After Queen singer Freddie Mercury’s demise in 1991, the legendary rock band seemed to be completed. However in 2004, guitarist Brian Could and Roger Taylor teamed up with former Free/Unhealthy Firm singer Paul Rodgers below the identify Queen + Paul Rodgers. In 2008. Traditional Rock journalist Harry Doherty – who first interviewed the band of their 70s heyday – met with the band to speak about their new album, The Cosmos Rocks.
Again in November 1975 I used to be granted an viewers with Queen. It was shortly earlier than the discharge of the band’s magnus opus, the career-defining A Night time At The Opera. I witnessed a bunch fussing and fretting – over what they’d most likely name the approaching escape of mentioned document – a lot in order that they went again within the very subsequent day and began remixing the entire blasted factor.
Virtually 33 years later, I discover myself in a state of déjà vu, however this time in a parallel universe. With Freddie Mercury sadly lengthy departed, John Deacon gone, having taken on the mantle of enigmatic recluse, Brian Could and Roger Taylor at the moment are on the eve of releasing the primary Queen album in virtually 13 years, this time in collaboration with the legendary blues-rock icon, vocalist and founding member of Free and Unhealthy Firm, Paul Rodgers, becoming a member of them to create The Cosmos Rocks, below the banner of Queen+Paul Rodgers.
And once more they appear to be dealing with the instant future with the identical form of artistic wariness, though this time they don’t have cash worries.
“Properly, the time across the launch of A Night time At The Opera was a interval of disaster for us,” recollects Taylor. “Our backs had been proper to the wall financially. We had offered a number of data and never been paid some huge cash – the outdated, outdated story actually. In order that album was our large shot. Had it failed, we most likely wouldn’t have been round for much longer.
“Aside from that monetary disaster, I suppose it’s the similar in a manner with the discharge of The Cosmos Rocks. Nevertheless, I don’t assume folks actually anticipate something with this. However as then, we now have acquired all this new materials, and we now have proved that we’re a artistic pressure and entity, and that this can be a viable operation.”
For the start of this “viable operation”, we now have to maneuver again in time to September 2004, to the Fender Stratocaster anniversary live performance at Wembley Area when Brian Could discovered himself on stage with Paul Rodgers – because the worthy substitute on guitar for certainly one of his personal heroes, the late Paul Kossoff – on Free’s All Proper Now. From these humble, chaotic beginnings, the regeneration of Queen would start…
“We got here off stage understanding that the chemistry had flowed. It simply appeared so pure to do this. It was Paul’s girlfriend, who’s now his spouse, Cynthia, who checked out us each and mentioned ‘One thing occurred on there, didn’t it?’ She mentioned ‘All you guys want is a drummer’, and I mentioned ‘Really, I do know a drummer!’. It began off as a really small factor, as in ‘let’s do one thing with Paul and see what occurs’.”
Sooner that you may say ‘we’ll rock you’, a month later, Rodgers was becoming a member of Could and Roger Taylor on the induction of Queen into the UK Music Corridor Of Fame, with All Proper Now joined by We Will Rock You and We Are The Champions in a barely much less chaotic however memorably historic mini-set.
“There wasn’t actually that a lot to it, aside from’That is attention-grabbing’,” displays Brian Could, bedded down within the automotive park of an enormous industrial park in Tower Hill, London, the place Q+PR are about to begin the second section of rehearsals for his or her forthcoming world tour. “However I’ve to say there was a second there that was important for me: when Paul pitched into We Are The Champions. It was so apparent that he was making it his personal. It wasn’t something like Freddie would have carried out and but it carried the spirit of the tune which Freddie had written. I instantly thought, ‘It is a lot extra than simply enjoying this tune; this can be a new world that we will go into’.”
Rodgers was reaching the identical conclusion. When it’s steered to him that he most likely thought this might be merely an attention-grabbing, however passing, experiment, he’s fast to disagree: “Just a little bit greater than that truly. Once we had been rehearsing the songs on the UK Music Corridor Of Fame, we had the janitors – and all types of different individuals who had seen all of it – popping their heads in and saying ‘what the hell is occurring in there?’. Once we created pleasure there, I assumed that was fairly indicative of what we might have.”
