| mickyparise 27.12.2014 07:52 |
Back with new singer Adam Lambert, the rejuvenated band talk about life without Freddie Mercury, gravity tractors and getting ready to play New Year’s Eve on the BBC. Freddie Mercury once said he became a rock star because he had no other skills: “I can’t cook, I’m not much good at being a housewife.” Queen have a way of talking about their work which is at odds with the grand gestures they are famous for. Next week, they will lead the country’s new year celebrations with a show from Westminster, broadcast live to an audience of millions on the BBC. Roger Taylor, the world’s most softly spoken drummer, tells me that he is pleased to be working at new year because it can be a bit of an anti-climax. In the past two years, Queen have refined a futuristic model for rock bands in which a former TV talent-show contestant (Adam Lambert, runner-up on American Idol in 2009) hovers in the space Lord Freddie left behind. Lambert says that he has had some “polarising experiences” in the role of frontman – “I’m either a love it or hate it kind of guy” – but the ticket sales speak for themselves: in January and February, they will play to 160,000 in arenas across Britain. Freddie liked to toast his audience with champagne but even he didn’t get to do a new year show on the BBC. “All I know is, we’re going to be right next to Big Ben,” Lambert enthuses in his London management offices. “Maybe we can scale him [Ben]. Maybe Brian can climb him! Maybe we can re-enact that thing from Peter Pan where they ride around on the clock hands …” He is dressed in black, wearing a fedora and boots of finest snake. He has a new tattoo replicating the baroque “Q” Mercury designed for Queen’s first album in 1973. His style is more “rock” than it was when I last saw him on stage with them in 2012, wearing a red feathery jacket. “See, rock to me is, like, I don’t even know what that means,” he cries. “What does that mean? Does it mean there’s a guitar in it?!” It is easy to see how Lambert has “rejuvenated” the remaining members of Queen (Roger Taylor’s words). I meet Taylor at his home studio in Surrey: he describes the interior of the new year gig venue – Westminster Methodist Central Hall – as “rather Wesleyan – no frills!” Taylor left religion behind years ago, worn out by his time as a choir boy at Truro cathedral, where he had to sing three services on Christmas Day. His house being a former priory, he has a church in his garden but he assures me: “When I moved in, God moved out.” As for the third member of the present day Queen, here is Dr Brian May at the Science Museum in London, leading a live satellite link with fellow scientists to mark the launch of World Asteroid Day (30 June 2015). The team are currently working to develop something called a gravity tractor, a theoretical spacecraft designed to deflect dangerous matter away from the earth’s surface. “It’s not too far from Bruce Willis, really,” May tells me. “There is stuff out there which can make a terrible mess if it hits us, to put it mildly!” We are within spitting distance of Imperial College, where, in 1968, May, a physics student, pinned up a note asking for a “Ginger Baker/Mitch Mitchell-type drummer” and attracted the interest of a young blond studying dentistry. Within a few months, May and Taylor had another musician sniffing around – a shy, breathlessly enthusiastic young man in vintage clothing who had moved from Zanzibar seven years earlier, and by whom they took a little while to be convinced on a professional level. “Freddie is like a myth,” Lambert says. “It’s like he’s not real. When I look at footage of him, the voice, the command of the stage – it is extremely intimidating to walk up to.” Lambert’s TV talent-show training – a Michael Jackson cover one week, AC/DC the next – prepared him for life in a band whose output ran from metal to vaudeville. “There is no period of Queen that we can’t attempt with him,” May says. The new show has a historical narrative of sorts, including bits where Lambert disappears completely to “blot off and have a drink”, leaving the others to commune with a screen version of Freddie. There’s a retro aesthetic including, for the geeks, a recreation of Queen’s face-melting “pizza oven” lighting rig from the 70s. (“We are rather fond of tungsten,” May says – “it’s like being baked alive.”) The whole thing seems appropriate in an era when rock music is earning more money on the West End stage than it is on Spotify. But for the record, despite rumours, there will be no more Queen musicals (“a terrible idea,” Taylor says). May says it takes an audience three songs to “get” Lambert. “I can see it: they’re thinking: ‘Is he up to this?’ The other day on The X Factor, we had no idea he was going to go for that last high note [on Somebody to Love]. I was hitting this big chord and thinking: ‘My God! Isn’t that a little dangerous? Jesus Christ he’s made it! What a great decision!’” This scenario will be touchingly familiar to anyone who grew up watching Mercury’s high-wire vocal acts in the stadia of the 1980s, steam rising from his nostrils, mascara running down his cheeks. Above all, in comparison with the meat-and-two-veg Paul Rodgers incarnation of Queen a few years back, the Lambert show is in many places “absurdly camp”, which, it becomes more and more obvious talking to the band, is their most comfortable setting, on a very deep level. “If Adam does something camp, it’s because it’s Adam,” May says. “He’s not trying to be Freddie. Freddie is mentally and physically present throughout the show and everyone knows that.” Lambert has staged a new version of Killer Queen, Mercury’s story of a high-class callgirl: “All I can say is, I asked for a fan, ridiculous footwear and something to lounge on.” Does he make all the band’s clothing decisions now? “No. Brian’s Adidas are really cool. He’s always worn the same ones and now they’re back in fashion again.” Lambert was nine when Mercury died of Aids in 1991. He is gradually deepening his understanding of a figure who remains one of the most mysterious in the great rock’n’roll story, partly because Mercury didn’t really like interviews and partly because journalists didn’t really like Queen. “I think it’s interesting that he was so masculine in the 80s,” Lambert says. “Some people might have said he was trying to compensate – I think he was evolving.” Little by little, Freddie’s psychology is emerging. “Brian told me he’s always suspected that the song In the Lap of the Gods was Freddie’s way of expressing his frustration about not being able to be openly gay,” he says. “‘It’s so easy but I can’t do it/So risky but I’ve got to chance it/So funny but there’s nothing to laugh about …’ I’m well past it now – I think we are living in a post-gay age where, fuck it, no one cares – but I had my own version of that struggle when I started out five years ago – navigating the media is very tricky. I can only imagine what it must have been like back then.” According to Brian May, it was actually easier back then. “You have to remember that Adam was stopped from winning American Idol by a huge anti-gay lobby,” he says, referring to the time the panel on Fox News’s The O’Reilly Factor took time to discuss pictures of Lambert kissing another man just before the final. Two years later, when he kissed his bassist on stage during one TV show, the ABC channel got so many complaints, it cancelled his Good Morning America performance. “For most of our career, we were not actually tabloid fodder at all,” May says. “We were allowed to be public when we were performing and to be private when we weren’t. When a Melody Maker journalist asked Freddie if he was gay, he said, ‘As a daffodil,’ and the next paragraph moved on.” The press onslaught really only came when Mercury got ill, a period marked sardonically in Taylor’s studio by the presence of a toy “Paparazzi Playset” from the makers of “Dashboa |
| The Real Wizard 27.12.2014 18:09 |
mickyparise wrote: Taylor left religion behind years ago, worn out by his time as a choir boy at Truro cathedral, where he had to sing three services on Christmas Day. His house being a former priory, he has a church in his garden but he assures me: “When I moved in, God moved out.” "There wasn’t a single night on this last tour where the show started one minute late. It’s all so professional these days. Even the roadies have lawyers.” He feels it best to clarify. “They don’t really.”Ha ha !! Classic Rog. link ^ the rest of the article. |
| The Real Wizard 27.12.2014 18:54 |
"Brian did a lecture on French stereo photographs the other day and he delivered the whole thing in French." ^ seriously impressive. There aren't a lot of people in the world who will go through that kind of effort for a one shot deal. But Brian was always that guy. In the 80s he would learn enough of a language so that he could conduct interviews, particularly in 1981, where he learned both Spanish and Portuguese, as seen in TV spots before the Caracas and Sao Paulo shows. |
| MercurialFreddie 28.12.2014 04:19 |
“Brian told me he’s always suspected that the song In the Lap of the Gods was Freddie’s way of expressing his frustration about not being able to be openly gay,” he says. “‘It’s so easy but I can’t do it/So risky but I’ve got to chance it/So funny but there’s nothing to laugh about …’ Anyone can confirm it ? Is it PR or can we safely add this to the other facts about the song ? I've thought Freddie was having this "frustration" later in the 70's... |
