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Queen Take On The Eskimoes

1st May 1976 - CREEM magazine - written by Robert Duncan

Transcript:

He's adorable! And it wasn't all that long ago that we of the buck tooth persuasion were considered something along the lines of...oh, would "hideously deformed" capture it? It's euphemistically referred to as "overbite," but in the streets of our miserable everyday lives we so afflicted were taunted with names like "Bugs," and "rabbit" and "Bucky Beaver." And why shouldn't we be? I mean the only one of our kind who ever really made it on any sort of mass, public (i.e. in plain unadorned view) scale was always some dumb hillbilly or hang-dog, dopey-eyed Donald Sutherland type. That's hardly inspiring.

But that's all over now, friends. Finis. Cause Freddie Mercury is A-D-O-RA-B-L-E. That's Freddie Mercury of the buck teeth I'm talking about. Freddie Mercury is adorable and a bona fide sex symbol. And Buck Teeth Liberation is here to stay!

Hark! What teeth from yonder Bucky bite? The better to chew your black toenails with, my dear!

Ogre battles. The Seven Seas of Rhye. Black and White Queens. Fairy Fellers and Jesus. This is the stuff of Faere Dust Freddie's dreams. In what is perhaps his master stroke he mixes Galileo and Figaro, among others, together in some sort of operatic *West Side Story* melodrama called, organically enough, "Bohemian Rhapsody." Truly the man trips the light fantastic. And why shouldn't he, huh? Why shouldn't he dream? Why shouldn't he have believed as a little Bucky Beaver growing up in England that someday he would be a famous sex symbol? He did it, didn't he?

So much for ye of anti-buck teeth. Paul Simon fans, line up.

"It took me four days to hitchhike from Saginaw..."

Simon's transient mention of the town in his mealy-musings on our great country is really all you could possibly say the place was famous for. Unless you count the Saginaw Sows. The Saginaw Sow, as one city-slicker photog pointed out to me, is the generic term for those farm-bred local girls who have a tendency towards obesity, particularly of the chest, and a predilection for denim overalls. In other words, before Paul Simon's "America" there were only the Sows here. So where and why did Paul Simon come up with Saginaw? Why else?!? Because once upon a time Paul Simon was a regular ol' hubba-hubba guy and one day (maybe back when he had that Tom & Jerry duo with Art in the early 60s) he passed through this little hick town and, like any hubba-hubba guy woulda, he got hisself ahold of a pair belonging to one of them legendary Saginaw Sows. And he swung! So years later when he'd gotten all sensitive and was going in for something a bit more refined (something with acne maybe) he just thought he'd send one on out to ol' Sag for old times' sake. Brief though it may be, the reference is clear. There is no choice for the inference: Paul Simon made it with a Saginaw Sow. Which makes him in all honesty the real Jim Dandy! All by means of saying that when Freddie Mercury, the buck-tooth liberator rolled into Saginaw, a scant two hours ahead of me, he didn't head straight for no Saginaw Sow. Which makes him sensitive. The real Paul Simon.

“Scaramouch, scaramouch will you do the Fandango [op. cit. ZZ Top].Thunderbolt and lightning — very very frightening to me — Galileo, Galileo..."

Which just goes to show that sometime prior to his writing "Bohemian

May 1981 - BRAVO magazine - Interview with John Deacon

Please note that the translation might not be exact

Backing vocalists are a breed apart. They prefer to stay in the background and let the lead singers or solo guitarists take center stage. Those are the ones in the spotlight, the ones who get the loudest cheers from the fans. John Deacon, a colleague of Freddie Mercury, Roger Taylor, and Brian May for exactly ten years, is no exception. "I'm the calm one. I don't run around as much as the others. That's not me," he says.

John, who turns 30 on August 19th, is happy with his role. He values it just as highly as that of the other Queen members. Without John, it would be just as impossible as without Freddie. "We're so good because we're so different. Everyone has their own special skills, which they use for the band in their own way. Together they create a unique whole called Queen."

Anyone who talks to John Deacon quickly understands what he means. He is thoughtful, thorough, and balanced. John rarely answers a question spontaneously; he considers it carefully and tries to be as precise as possible.

"I take care of the business side of Queen. Since we became self-managed, each of us has taken on specific tasks, and because I've always been good at math, it was kind of natural that I would end up being Queen's accountant. I enjoy it. The business side of a company like ours can be just as exciting as an important concert."

What John doesn't say: Freddie, Brian, and Roger are delighted that someone in Queen is as comfortable with numbers as he is with musical notes. When John gives his approval to a contract, the others agree without hesitation. Nothing escapes the trained electronics technician, who once graduated from Chelsea College with top honors.

However, no one should make the mistake of underestimating John Deacon musically just because he rarely mentions his own achievements in this field. John simply prefers modesty to stardom.

Mr. Deacon, for example, is the author of the Queen hit "Another one bites the Dust", a title in which he really shines with his bass guitar.

He candidly recounts the group's internal struggles when it comes to new tracks: "It has nothing to do with money, but with ego. We sit and argue because, of course, everyone wants as many of their own songs as possible on a new LP. Things can get pretty heated sometimes. But that's healthy for the band's dynamic and nothing to worry about. Last time, Roger came up with so many ideas that he's ready for a solo album. That's a better outlet than the growing dissatisfaction within the group."

The gentleman is traveling with his family.

John Deacon, a true gentleman, is optimistic about Queen's future. "We are not little children, but well-bred and highly educated people. We avoid the mistakes we see others make."

One of the problems is an overly extensive tour schedule. "After a while, you get on each other's nerves. Things start to go wrong, and that affects the show. One way to prevent this is to divide tours into separate blocks and take breaks from each other in between." Another is to bring company.

John, who often complains about being too shielded from the public eye, frequently travels with his wife Veronica and his children Robert, Michael, and Laura. "I need my family around me. Otherwise, I simply get homesick. Besides, you don't meet too many people on the road to talk to."

Back when John first played with the others (he replaced Tim Staffell, with whom Brian, Freddie and Roger had formed a group called "Smile"), John was the perfect, most reliable "jack-of-all-trades". In Queen's early days, he took care of the working of the amplifier system and the lights.

When he thinks back on it today, he shudders. "We're all perfectionists, but when the band is still in its infancy and you have no money, it's not exactly easy. My patience and sense of humor came in handy."

Dozens of technicians now handle the complicated electronics side of things. But John, who originally wanted to play rhythm guitar at the age of twelve, still keeps an eye on the technical aspects. And that suits him: "I don't want to lose touch with reality, stop caring about anything, and end up helpless one day. That's why I value working in a recording studio so much: you're much more on your own there."

Early to mid 1986s magazine from Japan (I don’t know which one) written by Hanne Jordan and Yuko Kato

Topics to note: John’s family, John’s father’s death. (Went mute, lost memories), University, John and Roger’s friendship, Freddie’s personality

Please note the translation might not be exact

"Why is everyone here so incredibly nice?" a staff member brought in to assist exclaimed. They had booked out three suites at a top-tier hotel and spent four days—from morning till night—engaged in a relentless series of interviews; yet, despite the exhaustion that should have set in, the members of Queen remained in high spirits, their laughter echoing constantly. Eleven years had passed since their first visit to Japan—a journey that saw them evolve from teen idols into a massively successful national super-band and eventually into "Queen of the World." Having weathered the inevitable ups and downs of their career to secure an unshakable status, they displayed none of the arrogance often seen in bands that have risen rapidly to fame. Among them, John Deacon stood out as the one with the most charming smile of all.

—Brian, Roger, and Freddie have all released solo albums one after another; isn't it about time for your turn, John?

John Deacon: Well, I could do it if I had the material, but I just don't have that many songs.

—"You Are My Best Friend" became a massive global hit, didn't it?

John: Hmm... that was a long time ago... haha.

— That’s a song you wrote about your wife, isn't it? I think it’s wonderful that your wife is the person you trust more than anyone else—truly your best friend.

John: Hahaha. Well, when you’ve been married as long as we have, all sorts of things happen. It’s not always smooth sailing. But, you know, we’re still together.