The phrase quickly leaked out to promoters that Queen and Paul Rodgers may contemplate touring collectively and presents poured in. When Could known as Rodgers to ask how he would really feel about doing a tour, doing a set consisting of half Queen and half Rodgers catalogue (Free, Unhealthy Firm, The Agency, solo stuff), he was able to take it to the subsequent stage. However the singer insisted that the set ought to be “Queen-heavy” as they hadn’t been seen for therefore lengthy. And he was very conscious that it was nonetheless an sudden collaboration.
“I all the time admired them from afar, however I can’t actually say that I went out and purchased all their data or knew all about them,” admits Rodgers. “If somebody had known as up out of the blue and mentioned ‘How do you fancy doing this?’, I’d have been somewhat extra hesitant, however as we had truly performed collectively, I knew that it labored on a really thrilling stage. The easy uncooked energy that was coming off that stage was so thrilling that I used to be very prepared to do extra and see the place it took us. And that has actually been the motivation behind all the things that we’ve carried out. There was a mutual feeling of ‘This feels good, let’s do extra’.”
And so it got here to move that Queen+Paul Rodgers (extra in regards to the much-debated moniker later) set off on a tour that was simply to begin with a number of dates and blossomed right into a world tour, taking in Europe, North America and Japan, with the reveals quickly reaching the grandeur that Queen had been famed for. They performed a “best-of-both” set.
“Properly, it needed to be, didn’t it? We didn’t actually have any new materials then!” laughs Roger Taylor. And now they’ve been collectively for 3 years.
“All of us went into it with an open thoughts,” provides Could. “The important bottom line was that it was natural; it wasn’t one thing that was shoved collectively to get us again on the market or rejuvenate us. It simply occurred as a result of we acquired on with Paul and we had been enthusiastic about working with the man.”
However from dipping their toes into the water, then their ankles and knees, Queen and Paul Rodgers had been quickly as much as their necks in it. And aside from that, it was nice enjoyable.
“We took it one step at a time,” Taylor explains. “It was actually a case of ‘Properly, that labored, let’s do this.’ There was no grasp plan. No person actually needed to commit themselves that a lot. However I’ve to say that I’m actually delighted to seek out myself at this stage in my life the place we’re. It’s very thrilling.
“Clearly, we hoped it could develop and searching again at a type of first gigs on the Brixton Academy, it was fairly tough and prepared. I keep in mind it being over loud and we actually hadn’t refined the method of working collectively. You’ve acquired to get that chemistry down, and it doesn’t all the time occur, however there undoubtedly is a good chemistry between us. Paul’s given us a critical blues edge that we didn’t have earlier than, and I wish to assume that we’ve given him a walloping nice wall behind him.”
Could factors out that Rodgers had knowledgeable him the day earlier than that this was the longest he had ever been in a band, and that features Free and the preliminary glory interval of Unhealthy Firm. The large take a look at got here because the tour was ending, and the consideration of what would occur subsequent. It was after a gig in Vancouver that each one involved had been saying their good-byes.
“Properly, on these large excursions, you’re away from residence for months and months and there does come a time once you lengthy to be residence,” Rodgers explains. “So by the point everyone has reached the final present, they’re very a lot on the flight residence of their minds. However on this tour, the final present was in Vancouver, and it was the most effective present we did – it was completely scorching. We got here off and everyone hugged and it was a case of ‘I’ll see ya, for positive! Now we have to do some extra.’ We weren’t positive what that ‘extra’ can be, however the pure step was to enter the studio and see what occurred. Brian truly mentioned to me ‘Let’s do extra, I don’t need this to finish’.”
What would that “extra” be although? To followers and critics alike, Queen carry an enormous weight of heritage with them, and whereas most Queen followers first endured earlier than having fun with the collaboration with Paul Rodgers, there have been few who even of their wildest goals felt {that a} Queen with out Freddie one thing that might by no means, and would by no means, occur.
