Interview with Roger Taylor

Roger Taylor Interview: 9/XX/1975 - Circus

Queen's Roger Meddows-Taylor - His hands are soft but his beat is hard

By Frank Rose

If Freddie Mercury identifies with the Queen of Spades - the most arrogant and vainglorious card in the deck, he's quick to tell you - then Roger Meddows-Taylor must be the Queen of Hearts. At the very least he's the heart of Queen. After all, the drummer is the heart of any rock group; it's his steady beat that keeps the rest of the band alive. Thumping away in the background, surrounded by a veritable ribcage of equipment, the drummer is the one who pumps fresh blood into the group's sound with every beat.
Trouble is, drummers never get any attention until something goes wrong. Then open-heart surgery is required and things get very messy. There have been exceptions to this rule of course, like Keith Moon and Ginger Baker, but for the most part it holds. Roger Meddows-Taylor looks like the latest exception.
For although Queen is a new addition to the star gallery of the seventies and Roger could go virtually unnoticed behind the outlandish posturings of singer Freddie Mercury and guitarist Brian May, the 26-year-old drummer seems to be attracting a sizable segment of the spotlight. The indications are that Taylor has at least as many fans as any other member of the group, and it's reliably reported that when they go on tour he attracts even more groupies than Mercury -although he somehow manages to stay fairly celibate on the road. "I do have a good time in America," he modestly admits.
Nevertheless, Taylor seems somewhat surprised at all the attention he's been getting. "It is hard for a drummer - because the drummer usually sits in the back - to exert a strong personality" he says. "Especially when you've got somebody like Freddie in front. But we all sing, which is a help I think. Definitely a help."

Heavy Meddows Kid

The thing about Taylor, though, is that he's really a guitarist at heart. He has the guitarist's love of flash and power and the guitarist's sense of stage presence. And ever since he was nine years old he's been a struggling guitarist.
He was born in Norfolk, on the east coast of England, and he spent his teens in Cornwall, the summer resort area in the southwest. His background was respectable and ordinary - "the boring middle class," he calls it - but he's been captivated by rock 'n roll ever since the age of eight.
"It was like a bit of a dream then," he says. "I kept that all the way through my teens. I always wanted to do it. When I was in school I was always in little groups and stuff. I sort of stuck with it all the way through college. And eventually it got the better of everything else. It got the better of my conditioning, my middle-class conditioning, and then it broke out and that was it."
He started playing acoustic guitar at nine, and then when he was 12 he decided to take up drums and electric guitar. "Basically I was a frustrated guitarist," he says. "But I seemed to be better at drums. My father just bought me a drum, and I took to it and started adding to it and found I could get along well. 1 found myself getting better quite quickly, so that sort of spurred me on. It was at that point that I became a drummer rather than a guitarist – which I'd always wanted to be before. I think everybody wants to be a guitarist, but I'm' a better drummer than a guitarist anyway."
Taylor was a 19-year-old dental student in London when he joined his first real band - an outfit called Smile which also included future Queen guitarist Brian May. He quit after a year of dental college because he "just couldn't be bothered any more," but then he decided to go back to school for a degree in biology from East London Polytechnic. But by that time Queen has been formed.
"Brian and I were very disillusioned," he recalls. "But we had known Freddie and eventually, after about six months or so, Freddie persuaded us to start Queen working. Which we did. It was pretty hard going in the beginning. We had quite a few bass players, we went through about five or six until we found John, who was the only one who really fit in." And after that came the problem of finding the right contract, which wasn't accomplished until 18 months after the band's formation, when they hooked up with the new production arm of Trident Studios.
"We wanted to do it right. We wanted the right contract with the right people. So we were really very careful. I think we could've moved a bit quicker, but I think that probably was the best idea. It took a lot of patience, a lot of faith, but we got a pretty good deal in the end. We were offered quite a lot of deals by virtually every major company over here, but this really seemed like the best thing to go for at the time."
Since then, of course, Queen has scaled the rickety ladder of success with amazing swiftness. They've swept the British polls, placing first in four categories in the most recent reader tally. But even as the drummer for one of Britain's most important new bands, Taylor retains his love for the guitar. When he's not touring with the group, that's the instrument he most often plays. "I used to rehearse all the time," he says, "but we've been working so much on the road lately that I'm a bit sick of the sight of drums. But also it's a bit impractical to practice drums where I'm living at the moment. I'm trying to move, you know, find some place bigger to live. But I don't practice as much as I should."
Taylor lives by himself in a ground-floor flat in suburban Richmond, on the western edge of London. "It's got a lot of character," he says, "It's got a lot of history. All the old kings used to live down there. There's a palace, I think. But I certainly don't live in it myself. We're all basically living where we lived before. None of us has had a chance to move because we've been working really hard over the last two years."