—You have three children?

John: Actually, it’s four. (Laughs) My eldest son Robert is 10, the second son Michael is 8, my eldest daughter Laura is 6, and the youngest, Joshua, is just over 2.

—In the rock world, child-rearing often falls entirely to the wife while the husband is away; is it the same at your house?

John: Keeping a household running smoothly is tough work. I can only say I’m lucky to still be with my wife. When the kids were little, touring wasn't too hard because my wife and children would come along with me. But as the kids got older—and with school issues coming into play—everyone except me ended up settling down in London. There was a time when I’d get terribly homesick every time we went on tour; it was sheer agony. It was tough. But for the past two or three years, we haven't done any long tours and I’ve been spending a lot of time at home, so now—ironically enough—I can’t wait to get out on the road again. (Laughs)

—Brian explained that the Queen wives and partners are all wonderful people in their own right, and that this actually helps keep the band from breaking up.

John: That’s right. Brian’s wife Christine, my wife Veronica, Roger’s girlfriend Dominique, and Freddie’s Mary all get along really well. Just the other day, we all threw a birthday party for Mary.

—Even though Mary and Freddie split up, is she still considered part of the Queen circle?

John: Mary and Freddie don’t live together anymore, of course, but they’re old friends, and she’s very much a member of the so-called "Queen family."

—Speaking of which, John, you lost your father at a young age, didn't you?

John: I was eleven. It was a huge shock that for a while, I barely spoke at all. I was in a daze for so long that, even now, I have almost no memory of the time before that. What helped me bounce back was getting interested in music. When I was between twelve and fourteen, I was glued to the radio, constantly hunting for pop music. Then I started playing guitar and formed a band. Later, I switched to bass guitar and played gigs all over the place. It wasn't just a hobby for me—I was serious about making a career out of it, believe it or not.

—You were an honor student at a top-tier school and graduated third in your class from the University of London, right? Wasn't it hard to balance your studies with music?

John: It wasn't too bad. Music and academics were the pillars of my youth, and I didn't really do anything else. An honor student? Hmm, I guess you could say that.

Even after entering university, I didn't get involved with drugs or alcohol, and I didn't really date girls either.

—Were you a bit shy when it came to girls?

John: I suppose so. I was probably just shy by nature. I grew up in a small town in Leicester and didn't come to London until I was eighteen and started university. London was a hard place for us to fit into, ultimately. I always felt like an outsider. I lived in a University of London residence hall that was all-male, and since my major was science, it was nothing but guys there, too. As time went on, I found I couldn't stand a life without music, so I had my instrument sent over and started playing with a group called the Opposition.

—And when did you join Queen?

John: That was a bit later. A friend told me about a band looking for a bassist, so I auditioned. By then, the concept for Queen was already in place, and everyone had their ideas pretty well set. I was the newcomer, you could say, so it took a little time before I started contributing my own ideas.

—After graduating, you worked as a schoolteacher for a while, didn't you?

John: Hmm? That was Brian.

—Oh, really? I read in a magazine that you fell in love with a fellow teacher and got married while you were teaching...

John: I actually met her back when we were students; she was attending an all-female class at the University of London. We were in an all-male class, right? So, naturally, there was a place where we’d cross paths—a disco, actually. A friend took me there, and we just happened to run into each other... She worked as an elementary school teacher for a while.

— Has she settled into life as a homemaker now?

John: That's right. She loves painting and has a real artistic sensibility. I’m the opposite—I’ve always been a more practical person—so I think we’ve balanced each other out over the years.

—On a personal note, the first concert I ever saw was Queen, and the first album I ever bought was Queen's ‘Sheer Heart Attack’. At the time, Queen was hailed as the "post-Beatles" act, and you played a major role in bringing rock music—which had been considered a niche genre until then—into the spotlight.

John: That’s nice to hear. I remember our first trip to Japan very well. We’ve had success all over the world since then, but Japan was... different somehow. We never experienced that kind of screaming adoration from girls anywhere else. The moment we arrived at the airport, girls would come rushing toward us in droves... We couldn't even step a foot outside the hotel... You just don't see that kind of thing in other countries.

—How did that make you feel?

John: It was a bit of a thrill (laughs)—it felt great. I wouldn't want to be in that kind of situation all the time, but I do have a special attachment to Japan.

—Queen doesn't have a manager right now, so effectively, you're the one handling the practical side of things, aren't you? Don't you think the band is incredibly independent?

John: Well, that’s because the band had a solid vision right from the start—before we even debuted—and we didn't want outsiders messing with it. If outsiders started telling us to do this or that, we’d probably get pretty frustrated. (Laughs)

—But even without outsiders involved, surely there are times when you fight or disagree within the band? How do you resolve those situations?

John: That’s a tough one. We still get into some pretty heated arguments sometimes. There was a really rough patch at one point, but things are better now. Well, we manage to make it work.

—I hear you often go on vacation with Roger; are you two particularly close within the band?

John: Yeah, we really get along well. Roger’s a really easygoing guy.

—Is it because you’re both the same star sign?

John: We share the same sign, but our personalities are completely different.

He’s a more typical example of that sign—friendly, decisive, and sociable. That’s better than the alternative, I suppose. Well, we manage to make it work.

—When people think of Queen, Freddie usually comes to mind first, but did you know that everyone lists you as their top choice for interviews or meetings? If I may say so, Freddie comes across as eccentric and a bit odd...

John: It’s true, Freddie is an unusual person. He doesn’t like meeting strangers, and he really dislikes interviews and press engagements. He’s not fond of TV, either. For instance, even when we get an invitation to appear on Terry Wogan’s talk show [a popular UK program], Freddie insists he doesn’t want to do it, and the whole thing falls through.

—Is he trying to cultivate a mysterious image, perhaps?

John: That might be it.

—Does that side of Freddie’s personality ever affect the group’s activities?

John: Of course it does. There are times when the three of us want to do something, but Freddie digs his heels in and refuses.

For example, the three of us want to do more concerts, appear on TV more often, and be more active, but the answer we always get from Freddie is "no." And since we’ve decided not to do anything without him...

Yeah I’d say so. It’s really good, I haven’t finished it yet because I know the end is really sad.

However, here’s a free online version: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/d9t71qfngpw0nu6ru4usb/Mercury-and-Me-by-Jim-Hutton.pdf?rlkey=q36r8aox2z2ewliepdohw01g3&e=12&dl=0

And I know Internet Archive offers free versions of things like Phoebe’s book, you just need an account for things like that

July 1975 - Beat Instrumental, Gary Cooper

(If you have any questions regarding Queen, feel free to ask on my page)

Topics: Red Special guitar, guitar playing techniques.

If there has been one disappointing feature in rock over the past two or three years it's been the sad lack of new musicians of a statue of the Claptons, Becks, and Emersons of the mid sixties.

It hasn't just been that the established musicians have got better and better, thereby throwing newcomers into the shade, it's been more a case of those new faces being pale imitators of established players or just being plain mediocre. Nevertheless, there have been some individuals coming on to the scene to challenge the status quo — Queen's excellent lead guitarist Brian May is one of them and is also a leading contender for the role of guitar hero of the seventies.

May's playing is both fiery and lyrical, ranging from the relaxed sustained notes he draws out through Queen's slower numbers to the lightning fast runs he throws into tracks like Brighton Rock from Sheer Heart Attack. If there is one thing that makes Brian a pleasant guitarist to listen to it's that he has his own style. The last thing he does is copy those blues licks that you have heard time and time again; his playing is fresh and easily identifiable, bringing a new approach to what is in danger of becoming a rather stale instrument.

Like many of rock's better musicians, Brian is self-taught. "The first thing I ever did was strum a ukulele that my family had. The chord shapes are the same as they are on a guitar and so when I got one I worked out what those chords would be when transferred. At the time I was into skiffle and spent a while playing in bands at school in Middlesex, using an old acoustic with a pickup on it that I had made myself and then made my own guitar which is the one I'm still using."

Making his own guitar seems very characteristic of Brian. It wasn't a case of just bashing out a rough shape in a woodwork class at school as a stopgap until he could afford a better axe; he approached it with a thoroughness which few people could manage.

