Interview with Brian & Roger 30 April 2001

This was from www.queenzone.com and typed by the guy who used "cool cat" as nickname. His/her email address was jantinasdcp@wanadoo.nl   .

Well, here's that interview I promised. There are two actully. One is taken from the Dutch tv station SBS6 and the other is taken from a radio interview on 538.
I'll start with the one from SBS6. Sorry for the misspellings I will make!

Interviewer:
"Do you like Queensday so far?"

Roger:
"I've been watching tv this morning and it's great. Everybody seems so friendly. The Family walking around Amsterdam. Very different to our Royal Family"

I:
"Can you tell me a bit more about the musical?"

Brian:
"Well, the musical is only lously about us. It's not the Queens history or anything, you know. It's a story about kids in the future. But the kids get cluess from the past and we are part of the past. So it's actually great, it's very stimulating and we've been working very close with Ben Elton, the writer, who's a bit of a genious actually, uhm..

Roger:
"It's a brand new story though. I mean it's not really about us. It's set in the future, but it's about the music and it's about rock 'n roll. And it's the day that everything became harmorndenised and marketed and planned, uhm...it takes place in a world where musical intruments are a band. So it's an interesting, it's a very funny story".

I:
"Can you tell me a bit more about the cat, how's the cast?"

Roger:
"The cast is fantastic. We've got about 30, 35 that are all great singers, uhm..and they are all pretty good actors too, but uhm..the singing is very importent 'cause the band is very importent to the show. So we got a great band and a big cast, young cast of great singers and it's very funny, very exiting". (smiles)

I:
You're both be music supervisors, you're involved everyday?

Brian:
"Yeah, very, very long days. In fact I got one hour of sleep last night. So yes, it's been very taxing but it's very challenging and I think the results will pay off".

Roger:
"It's the closest thing to a real job I've ever had, I think". (laughs)

I:
"You've done many, many, many concerts. If you have to choose one, which one best turned out for you both?"

Brian:
"Oeff, it's a big fff there, isn't there. Well,..." (pionts at Roger)

Roger:
"It's very difficult. I mean we haven't done a concert for many, for years. But uhm...it's difficult.Things like Live Aid, which was just a little segment really, or..I don't know we've had some great concerts. The last concert we did was at Knebworth, was good fun. And the concerts we did in South America were great. It's very hard to pick one".

Brian:
"Some damn good ones in Holland I have to say."

Roger:
"Yeah."

I:
"Yeah? Which one in Holland?"

Roger:
"Well, we've had some great..."

Brian:
"In Rotterdam in Ahoy."

Roger:
"In Leiden as well. It was good fun here."

I:
"What does a concert need to have to make it special? It is the audiance, or is it..."

Roger:
"It helps if you got Freddie Mercury at the front." (smiles) "And a great audiance. We've always had a great audiance. So I hope thry are kind to us today".

I:
"You have done three concerts after Freddie died. When did you decided, you know, to go on with Queen?"

Brian:
"It's a very spontanious thing really. I mean, we've made the decision long ago that really without Freddie we don't want a replacement. So we just do what we can, you know. When we feel like the time is right and the situation, uhm..This is a band which we just put together in the last week, literally, for this gig. So it's not something to high level at to high poid, you know. I mean we kind of calling it Queen, but it's kind of an experiment and we really wanted to be here. Because it was a lovely invitation to have from Queen Juliana(she's actually the Queen's mother) and uhm..We just wanna have some fun and share some fun with the audiance. It's really not more than that I would say, it's a suprise."

I:
"How do you prepare for a concert?"

Brian:
"For this concert? Well, we did a couple of days fairly solid, just working through numbers and deciding what worked and what didn't. Uhm, we haven't wroked incredibly hard I have to say. But we were so incredibly busy with the musical that we couldn't. We would have died I think if we had done more than a couple of days of rehearsing. Uhm, I think there is a danger of over-rehearsing isn't there, you know?" (looks at Roger)

Roger:
"Oh yeah." (both laughing)

Brian:
"It's when...we feel, to be honest we wanted to feel spontanious and we wanted to feel like it is something new, and fun and exiting. So uhm, we prepare by just getting a sons list together, getting the chaps together, and going for it."

I:
"And do you ever think of retiring, or...keep going on?"

Roger:
"I thought we were!"

Brian:
"Yeah, this is retirement I think". (laughs)

End of interview.