Mary Turner 1984 Interview
This interview with conducted by American
Westwood One 'Off The Record' radio host Mary Turner. It was
recorded in Munich, Germany, in 1984. Given that Freddie talks
about the recently completed 'I Want To Break Free' promo video,
and the fact that he hasn't done much work on his solo album, it
was likely recorded in March 1984; the 'I Want To Break Free'
single was released on 2 April, and many of the early demos of
'Mr Bad Guy' tracks were recorded in April and May, so the
interview must precede these.
This is a lengthy interview, lasting 74:10. Freddie is obviously
very relaxed, smoking and drinking throughout, and it makes a
very interesting interview, with Freddie talking about the latest
album 'The Works', promo videos, songwriting, recording, his solo
project, future plans, and other aspects of his life and career.
The interview was released on a CD as part of the 'The Great
Pretender' book in 2012. The disc is housed in a red wallet,
attached to the inside cover of the front sleeve. I have added
breaks to the interview, however these are just to make it easier
to read and do not mean there is an actual break in the
interview.
Other interviews of interest are the numerous David Wigg Interviews, the 'A
Musical Prostitute' 1984 interview and 'The
Last Interview' from 1987.
Mary: I wanna talk first of all about Munich as
an environment. Do you think where you record an album has
something to do with the way it sounds?
Freddie: Oh, very much so, very much so. I think, with us, I
think, always a different environment helps, I mean, we don't
really like going to the same, in the early days we used to go on
the same studios all the time, and after a while it really got
you down, and we went, the last couple of years we went out of
our way to actually go to different studios, so that we just, so
that it was new, it was fresh, but mind you having said that, I
contradict myself, this is the only studio we do come back now,
just at the tail end, is Munich, because we know what it's like
for the tail end, whereas for, to start now we try something
different, like the last album was done in L.A, that was the
first time we ever used those studios, fuck I forget what the
name was, er, oh God, er, oh you must know
Mary: It was at the Record Plant
Freddie: Yes, Record Plant, that's right (laughs). I forget, I
forget, my God
Mary: I'm gonna need this to be kinda more (talking about the
microphone)
Freddie: Even here it's not happening?
Mary: Well it's happening, but it puts more on mic, you know,
unless you're talking directly into it. Erm, yeah, came to see
you guys at the Record Plant when, you were there, I don't
remember what month that was, and there was me, Brian, and the
engineer, waiting for all the rest of you. I don't know where you
guys were but you never showed
Freddie: I didn't, I didn't see you there, did I?
Mary: No, but er, Munich, as opposed to your own studio in
Montreux?
Freddie: I hate my studio to be honest (laugh). They'll kill me
for saying that. No, I mean, we've used that as well you see, and
I, oh God, they'll kill me for saying this, I, I like Montreux,
but I mean only for like a couple of days, and that's not enough
to make an album. It's nice, it's very scenic, I mean you've got
a wonderful view, it's a beautiful lake, and it's nice, I mean I
just, I don't mind doing, I don't mind doing a few, maybe the odd
track there, but I mean I'd hate to sort of think beforehand that
I'd be saddled with a whole album over there, or even a major
part of it, I just couldn't go through with it, in, you know, in
our own studios. Munich I like, because I like the city, I like,
it's very clean, it's very safe, when you live in New York and
then you come to Munich you just think, you, you can have your
car, and you can park it anywhere without thinking oh God it's
gonna be gone by the time you come back, and it's just different,
it's, apart from the fact that everybody speaks German, (laughs),
it's OK, I'm learning a little bit of German too
Mary: But you also did, was it the mixing of this album in L.A?
Freddie: No, the mixing was done here (Mary: oh the mixing was
done) that's why I said earlier on, it's nice to come back to,
for the tail end, it's nice to come back to a studio that you do
know, and recognise, so that you know what the sounds are gonna
be like
Mary: Is this the first digitally mastered album you've done?
Freddie: Yeah, yeah, that's right, yeah
Mary: What's, what's that mean?
Freddie: Oh, don't ask me, I don't know tech-, I don't know
tech-, you have to ask Mack, it's just, you just get a cleaner
sound, and you just bypass certain generations of tape that way,
you know it's just a new way of doing it, it's all very clean,
and you virtually get, you virtually get the kind of sound that
you do create in the studio, outside, because most of the times
when you, when you do it in the studio, and by the time it gets
on record, it's, it's, you know, you lose a generation, and sort
of, it's just, it's basically just trying to get the cleanest
sound possible that you can get, and digital masterings are
almost there, you know, they're the cleanest at the moment. Apart
from that, that is about as much technology I know. Ask me about
something more fruity, go on
Mary: OK, the last album was kind of a, we talked about it when
it came out, kind of a departure for Queen, and it seems on this,
you know more on the funky side it was
Freddie: Yeah, everybody seemed to hate it, it was just something
different, it was very different, we were out on a limb, and we
wanted to do something, and I still think that it was a good
album, I mean, I know it didn't, of course the only way people
gauge albums these days is if it was successful or not. If it's a
successful album, then it's a good album, I mean you know, that's
the way I guess you have to gauge it, but I, but, for a musician
I mean of course, I mean, we wouldn't have put it out if we
thought it was as second rate album to start with, I mean, but we
were, we were out on a limb, we wanted to do the things that a
rock 'n' roll act hadn't done before, I mean, go straight into
the black area and do funky stuff and, and it's OK if you sort of
do things like that in the beginning, but after a while if a
group is, you know if people sort of get to know you in a
particular way, and then you change so quickly sometimes you
know, it's hard to grasp, and then the timing and, you know, it's
got to be, it's gotta come out at the right time, I still think
that if that album say came out about say now, people would be
more aware of it, wouldn't you say (Mary agrees) at that time,
you know, now that Michael Jackson has suddenly happened and,
and, you know it's being at the right place at the right time
Mary: Speaking of Michael Jackson, you guys are good pals
Freddie: Yeah, yeah, we're still, well we worked, we worked on
three tracks, I mean that's about a year ago, and we still
haven't finished them. My sort of projects never seem to get
finished, I don't know why (Mary laughs). Maybe it's me, maybe
it's me. No it's, he's very busy, we talk to each other now and
again, and firstly I was gonna be on the 'Thriller' album, then I
was supposed to do something for The Jacksons album, and he's in
L.A, I'm in Munich, and, well something might happen on my solo
album you see, I've got something up my sleeve (Mary: a-ha) if
there's time, you know, I might go to L.A or, and finish these
tracks, you know, I'd like to finish the tracks, the funny thing
about it, we wrote a song together called 'Victory', we haven't
finished it at all, and I hear that the Jacksons new album is
called 'Victory', but I don't think the song's on it, so he's
just used the title. I'll kill him if he's used the song without
me
Mary: You hear that, Michael. He's taking a ton of crap right now
from Jehovah's Witnesses, I guess he's quite a religious guy,
right? Well they're saying that he's much too suggestive and
Freddie: No, he is a Jehovah's Witness, so I mean
Mary: But they're saying, they're saying that he's not behaving
like one and he seems like rather a clean living kind of person
to me
Freddie: I don't know, to be honest I don't know, how does, how
does one live like a Jehovah's Witness? I mean I suppose you've
got to do, the only thing I know about that is there's, you're
not allowed to have any blood transfusions and things like that,
which I think he's deadly against, you know. I don't know, I
didn't know that he was, I thought he was quite, quite keen on
that thing, I know he loves animals and things like that, he's
OK, he's alright
Mary: I think it's the dancing that's got them down. I think they
think it's -
Freddie: Is that it? He's got to do something for a living, my
God. He's a musician and, I don't know, I think, I think he does
everything quite, quite OK, I think, I mean I couldn't do what he
does, because I mean it's a totally different life, I mean he's
just, doesn't eat meat and, but each to his own, you know, I
think in the end it's the music that counts, and he comes up with
very good music. He's a good lad, he's a real good lad
Mary: This being your thirteenth, is it your thirteenth album?
Freddie: Yes that's right, yeah
Mary: God that's amazing
Freddie: Number thirteen
Mary: Lucky thirteen. Is it hard to -
Freddie: Makes you sound so old
Mary: Is it hard to stay motivated?
Freddie: It is hard, yes, it does get, there's different ways of
looking at it, I mean sometimes you just think OK, you've done
enough, and you want to do, you do want to do different things, I
mean I'm still hungry to do things, but it's not, it's not the
same kind of hunger, it's a bit sort of, you know, OK, you've
done a cert-, and so, you think I'm gonna try this, and if it
doesn't work I'm gonna try something else, it's not that, it's
got to be this, and this has got to happen, you know, this has
got to work this time, there's no sort of, it hasn't got that
knife edge, but it's, there are different ways of looking at it I
mean you're, you're more mature, you're more experienced, and so
you have to look at it a bit more, a bit, with more cooler
outlet, you know, it's just got to be a bit more cool and a, I
don't know, I don't mean blasé by that, I just mean that you
just be a bit more experienced about it, you know you don't have
to rush things
Mary: Plus, I would think that change is very important to a band
that's been around as long as Queen, because how can you stay
interested personally?