"I did it because I knew exactly what I wanted" he explained, "and so I spent about two years working on it with my father in our spare time. We tried lots of experiments with truss rods and tensioning and I personally spent a long while on the calculations involved. My strong subject at school was maths and I had got to know quite a bit about acoustics so I deliberately set about designing the body to give me the feedback I wanted."

At that time, it should be remembered, feedback was very much a new tool for guitarists. Jeff Beck was creating new areas of style with the Yardbirds, using feedback with creative intent, as was Pete Townshend with the Who. Whereas they were using established guitars to get their sound, May was quietly working on his own.

"I built the guitar with small acoustic pockets in it and rigidly mounted the pickups to the body so that the whole thing interacts with the air. Originally I made the pickups myself but found they were too uneven in their response so I bought some Burns Tri-Sonics and re-wound them to get the sound I wanted."

As a result of the acoustic properties of the guitar and the amplifier set-up Brian uses, his sound is very distant from that obtained via the more obvious makes of equipment. His idiosyncrasy extends as far as amplifiers, preferring to seven Vox AC 30 combination amps on stage (with two waiting by for spares) which he mikes up through the band's p.a. system and foldback equipment.

"I work with very high gain so I don't hit the strings hard. I have a single transistor pre-amp which I built to get that gain and I combine that with using a lot of treble so a lot of the power which people say is my style is just lightly touching the strings with the sixpence I use for a pick." That use of sixpence is very much a Brian May idea, born not of imitation but of finding the way of doing things which suits him best.

"You can get a very smooth sound just using it parallel to the strings but if you want a rasp you just twist it round and make use of the milled edge."

Another May trademark is the permanent damping effect with the heel of his right hand, which he rests lightly on the strings, "It's a kind of habit I have but it does enable me to control the length of the notes. If I stopped at any time on stage and let the guitar take over, the whole thing would just burst forth into an amazing feedback, so I'm permanently holding that back with a bit of damping."

A guitarist, though, is far more than just the product of his choice of equipment (or, rather, he should be more than that) and Brian has a good enough left-hand technique to exploit the combination of equipment and right-hand style, although, as his comments show, he is typically modest about it.

"Quite honestly, my left hand technique isn't very good. I started off with bad habits using just three fingers and I've never really got over it. It just holds me back now if I try to use my little finger except on a few things. It's not all on the debit side, though, because you lose things and you gain them. I've found that I've gained a little more rapport with the strings because of the limited contact I have with them through only using three fingers."

Perhaps the key, though, to his style of playing, rather than the sound he uses to put over that style, is the knowledge that he has spent a lot of his playing life as a rhythm guitarist. Early on he was concerned in experimentation with variations of chord shapes, concentrating on the development of a working relationship with chords rather than learning clichéd blues runs. He is more inclined, for a solo, to pull notes out of the particular chord he has been using during the song and then choosing his chords to fit that feedback situation he mentioned earlier.

Certain chords, he feels, work better on the edge of distortion than others. An added bonus (or drawback, depending on how well you can use the style) is the production of false harmonics partly through the interference which is an integral part of high volume playing. What Brian has done is to merge a good technique with unusual equipment and then allow his style to adapt to the situations produced. Traditionally, nobody would have actually built a guitar which produced screeching feedback. Nobody would have played having to dampen notes all the time just to stop a chaotic situation from arising. Brian has accepted these limitations and moved further than many of his contemporaries by turning them to his advantage.

Choice

Another facet of his odd taste in instruments in his choice of acoustic guitars. Although certainly wealthy enough to by any guitar he wanted, he is still playing a cheap acoustic he had back at school. A low action and light strings gives the guitar a buzz which might provoke most players to hurl it into the nearest lake — not Brian, he uses the weakness of the instrument to great effect. A good example of this can be heard on White Queen where an apparent sitar is, in fact, this ancient acoustic being used because of its buzzing.

  Whatever anyone might say about Queen's image (their flamboyant stage presentation, their showmanship) there can be no denying that they are one of the most vital and fresh bands around. Neither can there be any argument about their ability as musicians, and that is what places them far above mere pop bands.

    Brian May is the cornerstone of that success and his unorthodox yet thorough approach has a lot to offer the younger player who might be tempted to slavishly imitate the greats. Brian got there by working things out for himself. It shows in the way he has risen to the top of the tree.

28th July 1986 - Daily Express, David Wigg

EXCLUSIVE: AN AUDIENCE WITH FREDDIE MERCURY, THE KING OF QUEEN

By David Wigg

FREDDIE MERCURY, outrageous king of rock group Queen, dominates a stage with all the force of a hurricane. But off stage, an entirely different kind of man exists.

All the flamboyance is replaced by someone who is overtly shy, suspicious of people, guards his privacy almost as much as the late Howard Hughes, has a demonic sense of humour and explodes and screams when he doesn't get his own way.

In fact, woe betide anyone on the receiving end of Freddie's tongue if he is in a black mood.

Friends

One of his closest friends, who is always strictly around to calm him or reassure him—not that he needs much of that—is Mary Austin, a quiet fair-haired 34-year-old who has remained loyal to him long after the break-up of their seven-year love affair.

Mary, whose London flat was bought by Freddie, confided to me that she would love to have a child by Freddie, "before it's too late."

"I would rather have another cat!" was how Freddie reacted. Like the late John Lennon, he has a weakness for cats and already has two of the biggest cats I've ever seen—Oscar and Tiffany.

He surrounds himself with a small, close-knit group of friends he feels he can trust and with whom he is extremely generous with his money. The arrogance that comes so easily and can a lot of people off, is often due to his obsession with being a perfectionist.

Defeat

"Some people can take second best, but I can't," says 39-year-old Freddie, "especially now, I look upon it as a defeat. If you've got the taste of being No. 1 then No. 2 isn't good enough. I'm a spoilt child."

Last night Queen broke new ground by playing the first ever western open-air rock concert behind the Iron Curtain in Budapest before a sell-out audience of 80,000 people at the Nepstadion (The People's Stadium). Tickets demanding for the event were over-subscribed by a quarter of a million.

It took 15 40-foot long lorries to transport all the rigging, sound and lighting equipment into Budapest for the Queen stage show.

Queen are now one of the Top Five crowd pullers in the world, having played to 150,000 people at Wembley Stadium recently, and they are expected to perform to a further 120,000 at Knebworth, Herts, on Saturday, August 9.

Spacious

Before Freddie packed his leotard for Budapest, he invited me to join him for dinner at his spacious, Edwardian home in Kensington, full of the Japanese and Chinese furniture and art and the Dresden china he collects.

Freddie's master bedroom is hidden behind a mirrored hallway leading to two huge bathrooms—one a jacuzzi, the other a bath large enough for two people. The cream bedroom is Roman styled, with a balcony and an illuminated ceiling can be switched to sunset, twilight or sunrise depending on your mood.

While a young American chef, Joe Fanelli, prepares a three-course dinner with a choice of two starters, Freddie shows me the magnificent three-quarters-of-an-acre walled garden which surrounds the house.

Clubbing

Because heavy concert tours have been affecting his voice to the point where some days he can't even speak, Freddie has given up his regular night clubbing habit to make his home more and more.

He says: "Everybody wants a loving relationship and to go out and have fun. For me, I’m quite happy to come home and tickle my peonies.”

After 15 years as a top recording star, with albums sold in millions, and signed by millions, "Come on Freddie," they chant from appearances around the world. His private life has not worked out as satisfactory and often been in turmoil.

"I would have liked a one to one relationship, but I don't think my life can actually cater for it. I've tried that and it's always gone wrong."

"It's so much heartache and I don't want any more of that," said Freddie, who has never made a secret of his bi-sexuality.

"I'm surrounding myself with special people who are loyal and loving, it's a kind of happiness. For the first time in my life I've found a contentment within myself."

"I don't want to come across lonely, because I'm not. As I'm not seen out in public, they think I've become a recluse. My friends are people I don't mix with labels. I like interesting people, people who have more to talk about than just music."