Boiling over

If you said Taylor attacks his drums with a blistering intensity, you wouldn't be far off. One of the consequences of his inability to practice in his home has been his perennial victimisation by the traditional drummer's malady - blisters. He's been plagued by the sores on both of Queen's American tours, and the sight of his bloody nubs has been shocking enough to send roadies scurrying feverishly about in search of bandages and healing ointments.
"I've really had a lot of trouble," he confesses. "Blood everywhere and a lot of bandages. It's a really intense stage act. It's in no way laid back. It's pretty high energy, and yeah, it's pretty hard on the hands. At the beginning of a tour, especially if we haven't been playing for awhile, your hands tend to soften up. It's just a case of hardening them. After two or three weeks they harden up pretty well. At the beginning of the last tour it was really bad because we did a lot of double shows. That was tearing my hands to bits. I know a few other guys who get a lot trouble like that. Bonham tears his hands to shreds. The only way to get over it is to practice like hell two weeks before you come over to do a tour. Just keep playing all the time."

Coffee, tea or yen?

Despite the toll on his dukes, the man from Queen professes to enjoy the touring experience -especially last spring's, a 13-week affair which began in Columbus, Ohio and ended in Japan. But who wouldn't enjoy a tour like theirs? In most of the major American cities their first show sold out so quickly a second had to be added; there were riots in Chicago and at the airport when they landed in Japan. Definitely a heady experience.
"It was amazing," Taylor laughs. "I think it was the best tour we've ever done, too, in terms of organisation, reaction, etc. The audience were without exception excellent. We'd been told to expect less in the South and on the West Coast than, say in the Northeast and some of the Midwest. But they were all very good. We were all surprised at the L.A. audience and the San Francisco audiences, which were great. In fact we had to do an extra show in LA. I think the South was the only place where we played to a few non capacity audiences.
The audiences we got were great, but they weren't as big as we'd hoped. But there were really only about two dates I can remember when the audience wasn't packed in. We had a bit of trouble halfway through the tour, when Freddie lost his voice completely because he'd developed some nodes on his throat. We had to call off a week in the middle of the tour, which was a drag. I think it just created a strain on his voice because we'd been working so hard, really. We did a lot of double shows in the period of the tour, and that involves playing four hours a night."
When they got to Japan, after an eight-day layover in a secluded beach hotel on the Hawaiian isle of Kauai, they found themselves at the top of both the singles and the albums charts. Success was assured. It was the first time they'd played the Land of the Rising Sun - "it costs a fortune to get all the equipment over there," Taylor moans - and the nation's transistorised teens nearly short-circuited with delight.
There were originally hopes of an Australian tour as well, but that had to be scrapped when the band suddenly realised they had a job to do back home So they winged it back to Albion and closeted themselves away to write their fourth album, "Everybody goes off to their separate homes to get their stuff together," Taylor says, "and then we all sort of get together somewhere else for about two weeks and pool all of the material we have - play around with it, pull it to pieces, throw some out, change bits, and get a sort of rough idea, as good an idea as we can, of what shape the album's going to take. It's a very soul-destroying time."
Since he only reads music a little, Taylor works on tape with his - you guessed it - guitar, and then adds bass and drums. Although he's actually fairly prolific, only a few of his compositions have appeared on Queen's albums. The fault, he says, is his own.
"I'm very sort of finicky, you know. I get something written and then I listen to it the next day and I throw it away out of hand. Probably too finicky, but I don't know, I get sort of fussy and go off my own ideas very quickly. The others usually never get to hear them even.'
Since he hates the sight of drums (at least for the moment), plays guitar at every opportunity and even writes on his guitar, has Roger ever thought about chucking his tom-toms altogether? "Not in the foreseeable future," he replies thoughtfully, "But if everything's sort of finished—possibly. Yeah! Quite possibly!"