Freddie: You're dead right, we hate each other (Mary laughs) we
hate each other's guts. No, it's just, no we've sort of been
together thirteen or fourteen years, and after that time, I mean,
if you're still together you, you like each other instinctively,
and you don't have to sort of think about spending social time
together and things which we, we hardly ever do, together, so
basically we only come together when there is music or, so
basically it's a job. I, I think we all look upon it as, and we
are professional enough to think about it that way, and I think
that's good, so we keep away from each others territories to be
honest, otherwise we would, I think I'd just tear all my hair out
and you know, jump out of a tall building, to be honest, if I had
to sort of, you know, live the way we did in the early days, but
that, you, a group has to go through all that, you know, to start
with, because you have to know, you have to get to know each
other, and musical abilities and this and that, I think we've,
we've done a lot together, and I don't know, I think, now, now
all, now all we're doing is just staying together to make music,
which is what we were initially there to do
Mary: Does the idea of 'how can we top this' ever enter into...?
Freddie: It happened at a very early stage, after 'Bohemian
Rhapsody', it was like, people were saying how are they gonna top
this, I mean if you, if you go sleep, sleep at nights thinking
about how you're gonna top what you did, I mean you just, that is
gonna be your downfall, you know you've just got to say OK it's
done, that's the way I, I look at it, I mean music is just, it's
a big consumer thing, you just, you just consume, as far as our
music is, I think I said the last time, as far as our music is
concerned, people should just listen to it and discard it and
wait, and wait for, that's what people do, wait for the next one
(Mary: dispos-) I don't like harping on, of course they keep
coming back, you know 'Bohemian Rhapsody' always comes back, 'We
Are The Champions', all that was, and people have to take note of
that, but I mean as far as I'm concerned, all those, those days
are over, that era is over, that type of music is, is now over,
and I don't wish to even think about it or write about it
Mary: Disposable I think is the word you used
Freddie: Disposable, yeah, yeah, that's right yeah, like a tampon
(laughs). Yes, yes it's, I like it that way, that keeps it fresh,
I mean even like say 'The Works' , OK, the album is very current
at the moment, but as far as I'm concerned, the music part is
over, OK it's still selling or whatever, but I'm thinking in
terms of what I'm gonna do next already, you know it's just like
it's, it is like a sausage factory after a while, you know, it's
like music is, it's become that way, I mean to me it's just a,
it's a packet of sausages you know, you just market it, and I
just want people to eat it and that's it
Mary: But you are, then, like a sausage company improving the
product, you're changing the product as the times change?
Freddie: Yes that's what I, that's what, that's what most bands
are, I mean they can't harp on one album, you know otherwise that
would be it, you can't make one good album and say OK this is it,
you know, you know, you know how, how much can you get out of one
album, you know, OK you can have it in your collection, and sort
of listen to it, but people want you know new stuff every day and
music is like that, and people do have to be very aware and
change with the times and see what's going on and I'd like to
think that Queen's music does change for the times, and I know it
does, I know it does, and I mean it would be awful to keep coming
up with the same formula all the time, number one it would be
boring for us, and I think it would be every boring for, for the
public and the press would have a field day. The press have a
field day with us anyway
Mary: And I don't think you would have stuck around for as long
as you have
Freddie: No I don't think so, I don't think so
Mary: I must tell you, when I was in London the other day and a
taxi driver, I told him that I was gonna come and see you in
Munich, and you were his favourite band, but he said he was so
pissed off because he'd seen Duran Duran on some TV show and they
said well we're bigger than The Beatles, and he's going God who
are these guys (Freddie: I know, well) they've got three albums,
where do they think they're coming from
Freddie: Well I don't know, sometimes people get, I guess they,
they're aiming high, and things like that, and then they sort of,
I mean nobody's bigger than The Beatles, I mean it's just
something that's happened, and you just, I suppose, I mean The
Beatles will always be a sort of, a sort of way to sort, a way to
gauge yourself, they're always a gauging point, you know, trying
to be bigger than them, but it's just, you know you have to sort
of, to be bigger than them, or even to sort of come anywhere
near, somebody like The Beatles, you just have to, it has to
start from the very beginning, you've just got to sort of, I mean
like Michael Jackson now is, in a way, one of the biggest things
going, because he's sold more records than anybody else, and he's
won all these awards, and this and that, that, he's suddenly set
a whole new precedent, you know, and that's what makes somebody
huge and big, and that's the way it, it either happens very
quickly, earlier on, or forget it. I know Michael's been in the
business a long time, but I mean to a lot of people, he's a new
artist, because he's suddenly changed, and he's still only about
twenty four, twenty five
Mary: God, is he that young, that's amazing
Freddie: Makes you sick
Mary: Makes me sick too. Would you like to win a Grammy, does
that, the idea of that turn you on at all?
Freddie: Oh, it would be nice, but I mean I'm not gonna lose
sleep over it, not gonna lose sleep over it, no. I'm quite happy
the way I am at the moment, yeah
Mary: Well you always seem to have a good time, no matter what
you're doing
Freddie: You have to, otherwise you know, I mean, I just, I
don't, I don't, I used to worry a lot, but I mean I just don't
worry about it anymore, I mean you just, it just ages you, for a
start, no, it's not, you just don't, you don't need to worry
actually, I mean you just, I'm not saying I don't have any
problems, of course, everybody has problems, but I mean, I don't
seem to worry about them so much as I used to before, you know I
used to be far more nervous than I, than I am, I'm just so highly
strung anyway, that I'm always gonna be that, and, no I'm not
worried about it, I mean, I just, I just want to keep moving on
Mary: What's made you be less nervous now?
Freddie: Old age, I guess (laughs)
Mary: Prefer to think of it as maturity, Freddie, not old age
Freddie: Yeah, I know, I said that, I said that, I said that
earlier on. No, I'm just more set in my ways now, and I'm just, I
seem to be able to control things a bit better, and that doesn't
mean just musically, it's the whole organisation around me, you
know things and people in business, the people who work for me,
everything, and I just, I mean I, I, I just sort of said to
myself that I know that there's always gonna be problems, people
always have problems, and I think what happens is you try and
overcome them, you try and sort of, you know, sort of cross the
you know, overcome the obstacle, and you do, you do that, and
then there's always two in its place, so I mean I've just said to
myself, that there's always going to be as far as, in my
profession and the way I live, there's always going to be
problems, no matter what you do, so I just think OK, I'll just
take, take them as they come, so I've become more sort of
complacent in as far as that's concerned, rather than worry about
it, otherwise I'll just get, you know I'll just worry myself to
death
Mary: If there's one underlying theme on this album, it seems to
be kind of lamenting sterile machine kind of things and the way
radio is getting, you know, that pops up a couple of times on the
album, it's not a conc-
Freddie: I'm trying, I'm trying to think, I mean, the way this
album is, it's just, I don't think there's a concept in it at
all, to be honest, it's just a bunch of songs that four people
have written, and they happen to be on an album and people have
to try and make a concept out of it and if there's a thread
running through it, or if there's some sort of meaning, it's just
a bunch of songs and sometimes two or three songs seem to fall in
one category so people come out and so OK maybe they're doing, I
know 'Machines' and the clinical part of it is one aspect, but
that's I think from Brian's point of view because he's still more
guitar orientated and, and he writes that way, as far as I, I
write just, each song is different, you know, I just, I had a
bunch of songs and I just chose about three or four of them and
they happen to be on the album. There's love ballads and there's
happy songs, and there's, I don't know, to be honest I don't
think there is any kind of concept that runs through it, it's
just, all I know is there's just, there's just about every kind
of song that you can get from Queen and, so we just threw them
on, on the disc and, that's why we called it 'The Works', because
it is the works, we just tried every, you know, every possible
attack on every, on every song that there was, and I think 'The
Works', 'The Works' is a good title for it. Apart from that, I
don't think there's any hidden meanings for anything
Mary: Because it does seem to have things that are reminiscent of
almost every phase of Queen, and you've gone through a lot of
different phases, because I was listening to the first couple of
albums
Freddie: I think after, after 'Hot Space', where we actually
tried to channel ourselves in one direction, especially on the
first side, we thought this time we would just leave it to our
individual creativity and what came out was a bunch of very
different songs, and rather than try and group them, and try and
get, force a style out of them, like you were saying earlier on,
and make a concept of it which 'Hot Space' was, more black
orientated and things, we just said no, we'll just let the songs
do the things, that's the strength, and then we just had to group
the songs together basically and we just thought, yeah that's
'The Works', we just thought it doesn't matter if a song is so
totally out of concept, we're just gonna put it on anyway because
it's a Queen song
Mary: How do you come up with the songs, is everybody writing
all, all the time, between albums?