While many fellow rock stars have burned out around him, he has somehow managed to avoid going over the edge.

Astute

"It needs a really strong-willed person to survive," he says.

"You have to be one step ahead all the time. You have to be so astute, so strong. You have to be a hard-faced bitch—and a lot of us can't be."

May 1984, International Musician and Recording World magazine by Paul Gallotta

Topics: Hot Space album, The Works album, Bohemian Rhapsody music video, Fred Mandel keyboard player, Michael Jackson collaboration, Giogio Moroder collaboration, Radio GaGa, Equipment

Queen have always been one of those aggregations that critics love to wear out their thesauri on, looking for new adjectives with which to deflate what has become one of the highest-grossing bands in history. It isn’t their musicianship that has been questioned, rather, it has been their reliance on studio techniques. Until recently, Queen passed over synthesizers in favor of effects and a lot of overdubs, which made their music decidedly difficult to reproduce on stage.

With or without the overdubs and effects, in the studio or live, Queen command respect. Brian May is easily one of rock’s most innovative guitarists, wringing sounds from his hand-made axe, the Red Special, which range from a jazz horn section to a revving engine. Freddie Mercury (whose vocals may owe more to Liza Minelli than to Roger Daltrey) can rock out with the best of the competition, and yet his voice doesn't disintegrate when he sings ballads. And the rhythm section of John Deacon (bass) and Roger Taylor (drums) is one of the most powerful (and under-rated) around.

Queen formed in 1971 when May and Taylor, then in a band called Smile, teamed up with Mercury, a theatrical singer for a band called Wreckage. Last to join was John Deacon. They rehearsed for two years before releasing their self-titled debut LP in 1973. The next year, they were voted Melody Maker’s band of the year, outdistancing such heavy guns as Led Zeppelin and the Who. By 1977, England was going through the minimalist punk backlash, and Queen were singled out for particularly scathing criticism because of their musical “excesses”; however, it was also in 1977 that A Night at the Opera was voted the best record of the past 25 years by the British Phonographic Industry. In 1981, Queen played to the largest paying audience for a single act in rock history: In Sao Paolo, Brazil, over 131,000 people turned out to see them in action.

But their fortunes changed rather abruptly in 1982. Hot Space, an album with a heavy emphasis on synthesized r&b, almost cost Queen their crown. Its commercial failure caused tensions to mount, and amid the inevitable rumors of a breakup, Queen’s members took a much-needed sabbatical. Brian May recorded the mini-album Star Fleet Project with Edward Van Halen. John Deacon recorded a rather secretive rap record with some Jamaican musicians, while Roger Taylor recorded his second solo LP, Strange Frontier. Freddie Mercury teamed up with Michael Jackson and then with Giorgio Moroder to produce some as-of-yet unreleased material.

“Hot Space wasn’t really what people wanted to hear from Queen. It didn’t have that heavy content.” — Roger Taylor

Last August, Queen were back together again. Freshly signed with Capitol Records in the U.S., they began work on what was ostensibly the most important album of their 13-year career. After five months divided between Musicland Studios in Munich, the Record Plant in L.A., and their own private studio in Montreux, The Works hit the streets with a promising bang; the first single, “Radio Ga Ga,” debuted on the British charts at #4.

---

IM&RW: “Bohemian Rhapsody” was one of the first songs ever to be accompanied by a video. Where did that idea come from?

RT: It was actually the first rock video that was meant as such. It was our own idea.

JD: We knew we were going to tour England at the time, which meant we wouldn’t have the time to be on the TV program “Top of the Pops,” so we decided to make a film of some sort that could take our place.

RT: We shot it during the last night of rehearsals. It took about four hours, and when we were done, we all climbed onto the bus and drove straight to Liverpool and did the first gig for the A Night at the Opera tour.

JD: It was all rather enjoyable because it was done so quickly.

IM&RW: A lot of bands complain that it takes almost as much time to complete the video as it does to record the actual song. Do you find that sort of thing to be true with Queen?

RT: Well, we no longer work as intensely as we once did, so it isn’t that bad. And we no longer follow the cycle of “do the album, do the tour, do another album, another tour,” we’ve gotten out of that cycle over the past two years or so. We took a year off. We decided not to do another album until the time was right. Which is what we’ve done. To be perfectly honest with you, I find the sort of thing we’re doing now, this promotional work, the hardest thing we do.

JD: It is infinitely harder than recording or playing.

RT: The mental strain will get to you.

BM: Promotional work can be exceptionally difficult when you are on tour as well.

IM&RW: I’d imagine the talking part of the business could be really taxing on your voices, especially because Queen seems to use so many high harmonies, like the trills in “Bohemian Rhapsody.”

RT: It can be very painful, actually. I naturally sing quite high; my voice improves in the higher ranges, but they’re what we call “forcep jobs.”

IM&RW: How can you maintain that range night after night?

BM: Now we pace the shows accordingly. We don’t do five shows a week anymore.

RT: Fred’s voice is very powerful, and it takes a hell of a beating during the course of a show. That’s why we don’t do any more than three shows in a row, and we have at least a day off in between cities.

JD: But it is in fact worse when you have a few days off, because you lose the swing of it. I’d prefer to play seven days a week on a tour.

RT: (Laughs) Yeah, but the show we put on is a very energetic one, and we aren’t fitness freaks at all. The tours themselves will get you in a certain state that’ll keep you going. Also, we are not one of those bands that like to rush out of the building the second we climb off stage. We like to stay in the dressing room and unwind—and criticize each others’ performances (laughs). Then we get loaded.

IM&RW: On your last tour, you added an additional keyboard player, Fred Mandel, and The Works has even more emphasis on keyboards. Will you have anyone handling the keyboards on stage for this tour?

RT: I don’t think we’ll get Fred Mandel. He’s off with Elton John right now. But he is a very good keyboard player, and he helped the sound tremendously. He really lightened the load from Freddie’s shoulders.

BM: We’ll almost certainly have an additional player. It’s become an integral part of our sound.

JD: We’ll probably tour to support The Works, but we don’t really know when or where.

IM&RW: Who actually played the synthesizers on The Works?

JD: We all did. We used an Oberheim OBX and a Fairlight.

IM&RW: I understand you recorded most of The Works in Munich, but you own a studio in Montreux. Why not record it there?

RT: Good question . . .

JD: The guy we recorded it with, Mack, lives in Munich, and he’s very much at home with it there. In fact, he just bought the studio.

RT: We have done a bit of work in Montreux. Well, actually, the studio we have there is really nice, but the town is a bit small for us. And also, over the years, we’ve grown really quite fond of Munich. It’s really a very nice city.

BM: It helps when you are starting a new album to sometimes put yourself in a different situation, a different atmosphere. I think we know Montreux too well.

IM&RW: Did you write any of The Works while you were in the studio?

RT: Most of it, actually. A lot of the songs we didn’t use, but most of the creative work was done in the studio.

IM&RW: What happened if you all showed up one day and nobody could think of anything creative?

RT: We’d bite our nails . . .

BM: We have all four of us writing, so we usually never get to that point.

IM&RW: Whose idea was it to borrow the chorus of “Vesti La Giubba” (from the opera I Pagliacci) for the intro to “It’s a Hard Life”?

BM: That was Freddie’s idea. He really likes opera, and we thought it’d fit in nicely.

IM&RW: Was it Freddie’s idea to follow up on the rockabilly vein of “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” with The Works’ “Man on the Prowl”?

BM: Right, that was Freddie again. He was very much influenced by early Elvis, and his voice suits it very well.

IM&RW: I understand that he did some work with Michael Jackson.

RT: They were writing; they did some songs together.

JD: I don’t think they’ve actually committed any to vinyl yet.

RT: They had to go off and do different things, and they never finished. But I’ve heard the songs, and they were very good.

IM&RW: Do you think they’ll show up on the next Queen album?

RT: I really don’t know. At one point, one was going to be on Thriller, but they never finished it.

RT: I really don’t know. At one point, one was going to be on Thriller, but they never finished it.