Roger Taylor

drums

Birthday: July 26, 1949
Birthplace: King’s Lynn, Norfolk, England
Height: 5’ 10.5” (179.1 cm)
Instruments: Drums, percussion, synths, vocals
Favourtie actor: John Hurt
Favourite actress: Maggie Smith
Favourite singer(s): Bruce Springsteen, U2
Favourite drink: Vodka, and good expensive white wine

Roger wrote:

Modern Times Rock'n'Roll (Queen)
The Loser In The End (Queen II)
Tenement Funster (Sheer Heat Attack)
I'm In Love With My Car (A Night At The Opera)
Drowse (A Day At The Races)
Sheer Heart Attack (News Of The World)
Fight From The Inside (News Of The World)
Fun It (Jazz)
More Of That Jazz (Jazz)
Rock It (Prime Jive) (The Game)
Coming Soon (The Game)
A Human Body NOT ON ANY ALBUM (B-SIDE to Play The Game, single)
In The Space Capsule (The Love Theme) (Flash Gordon)
In The Death Cell (Love Theme Reprise) (Flash Gordon)
Escape From The Swamp (Flash Gordon)
Marriage Of Dale And Ming (And Flash Approaching) - with Brian May (Flash Gordon)
Calling All Girls (Hot Space)
Radio Ga Ga (The Works)
Machines or ('Back To Humans') - with Brian May (The Works)
A Kind Of Magic (A Kind of Magic)
Don't Lose Your Head (A Kind Of Magic)
Heaven For Everyone (Made In Heaven)

Roger on lead vocals:

Modern Times Rock'n'Roll

The Loser In The End

Tenement Funster

I'm In Love With My Car

Drowse

Fight From The Inside

Fun It - with Freddie

More Of That Jazz

Rock It (Prime Jive) - Freddie sings the first part

A Human Body  

Hijack My Heart - NOT ON ANY ALBUM (B-Side to The Invisible Man, written by Queen)

Let Me Live - written by Queen

No One But You (Only The Good Die Young) - writtern by Brian May, second verse

Solo Albums:

Fun In Space (1981)

Strange Frontier (1984)

Shove It (1988; with The Cross)

Mad: Bad: And Dangerous To Know (1990; with The Cross)

Blue Rock (1991; with The Cross)

Happiness? (1994)

Electric Fire (1998)

Interview with John Deacon

John Deacon Interview: 6/17/1974  - Music Star

The Four Kings Of Queen

This week we speak to the quiet member of Queen, the one who tends to stay in the background, bass player John Deacon. But while it's Freddie and Brian who tend to be in the spotlight most of the time, John is just as interesting a person...
Compared to all the other members of Queen, John Deacon is fairly quiet and subdued. That doesn't mean he's timid or anything --he's just quieter than the rest!

"When we're arguing I probably yell much less than the others," he told us. "I suppose that makes me a quiet person in comparison!"

John was born on August 19, 1951 in Leicester. He has one seventeen-year-old sister. His father is dead now and his mother works during the daytime.

"My first school was Oadby Infant School and from there I went to Gartree High School and Beauchamp Grammer School.