Paul Rodgers was definitely conscious of their popularity and the sanctity that surrounded it too: “Properly, the manufacturing on their data was actually second to none. The readability, the good guitar enjoying, the energy of their songs was all the time very highly effective. They had been extraordinarily distinctive, working otherwise from everyone else. You need to admire that in a world that may get somewhat samey. They had been by no means ever samey. They’re full-on distinctive. And I feel that’s additionally what occurred after we went into the studio.”
Usually, Could and Taylor haven’t any hang-ups about previous, current or future regarding the Queen legacy. “Unusually sufficient, we most likely take into consideration that stuff lower than you’d think about,” says Could. “Everyone asks that query and they’re conscious of this legacy. However for us we simply do what we do and what feels proper. Possibly that sounds over simplistic.”
It does. No person needed to see them grow to be their very own tribute band, and there was a little bit of concern that that truly may occur.
“Completely! The world which we reside in is sort of small actually – Roger and me and Paul and some individuals who work round us. Outdoors this boundary there’s this large interplay with the world which typically we’re conscious of, however for more often than not we’re simply doing what we do as a result of we find it irresistible.
“There’s all the time that pursuit of one thing great; you recognize, the factor which you’ve by no means fairly grasped earlier than. That’s the beauty of rock. There’s by no means a boundary. There’s all the time some place additional. The eagerness for that by no means goes away. So we don’t ask questions of ourselves a lot as the surface world does. We simply enable ourselves to get on with it.”
Nevertheless, they did face two risks in taking this from being a enjoyable touring venture right into a band with a brand new album and all of the seriousness that that step entails. Firstly there’s the hazard of it being an arrogance venture, and secondly can they be the identical Queen model as earlier than?
“I don’t assume we considered it in these phrases. I can let you know that,” Could counters. “We simply thought ‘Let’s make some music and let’s make it good and let’s see how far we will push issues’. It’s the identical because the outdated days with Freddie: ‘How far can we go in any path? Can we discover one thing that has by no means been discovered earlier than?’ That type of factor…”
After which there was the identify. Rodgers initially had doubts: “I’ll be trustworthy, after we began out I assumed perhaps we’d name ourselves Could Taylor Rodgers, or one thing like that. However I didn’t thoughts Queen+Paul Rodgers as a result of I feel it has an excellent id.”
Was there a giant dialogue about it?
“Probably not, when Brian known as me up and mentioned how ‘Do you fancy doing it as Queen+Paul Rodgers?’, I took a deep breath and went ‘Whoa!’ However mentioned, ‘Let’s give it a try to see it really works.’”
Taylor says he didn’t actually know what they’d name themselves. “We simply thought it was going to be us and Paul and it could transform what it turned out to be,” he shrugs. “It was an natural course of. There was no general grasp plan actually.” And so far as he was involved, the “us” was Queen.
Ever the pragmatist, Could merely solutions: “It’s what we’re. We needed to name it one thing.” Dialogue over.
Could, although, was ready to spend a little bit of time contemplating the skills of Rodgers and Mercury and the contrasts in working with each inside the band framework.
“That’s a really troublesome query to reply. There are numerous similarities between Freddie and Paul and there are a lot of attention-grabbing variations. However it’s onerous to place into phrases, simply emotions actually,” he says. “Paul is a really artistic man and in the event you toss stuff at him, he’ll throw it again at you in a manner that you simply didn’t think about. And that’s precisely what Fred would do, lateral considering was certainly one of his nice belongings.
“Having mentioned that, there are variations in the way in which the connection labored. Considered one of Freddie’s nice skills, unusually sufficient, was diplomacy. He was superb at getting Roger and I, as an illustration, to kind out our variations and work as a workforce. Why would Paul even know that that was a part of what went on with us? Regularly, he has grow to be a part of that.
“Three is a wierd quantity in a bunch. You probably have two those that need to do one thing and one doesn’t, then folks can get pulled a great distance in a sure path. Ultimately we needed to get to know one another very nicely to get this factor to work. However Paul introduced some very alternative ways of working to us. He’s very instinctive. You sing one thing for Paul, a tune you’ve acquired in your head. He’ll course of it for some time and received’t sing it in any respect till he feels it and understands it after which interprets it in his personal manner. So what you get again from Paul is – I’m tempted to say a blues interpretation as a result of blues could be very a lot part of what he’s – but it surely’s greater than that. Engaged on the album with Paul was an actual voyage of discovery.”