IM&RW: I hear Freddie is working on something with Giorgio Moroder.

BM: Yeah. What had happened was that we had known Giorgio for a while—we had bumped into him in L.A.—and he had bought the rights to do certain things with Metropolis, this Fritz Lang movie from 1926, a really wonderful silent film. He’s writing music for it and is restoring it using his own resources, finding bits and pieces of it that have vanished over the years. We saw the film as he had it, and it sort of connected with some of our ideas. We thought it would be nice to use a piece of the film in a promotional way, a video. He said, “O.K., so long as Freddie sings one of the tracks in the film.” From there he sent us a track called “Love Kills.” Well, Freddie wasn’t too keen on singing it the way it was and largely rewrote it; as a matter of fact, we all worked on it.

RT: So it was like a swap. We used Metropolis for “Radio GaGa.”

IM&RW: I don’t quite understand the basis for that single. Queen never struck me as a band that would have any trouble getting onto a radio station’s playlist.

RT: People in America do seem to take it like that, but that’s not really what the song is about. It’s saying that radio isn’t as prominent as it once was. Perhaps there is a bit more garbage on it, but it isn’t about airplay or slagging off the radio. Radio has become a bit too formularized in America. It’s not what it was. But the song is a bit historical. Radio was once very important, even though the song isn’t really a precise statement. Now it seems that the videos are almost as important as the music. And of course we had to go out and make a video of the song! Ironic, isn’t it?

JD: That, to me, is the only down side of MTV. Every time you hear a song, you automatically picture the video.

BM: I like Toto very much, but I didn’t like their videos. They’re great musicians, but their music doesn’t translate to video very well.

IM&RW: In retrospect, Hot Space wasn’t exactly your most popular album.

RT: Cheers.

BM: Exactly.

IM&RW: What do you think was wrong with it?

JD: If you’re talking about selling a lot of records, then I guess there was something wrong with it.

IM&RW: Were you happy with it?

JD: We were when we released it.

RT: It was a different direction, but it wasn't what people wanted to hear from Queen, and perhaps it was too much in one direction. It wasn’t as varied as most of our albums are. It didn’t have that heavy content.

BM: I think it was also exceptionally bad timing on our part. The whole atmosphere was very wrong at the time. Most people were worried about rock being taken over by disco. A lot of people said that if we’d released it a year later, it would have done much better. It really wasn’t that good of an album in terms of what we could have done, I suppose. That’s why we took our time with this one. We wanted to make sure that everything was just right. But Hot Space was nothing that I regret doing.

IM&RW: As far as equipment goes, you really haven’t changed anything over the course of the past 12 years.

BM: Yeah.

IM&RW: I understand that Guild is working on a Brian May model guitar.

BM: They are. I’m very excited about it, and they’ve done a lovely job. I think it’ll be available here in about four months.

IM&RW: And you’re still using the Vox AC30?

BM: It’s a clean-sounding amp and it’s very warm. I like it because it’s different.

IM&RW: John, you’re still using the Fender Precision?

JD: Yeah.

IM&RW: Have you ever really tried anything different?

JD: Yeah, but the Fender Precision is the one I’m most comfortable with. I have others, but with the Precision, you just plug it in and you get a great sound straight away. Even in the studio.

IM&RW: Roger, it sounds like you’ve added Simmons to your collection.

RT: Actually, I’ve been using them for some time.

IM&RW: Your particular style seems to abuse the drums more. Does playing the Simmons hurt your wrists?

RT: Yeah, they are murder on the wrists, but it’s not so much the muscle I use when I play, it’s in the flick of the wrists. And now Simmons has this new kit where the drums are covered with foam. There’s also this new method of playing them where you don’t actually have to play them. I can use a sequencer, and all you have to do is press buttons. I use it in conjunction with the new Linn Machine.

IM&RW: Sounds like a lot less work.

RT: It is.

IM&RW: In the song “No More of That Jazz” you said, “Only football gives us thrills/rock ’n’ roll just pays the bills.” What exactly did you mean by that?

RT: That was taken very much in the wrong way. It was meant to be ironic. I really don’t like football. I guess I was trying to be too clever at the time. I really meant the opposite.

24th August 1974, Music Star magazine

Topics: Tour 1974, John’s electronic engineering (tinkering), John’s Mini car, Roger got crew to go naked on stage. How John met Queen. Queen’s Cornwall trip 1971. John’s first guitar

Is it easy to be happy when you’re speeding to success? We asked John Deacon to tell us about the things that have made him happy in the past…

“The LATEST was the American tour as a whole, not so much because it was important professionally as that it was just a great experience. Never having been to America before it was quite an eye opener. I supposed the biggest date, before we had to quit because of Brian’s illness, was the week we did in New York. Somehow, though, because it was a theatre it didn’t quite have the same atmosphere as some of the other gigs, not so much fun.

“I was surprised that we were known over there but there were usually a few people down the front with Queen tee shirts. Mostly I think we’re known because of air-play on the radio stations. I enjoyed the radio out there so much that I bought a cassette recorder which tapes stuff straight off the radio and plays it back in stereo. I recorded a lot while I was out there so I can listen to it in this country. There’s a player in the car, too. I do go for that sort of electrical gadget.

“Before that, the most important thing to me was the Queen II album going into the charts — especially satisfying that, since the first one didn’t do so well. It’s nice to see some recognition for your work though I don’t usually worry too much. Roger tends to worry more about what’s happening on that side

“On tour in Britain the biggest date was obviously the Rainbow, but the most fun gig was the last. It was a tiny club in Birmingham we’d had to cancel earlier. We went back and because it was the last we were very relaxed, all had a couple of drinks and enjoyed ourselves. We even got half the road crew to streak across the stage — Roger bet them a bottle of champagne each that they wouldn’t do it, and they did.

“Personally, one of the most important times for me was when I left home to go to college in London. It wasn’t so much the event itself, but it steered me in the musical direction, I met the other lads and got more professional, having played at home in little amateur groups.

“First of all I met Roger and Brian in a disco. I’d heard they were looking for a bass guitarist so I chatted to them — they’d actually been auditioning for a few weeks before but couldn’t find anybody who seemed to fit. Freddie was already on the scene by then, so my joining was the final forming of Queen as we are now.

“It was quite a moment when we decided to turn professional. We’d been playing in our spare time but really I didn’t think, myself, that we’d ever do it even though we’d jokingly talked about it. Then we were lucky enough to be able to make a demo tape at a proper studio, and when we took it round the record companies they were interested enough to give us confidence, so we gave it a go

“Possibly Freddie and Roger were the keenest. Brian was a big career man deeply into studying physics and astronomy and had reservations about it, but the other two are the born stars. Freddie’s probably the one who’s given us the most push to get on, and is the most insistent with people like managers and so on.

“I remember my first musical instrument — a little plastic Tommy Steele guitar when I must’ve been about seven. I had it around a lot but I didn’t really play it much, nothing seemed to click, but a few years later some friends up the road started to practice on two based-up guitars. I only went along because I had a tape recorder which they could use as an amplifier but after a few weeks I got interested enough to get my mum to buy me a Spanish guitar and that’s when it really started properly.

(This is a Tommy Steele guitar from 1957 and might be the kind John had as he got one in 1958)

“We went on from school dates to playing little gigs, trolling round in a battered old van. I enjoyed that period a lot.

“Now, as much spare time as I can find I spend tinkering with anything mechanical — cars, radios, that sort of thing. I do enjoy being able to mend my car myself, I thought it was going to be difficult but it’s really quite easy, all nuts and bolts.

“It’s my first car — I could never afford one until eighteen months ago. It’s only a Mini but it gets me about London and we’re away often enough it’s not worth getting anything bigger. I got it from a student — I don’t like buying things from shops, I’d rather hunt around. I only paid forty quid for it!

“We had one great time a few years back when we all went down to Cornwall for a holiday. We were still in college and used to stick all the equipment into one van and sail off. Roger, who comes from there, said he’d get us some gigs locally so we took a cottage for a fortnight and stayed together. It was good because it wasn’t long after I joined and we got to know each other really well and it settled us as a group. Roger did manage to find us half a dozen or so gigs as well, so we broke even.

