SOMEBODY DIFFERENT

RAY BONICI talks to Queen’s Roger Taylor just for a change

IF YOU pick up a paper with a Queen interview in it the chances are that the person answering the questions is none other than vocalist extraordinaire, Freddie Mercury.

As often is the case with popular groups like Blondie or Thin Lizzy, the lead singer is often taken for being the leader of the band. For that reason the singer with the bionic larynx has taken to being the band’s front man, position of referee, with the new vacancy being taken up by Roger Taylor and Brian May.

Nevertheless this is a rare occasion because although the man sitting opposite me is Roger, he is also a member of Queen and that group don’t often give interviews.

“Well, we did lots when we first started,” replies the drummer, “and we found that half these interviews, most of the time, are not worth the effort. I mean especially in this country. We don’t give any to the press here because you say one thing and they write another.

Queen are one of those bands which provide no gossip and scandal, the music press in general never really supported these four musicians. Very often Freddie ended up being called a prat.

“They never call it to him in his face, but obviously one doesn’t like being called that. I wonder what it feels like being stuck up there and called a prat. It’s not so easy if you’re the performer. But we have learnt to ignore it because there is nothing else you can do. You can beat the guy up if you feel that strongly about it, and it has been done, but that is not Queen really.”

Stops, lights a fag then continues. “The other thing is that the press don’t like continued success, and they have a go at everybody who has been successful for a period of time. We did have some support earlier on but we also got many reviews for certain albums which a couple of years later were quoted as being great albums.”

And as regards the gossip? “We’re not really into that. We don’t pour champagne over our girlfriends in front of six photographers which our PR man has just lined up. We don’t have a need to be loved that much.”

Roger laughs at the last remark. It’s evident from the band’s current position that they have not been affected by this criticism. In fact Queen are now stronger than ever. Their current European tour, which is the largest one ever to be taken on the continent, see the band playing at least 27 soldout halls. Bicycle bells are ringing all over Europe. Further proof of their strength is supported by the fact that since they started out in 1970, there has never been any line-up changes and nobody ever thought of leaving.

“If the line-up changes we’ll finish,” he assured me. “We’d stop because it wouldn’t be the same, and for that reason we are very much integrated. It’s a simple fact that a lot of bands seem to miss and as soon as they start changing, it weakens what you had before. We also socialise in our free time, although I must admit that recently I haven’t seen the others for about a month, but that’s because we see too much of each other for the rest of the time because we’re working for 80 per cent of that time.”

Queen made their initial breakthrough around ’73. The three year gap prior to that was spent in the studios, rehearsing and preparing to go on the road. Since then seven albums were released, all reaching gold or platinum status somewhere in the world.

‘Jazz’ their latest is no exception. From it came ‘Bicycle Race’ and their current single ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’. For this album we saw Queen teaming yet one more time with famed producer Roy Thomas Baker. Why did they part in the first place?

“There was no argument or anything. We just wanted to produce ourselves. It’s as simple as that. We thought ‘we’ll do the next one ourselves and see if we can do the whole thing’. We found that we could after two albums, but we also thought that for ‘Jazz’ it was too much strain and we don’t really need extra stress, so we decided to get in somebody to take care of the technical end. As usual we did a joint production.”

Roy is currently producing albums by Ronnie Wood, Journey and The Cars, but he is most noted for his work with Queen. Did he play an important role in the formation of the group and perhaps those famous whining vocals?

“No not the formation. Vocals, yes and no. But that was also the way we worked out certain methods of recording them. By trial and error in the studios. We wanted the choral effect and eventually we found that by using different ways of grouping around the mikes, we get a thicker and more unified sound. We used three different voices, each with different characteristics. However we don’t do that quite as much now. But no, Roy didn’t have anything to do with that actually. Still, though, he is a great producer.”

When ‘Jazz’ was released many fans thought that the band are going to change direction. Why did you use that title?

“That’s got nothing to do with jazz, the style of music,” he laughs, “it means bullshit and a lot of other things too. It is also a visually strong word, sounds strong and looks strong.”

But it was also the title of an album by Ry Cooder.

“Yeah, pity about that because we actually thought about it a year ago, and when we saw Ry’s album which came out two months before ours, we were disappointed. We thought about changing it to ‘Big Jazz’ or something, but we decided against it.”

Another new experience for the band is that the album was recorded abroad. Many musicians prefer recorded abroad but also the general idea is for tax reasons.

“It’s mainly for tax reasons,” answered Roger, “but I also don’t like England very much these days. It’s a very depressing country. There’s no zap anymore. There’s no sense of fun at all. Everything is on strike… The country doesn’t work at all. I think it’s a disaster area.”

Is there any place you feel at home, perhaps New Orleans where you had that massive party on Halloween?

“Right. Well I don’t really feel at home anywhere. I like to move all the time. But talking about that party, it was great. New Orleans is a totally decadent town, it’s corrupt and it’s fun for a few days. So we had this party and we invited about 125 different acts, mostly strippers and drag acts. It made a big noise at the beginning of the tour, and it’s the obvious link with the title of the album. New Orleans being a jazz town.”

As yet Queen haven’t got a British tour lined up, although there have been plans to play Wimbledon Centre Court sometime in summer, but something went wrong as Roger explains.

“That was an idea which escaped from the press before we had really properly applied. We had been waiting to do it for about two years and it sort of leaked out, and apparently they were quite interested at first but then they decided against it. We were actually going to do it as a charity thing, but they don’t seem to be very receptive so far. It would be a great place to play because besides having great acoustics it can also accommodate 15,000 people.”

So what are Queen going to do for the future?

“We have to think of somewhere else preferably somewhere unusual. Unfortunately there isn’t such a thing as a good venue in London. Earls Court is a dump, and so are many other places. At one point we thought about doing ice skating rinks but I don’t know whether that will happen.”

When the band go on tour, they normally have a very expensive set-up, like the huge crown that lifts on the stage. Apparently that has now been dumped and in its place Queen are using a very simple lightning set-up which is just a complete roof of lights. Another problem which Queen seem to have mastered when playing live is when Freddie plays keyboards then making a split second change to lead vocals. Have Queen ever thought about engaging another keyboard player for this purpose?

“Many times we thought about how much easier it would be if we had a fifth guy to fill out the sound. It would be a lot easier for Freddie because he’d be moving up and down from the piano. Although it would make things easier it wouldn’t be Queen anymore. So far we have managed quite all right with it.”

Finally, taking a positive look at Queen, there must have been a time when everyone went on a self-indulgent sort of ego trip, especially after they had their first hit.

“I think you’ve got to be self indulgent in this business. You gotta have an ego. I think that anybody who says they don’t is lying. British journalists have an ego which dwarfs any musician’s ego. It’s quite disgusting. I’m not still on that ego trip. It’s a living to me which, though not always, I mostly enjoy.

“Many groups have one hit and they think they are God. That’s nauseating, and I can name a lot of people like that. Actually I suppose you’re right at first, when you achieve some success and you do tend to have a monstrously inflated idea of what it means, then as you get more successes you realise that it really doesn’t mean very much to the average person at all. And if it does you are definitely making some headway.”