Freddie: Yeah, it's very, it's quite, it's quite competitive now,
even just within the, within the band, fucking hell I mean it's
like, it's quite, before it even gets out, to the public and then
it's competitive with all the other bands that are around, I
mean, it starts off being competitive within the group, because I
mean, you know, they're four, four good writers, and equally sort
of adept at doing things and there are no passengers, so I mean,
especially now Roger's writing very well, and so is John, and so,
because Brian and I used to be the principal writers, now I think
that we all write the same, so there's a good, there's a good
fight right at the start and we just basically come up with our
own ideas and present it to each other and just say OK, what do
you think, and then the fighting starts, and if we don't like it
we just say, or you know, I seem to have more, I seem to
participate more on say John's or Roger's tracks, I mean they let
me help them and suggest more things. Brian's got his own sort of
writing ideas, and they're very strong to start with anyway, so I
mean he's just, I don't seem to be able to get into his ideas so
much, but in a way that's quite good, I'd rather leave it to him,
and it doesn't mean I just stay out of it altogether, I let him
sort of do a lot of it, whereas, whereas with John's songs or
Roger's songs, I mean I sort of get in there at quite an early
stage and they sort of, you know, they don't mind me sort of
tearing it apart and sort of piecing it back together again
Mary: Lyrically speaking, you mean?
Freddie: Every, every way. Yeah, sometimes I take, sometimes I
take the whole song over, like, well I don't mind saying it, it's
like 'Radio Ga Ga', I just instantly felt that there was
something, there was going to be something, you know, it could
build, that could, you could build that into a really good, a
strong saleable commodity, and I think Roger was just thinking of
it as just another track on an album, and I just said no I think
it needs, so I virtually took it over, and I sent him on a, he
went on a holiday, a skiing holiday for about a week and came
back and I virtually, but it's basically his song, you know, he
had the ideas there together and I just, I just felt that there
was, you know, some construction elements in there that were
wrong to start with, and he just said OK you do what you want
Mary: That's the first biggie for Roger, isn't it, first, first
hit?
Freddie: Yeah, yeah, yeah, oh, definitely yeah, he wanted that
very badly, and I think he, he deserves it, yeah, it's a big hit
in the Europe, in Europe and places
Mary: It would be true to say wouldn't it that audiences both at
concerts and radio audiences in different countries like
different things, don't they?
Freddie: Of course, it would be so boring if everybody liked the
same song
Mary: Well you know, in the United States though, it's so big,
but a top forty single that's number one in New York is almost
sure to be a top forty single in L.A too
But that's Americans, they're Americans, I mean you, you're
talking about the whole world, I mean like Japanese culture, the
way Germans consume product, it's just, it's all very different,
yeah. This, sometimes it does amaze me where if you write a song
which is, which is a good song and it sells in say three quarters
of the market, you're just, you're so, I get, I'm dumbfounded to
find out why sometimes it doesn't sell at all in, in say
something like America, I mean, 'Mull Of Kintyre' which is a Paul
McCartney song, was one of the biggest hits in England, I mean it
is the biggest single ever written, it's the biggest selling
single in England, 'Mull Of Kintyre', it's sold over two million
or something like that, and it was never even released in America
in that way, because he just felt, or the company or whatever,
felt immediately that it wasn't gonna be, so they, they turned
the single around, I'm sure I'm right, and they got the B-side of
that as the A-side in America. I'm sure McCartney was pissed off
Mary: I'm sure he was too
Freddie: Phoebe, want some more wine. Some more wine.
Mary: You co-wrote a song with Brian on this album
Freddie: I know. There should be an eclipse. That was a very, I
liked, I liked the way we actually approached that song, because
it was a, we were looking at all the songs we had, and we just,
we thought that we were, the one thing that we didn't have, the
one thing that we didn't have was one of those real limpid
ballads (laughs), or the lilting type, you know, the 'Love Of My
Life' type things, and rather than sort of, one of us saying OK
I'm gonna go back and do it, go back and think about it and write
it, Brian, I just said to Brian why don't we just think of
something, write it, right here, and that, that song just evolved
in about two days, he just got an acoustic, and I just sat next
to him, and we just worked it out together, and I like it, that's
why it's sparse, and the other thing is also we only had like a
couple of days to, because it was the tail end of, of the
project, and we had to get the album released, there was a
deadline, and that kind of pressure sort of helped, and I came up
with the, the lyrical side, and he came up with the chords, and
something just happened, and it's the first, first time we ever,
we never ever, see if we actually thought beforehand and said OK,
you know, Brian and I should sit down and write a song together,
I don't think it would have ever happened because I mean then all
kinds of egos would have played havoc to start with and who does
what, and this way we didn't have time to think about it, we just
sort of went in there, got it together, and if it didn't work we
were gonna throw it out, and it seemed to work, and it was sort
of quite strong, and we said yes, this should work very well as a
tail, a tail end of the album
Mary: I would have guessed that Brian wrote the lyrics, and that
you did the -
Freddie: Well honey, I did (laughs)
Mary: You altruistic little thing you
Freddie: It sounds, it's, that's the way it is, it's sort o f,
they sound like, like Brian's things, they're so more in depth,
and I know it sounds like that, but I can come up with those too
it's, it's just something that, no I mean I wouldn't like to say
that I wrote it all, Brian had, I mean he was there, but I, I
remember that I, most of the lyrics on that album, on that song,
are mine yes, but I mean Brian did help with the odd, the line
here and there, I mean if he wrote them I would say yes
Mary: Are, are lyrics important to you, or are they disposable
also?
Freddie: They're, they're, no they're very important to me, in
the fact that they're very, they're very hard, I find them very
difficult, and I, I sometimes feel that, I always feel my
melodies are much stronger, and I find that my lyrics seem to
sort of bring the song down, so I have to really work hard at my
lyrics to sort of bring up, bring the standard up, and I wish I
was Elton John and had Bernie Taupin to write all my lyrics
sometimes, but no, I like to write them myself, I find them very
difficult, they're the most difficult thing for me
Mary: Speaking of Elton, another good friend of yours, were you
as shocked as the rest of the world, his marriage on Valentine's
day?
Freddie: Same here, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I don't know, yeah, I
just, funny thing is I haven't, I haven't, I haven't talked to
him since, since he got married, so I mean I, I wonder what's up
his sleeve, (laughs)
Mary: Well Connie Pappas Hillman says that he wants very much to
have children
Freddie: I know, I know, that's what, I remember him saying
something like that and I said, I remember I said something like
if you want babies you just go to Harrods and buy one (Mary
laughs), I did
Mary: That's right, from the cradle to the grave, is that their
slogan?
Freddie: What?
Mary: The fact that you can get anything in Harrods from the
cradle to the grave?
Freddie: Virtually, yeah, you can get an elephant there, exactly,
that's what I meant, if you buy two you can have a nanny thrown
in. No, but I haven't, he seems to very happy, maybe he does,
maybe he does want children and that's it
Mary: Do you write your songs on guitar or piano?
Freddie: Well these days basically I just write them in my head,
to be honest, yeah I don't, otherwise basically piano, yeah, the
guitar part is over, I mean I used, I thought, the odd time I
can, 'Crazy Little Thing' was about that the last song that I
ever wrote on a guitar, I'm so limited with the guitar chords,
sometimes that's a good thing, that's why I liked 'Crazy Little
Thing' in the same way, if I knew too many guitar chords then I'd
sort of ruin them, but otherwise it's piano, but most of the time
I sort of conjure up things in my head now, and then I go to
either synthesiser or whatever and just play it out and, or go to
a drum box, you know I just get drum machine and get that, it's a
different way of writing now, you know, my whole way of writing
is very different, and before I used to sit, on, maybe I should
do that, before I used to sit on a piano and sort of really work,
work my arse off to just get the whole chords and the whole
construction before I actually got some sort of theme into a
song, now I just, it's a different way of thinking, I just don't
like sort of doing that, I just want all the ideas to come in my
head, and then they come out, it's a different way of writing,
because I just feel that if, if they're not in my head, then
they're not worth putting down, so, rather than, but then
afterwards I have to work, you know, I have to piece the part,
but I like things to, I like things to happen far, much more
quickly these days than before, before I was quite willing to
sort of come back to it another day, and say OK I remember these
few chords from last night, let's do it again, no, I'd rather
that the whole piece came together in, in the first session,
otherwise forget it, I try something else, yes, there's so many
different things you can try these days
Mary: Synthesisers seem to be playing a bigger and bigger part in
your
Freddie: Very much so, you can get so many, that's why I mean,
I'm trying, I mean I, I don't know half the things that most
people know about synthesisers, but I'm trying to learn, because
especially for the solo album, I want to do everything myself, so
I mean I want to make sure the, the things that say, say Brian
did, like a guitar orchestra, I can actually, if I wanted that, I
can recreate on synthesisers, and things like that, and basically
I think I'm gonna actually get a chance to do things on my solo
album which I, I virtually wouldn't want to do with, with Queen,
because I mean, say something like a drum pattern, I mean Roger
would always do that for me on a Queen album, but on my solo
album I actually want to do it myself, so I can actually, I wanna
program the drum machine myself, or, and things like that, so
that I can, I feel I'm doing things that I, it is a new, new area
for me, and I'm actually gonna try and do things that I never did
with Queen before, so that'll be a first
Mary: This Fairlight machine is pretty fascinating, isn't it?