Evidently many old-school Queen followers have, or at the least had, the misguided impression that Paul Rodgers had “lucked out” in getting the gig with the band, forgetting, after all, that the vocalist outdated Queen in some ways – rock historical past, chart success and the like.
“I feel that was a reasonably extensively held notion. The very fact is that Free had been well-known lengthy earlier than we had been,” Taylor emphasises. “Paul was certainly one of Freddie’s position fashions in a manner. You’ll discover a number of singers citing Paul as being the blues benchmark for rock vocalists.”
“It’s a really attention-grabbing territory we’re marking out now,” continues Could. “It hasn’t been deliberate. The hyperlinks are there, although, very a lot with us, as a result of Free was an incredible affect on us within the early days, and notably an affect with Freddie. He actually regarded Paul Rodgers as a hero. These guys had been stars earlier than we had been twinkles in one another eyes. Free had been, and are, an incredible inspiration. Fireplace And Water was certainly one of our reference factors together with The Beatles and Hendrix.”
And so, for the previous two years, Queen have intermittently been holed up for a month at a time engaged on authentic materials at Roger Taylor’s fully-equipped residence studio in Surrey. The one different attendees had been the technicians who would assist them document. As soon as they’d made the choice to make an album collectively, plainly Taylor turned venture supervisor. The drummer was the one that may pull all of it collectively and current the packages to his companions after they re-convened. Brian Could was busy ending his PhD in astrophysics, amongst different tutorial pursuits (“He’s solely been engaged on it for 100 and thirty years,” jokes Taylor). Paul Rodgers lived on the West Coast of Canada and had different musical commitments aside from his part-time Queen gig. That they had no bass participant, so these components had been divvied up between Could and Rodgers, each proficient gamers of the four-string.
Every of them would convey the early levels of what they’d written to every session, though in the long run, everybody’s contribution was deemed worthy sufficient that each one tracks can be credited as written by Could/Rodgers/Taylor, one thing that by no means occurred with the “outdated” Queen.
“You recognize, all musicians are buzzing spherical with concepts, on a regular basis,” mentioned Rodgers. “The query is all the time ‘Will your concepts gel with the opposite musicians and make a observe?’ And we discovered very excitingly that we might.”
In fact, they had been all wealthy sufficient to know that if what they had been doing was a load of shit, they may simply flush it down the bathroom.
“One factor I completely knew for positive was that it could not be shit,” laughs the singer. “Due to the calibre of the musicians I used to be working with in Roger and Brian, and as I do know what I can do, I knew it could be one thing particular.”
Taylor agrees: “Completely! And among the stuff didn’t work. So these songs didn’t make it.”
They had been additionally conscious that it couldn’t be like something they’d carried out earlier than, both as Queen or Paul Rodgers, who feedback: “We had no preconceptions about going into the studio – ‘simply convey your concepts’. And the factor that I like about working with Brian and Roger is that they’re very authentic musicians. They don’t method a tune with the perspective of simply placing guitar and drums on it. They’ve an method of ‘How can I put one thing on this that has by no means been carried out earlier than even by me. And I’m like that too.’”
They’re buzzing about the truth that lots of the backing tracks got here from one-takes reside within the studio, on songs like Voodoo.
“On that observe, I used to be simply enjoying an acoustic guitar, Roger acquired on the package and Brian was simply enjoying his guitar, and we simply jammed. And that went on the document just about as we recorded it. And that’s probably not what you anticipate from Queen, is it? Different songs have been full-on manufacturing with huge harmonies, however every tune on the album is totally different.”
It was fairly comparable in some methods to Queen’s outdated studio methodology, Taylor reveals. “I used to be capable of do a number of preparation after which the others might choose and select after which we’d all develop the tracks. It didn’t matter who had the primary concept, all of us developed the songs between us. It’s a actually good course of, very artistic. A correct group course of!
