In a world-exclusive interview, Brian May takes you behind the scenes of the making of 13 iconic Queen cuts, and reveals what inspired his magical guitar playing in Bohemian Rhapsody, Killer Queen, Don’t Stop Me Now and many more.
Brian May is feeling good. “A little tired,” he smiles, “but very happy.” On a cold winter afternoon, the legendary guitarist is talking to Total Guitar from his home in Surrey, a few days after the North American leg of Queen + Adam Lambert’s Rhapsody tour ended with another sold-out date at the BMO Stadium in Los Angeles.
“Everyone in the States has been saying that this show is the best we’ve ever done with Adam,” he says. “So it’s a great result. Wonderful!”
Certainly, the Rhapsody tour – which reaches Japan this month – is a huge production with spectacular state-of-the-art visual effects. “I’ve always loved to make a show a real event,” Brian says.
In a lengthy conversation with TG, Brian discusses the creation – and his role specifically – in many of the biggest hit songs and landmark tracks in Queen’s career. Ten of these songs featured in the setlist from that recent show in LA: Killer Queen, Bohemian Rhapsody, Love Of My Life, We Are The Champions, Don’t Stop Me Now, We Will Rock You, Another One Bites The Dust, Crazy Little Thing Called Love, Under Pressure and A Kind Of Magic.
One is a hit that Brian wrote with his tongue-in-cheek – the OTT movie theme Flash. Another has great poignancy as one of the last Queen songs released in Freddie Mercury’s lifetime – These Are The Days Of Our Lives.
And finally, there is a fan-favourite deep cut from 1980, Dragon Attack, picked out for TG by one of Brian’s greatest admirers, Metallica lead guitarist Kirk Hammett.
As Kirk tells us: “I love Queen. I love all of it. I love all the stuff that everyone else loves. I especially love that song Dragon Attack.”
But before we get to that, we’re going all the way back to the 1970s, beginning with the hit single that defined Queen as one of the most inventive and original rock groups of that era…
Read the full interview on Guitar World
