OK LET’S MEET ROGER TAYLOR AND QUEEN

QUEEN are home. They’ve just finished an exhausting tour of America and Japan and are pleased with its results. Now they’ve got a month free, they are off to far-away places for some holidays. Meanwhile Roger, beautiful heart-throb drummer of Queen, sat relaxed and tanned at his publicist’s office to tell us all about it.

‘Yes, America went well for us. I’m really glad we went over when we did, because our album Sheer Heart Attack was just climbing out of the top 100. We toured over there for two and a half months, and week by week it crept up in the charts, as did the ‘Killer Queen’ single. I suppose we went down best in the North East. Remarkably well really, with all the other places being just good.

Japan was amazing. We’d never been there before, and I suppose seeing us on TV and all that stuff, is what made us easily recognised. As you know we were met at the airport by thousands of fans, and were recognised over there more than we are at home here.’

Don’t Queen get fed up with being stopped in the street and recognised everywhere? ‘Well, we don’t get too much of it here, just an occasional person in the street or someone knocking at the door. In Japan it was unbelievable. We had to have bodyguards, and after three days of not being able to walk about freely, yes, we got really miserable about it; Freddie smashed up a TV! Then one day I went into this shop that sold tape recorders to buy one. I suppose the guy behind the counter knew something was up because I had a couple of bodyguards with me, but before I’d got a word out, he said, “Aah! You… are… one of Queen, yes?” Then he just produced this Nikon camera from nowhere and started taking pictures of me in the shop! I couldn’t do a thing for ten minutes!’

Did they buy anything over there? ‘Well, Freddie loves antique things, and he spent a fortune on loads of pottery, little Japanese pots and little vases and things. It’s just the Japanese way, but they shower you with presents, so we were all absolutely loaded with things. So many, that we had to leave lots behind! Heartbreaking!’

Between America and Japan they had a week’s holiday in Hawaii. ‘Great place. Yeah, we did all the usual holiday stuff, although you can’t really sunbathe because you get roasted alive! All our roadies were going about with blisters on their shoulders and stuff! I did some swimming and played some tennis and all that, but we hired these little jeep things and raced round in those. That was amazing because you get an incredible range of scenery on the Hawaiian islands, ranging from English countryside to these really exotic, tropical places.’

Roger says that Queen’s show is better than ever now. ‘Oh yeah, much; I mean, we’ve been on tour for months now, since last November in fact. We did England, Europe, America and Japan, and at the end of the Japanese tour, instead of getting jaded, our show got better. Our set had suddenly got 3/4 hour longer! We’ve changed the show a lot, and we’ve been playing better, and there’s a much better selection of songs in it now. Everything in Japan is well-organised. It was certainly the most efficient tour we’ve ever done, and the best received one.’

Queen are all well-educated lads and very artistic ones. Have they got artistic temperaments? ‘Oh yes. Deacon (John) is the most stable of us, he’s like a rock. If he won the pools he’d probably say “um, yes, not bad!” Nothing ever ruffles him! Brian’s very tranquil most of the time. We have a lot of rows because we’re all very different, but they’re not serious. Everyone feels very strongly about everything, which is why the rows flare up sometimes.’

Does Roger take all his frustrations out on his drum kit? ‘Well, yes, I suppose I do. It’s quite a good outlet for me. Poor old drum kit. It’s in a bad state at the moment. Sometimes things get wrecked at the end of an evening, either because someone has done something wrong, or just because it’s been a great night.’

Being a drummer, and at the back of the stage, does Roger ever feel left out of things? ‘Um, not reeeeally! We’ve got very strong lights, so that brings me out, and I do a lot of singing. Yes, I suppose I get a bit frustrated because I’m really a would-be guitarist! I’d love, for instance, to get up and sing the song that I put on Sheer Heart Attack, ‘Tenement Funster’, which is quite a popular song. But then we’ve got to find another drummer.’

Would Queen do that? ‘No! We’re a rock band, and we all believe that we should stick together, like the Stones, the Who, Led Zeppelin. It’s essential to stay together. I think that if one of us ever decided to leave, we wouldn’t bother with any of it anymore. I don’t know, maybe if it came to it, we would find a replacement.’

Although Queen have started happening in America, Roger says that there’s more to it than that. ‘A lot of bands come home from there, they’ve had a top twenty single and album, and they reckon they’ve made it! Well they haven’t! They’ve gained a high degree of success, yeah, but they haven’t made it. What is making it though? I reckon it’s staying power, selling records, selling concerts, continuing to pull in crowds and make good sounds. There’s a hell of a lot of work to it all.’

Who do Queen admire musically? ‘Well, we all admire people like the Who and Led Zeppelin, but I really admire John Lennon too. After all he’s been through, how long he’s been on the scene, he’s still got his feet on the ground. He’s still making amazing records, and he lives in New York, not in ridiculously grand style, a fairly ordinary type house, yet he’s still working hard at his music. I detest more of the stuff on the radio. Things like the Stylistics I just can’t bear. And Barry White. I can’t, really can’t, stand his stuff, because it’s all basically built around the same anaemic style. In my opinion, he can’t sing, he can’t write, he can’t arrange. He’s a useless, overblown thingummy! It’s not that I don’t like soul though. The Ohio Players and James Brown are incredible, but in the car I play almost exclusively classical things. It’s nice to have on all the time.’

At the moment, Queen are looking for new houses. ‘All of us, except Deacon, have got flats, and we’re finding it a bit more than cramped right now. Ideally, I’d like a country place and a London place. I can’t have that though, so I’m looking a bit outside London. In some ways, to be honest, it’s a bit of an anti-climax to live in England but when we get our houses we’ll be a lot happier. We’re just starting to see some of our money to buy them with, which is nice, but believe it or not, we’ve never been in it to get rich quick. Everyone wants to make money, they’d be a liar if they said they didn’t, but we’ve never said, ‘OK we’ll have the money now and live like pop stars!’

Things for the home? ‘Well, Freddie loves antique things, but I like modern, practical things that look good.’

We got round to talking about clothes next, and whether Freddie always looks so immaculate. ‘Oh god, yes. That’s not a put-on thing with Freddie. I remember years ago, when Freddie used to sleep on my floor, he didn’t have a bean, but he’d always produce from nowhere, these immaculately-pressed trousers. He wouldn’t dream of wearing anything slightly scruffy.

Clothes on girls? ‘I don’t like baggy clothes, baggy trousers, or great high shoes. I like girls to look butch, but with a feminine touch — something like smart jeans.’

And Queen in the future? ‘We want to go on getting better. We particularly want to keep playing live for good audiences.’ Killer Queen? They certainly are!