Post by Brigitte on Jan 21, 2005 4:36:33 GMT -5
This was just released on queenonline.com:
Queen + Paul Rodgers EPK Transcript
Brian May: Please welcome with us, our hero and our friend, Mr Paul Rodgers!
Roger Taylor: Well, we've been sort of thinking about touring for years. After Freddie's death the first thought was no, don't want to do it. It doesn't feel right and then we sort of considered doing it with various people but it didn't work out and Brian and I didn't feel quite happy about it. We felt it had to be right and I suppose, age rushing on and everything. But then actually Brian did some work with Paul Rodgers ...
Brian May: We did this anniversary gig for Fender. The 50th Anniversary of the Stratocaster and I found myself on stage with him playing "Alright Now" and it just seemed so incredibly easy and the chemistry seemed so great, it was such enormous fun. We came off stage and sort of looked at each other and thought, mmm, that worked incredibly well. There is something going on here and it really came from there. I got on the phone to Roger and said you should really have look at what we just did. I sent him the video and Roger felt the same way.
Roger Taylor: Then we both worked with him at the British Hall of Fame TV thing and it all just sort of all clicked. It all seemed very easy and it sounded wonderful. It's not somebody trying to be Freddie. It's somebody that is trying to take it somewhere else in his own direction. A lot of our music is blues based and Paul really is really a very soulful, bluesy singer and we just thought that was a really good direction to go in.
Paul Rodgers: We did a couple of songs together - 'We Will Rock You' and 'We Are The Champions' and it just rocked so good and it just felt so amazing and everyone just looked at each other and said 'well, let's take it on the road' and so here we are. It's gone from that, from really just a gut feeling that this feels good, let's do something, all the way to a pretty major tour. It's very exciting!
Brian May: He interprets the way he feels, the man's a poet. He's a blues singer, a rock singer of the finest quality, he's nobody's fool. He doesn't want to imitate anybody, why should he, he's Paul Rodgers, who really is one of the people who influenced all the singers who are out there at the moment.
Roger Taylor: In fact the first time I actually saw them was when Brian and I were in a band called Smile before Queen and we were both playing. In fact they were below us on the bill believe it or not, and we were a student band! For some odd reason they were first on and I remember thinking, Jesus, the singer … not only does he sing amazingly well, but he does all these things with the mike stand, and he moves like a snake, like a sort of cobra. And of course then they brought out a record, they had a lot of hits. Some great records. We used to spend a lot of time listening to Free.
Brian May: Paul Rodgers was a hero of Freddie's and a hero of ours in the days when we were starting. You know the "Fire and Water" album from Free was one of our bibles when we were starting off. So suddenly this person here (points to himself) went through a complete change, I just, suddenly thought yeah, we could do this. We could do one more kind of tour and the songs would mean something new. This would not be like re-hashing, like trying to pretend Freddie is still around. Suddenly we can re-interpret these songs with someone who understands what he's about, someone who relates to us and Paul Rodgers is the guy. I mean it's just… suddenly it felt right.
Paul Rodgers: I feel excited. I feel challenged. It is a challenging thing to do. They have fantastic variety of music and they have some songs that are really very suitable for my voice and songs that I can take to a slightly different place. It is a challenge that I am looking forward to.
Roger Taylor: We've been doing a lot of one-off's and sort of charity things and they are quite, sort of frustrating because you do a bit of work and rehearse up a bit, but not really properly and then you do the thing and it's over. With a tour you get a chance to rehearse it properly and really develop it and you get into a run, and you get into a routine and a rhythm and the tour takes on an energy and a life of its own, hopefully.
Brian May: The way we are approaching it, is really to try and cut ourselves down and not give ourselves the safety net. So you won't be seeing a big band with loads of members on stage. You will be seeing us, and mainly four or five of us; there won't be backing singers, there won't be back up this and back up that. It'll be fairly raw. That's what we'd like to do. We think it should be back to the basics like Queen were in the beginning and like Paul was in the beginning.
Paul Rodgers: Another thing that Freddie did, that Queen used to do, was very much have the audience participate in what they do, even to a greater extent than I do myself, which I am amazed at actually because I thought I did it an awful lot! I think that's fantastic as it is all about the fans, about the audience, about them being involved in what you do. That's going to be a big part of Queen and Paul Rodgers, when we do go out, that will be a very big part of what we do.
Brian May: We're going to give ourselves a long rehearsal time, you know, no pressure. Try a lot of things out, re-interpret things but fundamentally, yes, we will be doing some Queen material and some of Paul's material.
Paul Rodgers: We all love to play live, even though it's a heck of a schlep, the actual travel, the touring around, but we are prepared to put up with it this time because it just feels so good.
Brian May: We're going to kick off in Europe that's the plan. A nice mixture. There will be a lot in Germany I'm sure because Germany is a big place and a big Queen territory if you like. But a lot of wonderful places. Spain, Italy, France. Budapest we get to go to. It's hard to know where to stop I have to say. Once this ball is rolling, if it's going well, we're going to want to go on with it.
Roger Taylor: Well, we're not doing it for the money, although it helps, it's very nice. I think it is fulfilment really. It is fun but it is our profession. It is what we do and it's what we're good at and there's a lot of satisfaction in that.
Brian May: I can't wait! I have to tell you, the thing I am most excited about is playing his stuff really. You know, I want to play "Alright Now", I want to play "Can't Get Enough of your Love", I want to play "Feel Like Making Love", "Little Bit of Love". It's all about love isn't it! So why not, it's going to be great!
Paul Rodgers: Playing Queen songs and playing my songs - live. Put that together - I'm looking forward to that!