Freddie: It's beyond me to be honest, but there are people that
can work it and, I think in the end it just goes a bit, it's a
bit too far, I mean gadgets are one thing, in the end you've got
to come up with a song, they can't write the song for you, I mean
they help a lot, I mean they come up with wonderful sounds, and
wonderful sort of ideas, things which can stimulate you and say
oh that's a good sound, let's use it, but they don't write a
song, you can program it to death, it can't, it can't write a
song, and basically, sometimes you can get stuck in all these
technicalities and ruin a song, I like to sort of, I like the
idea that they're around, but I mean you've got to be careful how
you use them, yeah. I basically like to think that I write, if I
can write a good song, that's enough, the gadgets come later
Mary: The solo album is a big challenge for you, isn't it?
Freddie: Yeah, I waited this long, and I think I better do it now
before I lose it all, it's just, no this is, it's a high point
this year (laughs), once that's done, it's over, and I'll go back
to doing Queen stuff, but I, I've deliberately taken a bit of
time off to do this because I mean if I do this project, I'm
gonna do it properly, I don't want to sort of, you know, before,
a few years ago I wanted to do it then, but I didn't have the
time, and I could've sort of rushed it, I really don't want to
rush it, I just want to do it in a way that I feel now the time
is right and while I sit here in Munich it's just the beginning
of my solo project
Mary: Have you been writing songs for it for years or?
Freddie: No, no, no, no, I have-, I've thought about it, I mean
you just don't, you know I just write songs, at that time all my
songs were for Queen and, oh there are lots of songs that haven't
sort of been on Queen albums, and I can sort of go through you
know, delve into the barrel and see what, but I mean, the funny
thing is, at the moment I write songs, and if they're not used,
I, they're virtually discarded, if you know what I mean, because
I just feel that if they weren't used then, then they're not good
enough, but sometimes some of the best songs are left behind and
if you sort of, you know, it's just knowing if they're good for
the time, or whatever, at the moment I just want to write
everything that's totally new and sparkling, and I remember, I
mean, Roger was saying that I have a batch of songs that weren't
used, I mean I could put them on an album and make a solo album
out of those, but it would be awful, it would all be rejected
material as it were, and I want, I want to come up with very
fresh material, that's actually me at the moment
Mary: Are you going to produce yourself, or will Mack do it?
Freddie: Oh, Mack will do it, with me, yeah
Mary: You, even on Queen albums, it's pretty much a
collaboration, isn't it, between the band and Mack? (Freddie
agrees) I guess by now you pretty much know each other's ways
though?
Freddie: Yeah, Mack is, especially for me, is a very integral
part, I mean he just seems to know exactly what I want without
telling him, and that, that is good, that's, you know, you can
gain a lot of time by that, rather than, at the moment, sometimes
when I just go into the studios and he knows I work, I work very
fast, and I get, I get very, I get disillusioned and I get, I get
bored very quickly if it's not happening, so he knows that the
moment I go in there when things are happening, the tapes
running, and he's already got all the, all his EQ'd together, all
the sounds together, and he knows that if I come back and I say
oh my God you haven't got the sound together, I'll get bored, so
he, he knows, he knows me, it's a very, I like this partnership
with him, I do, I think more so than the others, he helps me a
lot, because I mean I'm, technically I'm just not, I'm not just
very good, so I mean he really helps me in that way, I just like
to go in there and do the musical part of it totally, just the
creative part, and he does all the rest
Mary: So what's the first step then, in the making of an album,
after the songs are written?
Freddie: Well you've got to record them properly, with a good
sound to that
Mary: Right (laughs). Backing track-wise though?
Freddie: Yeah, I mean you've just got to get a good backing
track, you know, get a good backing track, and then you've just
got to piece the song together and then when you do the overdubs,
you've got to make sure you do the right overdubs, you can do too
many overdubs sometimes, and it's basically, I hate, before we
used to do, we used to have this sifting process where we used to
have a song, and we used to just put everything onto, on it, and
then find out what worked, I hate doing it, that's like putting
the kitchen sink on it, and then taking, then actually sort of
peeling things off which didn't work, that's the long way of
going about it, you know, now I like to feel that I know what's
gonna work, which, I mean it, it comes through experience, and, I
know, and I just say OK this is, and you have to make decisions,
so I just feel OK this is going to be right, and we do it, and
then we just shift it around a little, and then you say OK, yes
this is it. There's so many various ways of writing a song, I
mean you can just go on forever, and say OK I'm gonna try this,
I'm gonna try this, I'm gonna try this, but then sometimes you
can really ruin a song because you've tried so many different
things, you don't know what to, what's it gonna end up with, you
know, you have, decisions are, is a very, is a focal point, you
know, you just have to, you have to, I mean there, there's so
many, you can decide at various intervals, you can either decide
very early on that a song's gonna turn out this way, or you can
change your mind the next day, presentation, that's a whole
different kettle of fish, because, yes we, in a funny way, I like
the, I like the fact that the songs do change, because it would
be awful to rec-, I hate this thing about trying to recreate your
albums on stage, a lot of people come up to me sometimes and say
oh yeah, they sound just like the album, but they don't, I know
they don't, we, we sometimes deliberately change our songs to, so
that they have a different, I think our songs do change
drastically, you can make so much out of, look at 'Love Of My
Life', for instance, I mean you know on record that is, it's got
all kinds of different things, I play piano on that, on stage
it's just, it's just Brian playing the guitar and me singing it,
it's just got a whole total new look on that, because it works on
stage much better that way
Mary: Do you consider how a sound is gonna come across on stage?
Freddie: Before we write it?
Mary: Yeah
Freddie: No, not at all, no. We just write, we write for, we
write for the studio, we write a song to, and we put things on
it, so that it sounds the best for the record, we don't think
about how it's gonna sound on stage, because I mean that would
be, I think that would be limiting the actual song, I mean you've
just got to put, you've just got to give the song what it needs,
the full, the full quota, just, just for the studio, because I
mean that's what people are going to hear it that way, and then
when, if, if we think it's gonna, it needs changing for a stage
adaptation, then you just do that, you just change it for stage.
I don't think, because I don't think stage, the actual sort of
stage presentation should come into it, at you know, the
recording stage, because I mean that can ruin a song
Mary: How do you guys decide on virtually anything, there are
four of you, does majority rule, or does everybody have to agree?
Freddie: No, sometimes yeah, in the end then yes, majority does
rule, yeah, we do, in the end what can you do, you know, but I
mean there'll be other, well sometimes you have two and two, what
do you do then? I think you just keep it going until somebody
falters and goes the other way, basically it is like that. I
think that whoever speaks loudest in the end, or whose throw, you
know whoever keeps going wins, because sometimes, I know that
sometimes John just says oh God, I can't, I can't take it, just
make your decision, I don't care how, just go along with the
rest, sometimes that happens you know, and
Mary: Who's around most during the recording process?
Freddie: Nobody
Mary: (laughs) I've noticed
Freddie: I'll tell you who's around the most, it's Mack, poor
Mack, because he's, he's the co-producer, and he has to be there
for all the songs, I mean sometimes, and I do find that, that can
be, it must be very taxing for him, because there are times where
I just, I've had enough, and I can just go away for a couple of
days, knowing fully well that the others are gonna be doing their
stuff, Mack has to be there all the time, to make sure it's still
on tape. So I guess he, he's there most of the time, in fact he
is, I know he's there most of the time, otherwise it just doesn't
get done. But you knew, you know as creative people and all that,
you do need a breather, you know, you sometimes have to get away
and get out of this whole thing, and look at it in perspective,
it's like having a paint, you know doing a painting, I mean if
you're so involved, you just have to give it a rest sometimes,
and with me I know that, I find that if I, if I keep dwelling on
one project for too long, I ruin it, I know I ruin it, so I just,
I just give way, and I know that I have to finish it as quickly
as possible, otherwise I discard it and start with something else
Mary: So it's sort of like your first instinct is right?
