“We were on the radio in Seattle, and we’d have friends that would go, ‘That’s not you guys. That sounds like something from Germany or the U.K.’ And we’d go, ‘No, no, no, that’s us.’ And they’d go, ‘Nah, man, I don’t believe it.’”

Queensrÿche guitarist Michael Wilton chuckles over the phone as he recalls reaction to their song “Queen of the Reich,” the Judas Priest meets Iron Maiden marvel that opens the band’s self-titled 1983 EP.

Founded in Bellevue, Washington, Queensrÿche achieved mainstream stardom as their metal became increasingly cerebral, as heard on platinum-selling 1988 concept album “Operation: Mindcrime” and Pink Floyd-ish hit “Silent Lucidity,” off platinum-selling 1990 album “Empire.”

But for in-the-know classic metal fans, the EP and Queensrÿche’s 1984 debut long-player “The Warning” are special. New Wave Of British Heavy Metal inspired haymakers before the band’s MTV fame. (Queensrÿche’s proggy ‘86 sophomore LP “Rage for Order” is the connective tissue between.)

Queensrÿche is playing the debut EP and first LP each front to back, plus a trio on encores, on “The Origins Tour.” Wilton says, “It was an idea that came up to us from a promoter that booked us for a festival called Hell’s Heroes in Texas. He suggested, ‘Hey, would you guys mind performing ‘The Warning’? And so, with discussions with management we came up with this idea. And here we are, second leg already. it’s been a total success. Now we’re taking it to the U.K. and Europe next year, so it’s still going.”

In addition to founding members Wilton and bassist Eddie Jackson, the thrice Grammy nominated band’s lineup features singer Todd La Torre, longtime rhythm guitarist Mike Stone and drummer Casey Grillo.

Guitarist Chris DeGarmo, classic era Queensrÿche’s primary songwriter and later an Alice In Chains collaborator and career private jet pilot, left the fold for good around 2007. DeGarmo and Wilton seemingly remain on good terms. Departed original Queensrÿche singer Jeff Tate, less so. Tate’s supersonic shoes aren’t easy to fill, but by any measure La Torre kills it.

On a recent Sunday afternoon, Wilton checks in for a phoner from a day off in Deadwood, South Dakota. Edited excerpts below.

Playing all these early Queensrÿche songs on this tour, what kind of memories does that bring back for you?

Michael Wilton: Well, I think back then, you know, we were still in our very young 20s. So we were still pretty much influenced by a lot of the British invasion [New Wave Of British Heavy Metal] that was happening at that time in the early 80s. We kind of gravitated to that.

Just as musicians trying to discover how to put all our influences together and write, we had a very successful EP, and it got us a record deal. And next thing you know, we’re in London recording an album with [producer] James Guthrie, who had done “The Wall” with Pink Floyd.

We’re living in London and recording in all these great studios like Abbey Road. It was amazing. I was like 21, 22, the way I wrote music, the way I played guitar, it’s great to go back and just rekindle that.

Obviously, I think a little differently now, but it was very refreshing and very challenging. Because the way we’re representing this album is exactly how the listener heard it. It’s in chronological order, and we’re playing it correctly — you know, in the right keys. We’re not tuning it down. This is the real deal.

It’s fun for us to play, but it’s just so great to see how people have come out of the woodwork to come hear songs that maybe they heard in college or high school or junior high or, who knows? It’s just something that’s really hitting home with the fans.

Later in the band’s career, Queensrÿche videos, especially “Silent Lucidity,” were all over MTV. What’s a vivid memory from making the “Silent Lucidity” video?

I mean, back then there were record companies, people were buying records and CDs, and radio wasn’t computerized. It was a little more freeform. There were lot of ingredients made that song a success, you know? When it just blasted, and then it was top five in the Billboard charts and everything.

So, yeah, the record company wanted us to do a video. And we did, I think, five or six videos for that “Empire” album. It was a really busy time, a great time for Queensrÿche. Back them, you had big budgets. You were in studios and quite different now with the way technology is, but, yeah, those were, those were great days.

Music videos back then look better than many movies do now.

Yeah, the thing is you directors, you had producers, and they were using real film, so that’s a lot different — it has a graininess to it, a more realistic thing. Definitely a lot of time and effort went into making those videos.

The latest Queensrÿche album, “Digital Noise Alliance” from 2022, sounds great and is true to the band’s classic sound. What’s changed the most about how Queensrÿche makes records these days? And what’s remained the same?

On “DNA,” we decided to kind of go old school, where it was not arranged songs coming in. It was all from the ground up, and we were all together. Songs were driven from guitar riffs or a melody or a vocal melody, and it was just organically written, and you had the input of everybody in the band there. It wasn’t just you in front of a computer screen running your music DAW [digital audio workstation].

So, it was kind of like the old way that we did it, where we just sat around and wrote until stuff started forming. More as a band unity type of a writing thing, and I think it really worked. It’s something that could have fit back in the ‘80s or the ‘90s.

Off the “Operation: Mindcrime” album, the song “I Don’t Believe in Love” is a classic. What do you recall about recording that song, which has a really cool dual guitar break with you and Chris DeGarmo?

Doing a conceptual album, it was a different approach because we had a storyline, basically. Chris had that riff, and it’s just a signature Queensrÿche riff, and Chris came up with a lot of the vocal melodies.

It just classic ‘Rÿche, you know? It has the verses with the clean guitars, and then we recorded the classic double solo, and to this day it’s definitely a fan favorite.

And you know what’s interesting is so many of the Queensrÿche big hits all stemmed from memorable guitar riffs or, you know, something that grabs your attention, right? That’s just the way that we wrote our guitar parts, and it’s still the in my mindset of how you know to structure a song and in the way that I view writing music.

Queensrÿche is known as a prog-metal band. What are your proggy-iest guitar influences?

I grew up listening to Yes. My father had King Crimson records, and I used to listen to Al DiMeola and John McLaughlin, great progressive guitar players. That always something mixed in with all the hard stuff that I listened, the metal.

Back in the day, Queensrÿche toured with everyone from Bon Jovi to Metallica. Why do you think the band was that malleable?

When we wrote our music, we wrote it for ourselves, and we weren’t writing it to fit in a category or a trend or anything.

The musicianship is there and heavy enough that you could play with bands like Iron Maiden and Metallica. But also the intricacies and dynamics and the success of the “Empire” record” that rang with Bon Jovi and AC/DC and bands like that. We’re just kind of a band that kind of fits a little bit with everybody.

Queensrÿche’s “Origins Tour” comes to Huntsville, Alabama, Nov. 16 at Mars Music Hall. Jared James Nichols is the opening act, and show stars at 8 p.m. Tickets start at $35 plus applicable fees via Ticketmaster and the VBC Box Office, address 700 Monroe St. More info at queensrycheofficial.com.