”That is totally different from earlier than however the identical, form of. The factor with Queen was that we had been an actual group. Everyone labored just about on all the things. Sure issues had been little bits of flights of fancy or songs that concerned just about one particular person. However a number of it was completely the group, and everyone firing in concepts and everyone working as a unit. Like now.”
I keep in mind at that Night time At The Opera interview in ’75 within the instant aftermath of recording the album, Could appeared a bit distant, not fairly positive if he had delivered the standard of labor he might have. Insecure, virtually. As we talked in regards to the recording of The Cosmos Rocks, he gave the impression to be considering an excessive amount of once more as he recalled the method of creating the album. He had been immersed and engrossed in his PhD which he would work on on his trusty laptop computer whereas on tour. However as soon as they’d set deadlines to really launch the album, issues turned rather more critical.
“An album is a dreadful factor to do actually,” Could ponders. “It’s such a giant a part of your life and it all the time will get painful at a sure level. And this was no exception. We had a number of enjoyable, we did a number of periods over the course of a few years, however when you’ve acquired a deadline and you recognize it’s important to ship, it turns into very critical certainly. The identical outdated issues rear their heads. It’s very troublesome. On this case, it’s three totally different artists with paintbrushes attempting to color the identical canvas.
“You get to a degree ultimately the place some actually troublesome selections should be made. It’s a democracy. That’s all you’ll be able to say and that’s the way in which it was within the outdated days as nicely.”
Queen had all this labored out of their former life, I imagined. How did Could react to the brand new third man?
“Paul’s nice. He’s very mellow and really nicely adjusted. He’s a really advanced human being. He’s good to work with, little doubt about it, however after all, he’s additionally nonetheless a hero to us in some methods so maybe we’re very well mannered to him. He’s nonetheless ‘Paul Rodgers’. We get the moments the place it’s, ‘Oh, that’s Paul Rodgers’.
“Roger and I – for various causes – are very well mannered to one another as a result of we all know the way it can go. We’re like brothers and we will struggle badly; so we had been all very well mannered to one another for a really very long time and maybe we didn’t air the issues that had been worrying us. And, after all, there comes some extent the place instantly the troubles grow to be essential and it’s important to convey them out, after which it’s a troublesome time. However that’s a part of the artistic course of, and everyone knows it. You possibly can’t actually make an album with out that painful burden, so we buckled right down to it and labored our manner by way of all of it.”
So it was painful?
“Sure, the final bit was, notably for me. All of us have lives as nicely and to be sucked in to that extent that you could solely eat and sleep and be within the studio is a painful factor in itself. It grinds you down after some time. The ultimate mixes which is the place 1,000,000 selections are made; the sequencing of the album, deciding who did what. It’s like being in a brand new group. These items include each bunch of boys that come collectively. Finally you assume, ‘How a lot of that is me?’, ‘Am I represented?’, ‘Am I being marginalised?’ All these infantile considerations come up. You need to be very grown as much as get by way of it.”
However Brian is aware of he’s made an album to be pleased with. As does Roger. As does Paul. As would John. As would Freddie…
“I feel it really works nicely as a result of we’re not attempting to recreate something that any of us have carried out earlier than. We’re attempting to be ourselves collectively, and that creates a completely new entity,” says Rodgers.
“I assume whether it is profitable, we’ll have the ability to say, ‘Properly, there you go, we will nonetheless do it. That was a part of the driving pressure actually, that we will nonetheless be a cogent pressure,” provides Taylor. “I consider The Cosmos Rocks as a Queen album with a twist. Very a lot so, as a result of Queen has been my life, my career. Most of my skilled life has been this band. I’ve virtually acquired it stamped by way of my core, like a bit of Brighton rock. It’s what I do, and we’re fortunate sufficient that individuals are nonetheless .”
“We discovered that we might make an excellent noise. It comes from easy issues like that,” concludes Could. “We had the gear in ourselves to generate an excellent joyful sound. It’s our love of rock’n’roll, and it’s nonetheless there, thank God. In fact, there are robust components of all of our previous, of Queen, Free and Unhealthy Firm. However it’s a brand new band.”
Initially revealed in Traditional Rock concern 125, October 2008