Freddie: That's, that's the way I go about it, I like it, it's
like a newly laid fresh egg, you know I just, because there's so
many ways of writing a song, I mean you can just come up and
just, I write very quickly aswell, I mean that's part of it, I
mean, and so I sort of utilise that, I sort of, I work on that
and you know these days I just, I just go into a studio and just
get there and I have a few ideas in my head and, and the last
couple of weeks, what I've been doing is I've just been going
into the studio, totally with a blank, with no ideas at all, and
Mack sets me all these tasks, he just says, OK try and write
something with this tempo, so he works out the thing on just a
drum machine and I have to sort of say, it's like, it's like a
project every day, and like I have to finish it by the end of the
evening, you know, I don't mean the total finished product, but
a, an overall idea of what a song should be like, and I've been
doing that, and it's worked out quite well, you've listened to
some of them
Mary: A goal right, you set yourself a goal every day?
Freddie: Yes, yes, I think that's good, rather than say, OK,
knowing fully well that you have like three months or something
when you can come back to it, no I just say either I've got to
finish the thing today, otherwise it's not worth it, and it's a
challenge, it's a very big challenge, but I like doing it that
way on spec, so I go in there totally not knowing what's gonna
happen and suddenly I let Mack do, give me, give me the sort of
the challenge, and he says OK today write one with a, with this
tempo, or something like that, or write, he just tells me, write
something in this mode, so I don't have to think about it
beforehand, and I just let my creative juices run, run havoc
Mary: With just a tad of discipline on the side (coughs) excuse
me
Freddie: Well I have to discipline myself. But you see it's
wonderful, because sometimes the greatest things happen, because
you're not limiting yourself, you're not thinking oh a certain
song has got to be written in this way, because befo-, sometimes
you say OK I'm gonna sit down and try and think of what kind of
song do I wanna write, I wanna write one with a heavy content,
and the moment you start thinking that way, you're already
limiting yourself because you're thinking OK it's gotta be heavy,
I just go in there and just, sometimes if you're writing
something two or three songs can happen, because I mean you're
going, you're not limiting yourself, you're going from one side
to another side and you think my God this is, this is crazy but
out of all that you get, you got say a minute, or even thirty
seconds of something that is worthwhile, you lift that out and
suddenly say OK I'm gonna keep going with that, and out comes a
song
Mary: How, how far along are you on this solo project, how much
is done?
Freddie: Well, very little as far as I'm concerned, basically
I've just got ideas, and I think I've got some very good songs,
but now I've got to sort of, I still, I still want to go into the
studio, and do what I said before, just go in there and start
creating and then, I want like a, at least fifteen songs that are
running around and then I'm just gonna pick ones that I really
want to work on
Mary: You know, I would have guessed, just from having watched
you perform so much, that you loved performing more than
recording, but now I'm getting the drift that you really dig it
in the studio too?
Freddie: It's, it's, it goes in phases, it goes in phases. I'm, I
like, I like doing studio work, as long as it doesn't take too
long, and most Queen albums take a hell of a long time and I get
really bored, now that my solo project's coming up, I know I'm
the, I'm the one to blame if it takes long, or whatever, but I
mean I'm, I'm setting my own, my own deadline and things like
that, so it's gonna be fun. I'm not gonna have the others to sort
of, you know sometimes we can bog each other down, you know, if
things aren't finished you go oh my God, but this time it's just
gonna be me, so I'm gonna be able to actually, for the first
time, set my own principles, do my own deadline, and work with
that, and maybe it's harder than I think (laughs)
Mary: Time will tell. Do you have a title yet?
Freddie: No, I think the, the way, I mean because I've had these
rough cassettes and the engineers seem to write, you know,
'Freddie Mercury Solo', and over the days I've been looking at
them and I thought that might be OK, just 'Solo', at the moment,
so, 'Freddie Mercury Goes Solo', well it's to the point, and it,
it's saying what I'm doing, so at the moment I could call it
'Solo', otherwise I'll think of something a bit more wonderful
Mary: Would you have any aspirations at all of making a tour
without Queen?
Freddie: Well what would I do, I can't come on, I'd have to have
a backing band
Mary: You'd have to have somebody behind a curtain
Freddie: Yeah, no, no, no, no, I think at the moment all I
thinking about is just coming up with a solo album and as far as
touring, oh no way, no, I love touring with Queen, because I mean
that's, I have so much fun, it's like, we all have our individual
solo projects, all working anyway when we tour, so I mean it's, I
think, the way I think, I mean if it ever happens, is if I do my
solo album and then we go on tour, I mean I think Queen would do
some of my solo songs anyway, so I mean they would just be
recreating what I did in the studio anyway, in their way, and so
that would be quite good, they would sort of take it a stage
further, they would be doing my songs, I mean in a way that's
what happens now anyway, we all have little solo projects within
the band anyway, as you know, and basically we all just play on
them. So as far as that's concerned, no I don't have any
aspirations of going on stage without them
Mary: Is Fred Mandel becoming pretty much of a fifth member?
Freddie: Yes, yeah. No I wouldn't say he's a fifth, at the moment
he's, he's, he's working with Elton John all the time, you know,
he's got like a year's contract, he's a very good musician, and
as far as stage work is concerned, he's, he's, he is an integral
part, and we'd hate to lose him, but if, if he's not there we'll
have somebody else to do the, he just does all the synthesised
parts and the odd piano things, but he's very, very good
Mary: But also that gives, that frees you, those piano parts, I
mean how could a person keep do what you do without stopping?
Freddie: I love that, oh I love that, yes I love that, no but I
mean, he doesn't only just, he doesn't just take over my piano
parts, I mean he actually adds to the songs, I mean, because we
were losing out, I mean especially now that we're doing a lot of
synthesised work on albums, there was no-one else to do it,
because I mean I can't do all that and play the piano and sing
and run around, and it's just, it was a bit too much, I mean you
know, somewhere along the line, you know, something was gonna,
you know, there was this limiting thing, and we needed, we needed
another musician to actually do those parts, because everybody
else is just doing so many things all at the same time, and I did
need, I wanted a bit of freedom to actually be on front of the
stage, because I felt a lot of the times I was just sitting at
the piano stool and, I don't mind doing that for the odd song,
but I just don't like being restricted so much, and I wanted to
actually sort of sing the song, and deliver the song, while
actually being on front stage, and Fred Mandel helps a lot that
way, he takes over a lot of the synthesised parts and if it's not
Fred Mandel it'll be somebody else
Mary: How long has it been since your last tour? Phoebe and I
were just talking about how it's hard (Freddie: my God) to keep
track of one year to the next, it's been
Freddie: I think it's been something like, yeah, two, over two
years, two and a half years
Mary: That's what I was thinking, yeah. Because I was talking to
Bryn last night and she said well I've been gone for a year and
it was, and she's lived in New York for a year, and it was well
before that. You remain in amazing shape, you know I've always
been an admirer of your body
Freddie: Well it's sort of, it's still there, it's still there,
I'm working out and doing things like that, you know, I happen
to, to be honest I haven't worked out for about a month or so.
It's so hard for somebody like me to, to have a routine for that
kind of thing, I wish, I wish, I wish my, my, my work, my career,
only took place in say one, one area that way, then I could
really get into a routine, all these people with wonderful
bodies, they have, they get into a routine, they stay in one
place, they have a job that goes from nine to five or whatever,
and then they can go into the gym and work out for two hours and
then, then there's a cycle, so I mean you can, that's what, to
keep a, but for me I'm suddenly in Germany one week, then I'm in
London or whatever, and I just, it's, you know I'm flying, I mean
I wish I had a set of weights on the plane to be honest, so I
mean I have to sort of take that into consideration and I take it
from there, but otherwise, I'm, you know, I like to keep fit.
Sorry about that, we'll have a breather
Mary: Time to-, yes. OK well just to set the scene here, we've
now been to a wedding, now we're in an apartment upstairs from
the wedding
Freddie: (Laughs) that's the way, that's Munich. Actually, I mean
I know normally I wouldn't have, I would never get to do things
like that, over here they seem to look after me quite well
Mary: I wanted to ask you about that, because I know many cities
in the States, you're a very recognisable figure, and it's kinda
hard for you to walk down the street
Freddie: Well I mean, yes, over here, I think they're very,
they're very cool over here, believe it or not, I mean they've,
and it's like, Munich is like a village after a while, I've been
here for so long, and after a while they just sort of, you know,
take it into consideration that I'm around, and they don't really
pester me at all, they don't.
Mary: Does, is that ever a problem in your life, big cities, or
do you kinda dig it?
Freddie: Not anymore, I dig it?