| tomchristie22 28.12.2014 06:03 |
MercurialFreddie wrote: “Brian told me he’s always suspected that the song In the Lap of the Gods was Freddie’s way of expressing his frustration about not being able to be openly gay,” he says. “‘It’s so easy but I can’t do it/So risky but I’ve got to chance it/So funny but there’s nothing to laugh about …’ Anyone can confirm it ? Is it PR or can we safely add this to the other facts about the song ? I've thought Freddie was having this "frustration" later in the 70's... His frustration and conflict over his homosexuality was certainly at its height in 74 and 75 - it would make sense for Lap of the Gods...Revisited to have been written about it, but this is just something Brian suspects. I certainly wouldn't take it as fact. |
| Oscar J 28.12.2014 07:03 |
Yet another of Brian's afterthoughts me thinks. Like that WWTLF thing. |
| antiden 28.12.2014 13:12 |
It's Brian's marasmus. Few years ago he expressed the same thoughts about 'Lily Of The Valley' :) |
| The King Of Rhye 28.12.2014 13:55 |
I'd have to think Brian could give a better guess than anyone here as to what Freddie meant by his lyrics! I never thought of Lap Of The Gods that way, but looking at the lyrics again, it does seem plausible...e.g. ,"forgive me when I ask you where do I belong" And I'm sure I'm not the only one that just googled "marasmus"! lol..... |
| The Real Wizard 28.12.2014 18:03 |
MercurialFreddie wrote: “Brian told me he’s always suspected that the song In the Lap of the Gods was Freddie’s way of expressing his frustration about not being able to be openly gay,” he says. “‘It’s so easy but I can’t do it/So risky but I’ve got to chance it/So funny but there’s nothing to laugh about …’ Anyone can confirm it ? Is it PR or can we safely add this to the other facts about the song ? I've thought Freddie was having this "frustration" later in the 70's...Considering that both Killer Queen and Bohemian Rhapsody are clearly autobiographical and about his sexuality, I'd say Bri is spot on. Like many homosexuals, this kind of thing eats away at them for years until they finally realize and accept who they are. And a few of them can turn it into great art. |
| antiden 29.12.2014 03:28 |
The Real Wizard wrote: Considering that both Killer Queen and Bohemian Rhapsody are clearly autobiographical and about his sexualityTotal bullshit! I hope a very few people here share your opinion... Killer Queen is CLEARLY about a high class call-girl. Even its author stated this officially. And Brian confirms. BoRha is CLEARLY about man's confession in a murder. Please don't afterthink too much :) |
| The Real Wizard 29.12.2014 10:03 |
Right, and nothing Mercury said was tongue in cheek... Back then they chose the mystique factor and never revealed their inspiration for a song. Listen carefully - the Killer Queen is him. And BoRhap is about him coming out of the closet. The man being killed is the previous version of himself who was unsure of who he was, and this was his way of telling his "mama" about who he is. She may or may not have listened, but this was his way of dealing with it within himself. The best art is when things aren't said directly. |
| Supersonic_Man89 29.12.2014 10:11 |
The problem with labelling Bohemian Rhapsody as being about a certain thing (like his homosexuality), is that we know the song is 3 bits of songs put together as confirmed by Freddie. Are we to believe all three songs were about his sexuality? I don't think so. So if only 1/3rd of the song is about his sexuality, it's incorrect to say the whole song is about Freddie coming to terms with being gay. Imo, it's very easy to put pre-determined meaning behind any number of Freddie's songs. Even Brian does it himself (WWTLF embarassment of this year). I mean people assume 'Love of my Life' is about Mary, but where did this assumption come from? Is the song supposed to be from her perspective or his? He came out and she was supportive, why did she 'hurt' him and 'leave' him as the song suggests? |
| The Real Wizard 29.12.2014 23:51 |
^ all good points :-) |
| The King Of Rhye 30.12.2014 00:49 |
and its not like Rush lyrics.........they were pretty much a band that meant what they said, pure and simple, take it or leave it........whereas Queen always left things kinda ambiguous......where you could interpret lyrics this way or that way........I think by design............ |
| BETA215 11.01.2017 15:48 |
Interesting article, now we need more of this ones to know about the actual state of Dr. May. |
| Star* 27.04.2019 17:15 |
Lambert is right he does not know what Rock is well he got that right. West end shite does him then. |