensemble music of the Javanese, Sundanese, and Balinese peoples of Indonesia, made up predominantly of percussive instruments. T ...

music and

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music, as the term "classical music" also ...

(piano and guitar). This was a big step in his life as he began to appreciate more

ethnic An ethnic group or an ethnicity is a grouping of people who identify with each other on the basis of shared attributes that distinguish them from other groups. Those attributes can include common sets of traditions, ancestry, language, history, ...

and

improvisational Improvisation is the activity of making or doing something not planned beforehand, using whatever can be found. Improvisation in the performing arts is a very spontaneous performance without specific or scripted preparation. The skills of impr ...

music, which later gave him influences as a

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Init ...

musician. After studying for 1–5 years, he ran out of money, but by this time, he had met bass guitarist Eddie Jackson and drummer

Scott Rockenfield Scott Rockenfield (born June 15, 1963), also known as SRock, is an American drummer and composer. He is best known as the drummer for the progressive metal band Queensrÿche, which he co-founded in 1982, and the hard rock band Slave to the S ...

. In 1980, Wilton and Rockenfield had founded a band called Cross+Fire, which DeGarmo and Jackson joined shortly thereafter. The quartet began to play at parties, by which time they called themselves The Mob. In late summer of 1982,

Geoff Tate Geoff Tate (born Jeffrey Wayne Tate, January 14, 1959; he later changed his first name to Geoffery or Geoffrey) (Pp. 11, 48). is an American singer and songwriter. He rose to fame with the progressive metal band Queensrÿche, who had commercial ...

was involved as vocalist to record a four-song demo. The band changed its name to

, and the demo was released in 1983 as the eponymous EP ''

''. Wilton remains a guitarist in Queensrÿche to date. After DeGarmo left Queensrÿche in 1998,Waterbury, Mark E. (Aug. 2003
"Crossroads: Scott Rockenfield - Queensrÿche's Drummer"
. ''Music Morsels''. Retrieved April 24, 2006.Dargon, Kieran
Geoff Tate interview
''The RatHole - Fireworks Magazine''. Retrieved April 24, 2006. Wilton gradually began performing most of the songs that previously featured DeGarmo doing the main solo live, including "Silent Lucidity", "The Mission", "En Force", "I Am I", "Take Hold of the Flame", "Best I Can", "The Killing Words", "Bridge", "The Lady Wore Black" and "Anybody Listening?", amongst others. Queensrÿche had first taken in

Kelly Gray Kelly Gray (born April 7, 1981 in Palo Alto, California) is a former American soccer player. He does commentary for San Jose Earthquakes games on Comcast Sports Net Bay Area Career College Gray played forward and midfielder at the University ...

as guitarist, who was replaced in 2002 by Mike Stone, and in February 2009 by

Parker Lundgren Parker Lundgren (born December 28, 1986) is an American guitarist, best known for being in the progressive metal band Queensrÿche, which he joined in 2009 until 2021. Career Lundgren was born in a musical family to Julie Clouse and Scott Lun ...

, initially as a touring guitarist but mainly as a rhythm guitarist only joining in for dual guitar solos in songs like "Neue Regel" and "London". After the band's 2009 '' American Soldier'' tour, Wilton took over all of the solos.

Soulbender

In 2002, Wilton started a side-band with former Alice N' Chains guitarist and

My Sister's Machine My Sister's Machine was an American rock band from Seattle, Washington, formed in 1989. Its members were Nick Pollock (lead vocals, guitar), Owen Wright (guitar), Chris Ivanovich (bass guitar), and Chris Gohde (drums). This band recorded and re ...

vocalist

Nick Pollock Nick Pollock (born November 22, 1967) is a Seattle-based singer, guitarist, and songwriter best known for his work with the grunge band My Sister's Machine. He has also played in various bands with other notable musicians, including Alice in Chai ...

, called

Soulbender Soulbender is an American-Canadian hard rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 2002. The band independently released their album '' Soulbender'' in 2004, which they reissued with four additional tracks through Rat Pak Records under the title ...

. They released one album in 2004 on Licking Lava Records, following which they played various shows around the

Northwest The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sep ...

. Soulbender subsequently went on an extensive hiatus. A new album, ''Soulbender 2'', was announced to be released in 2014, with plans to tour in 2015.

Wratchet Head

In 2010, Wilton released the single "Coming for You" with his hard rock project Wratchet Head, which was intended for those Queensrÿche fans, "whose ears have longed to once again be filled with the classic, melodic and sometimes haunting sounds of 'the earlier years'". In 2012, he continued making music with Wratchet Head. Michael Wilton

Personal life

Wilton is an avid sports fan and guitar collector. In high school, he was better known for being a star athlete in

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

and

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

than as a musician. He was among others in an all-star youth baseball team that toured through Europe.

Discography

Queensrÿche

Aury Moore

* ''Just A Taste'' (2002)

Soulbender

* ''

'' (2004)

Pamela Moore

* ''Stories from a Blue Room'' (2006)

Ronnie Munroe

* ''The Fire Within'' (2009)

Wratchet Head

* "Coming For You" (2010)

Soundtrack appearances

References

External links

Official home page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilton, Michael American heavy metal guitarists American male guitarists 1962 births 20th-century American guitarists Cornish College of the Arts alumni Glam metal musicians Guitarists from Washington (state) Lead guitarists Living people Musicians from Seattle People from Seattle Progressive metal guitarists Songwriters from Washington (state) Soulbender members Queensrÿche members