Queen + Paul Rodgers EPK Transcript
Brian May: Please welcome with us, our hero and our friend, Mr Paul Rodgers!
Roger Taylor: Well, we've been sort of thinking about touring for years. After Freddie's death the first thought was no, don't want to do it. It doesn't feel right and then we sort of considered doing it with various people but it didn't work out and Brian and I didn't feel quite happy about it. We felt it had to be right and I suppose, age rushing on and everything. But then actually Brian did some work with Paul Rodgers ...
Brian May: We did this anniversary gig for Fender. The 50th Anniversary of the Stratocaster and I found myself on stage with him playing "Alright Now" and it just seemed so incredibly easy and the chemistry seemed so great, it was such enormous fun. We came off stage and sort of looked at each other and thought, mmm, that worked incredibly well. There is something going on here and it really came from there. I got on the phone to Roger and said you should really have look at what we just did. I sent him the video and Roger felt the same way.
Roger Taylor: Then we both worked with him at the British Hall of Fame TV thing and it all just sort of all clicked. It all seemed very easy and it sounded wonderful. It's not somebody trying to be Freddie. It's somebody that is trying to take it somewhere else in his own direction. A lot of our music is blues based and Paul really is really a very soulful, bluesy singer and we just thought that was a really good direction to go in.
Paul Rodgers: We did a couple of songs together - 'We Will Rock You' and 'We Are The Champions' and it just rocked so good and it just felt so amazing and everyone just looked at each other and said 'well, let's take it on the road' and so here we are. It's gone from that, from really just a gut feeling that this feels good, let's do something, all the way to a pretty major tour. It's very exciting!
Brian May: He interprets the way he feels, the man's a poet. He's a blues singer, a rock singer of the finest quality, he's nobody's fool. He doesn't want to imitate anybody, why should he, he's Paul Rodgers, who really is one of the people who influenced all the singers who are out there at the moment.
Roger Taylor: In fact the first time I actually saw them was when Brian and I were in a band called Smile before Queen and we were both playing. In fact they were below us on the bill believe it or not, and we were a student band! For some odd reason they were first on and I remember thinking, Jesus, the singer … not only does he sing amazingly well, but he does all these things with the mike stand, and he moves like a snake, like a sort of cobra. And of course then they brought out a record, they had a lot of hits. Some great records. We used to spend a lot of time listening to Free.
Brian May: Paul Rodgers was a hero of Freddie's and a hero of ours in the days when we were starting. You know the "Fire and Water" album from Free was one of our bibles when we were starting off. So suddenly this person here (points to himself) went through a complete change, I just, suddenly thought yeah, we could do this. We could do one more kind of tour and the songs would mean something new. This would not be like re-hashing, like trying to pretend Freddie is still around. Suddenly we can re-interpret these songs with someone who understands what he's about, someone who relates to us and Paul Rodgers is the guy. I mean it's just… suddenly it felt right.
Paul Rodgers: I feel excited. I feel challenged. It is a challenging thing to do. They have fantastic variety of music and they have some songs that are really very suitable for my voice and songs that I can take to a slightly different place. It is a challenge that I am looking forward to.
Roger Taylor: We've been doing a lot of one-off's and sort of charity things and they are quite, sort of frustrating because you do a bit of work and rehearse up a bit, but not really properly and then you do the thing and it's over. With a tour you get a chance to rehearse it properly and really develop it and you get into a run, and you get into a routine and a rhythm and the tour takes on an energy and a life of its own, hopefully.
Brian May: The way we are approaching it, is really to try and cut ourselves down and not give ourselves the safety net. So you won't be seeing a big band with loads of members on stage. You will be seeing us, and mainly four or five of us; there won't be backing singers, there won't be back up this and back up that. It'll be fairly raw. That's what we'd like to do. We think it should be back to the basics like Queen were in the beginning and like Paul was in the beginning.
Paul Rodgers: Another thing that Freddie did, that Queen used to do, was very much have the audience participate in what they do, even to a greater extent than I do myself, which I am amazed at actually because I thought I did it an awful lot! I think that's fantastic as it is all about the fans, about the audience, about them being involved in what you do. That's going to be a big part of Queen and Paul Rodgers, when we do go out, that will be a very big part of what we do.
Brian May: We're going to give ourselves a long rehearsal time, you know, no pressure. Try a lot of things out, re-interpret things but fundamentally, yes, we will be doing some Queen material and some of Paul's material.
Paul Rodgers: We all love to play live, even though it's a heck of a schlep, the actual travel, the touring around, but we are prepared to put up with it this time because it just feels so good.
Brian May: We're going to kick off in Europe that's the plan. A nice mixture. There will be a lot in Germany I'm sure because Germany is a big place and a big Queen territory if you like. But a lot of wonderful places. Spain, Italy, France. Budapest we get to go to. It's hard to know where to stop I have to say. Once this ball is rolling, if it's going well, we're going to want to go on with it.
Roger Taylor: Well, we're not doing it for the money, although it helps, it's very nice. I think it is fulfilment really. It is fun but it is our profession. It is what we do and it's what we're good at and there's a lot of satisfaction in that.
Brian May: I can't wait! I have to tell you, the thing I am most excited about is playing his stuff really. You know, I want to play "Alright Now", I want to play "Can't Get Enough of your Love", I want to play "Feel Like Making Love", "Little Bit of Love". It's all about love isn't it! So why not, it's going to be great!
Paul Rodgers: Playing Queen songs and playing my songs - live. Put that together - I'm looking forward to that!
| OB - SWB!
Tiggy the 'Dreamer' ;D