“What I really look forward to most is a tour of our own. When we left the American tour it was going very well. We were the second band — supporting Mott again — but hopefully we can go back and headline a small tour of our own next time. It was great to go, and we were getting seen because people were mostly coming to see Mott, but it’s not the same as topping the bill. Still, It’s up to us to convert them to liking us as well, isn’t it?”

May 1976

BY IAN MELDRUM

OUTRAGEOUS Queen arrived back in mother England from Australia with a right Royal message to all their subjects: "We came, you saw, we conquered."

Yes, Queen, who paid a royal visit to Australia, but failed to impress the colonials with a message they delivered at Sunbury, Victoria, just over two years ago, left their Australian subjects breathless a month ago with one of the most amazing stage acts the country had ever witnessed.

The group, comprising Freddy Mercury (lead singer cum (no, I haven’t written this up wrong, the magazine actually wrote it that way) keyboard player), Brian May (lead guitar and vocals), Roger Meddows-Taylor (drums and vocals), and John Deacon (bass guitar), had capacity audiences around the country leaving concert halls using such superlatives as "incredible", "stunning", "mind boggling", "stupendous", "fantastic"... to describe their musicianship and stage act.

And deservedly so. This group, which was born in 1971, has become one of the hottest properties on the world music scene today. Their unique albums, Queen, Queen II, Sheer Heart Attack and, most recently, A Night At The Opera, coupled with one of the most outrageous, yet stunning, stage acts we have ever witnessed, has made Queen the king of rock theatre.

Out front is the incredible character of Freddy Mercury, whose stage clothes make even Elton John green with envy. Who can you liken him to? Mick Jagger? Rudolf Nureyev? Mae West? Joan Sutherland? Or the Devil himself?

“Black magic I'm not into," says this dynamic singer, "but the love of it I am." The writer of Bohemian Rhapsody says: "It means nothing unless you, the listener, interpret it into something. I wrote it purely for myself."

For an interviewer it is a horrifying experience to come face to face with Mercury, because you always have the fear he is about to put an evil spell on you, or just become bored and disappear in a puff of smoke. The black nails that glint on stage and the "bucky beaver" teeth that could be a clever disguise for a vampire, make this rock animal one of the most photographed and central figures of today's rock scene.

“Meet my friends and colleagues," he says, and you turn to Roger Meddows-Taylor, who possesses the face of an innocent child, the voice of a nightingale and the strength of a wharfie. Meddows on stage sits behind a mountain of drums and provides the heartbeat of Queen. You rarely see him through the cymbals and tom toms, but you are always aware he is there. "Our satisfaction," he says, "is in our music and our audiences. Without them we are nothing but university graduates.”

And then there is John Deacon, always with such a serious face you could easily mistake him for a doctor or electronics engineer, the latter in which, oddly enough, he holds a first-class honors degree. But on stage he provides the pulse and the throb of the bass guitar. He rarely moves and you get the impression that he is horrified when Mercury minces in front of and around him. He's their instrument, and he's their friend. He is also the writer of their current single, You're My Best Friend.

Finally, there is Brian May, who is gentle and quietly spoken. He sits cross-legged and on stage he assumes the same position standing, but when he leans into Queen he and his guitar come out with some of the most amazing sounds you could ever wish to hear.

The four members of Queen have been described as "eccentric", "flashy", "sophisticated glitter", and even "frightening", but most music critics around the world agree they are one of the finest bands to emerge in the '70s.

In April, Australian audiences saw Queen in action. There were explosions, smoke bombs, fog machines, grand pianos, a Chinese gong, intricate lighting plots, electrifying sounds and four talented musicians. To begin their concert with Bohemian Rhapsody, then trace their music through four albums, finish with a version of Hey, Big Spender, where Mercury strips from a Japanese robe to candy-striped braces and shorts, and to encore with a rock 'n' roll medley, is an experience. An evening with Queen is certainly A Night At The Opera.

Queen is without a doubt the group of today and of the future. Yes, they came to Australia in '76, they saw, and they conquered.

FREDDY MERCURY — Virgo, born in Zanzibar on September 5, 1946, qualified illustrator and graphic designer, lead vocalist, keyboard player, composer and lyricist.

BRIAN MAY — Cancer, born Hampton July 19, 1947, Bachelor of Science, Degree in Physics, and PhD in Astronomy, lead guitarist, vocalist, composer and lyricist.

ROGER MEDDOWS-TAYLOR — Leo, born Norfolk on July 26, 1949, Bachelor of Science Degree in Biology, drummer, vocalist, composer and lyricist.

October 1975, Beat Instrumental magazine. Interview with Roger & Brian focused on studio work & music development.

"HELLO DEARS!" Freddie Mercury breezes into London's Olympic Studios with the traditional Queen words of greeting. It's 8 p.m. on a Friday evening and Queen are just getting down to work on the night shift for their next album. This is the second week of recording and so far they have the backing tracks laid down (no mean feat in the time taken). Freddie has turned up first to work on vocal backing tracks—the other members are expected later.

Olympic is an unlikely looking studio. It shares that factory image that some of London's older studios have — all long corridors and massive studios that are a far cry from the more modern 'inside of a spaceship' types we're beginning to see nowadays. Nevertheless, not only Queen use this studio; it has become a regular venue for many of our top bands. The reason is it has a damn good sound.

Queen's co-producer Roy Thomas Baker relaxes back in one of the chairs behind the not too modern mixing desk. Freddie waits for tea to arrive, downs a cup and and slinks off into the studio where he sits at a piano working out lines. Gradually things come together and the band drifts in one after another as Freddie gets down to work.

Gymnasium

I've often stood in studio control rooms and watched musicians at work — but seeing Freddie Mercury in action is something of a revelation about how good he really is. There he sits, alone in a studio the size of a school gymnasium laying down backing vocals in tight and difficult harmonies before the main vocal line has even been recorded! Freddie knows exactly what he is going to sing and simply picks out the notes on the piano before laying them over the drum and piano track. He works very quickly and with astonishing accuracy, checking back with Roy to see that all is coming through on each take before the tape spins back for him to double or triple track the harmony.

Apart from having a high vocal range, Freddie seems to have a fine ear, hitting those Queen registered trade-mark "oohs" and "aahs" with no apparent effort. He's a star, make no mistake about it.

After a while guitarist extraordinaire Brian May mooches through the door. Brian is a tall gaunt figure whose quiet sensitive manner belies the raw aggression that he pumps out of his guitar. As well as being one of our better guitarists (see Player Of The Month in Beat's July feature), Brian can speak with rare good sense about the music business so I make my farewells to the control room ensemble and exit studio left to a quieter environment with him and drummer Roger Taylor in tow.

We find a battered room and sit down to talk. The obvious questions come first. What's the album like and how is it going?

"We've got all our backing tracks down at Rockfield without any trouble" Roger answers. "The good thing about being down there is that the people are really pleasant and they've got a lot of rooms which you can use for different sounds." He goes on to add that this next album will be one of extremes. The material will contain numbers ranging from some of the heaviest things they've ever done to some of the softest. Perhaps this is why some people find Queen hard to take, I conjecture. The band have the ability to play so many different styles that you never yet get one to groove along in.

"I think that heavy rock is the closest thing to our group mentality, but then we're always attracted to different avenues which we get a sudden desire to try out. We’ve even got a vaguely skiffle sounding track on this one,” Brian adds with a smile, as if relishing in the confusion that sudden changed could cause in the brains of narrow-minded listeners.

Naturally, we get onto the subject of Queen's amazing production. Sheer Heart Attack was certainly one of the best produced albums in recent years. I tell them that many musicians I've spoken to are envious of the sound they get and both Roger and Brian seem surprised and gratified. I ask how they get their sound.

"I don't know really," Roger asserts, "I think it's just a matter of getting everything right at every stage. This is why Roy and Mike Stone are so good because they know all the technical details. We provide them with the aesthetics and get some ideas from a technical viewpoint."