Mary: Yeah
Freddie: Not anymore, not anymore, it's just a, those days of
women throwing themselves in front of me and tearing my hair out
and all that is over now. Culture Club are getting that now, so
it's, it comes and goes, I mean you know, wouldn't it be awful if
people are still sort of say doing that, you have to grow up, I
think, you know public, I'm not saying that we don't have a young
generation of people that buy our records, it's just that they
just accept us as being, you know, established, and it's a
different kind of thing. To be honest, I'd hate it anyway if
people stood, still started doing that, it's wonderful to
actually go through all that, I mean, everybody needs that, and
we had all our, you know we had those crazy scenes in Japan the
first time we went there, all these screaming girls at airports
trying to sort of run you down and things, all that's, yeah, and
the late, the last time it happened was in, in South, South
America, and, where we had to go in armoured cars and things like
that, it's all
Mary: That was like Beatlemania, that was crazy
Freddie: Yeah, it was just, you know, but I, I'd like to think I
can walk around anywhere without people, if they recognise me,
they basically just come up and say hello and ask me sort of
intelligent questions these days, whereas before it was, you
know, why do you still wear black nail varnish, and why only on
the left hand and things, well it's just, you have to grow, grow
up
Mary: It's interesting that you mention Culture Club because I am
struck when looking at them, not that you ever wore a dress or
anything, that I know of, you, you guys were that flamboyant when
you started, with the, you had Zandra Rhodes clothes and you had
nail polish
Freddie: Well that's, well I think, yeah, well I think, I think
that, well I think that happens, it's like a cycle, somebody else
has to take over. I remember saying that to somebody, it's
exactly the same it's just that it's a different time and people
are saying oh isn't he so outrageous, I mean we were outrageous
at that time, I mean look at David Bowie when he started up, and
Roxy Music, I mean we all have, there's always, you have to
start, I mean The Beatles in their day were totally outrageous, I
mean with that long hair, in those days people weren't, you know,
they weren't used to that, and now you're getting this sort of
very androgynous, I mean even I was androgynous when I started
off, but I mean it's really into sort of transvestite factor or
whatever, but I mean I think Boy George is a very, I think he's,
he's, he's very, very good, he really is (Mary: he is good),
yeah, I think he's talented, and he knows what he is doing and,
it's just that he's aware, when people start off these days, I
mean they have, they have all, in their belt, they have, they've
sort of, they've grown up with all, their breeding is all the
stuff that we've done before, you know, and, so they have all
that under their belt, and so it's, to me I think it's quite
outrageous what he's doing, but I mean I can see that that's the
way he's, he's starting off at this point, and he's just taking
all that, he's just done his homework and he thinks that's the
norm, as far as he's concerned
Mary: It's sort of second generation, isn't it?
Freddie: It really is, yeah, it's a sort of, well it's just, yes
it's just, it is second generation, it's just that he's a,
they're a new band, and there is another generation of people
taking on to them being new
Mary: You were probably his influence, or one of them
Freddie: Well he, we are friends, we're friends, and he used to
sort of say that he used to come to some of our shows and, and
there was one party we had a, a hat party at Legends (possibly)
about four years ago and he said he gatecrashed it with Marilyn,
I mean you've heard about Marilyn, he said of course you didn't
know me then, but I mean we just wore, wore hats and gatecrashed
it, and that's what he was saying, and I said oh my God, how
things have changed, you know, in the couple of years after that
he just become a phenomenal star. There you go, good luck
Mary: You're a flamboyant person anyway, but is the Freddie
Mercury that we see on stage pretty much the real Freddie
Mercury?
Freddie: Well it's, well it is me, I mean it is me doing it, but
it's just that I, I don't like to sort of, the theatrics I get,
basically that's what you're talking about, the theatrics I get
upto on stage, are me doing my job, you know, I mean I hate being
still and it's the way I let myself, I get into it, that doesn't
mean that every day when I go about in the streets or whatever
that I'm like that, no I'm just sort of, I'm basically quite a
shy person really, when I get down to it, but I mean I can, I can
be a real bitch aswell, just, I just let my characters loose at
the right time, you know, it's just I don't have to sort of play
the key role all the time, it's just, you know, it's just the way
I am, I'm just, and I don't worry about the fact that if I'm
suddenly, in, in someone's front room or something, I don't have
to suddenly play the key role, I mean I'm just, I just take it as
it comes
Mary: You just showed me the new video (Freddie: yeah), you're
definitely an actor in that
Freddie: That's the first, well I think we were all acting there,
it was just the first time we were put in, in these roles and,
see a lot of times people make videos and expect musicians or
whatever to sort of play a certain role and do acting, I mean
that's where it falls down, I mean there are a lot of times where
we've shied away from that, so that we don't look, sometimes if
you go into a little acting thing, I mean you've just got to do
it really well, and if you don't do it well then it just comes
across as really crass, I mean it's like musicians trying to act,
and, because they want to do a video, you know, you've just got
to be very careful, and this time, because of the fun element,
and the comedy element, I mean I think it worked, because we just
put ourselves, it's so farcical, and it's the first time that a
whole, well I know The Stones did it a long time ago, dressed up
in drag, but I don't think they did a video, but I can't think of
any other video where the four, you know the four principals as
it were are actually doing real comedy drag, and also from the,
from the standpoint that a lot of times, Queen come across as
very serious, I mean the music ability is always there, but I
mean we've always been humourous underneath, but maybe it doesn't
come across through songs, or whatever, and on stage we're very,
very aggressive or whatever, and the humour element is always
lost, and this time it was, it was a good way of showcasing that
bit, and I think we're all very, we've suddenly found that we
could actually do it quite well, it's just that we were sort of,
maybe restricting ourselves, thinking that we couldn't do it,
this time we said oh fuck it, we're just gonna do it and go
crazy, and we all sort of built our own characters round each
sort of, you know, drag individual. I seemed to cope quite well
(laughs)
Mary: Did it pain you -
Freddie: I've never worn, I've never worn high heels before, and
I've never done a
Mary: Well I love your garters
Freddie: All that, yes, believe it or not, a lot of people doing,
what's it like, even saying, New Orleans Mardi Gras or whatever,
or even just a Halloween party or something, I've never dressed
up in drag, I don't know why, and I kept the moustache on, so, I
just had more fun doing that, I think we all had more fun doing
that, because it was just, we're letting ourselves sort of, we're
letting ourselves go, a bit, I mean we're not worrying, so
worried about the, how we're gonna depict the musical element,
because we're always worried about that in videos, and this time
we just said we'll just do it, and I think it came across very
well, I hope people like it
Mary: It's wonderful. They're paying you to, you kept your
moustache on for the, for the drag parts, but you took it off for
the...
Freddie: But I took it off, yeah, because we suddenly went into
a, we did a, I wanted, I've always wanted to do this Nijinsky
role I suppose, but I just wanted to wear the costume, because I
mean I didn't want to dance like him, I couldn't ever, it's just
that, I always wanted to wear the L'après-midi d'un faune
costume which is a, and a, working with the Royal Ballet I
thought I must do it properly, anyway you know, I mean I could
have kept my moustache on, but it, that would have then taken
another comedy element aswell, I just wanted it sort of a bit
more serious at that level, especially if you're dancing with,
you know, real professionals, and I think that was another thing
I've always wanted to do, so there you are, two in one video
Mary But you really pull it off, I mean you really do look like a
real dancer
Freddie: Well I do my best, I do my best, yeah, I'm just a, they
teach you a lot you know, they sort of, one of the principal
ballet dancers from the Royal Ballet, Wayne Eagling, he's been a
friend of mine from a long time, he taught me how to do things,
and if I couldn't do them, I mean he just sort of, he taught me
how to cheat as well, certain things, and a, a lot of things were
very difficult, but we, I just tried them all, I'm willing to try
everything
Mary: So the Royal Ballet, I suppose they, they don't just appear
in any old bodies video, they're friends of yours, hey?
Freddie: Oh no, they have to sort of, yeah, so I mean, because a
long time ago, about four years ago, they asked me to do a
charity gala which they had, all the, the donations went to
charity, and they just wanted me to, they actually, this is when
I actually did it at Covent Garden, and they wanted me to sing
'Bohemian Rhapsody' but dance at the same time, which has never
been done, so I mean, but then they choreographed a routine for
me, but the things they did, they had me upside down, right at
the end I was in the shape of a cross, and they sort of levered
me down, and I was still singing the finishing passages of
'Bohemian Rhapsody', God it was, that was very nerve wracking,
but since then, I became friends, and so I thought maybe we could
use them in a little passage for this video
Mary: Doesn't looking at this and seeing how, seeing that you can
do it, that it looks fine, make you want to maybe think about
movies or something like that, acting anyway?
