FAN CLUB NEWSLETTER [AUTUMN-WINTER 2011]
Hi Folks,
Dr. Bri here.
As I write, I can still feel the distant glow of those few moments at Jacky’s Clapham show. Yes, I had resisted! I told Jacky I didn’t feel good about celebrating Freddie’s passing rather than life… and I’d committed to a run-on with my dear pals The Darkness on that night. But somehow the pull of such a loyal bunch of devotees was too strong. So I and my small team spent an exciting day running back and forth between Hammersmith and Clapham to play a few riffs in both places! I have to say it was so worth it. The warmth of a QFC event, with fans from all over the world having made the pilgrimage, is something to behold. So many thanks to all of you made that terrific noise! It was good to share the moment with my touring partner Kerry, who was so much a part of establishing We Will Rock You as an enduring show in the West End all those years ago – stopping the show nightly with a song called No-One But You.
This was the very first time I have ever shared the vocal on this song with her. Of course that takes me back further… to that grey rainy day when we gathered… a small, slightly bewildered family, the remains of Queen, on the shores of Lake Geneva. It was the day the unveiling of the Freddie statue. It was, on the one hand, a kind of triumph, because Freddie was being recognised, immortalised, and shown respect by the community of Montreux where we all shared so many of Freddie’s last days on this planet. But on the other hand, I can tell you nobody wants to experience that moment when the only physical remnant of a dear friend and family member is a bronze effigy. I couldn’t really contain my irrational anger, so I hid away in a corner after the umbrella ceremony and out poured a strange song – my personal goodbye to probably the greatest Rock front man the world has ever seen.
I recorded the first full version of the song a few weeks later back home… and felt it was probably too personal a statement to come under the Queen banner. But it was Roger, on hearing it, said… “this is an important song, and something we must do together”. And soon there we were, in the studio, Roger, John, and myself, putting the finishing touches to the last Queen song, and the only Queen song in which Freddie’s voice is not heard, except in spirit.
Why am I re-telling all this? Because I want to say thank you to Jacky for being so persistent, so unwavering, in her untiring work for the Queen fan club, and for constantly reminding us that the core of whatever it was that began to lift Queen out of obscurity in 1970 is still there. I’m proud every time No-One But You is played or sung as a tribute to Freddie, and just once in a while to be part of the performance, in the midst of eternal friends, is a treat.
What else is new? Well, we had a great night with Adam Lambert at the EMA’s in Belfast, as many of you noticed… we are keeping in touch, and perhaps there is a chance to explore this collaboration further. And by the time you read this, you will probably be aware of another collaboration, which happened almost by accident, as many of the best things seem to… and this is something (on record) which will be pretty unexpected, I think. A little splash of guitar on a piece of music a million miles from our usual paying fields… and I have a feeling it will sitting at the top of the British charts early in 2012. For me, life is always a balance between the past and the future… I love a new challenge.
A friend gave me a little book recently – called… The Present. I found it useful, helpful, in trying to reassess the flow of life. What does it all mean? Well, if you find out, please drop me an E-mail.
In the meantime… let us all be thankful that there is Rock in the World.
Love – Brian
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