Much of their ability is due to the intensity with which they approach each album. They immerse themselves in every detail, knowing what they want down to the finest point, even what studio equipment is consulted.

"We only really like 3M 24 track machine," Roger continues. "In our experience they're the most reliable and they also benefit from having the tape heads close together so that you can do very close drop-ins." Their love of 3M's machine is born of a bitter experience on Sheer Heart Attack when a complete 24 track master was ripped-up by a rogue machine of another make. Fortunately, the tape was recoverable (just) because its loss would have cost a fortune and literally brought about heart attacks all round.

"We're also very fussy about monitors. Generally we reckon that Cadac give us the best sound, but it does depend where you are."

There is, though, still no secret that has crept out about Queen's sound. What we can discover is that each track has a hell of a lot more going on in it than may at first meet the eye. Drum sounds for example may have been recorded in many different rooms, even different studios, but may all go on one track. Giving a complex pattern of sounds which just are not obtainable in any one studio.

The next album will be mixed at Sarm studios. That much I did learn, because they know the equipment well (and it meets their high standards) and because they can relax with the people with whom they'll be working.

The Trident management days are of course over, the band now having split with them over "differences of opinion". With a degree of trepidation I ask Roger and Brian whether they'd be prepared to talk about the split. They were.

"A lot of bands have had management problems recently and some of them have let it go a lot further than we did. We broke with Trident because we foresaw problems. Ever since we came back from Japan we've had problems coming and so we've engineered the best manager we could." That's Roger's view on the matter and the manager he's referring to is none other than John Reid, manager of Elton John.

Naturally, Queen aren't at all happy about their break with Trident. Brian admits that he feels particularly hurt by it as the band were very close to the company. Now they've left, and things are much more under their control — but not without some sacrifices as Roger points out.

"It does prove that we do believe in ourselves when we've been prepared to part with the amount that we have parted with to get with somebody we're happy with."

It's far too early in the life of the new album for any sort of preview, ideas are still being added as Brian works his way around lead solos. Queen are now preparing for the inevitable arguments about a title. Although they'd almost agreed on one when I was there, they are aware that their usual fights will take place before a final decision. On a cover, though, they seem remarkably unified, knowing exactly what they are looking for — as Roger pointed out when we spoke about the hideously bad taste cover of Sheer Heart Attack.

"That one was successfully vulgar — the idea being to get the best of bad taste. Perhaps it went too far but it didn't half get noticed! I think that we might go back into good taste this time."

Intelligent

Roger is by far the more forthcoming of the two Queen members (how can one say two Queens???) he's talkative, friendly, and like the rest of the band seems uncommonly intelligent and aware of what the band are doing to your average drummer in a band. While he talks, Brian may sit quietly in the corner adding the occasional comment (you have to tackle Brian on his own to really get him talking I've discovered) and John Deacon (bass player, as if you didn't already know) utters one sentence during the whole interview.

When we head back to the control room before aiming in the direction of a local hostelry I see that Freddie is still hard at it. The track is progressing nicely and plans are afoot to break-up around 4 a.m.

Queen's music is a combination of different intensities. They approach their lyrics with a lot of intense subjectivity and tackle the recording side in a complex way, bouncing tracks down to get as much as possible to mix with and experimenting with as many different studios as they can book into to get as wide a sound range as they can. The result is astounding.

(Disclaimer: Translation may not be exact)

John and Roger managed to perfectly complete a grueling schedule that included 21 TV, magazine, newspaper, PM, and AM programs, plus VTR and message recordings for local stations, all in just four days.

On Sunday, the 25th, at the end of March, the two were in a relaxed mood as they disembarked at Narita Airport on JAL Flight 422. Little did they know that the next four days would be a truly hectic schedule...

By the way, they also like to have fun. They started night clubbing (don't call it disco hanging!) the very night they arrived, hitting a total of 17 bars in five days! Their particular favorite is TOK-IO in Aoyama, and they went there at least once every night! They interviewed during the day, and even drank until after 4 AM... The power of carnival goers is incredible! (Of course, aside from the fact that they don't work during the day, it's no different from the daily life of a record company employee.)

But John must have been a bit sleepy. During the second half of the interview, he dozed off... only to wake up when a question came up, and then doze off again. It must have been a real struggle. Thanks to that, their records continued to sell well, and their second single is also getting rave reviews. (By the way, their first single was written by Roger, and this one by John, so the selection was perfect!)

John made me think, "What a down-to-earth guy!"

After a hard day's work at Toshiba EMI, he heads straight to the izakaya "Norihei" next door, has a beer and yakitori, and heads back to the hotel. He loves this! Since we were talking yakitori, we took him to "Ondeko" in Roppongi, where they also had a great time!

The bartender was kind enough to play the entire album "The Works" in-store, leaving the band members feeling quite embarrassed. Come to think of it, when we had lunch at the Key West Club in Omotesando, they were playing old Queen videos ("Bohemians...", "Killer Queen", etc...) and John was so plain that he couldn't help but smile wryly every time he was on screen! "That's not me, it's Ken Hensley (does everyone know him? He's the leader of Uriah Heep!)" he said, trying to hide his embarrassment. “Roger drinks a lot. I drink too, but Roger drinks a lot too. He's fine. No matter how much he drinks.“

They both love spicy food! When we went to Moti, a curry specialty restaurant in Akasaka, they unhesitantly declared "Hot!" (in English, that's Spicy!) and ate the curry, which was already "authentic Indian spicy," with relish. It really is true that drinkers love spicy food. Roger, be careful of your blood pressure!

Record & Radio Mirror, 30th March 1974

Genevieve Hall gets a dressing down from Queen.

FIRE AND BRIMSTONE, the gnashing of teeth and all of hell’s fury, is nothing compared to the anger and wrath of Queen

It was the first journalist they'd encountered after having had their new album 'Queen II' slagged off unmercifully in most of the music papers. Plus the fact that one particular journal was padding its pages with the depths of hype using Queen and Merlin as their latest examples.

So was it any wonder that all their embittered feelings of outrage, hurt, anger and frustration poured out like hot lava from an erupting volcano?

Lead guitarist Brian May picked up the paper and pointed to the big bold. "This article is biggest load of rubbish I've ever read in my life," he declared thoughtfully.

“Look, there are people going to read this article - some of them won't have heard of Merlin and some of them won't know us. The headline screams out commercial gig. They've printed a very old picture of us, which I hate, looking extremely hippy, and underneath it is the word HYPE. The whole article says in a suggestive way that Queen are a hype."

Hype

“To be honest it looks to us like a put-up job. They say we're a put-up job. I say that's a put-up job, and the reasons are that this paper completely ignored us all the time we were getting around on the road building up a following. We draw about a minimum of a thousand people a night for the last God knows how many months and they all know where we're at."

“This paper completely ignored us and -and so now that we've got to the position where our records are taking off and we're in the public eye. Now we've got to that position without the help of the music papers they can't really admit that we're good, they have to suggest we're a hype or something."

“Is that how you really see it?,” I asked.

“That's exactly how we think it is," joined in their drummer Roger Taylor. "Supported by the fact they’ve compared us to a totally new band who we've never even heard of. We don't want to say anything against them, but apparently they're just a straight pop band, whereas we've been gigging and working up to this for years. Christ, I'm 24, Brian's 26, Freddie is 27, John's a bit younger, 22. Plus the fact that we're all intelligent enough not to want to be put across in that way. We want to put our music first.”

"Is it coming first?” I asked, we appear to be getting giant-size image with the music running a close second.

“That's only ‘cos we want to put our music across in the most striking and entertaining way. We want to make an impact. Surely that's what it's all about — entertaining”

“And that's another thing," he continues, "They've given the impression that someone's said to us, 'here's a load of money boys, go down to Carnaby Street and get yourselves some clothes.'”

"Freddie and I used to sell old clothes. In fact Freddie used to design and MAKE our stage costumes. We've always taken care to make sure that our clothes are just right and look good. Perhaps they'd prefer it if we went on in dirty jeans, but we don't really think the public want to look at that. I think they'd rather see something that looks good."