"Got my O and A-levels then came down to London to Chelsea College, part of London University, where I studied electronics. It was something I'd always wanted to do. Maths and physics had been my favorite subjects at school and I felt I could handle it. I graduated one-and-a-half years ago with an honours degree."

John played in several semi-professional groups while he was at school and college and it was through these that he met up with the other members of Queen.

"I met Roger and Brian at a disco three years ago. I'd heard they were looking for a bass player and asked if they'd consider me. I had a little audition and they took me on. Quite easy really!"

John is now living in a flat in Fulham, which he shares with a few other guys.

"It's a great flat and we get on very well together. Outside I keep my mini, my most trusted friend. I call it Silver Bullet. It hasn't been the same since I painted it silver! In my spare time I enjoy reading and dabbling in electronics and scientific things. I also like mucking about with the car. If anything goes wrong with it I'm usually able to fix it myself, unless it's something drastic. As for my taste in clothes, I think it's pretty ordinary : a shirt, a leather jacket, velvet trousers and boots; I wear this kind of thing most of the time but if you pinned me down to my favourite fabric I suppose I'd say velvet."

He is five foot eleven inches tall and weighs nine stone and nine pounds. His hair is dark brown and his eyes grey-green.
When he's got the time, John enjoys going to the cinema.

"My current favourite is 'The Exorcist'. I found it rather funny. I'd read so many horrific reivews I was convinced it was going to be terrifying but it wasn't at all! Everyone in the cinema was laughing at some of the scary bits! But I suppose it would be a bit terrifying to some people. I used to watch quite a lot of television but I can't find the time nowadays. That's a shame because there've been showing some great documentaries lately."

John told us that he would like to visit most countries in the world, but there's one snag...

"I don't like flying! Maybe I'll get used to it but at the moment I have a terrible time when we're flying off somewhere! But unless you've got the time to go by sea, there's no other alternative."

He reckons he wouldn't find it difficult to get a job if Queen ever packed up.

"There's quite a lot of work going for studio electronics engineers, and I think I'd like that sort of work. But I'm sticking with Queen for as long as we last."

John was planning a brief holiday when we met him.

"We've got a couple of days off next week so I'll probably get out to the country. I love the peace and tranquility of it. I'd live there if I could but it's rather daft living in the country if you work in London most of the time. Maybe in a few years..."

John Deacon Wrote..

Misfire (Queen II)
You're My Best Friend (A Night At The Opera)
You And I (A Day At The Opera)
Spread Your Wings (News Of The World)
Who Needs You (News Of The World)
If You Can't Beat Them (Jazz)
In Only Seven Days (Jazz)
Another One Bites The Dust (The Game)
Need Your Loving Tonight (The Game)
Execution of Flash (Flash Gordon)
Arboria (Flash Gordon)
Back Chat (Hot Space)
Cool Cat - with Freddie Mercury (Hot Space)
I Want To Break Free (The Works)
One Year Of Love (A Kind Of Magic)
Pain Is So Close to Pleasure - with Freddie Mercury (A Kind Of Magic)
Friends Will Be Friends - with Freddie Mercury (A Kind Of Magic)

John Richard Deacon

John Deacon
bass guitar


Date of birth: August 19, 1951
Place of birth: Leicester
Height: 5ft 11
Colour of hair: dark brown
Colour of eyes: grey/green
Education: Beauchamp Grammer School, Chelsea College,  London, First Class honours degree in electronics
Favourite colour: black
Favourite album: Queen I
Favourite book: Anything on space fiction
Favourite writer: no-one in particular
Favourite films: Clockwork Orange, Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
Favourite Actor: Can't think of one
Favourite Actress: Stumped again!
Favourite food: cheese on toast
Favourite drink: milk
Married/Single: Single
Other occupations: electronics and cars

Hi!

Hi! I am Molly and if you want to know about me read About Moi. This blog is all about the best band ever, Queen!!! For the next four weeks I will talk about each member. This coming week I will start wil the youngest, John Deacon. I will give information, pictures, and all types of stuff! I really hope you enjoy my blog!!!!