Brian was recently interviewed by Maxim Magazine April 2014 edition ahead of his Moscow concert with Kerry Ellis – and this appears in the April 2014 edition:
PLEASE NOTE: THIS IS A ROUGH GOOGLE TRANSLATION =========================================
MAXIM – March 2014
QUEEN GUITARIST BRIAN MAY: “THE ISSUE OF ALCOHOL AND DRUG ABUSE WAS NOT ON OUR AGENDA”
Legendary Party Queen olden days are remembered and told why everyone should come on March 16 at his Moscow concert.
Brian, there are rumors about a new disc with archive recordings Queen …
BRIAN MAY: We thought nothing was left. But then came up a few things, and even I was surprised that they survived. This unfinished record. With the new technology we are able to complete them without Freddie, as we did once on the album Made in Heaven. We hope to release before the end of the year.
You yourself will sing?
Why? Everyone wants to hear the voice of Freddie.
Click image for larger
Whereby of kuinovskih [old??] times you miss most?
Well, not exactly on the tour nine months a year … I still feel like a member of the family, which for all of us was Queen. It is no substitute. And, of course, miss Freddie himself. It’s like I lost a brother.
Than the real Freddie Mercury different from how we see it?
From the side, it seemed that he was light-headed, head in the clouds. But he was very focused and specific, always very articulate their thoughts, separating what is important to him and what is not. It sometimes seemed not very polite. If the wrong time come up to him and asked, “Can an autograph?” Freddie could say, “No, you can not.” And if he was very busy, he could speak and stronger: “F**k off, darling”. And many responded this way: “Wow! Freddie Mercury himself told me ‘F**k off’! Wow! “I remember we had to play in South America, there was a quarter of a million spectators. And before the show, the interviewer asked him, “What is it – to speak [perform] before such a huge audience?” Freddie said: “I do not know, we do not yet made,” [Haven’t done it yet] that we are very amused.
You wrote half the hits Queen, but for the layman Queen – Freddie is. Not hurt?
No. Freddie was the face of the group, and it was our common conscious decision. I myself came up with the cover design of the first disk, and there, if you remember, we have only he in the spotlight.
Brian, you are not quite typical rock star: scientist, astronomer, no drugs and alcohol, no bullying.
Perhaps it’s true, I’m not typical. While we were all in their own way atypical. But no one ever came to me and said: “Why do not you defeated [demolish] a hotel room? You’re a rock star! “Yes, we threw a fun party, but the issue of alcoholism and drug addiction was not on our agenda.
We are still under the impression of your presentation to George Michael tribute to the memory of Freddie. You never thought to ask him to perform with you?
We are very good friends with George, and he’s a great singer, but we are too different and musically and stylistically. So the answer is no. Besides, he has his own career, he is unlikely to want to throw.
What do you feel when your in the stadium sing We Will Rock You?
I am very proud … and always smiling, and even maybe a little blush. At such moments, I feel that music can sink into the human soul is much deeper than is generally thought of songs that played on the radio.
So, Brian, tell me what can we expect from your concert with Kerry Ellis? This is for your fans, fans of Queen or just for music lovers?
I think it’s for those and for others, and for third. Our performances are not like Kerry concerts Queen, although we will perform many songs from the repertoire of Queen. This is something intimate, free and varying times from time. As if it is happening at home in the living room: we communicate with the public, burning candles, Kerry sings and I play guitar and a little keyboard. In this context, the old songs find new unexpected power. There will not only speakers, a little electricity too.
It is clear that wait in Moscow from Brian May. And what awaits Brian May from Moscow?
Since childhood, Red Square for all of us was a symbol of the enemy’s territory, something very frightening. And now, visiting Red Square and feeling warm attitude of the people to myself, I still feel some kind of mystique. And this applies to the whole of Moscow. Over the years, Moscow Europeanized, but I would not want her to lose that mystique.
You well settled into the new digital world:’re blog, sitting in the “Twitter” …
Accounts! Maybe it was given to me easily because I am, as you know, also an astrophysicist, scientist. I talk a lot virtually, though during Queen I had little contact with the world, I did not even reply to letters fans – thought that I do not have time. And now I’m writing a tweet – and dozens of people I meet, and I tell them. I do charity, animal rights, and without the internet I would have just not been able to conduct this operates. [operation]
Brian May Best Solo Ever– http://youtu.be/JYabmM-uxdE