Their lead vocalist Freddie Mercury (the aristocratic one) reads aloud with indignation the parody of a hype lead singer, and comes to a part where it says that hype bands employ writers to pen their instant hit singles.

“Now how the hell do they think we fall into that category? They haven't done any homework. They've even called John, our bassist, our drummer. They haven't even bothered to find out what we're really about.”

“Everyone seems to object if you're playing what you think is serious and the kids buy it, they can't understand it."

“Well we've definitely had no Chinn and Chapman behind us," Roger bursts out, "every song we've do is planned by us, including our album sleeves" (note the famous Queen crest designed by Freddie).

Uncontrolled

“We even have control on which tracks we want released. In fact out of all the bands, I think we're the most uncontrolled.”

"Exactly," says Freddie, "That's why this article is a complete farce and nowhere near the truth."

OK - so how come they're able to obtain this uncontrolled freedom?

It was Brian who answered, "Because the record companies desperately wanted us in the beginning. I knew it sounds like blowing our own trumpet, but it's true. We made demo tapes and everyone thought they were good and wanted us. They realized they were in competition with each other. So in the end we were able to settle for a deal which enabled us to dictate a bit."

You can't deny that you've been getting preferential treatment over a lot of equally good bands, I said glancing around at their specially provided de-luxe van, which had been given to them at the beginning of their British tour.

“Ah wait a minute," says Roger, "It wasn't until our record company realised we were succeeding before they started giving us the big treatment. At first EMI printed 5,000 copies of our first album and much to their surprise they had to reprint that number five times over. So naturally when we made our second album, they felt justified in a lot of work behind it. Which is really why there's been enough copies in the shops to put it into the charts in the first week."

“Yes; but any record company if they've got any sense is going to do that," says Freddie, "it looks like we're getting knocked for having the right people around us doing their jobs properly."

Is that a large part of their success - having the right people doing the right job?

"No", answered Roger, "that comes after. Our success is due to us being a bloody good band and also having common sense - cos there a lot of bloody good bands around - to get things managed properly. But even so we wouldn't have had the support of the people if they hadn't believed in us in the first place."

And now over to Freddie. "People think that if there's a lot of money put behind a band and they made it to it a lot quicker than usual, then they're a hype. But we're geared ourselves to lump a few hurdles and have benefited by doing so." He glances down at his picture.

“Oh really," he exclaims in disgust, "this paper has no flair - I mean to print this picture three times in succession…. and just look at my arms!" He was horrified, "look how fat they appear, now my arms aren't like that at all — why do they think?"

He rolls up his sleeves for me to inspect and I'd like to state here and now that the poor dear's arms are quite, quite slender!

Ripped-off

Phew! If after all that you think that the lads are hyper-sensitive to criticism and feel personally towards their critics, then let Roger put you straight.

“No, we don't hold grudges - we just go round and scratch people's faces and legs off. Or send them bags of wet cement, nothing too violent!"

By this time John Deacon (who reminded me of the school boy type) had woken from his slumbers (too many late nights) and early mornings), he was reasonably cheerful for someone who had had his clothes ripped off the day before.

“By the law of averages," he was saying, "it's someone else's turn to be ripped off today."

We talk to him about the success of their 'Queen II' album and he says, "It's all our Mums and hype." He's a bit quieter than the other three, but can't help warming to him as he's completely unpretentious.

Freddie is a pretty dynamic character, he has an air of confidence which can sometimes be mistaken for arrogance. He has hair the colour of midnight, piercing brown eyes which he makes look evil with skilful use of make-up. He speaks ever so nicely (‘don't you dear?’) with the superfluous use of his hands, and commands attention rather than demands it.

Brian's the tallest one and has a shock of dark curls which bring out the green flecks in his lucent grey eyes. He's the thoughtful considerate one, and it's a joy listening to him arguing with Roger.

And Roger — well he's the pretty one with a sense of fun, he doesn't and capable of busting a gut over a set of drums. But once he gets that adrenalin moving — the guy goes berserk.

Sucker

Music wise, Queen are a heavy-electric rock band — but not raucous. There's a fair amount of melodic structure incorporated in their material, which contains complex harmonies and could quite easily become messy were they not skilfully honed to precision. They're exciting to listen to and watch, and have the good sense to capture reality than express the senses. The only word which describes their musical finesse is SOPHISTICATION.

+ my notes in pink

Full name: Roger Meddowes Taylor

Born: Kings Lynn, Norfolk, 10:30am 26 July 1949 (fun fact: Queen Elizabeth II’s mother visited Kings Lynn to see new mothers on the 1st of August 1949. And the first she saw was Roger’s mother Winifred. They talked together about 6 day old Roger’s name)

Former occupation: Stallholder

School nickname: None, but now they call me Rainbow because of the clothes I wear (a 20th March 1999 magazine revealed his childhood nickname was Splodge)

Fave TV program: ‘What The Papers Say’ (literally just a TV show that goes through what newspapers said that week 🥱)

Fave Queen song: ‘Drowse’

Fave person in the world: Not Ian Paisley (was First Minister of Northern Ireland)

Worst thing about me is: Too nice

Best thing about me is: I’m a good lay

Fave fantasy: ‘Jane Fonda’

Vices: Smoke too much, drink too much, etc

First record ever bought: ‘Rock Around The Clock’ LP by Bill Haley

Biggest lie: I once told my friend my dad owned a speedboat

Most frightening experience: Travelling to Queen gig in Sao Paulo. We kept bashing into other cars. Very hair raising

Most embarrassing moment: Going onstage and taking a bow with my flies undone

First girlfriend: Not saying (He said in the early 70s it was Jill and he was 14 at the time)

Fave food: Indian and Japanese

Fave drink: Vodka

Fave actor: Jack Nicholson

Fave actress: Jane Fonda

Fave film: ‘Close Encounters Of The Third Kind’ (Sci-fi/Thriller. The government denies the existence of aliens as aliens begin to make their presence known. Roy encounters a UFO and is drawn to the Wyoming wilderness)

Fave record: ‘Gimme Some Truth’ John Lennon

Fave band: Jimi Hendrix Experience

Worst thing that ever happened to me: A bad car smash I had once

Best thing: Birth of my son Felix last year (awww)

When not working I: Fall asleep

Likes: Lamps

Dislikes: Patriotism, pseudo trendies, prudes, religious fanatics

Best gig: Don’t know

Worst gig: Paris last year

Best thing about being famous: Money

Worst thing: Don’t know

I would describe myself as: Selfish, uncaring, vague, unpunctual and obnoxious. A right cxxt in fact

Ambition: To own Barbados

Heroes: Hendrix, Lennon, Kerouac

I read loads of newspapers and magazines on Queen and sort them on files in Notion, I think I have over 250 now. I also save things like letters from Queen, handwritten song sheets, snippets from books, memorabilia, etc. To find them I use Pinterest and google image search. There’s some useful websites like Deaky.net & Queencuttings

Queen fanclub magazine

BRIAN MAY.

Lead Guitar, Vocals, Composer & Lyricist.

Date of Birth: 19th. July, 1947.

Place of Birth: Feltham.

Height: 6ft. 1

Weight: 10½ stone.

Colour of Hair: Dark Brown.

Colour of Eyes: Hazel.

Education: Bachelor of Science in Physics obtained from Imperial College in London, taught at Comprehensive School and was an Astrnomer for 4 years, gave it all up to form Queen.

Favourite Colour: Black.

Favourite Musician: Jimi Hendrix, John Lennon.

Favourite Group: Beatles.

Favourite Albums: Abbey Road, Beatles & Band of Gypsies, Hendrix.

Favourite Books: Steppenwolf (Hermen Hesse), & Glass Bead Game (H. Hesse).

Favourite Writer: Hermen Hesse, & C.S. Lewis.

Favourite Film: Women in Love.

Favourite Actor: James Mason.

Favourite Actress: Natalie Wood.

Favourite Country: England.

Favourite Food: Vegetarian and Prawn Cocktails.

Favourite Drink: Grapefruit Juice

Musical Influences: Who, Hendrix, Cream, Beatles.

Favourite Instrument: Guitar.