Freddie: I mean it's, you know a lot of people have asked me
that, I mean, it's just the way it is, I mean if I want to do it,
I'm gonna do it properly, and at the moment I just, I'm a little
scared of it, I mean I just feel that, number one the solo album
was coming out, and, well I'm gonna do the solo album, and I'm
gonna put all my energies to that at the moment, and then when
the time is right, maybe I'll do it, maybe I'll do it, yeah, I
haven't, I certainly haven't discarded the idea altogether, it's
just something that hap-, if it comes at the right time, then
yes. Lot of things I'm doing at the moment is also trying to work
with other people, and after having worked with David Bowie and
things, I mean the Michael Jackson project which might never, it
might never come to fruition, but I mean it's, we've sort of
started on it, but then also I mean I quite like writing for like
say different films and things, I mean a lot of people have
actually approached me to write for film, at the moment there's
one I did that's just, I don't know whether if it will ever come
off, is, they've asked me to write the, the title track and
another song for the new Conan movie which has got Arnold
Schwarzenegger and Grace Jones, well I love Grace Jones, and they
said that I could either write a song for her, and I'd love to do
that, so I mean, that's where that comes off, those kind of
things, so it's like side-stepping a little, it's doing things
outside the Queen idiom, which is good, I like doing that now
(Mary: yeah), I want to do that, otherwise I mean I'd just be,
you know, you know I just don't want people to remember me as
being just part of Queen, I want them to remember me as doing
other things as well
Mary: Do you think there's ever a time when people become, you
know, too old to rock and roll?
Freddie: I think that's true yes (Mary: I mean is), I don't
think, I don't think I've quite reached it, I mean, at the
moment, I don't think it's, I don't think it's a fact of being
too old to rock and roll, I think you can jig and dance about as
long as you want, it's when you, I just feel that if you find
there comes a time where your records aren't selling as much, I'd
hate to do a downward tread, if you know what I mean, and
suddenly still keep going as Queen, doing say the less of any of
it, I mean now that I've tasted the top whack, I mean I would
hate to suddenly think that OK we can't fill certain auditoriums,
I'd just leave them, and do something else, still maintaining the
Queen thing rather than keep going back and say OK you've played,
we've played say Madison Square Gardens say four times in a row
every time we do it, if suddenly we go back and we realise that
we can only say do one show, I don't think I'd like to do that,
I'd like to do something totally different, I'd rather go as
Queen and do a really small club or something, so it's, it's
different, going and doing Madison Square Garden once because you
can't sell it out more than three times would be a downward,
downward step, I don't want to do that, I don't want to do that,
yeah, yeah (Mary: get out on top), yeah but basically in the end,
in the end we're here to sell records, so it doesn't, to be
honest I don't care where I play, in the end it's the records,
and if the records, OK if one album didn't sell as much as the
last that doesn't matter, but if there was a sort of, if you just
felt inside you that you know the records weren't selling then
you have just do it in a different way
Mary: Nobody is a better critic than oneself
Freddie: You, you're dead right, you're dead right. Well
sometimes you have to sort of be very honest with yourself and
sometimes a lot of people want to keep going at it and, I know as
far as I'm concerned, my own personal character is that I just
couldn't do, I mean I want the best, and if I reached a certain
goal and I certainly can't maintain that, I'd just get out of it
and do something else, rather than keep, you know it's just, I
don't wanna end up like Gloria Swanson, you know, sort of, just,
you just have to move, just have to move to something different
Mary: I was trying to think of a rock and roll example and Jerry
Lee Lewis came to mind but shit, he plays great still
Freddie: Yeah, sure, sure, sure, sure
Mary: And then I recall that I've just gotten an eight by ten
glossy of Gary Glitter last week and you would die, this guy is a
big old fat blimp (Freddie: yeah, yeah, well, well, well) and
still trying, you know, give me a break
Freddie: Well, well, that's the way it is, I'm just a, I mean
rock and rollers can keep rocking, it just doesn't mean, mean
they have to keep doing it in the same idiom, you can start
doing, I feel we have, Queen have enough intelligence and
creativity to do very different things, and that's why moving on
to say musical things, I mean I'd love to write a musical one
day, you know, but I mean that time could come, when my legs give
up and I can't do my stage work, I can do it then, it's that kind
of thing I'm thinking, I just don't wanna, I don't, don't want to
sort of end up doing you know, thinking, hoping that people you
know, remember me as just being somebody who wrote songs and
carried on and did shows, I, I think, but to force yourself to do
things is different, it's just, when the time comes, and when
it's right, then that's the best time to do it
Mary: You wouldn't be happy just doing nothing, would you,
because obviously you have enough money, and financial resources
to do that
Freddie: Oh, exactly, no, no way could I stay at home and sort of
keep wiping my gold discs and platinum discs and saying oh what a
wonderful person I was at that time, you know, no, oh no, even
when I get to forty and forty five or whatever, I'll be doing
different things that keep me, because you've got to keep
yourself stimulated, you've just got to keep yourself, and, there
are so many different things that keep my stimulated, so I mean
it doesn't, it doesn't have to just be Queen all the time, at the
moment, I mean, in the last ten years or whatever, there's so
much within Queen that wanted me, that kept my adrenaline going,
that I wanted to do it, and now that's why it's taken me, people
from the very onset have been saying oh when, when is your solo
album gonna come out, a lot of people sort of burn themselves out
too quickly and go right, I mean I just didn't feel I wanted a
solo project at the time. Now the time has come, where after ten
years, after thirteen years, it's come and I really do want to do
a solo project, I really feel that I want to do something on my
own, but that doesn't mean I'll discard Queen altogether, it's
still there, it's just I'm, I'm sidestepping a little, and doing
that, and through that might come all kinds of other things, you
know, and like you say about acting, you never know, they might
suddenly, I might suddenly see this role that's offered to me or
whatever, and I just say well I can take, but if I do do that,
then I'll make sure I make a good job at it, or I'll do my best
at any rate, I'm not gonna do it half measures
Mary: How do you get to be so creative? Were you, were you a
creative little kid?
Freddie: I don't know, it's just a, a lot of people are creative
in their own way, it doesn't, they don't have to be just in the
music or whatever, they're creative, I just, I just have
Mary: But many people never have the opportunity to bring it to
fruition like you
Freddie: No but that, that's, that is part of talent aswell you
see, I mean you just can't, I've always maintained that, you
can't just sit at home and say look I'm so wonderful, I'm so
creative, I'll just wait, no, you've got to go out, you've got to
go out there and actually grab it, and utilise it, and make, make
it work, that is part of talent. Talent, having talent is one
thing, but to actually use it and feed it to the masses is
another part of talent, that's, that is in conj-, it goes hand in
hand. I know that, a lot of, a lot of people I know who, who are
very talented, in the way that I feel, but they just haven't made
it, because I mean they haven't got that extra, that extra thing
that's needed to actually sort of, it's called hard sell I think,
you know, you've really got to sell your, you've just got to sell
your arse towards it, you've just got to go there and, and ram it
down their throats and say here I am, this is, I'm creative, I'm
wonderful, and here, eat it, you know (Mary laughs), so, you
have, you have to do that, yeah
Mary: Even though success came very early in life to you, it
almost seems like you never considered failure, I mean you're,
you're so confident
Freddie: Well you mustn't, you mustn't, you consider failure and
you fail, it's just, no I just, I think my whole lifestyle is
like that, it's just, it's not just to do with my career, it's to
do with everything, it's even a painting, or if I take on a, if I
buy a house or whatever, it's just, it's just got to move, I
mean, if, if, if the house crumbles, I'll just build it again,
that's my, that's the way I think, I mean I don't go round saying
oh God I've lost it all, that's it, that's the end, no, I just, I
have this natural in-built drive that, that I think will always
be there, thank God I've got that, you know it's just, and
failure doesn't elude me, it doesn't, it doesn't, elude is not
the right word, failure doesn't, I don't get disappointed, I mean
people always, I mean you learn by mistakes and all that, I mean
it's experience, if something goes wrong, fine, you learn by your
mistakes and I just go, and sometimes I value that, you know, I
don't mean total failure, but I mean sometimes I value it, I
think OK, I know I shouldn't have done that, but it's the only
way you can learn
Mary: I can remember you telling me a couple of years ago that
your mom and dad when you first started out were not too happy
about your choice, choice of career
Freddie: That, that in itself, that in itself instilled me into
thinking that it should be right, I mean I, most, most of the,
you know, the best, the key figures or whatever, always had a
rebellious upbringing or whatever, you know, you've got to rebel
somewhere, I mean I just, I just rebel all the time, I mean look
at all the, like say the Sex Pistols with them, there was there,
I mean look at what Boy George is going through right now, you
know he's just, specially in middle America I should think, it's
just, you know they're burning his records and things, wonderful,
absolutely wonderful, and he, he knows how to, how to actually
use that and enhance himself. Notoriety, notoriety is always a, a
good factor
Mary: Are you on close terms with your parents now though?
Freddie: It's about the same, it's about the same, I mean I
hardly get
Mary: They must be proud of you though?
Freddie: Oh, they're proud of me, of course of they're proud of
me, especially now, of course they are, yeah, which is something
that, I think parents are always like that, they always just want
their, their son or daughter to do, do well in what they, you
know, what they choose, I mean sometimes, of course in the early
part of us, parents always have a pre-conceived idea of what
their, their, you know, their sons and daughters should do, but
afterwards, I mean you grow up, and you take over and I think, I
think a good parent should just basically sort of see what you
know, the son or daughter wants to do, and help in that way,
that's the way I see it, that's what a modern, modern parent
should be, but I mean as far as I'm concerned, I mean I'm just a,
I'm quite a loner aswell, I mean I just, I don't like getting
help from other people too much, I mean I just, I do research,
but I don't like anybody sort of handing it out to me on a silver
plate, I like to do it all myself
Mary: You do feel a great obligation to your fans, don't you?
Well yes I do, but I, my greatest obligation is to myself, to be
honest
Mary: Absolutely, it should be
Freddie: And, I have to do it that way, because if I do it that,
if I put me first then, then I know how to deal with myself and
come across better to, to the people who buy my records, and, so
there you go, I mean I just, it's a matter of policy, and
policies change, it's a phase you're going through or whatever,
all I want to do, I just don't want to the same thing over and
over again
Mary: Almost all the artists who have played Sun City, which you
mentioned, including Frank Sinatra, have received enormous
slaggings from the press about playing in a racist country, do
politics enter into your thinking?
Freddie: I know that, politics have, yeah, but I mean, they enter
into my thinking, but I mean I discard it, because I mean it's
just, we're musicians, I mean when we went to South, South
America, we got, you know, branded for, you know, playing, I mean
we went there for playing to Argentina, and we had a war with
Argentina about three weeks later, and the funny thing about it
was after that 'Under Pressure', which happened to be out at the
time, was like, it happened to be number one in England, and the
funny thing is that the stations in Argentina were playing it
aswell, for the forces, it was actually in the BBC news, it was,
it was quite outrageous, it just goes to show that we actually
didn't, I don't like to be political, music is very free, I mean
I, it's just it depends on who you are, I mean John Lennon can do
that, I don't write political songs, I mean Queen don't, Queen
write escapist songs, they're for people who can go in there,
escape, and then come out. I, we don't have political, hidden
political message, messages in, in our songs, it's just not the
way we are, we just like to play, and we're an international
group, we like to play to every audience anywhere, for music, and
if politics enter that then that's tough shit, it'll just have to
be, we, we don't go to different territories in a political way,
we're not, we're just an English rock 'n' roll band that play
music for everybody
Mary: Just a bunch of guys (laughs)
Freddie: We are, we are, that's the way I
Mary: I know
Freddie: I, we might take our music seriously in terms of, in
terms of the musical content and things, but not in terms of
trying to preach, you know, we don't want to preach through our
songs, songs, I told you that before, they're just, they're to
listen to, make people happy, it's like, I mean I'd hate, I'd
hate to go, to listen to any band who's trying to preach me and
telling me, or tell me about, people are aware of all the ups and
downs in the world today, and I don't want people singing about
them to be honest, I mean I don't want them singing about wars
and the sadness and whatever, OK I write the odd sad song or
whatever, but that's, that's neither here nor there. Basically my
songs are fantasy, or fun, or dance, or a certain thing that I've
created, but it's got nothing to do with the world that is at the
moment, you know, it's just, it's not political
Mary: Stickells said I should ask you about Korea when, did
something funny happen to Roger and John in Korea?
Freddie: Actually to be honest I don't know, I don't know
Mary: On this last little promo tour?
Freddie: Did he say that?
Mary: He just said I should ask, you know, he was yakking it up
Freddie: Oh, there you are, oh well there you are, I'm the last
to hear. See I haven't even, I've, I haven't seen them when they
come, they've only just come back, and I've left, I left town, so
I really don't know how that went, to be honest. I didn't even
know Roger was in town until I found out that he was back in
England, I haven't heard anything about it, I haven't heard
anything about it. I know they've been to Japan, Australia, I, I
know that Roger was supposed to go to Los Angeles, I don't even
know if he went there. You can tell me that, to be honest
Mary: I don't know, haven't been there in a while myself
Freddie: No I don't know if, yeah, I don't know if Roger, I don't
know what Gerry said to you but, no I don't know how that went.
Basically what happened was they'd undertaken this promotional
tour earlier on, and we were in the middle of doing the, this new
promo, and their bits were done, and then I, I had to sort of
hang out and work with the Royal Ballet and all that, so I was
spending most of my time routining with them, and working out,
you know, the dance sequences and things, while Roger and John
were doing Japan, Korea and Australia I guess
Mary: What are your feelings about so many bands seem to be
undertaking tours with big sponsors, be it a beer company or a
perfume company?
Freddie: I think, yes I think that's, that's, I think it's a good
step, I think that's another, it's a new form of making money,
you know, merchandising seems to make more money than normal
tours to be honest, meaning when you do a tour, you can get, you
can make more money out of merchandising than just ticket sales,
and of course the moment people, it's, it's all, it's a new
thing, it is a, like video is a very new thing, out comes
different ways of, and it'll always happen, yeah. I think
sponsorship is a good thing
Mary: So you're glad -
Freddie: If it gives you money, of course, yeah
Mary: (laughs) I love your honesty
Freddie: Listen, I'm here to, you know, I'm not, I think, I think
any band will do that, and I think we're into sponsorship as
well, but I mean at the moment we're sort of we're talking with a
very big firm, that I don't want mentioned, and depending on what
happens, I think it will go very well, yes I know, yeah, Pepsi
Cola with Michael Jackson and things like that, yes I think it's
a, it is, it's something that I think a lot of bands are gonna do
Mary: So the next step for your personally, then, is obviously
the solo project?
Freddie: Yeah, and I'm going to, I think a lot of things are
gonna evolve from that, you see, at the moment it's a, it's an
embryo to be honest, it's a very, and I don't want to sort of
start getting all, all the aspects of it all sort of creeping
out, I just want to, I want to be, in a way kind of left alone
and make sure that it's OK, and then start putting my feelers
out, and out of it could come all kind of things, like I mean I
could, I'm hoping that maybe one of the songs could be part of a
feature film, that would be one tangent, maybe work with a couple
of other different artists, so that that can be a collaboration
in terms, make videos on my own, I mean I'm dying to do a video
that I feel that I just can do all by myself, so there's so many
different areas that I can actually pinpoint from my solo project
and I think that's gonna take up most of my time in the near
future, and that's enough for me, you know
Mary: Is there not a Queen tour in the near future also?
Freddie: Well you see the Queen, yes, but I mean the Queen, near
future OK the Queen tour, the Sun City thing might happen say
July, or after, and then after that, that's what I was trying to
tell you, it's not gonna be like major, major tours, we're just
trying to think in terms of just doing exclusive concerts in, in,
in major territories at the moment, the way they're gonna be,
they're gonna come across, I don't know, because we have to still
work on that
Mary: If you got Africa, I'm coming, sounds pretty neat to me
Freddie: You mean South Africa, South Africa, oh you must come,
you must come
Mary: Oh it sounds wonderful
Freddie: You must come, I think it's a, they've always wanted us
to go there and they say we're gonna sort of just pack Sun City
out, they've been waiting for us for, for a while and I just
think now's the right time. I'm not afraid of playing any
territories, they've gotta be good, I mean you know, I'm
certainly not gonna go to Nicaragua or something like that, I'm
not stupid, but I mean, if the need is there and if we haven't
played there, I'd like to go there. I think most of the band want
to do that too, I think we're also thinking of doing something in
the sort of in the Eastern, real Eastern territories, like
Bangkok and Hong Kong, which we haven't done, and Sinagpore and
places like that
Mary: Pretenders did Bangkok I think
Freddie: Yeah, yeah, a few people, The Police have done things
like that (Mary: oh really), yeah, and why not, you know
Mary: Yeah, indeed. OK, my final question is, your birthplace is
Zanzibar
Freddie: Yes, that's right
Mary: What were you parents doing there?
Freddie: They were freaking out (Mary laughs). But they were
working for the, for the government at the time, my father was
working for the government and Zanzibar was part of the
commonwealth at the time and so he was a civil servant and he
worked over there and there you are. I never, I was, at a very
early age I was, when I was about seven I was put in boarding
school, in India, so I mean I went from Zanzibar to India for a
while and then came back to England and a very upheaval of an
upbringing (Mary: sounds like it) which just, which seems to have
worked, I guess
Mary: I guess so
Freddie: In a way it sort of made, I was like put in an
environment where I had to sort of fend for myself at a very
early age, which I think was a, a good, a good, what would you
call it, a good, I got a very, a good grasp of how to be
responsible at a very early age, and I think that's, that's
what's made me into such a fiend (laughs)
Mary: Well, you're a good fiend. Thank you very much
Freddie: OK
Mary: Is there anything I haven't asked you that you want to tell
me about?
Freddie: I can't think of anything, I've forgotten all the things
I've said
Mary: (Laughs) Thanks Freddie