Interview with Brian May

Brian May interview: 7/6/1976-Circus

The 3 Phases Of Brian May

Brian May is a famous Queen, known far and wide for his finger-work. No matter where he is, Brian always carries around a pocketful of British coins. He uses them as guitar plectrums - instead of the usual plastic picks - to get his distinctive howling metallic sound.

Brian May is responsible for the dense regal sound that is a large factor in Queen's otherworldly image. A masterful guitarist, May utilizes the full dynamic potential of his axe; he can soothe Queen's audience with a wistful baroque melody one second and then obliterate them with a barrage of power chords the next. No one guitar had ever satisfied Brian so he and his father built their own out of bizarre materials. A high glossed beauty, the guitar looks like the offspring of a Stratocaster and a Gibson Les Paul. And its peculiar three hand-wound pick-ups give Brian a fluid yet piercing tone.

"There are practically no electronics in the guitar at all," says Brian, who is also an astronomer.

As a child he used to read Eagle Comics. They had a strip in it, May remembers, with a hero called "Dan Dare," a space pilot. Dan Dare had a certain influence on May, the Queen of today.

Scott conducted this interview during a lunch at the gilded Sherry Netherlands Hotel. The walls were hung with giant mirrors and Brian was wearing a black velvet jacket. He was feeling "a little flu-y."--Ed.

Circus: What word best describes you?

Brian: Highly creative (ha ha). I don't know if you can best describe someone in a single word.

Circus: Highly polished?

Brian: We're not always polished. On the records it's pretty polished; onstage it could be a little looser.

Circus: What about image-wise?

Brian: Image isn't a very conscious thing. Everybody thinks it's a contrived thing, but in fact it's not. We grew up that way and you know, if you're on the road for a long time, together, then a group personality just evolves. We like to think we're professional.

Circus: Do you think being together can make you look more like one another?

Brian: It probably does. Music and our personal style.

Circus: Do you think it's a good idea?
Brian: Let me see. I think it's very often the way things grow. I think maybe the Beatles evolved that way. They were conscious of each other, and grew that way, so the group as a whole can be more than the sum of its parts. I think that applies to us as well. Yet, we're all very different from each other in personality and even in our approaches to living, writing songs or arrangements. Just look at our albums. Everyone has a different idea of what's the group's about.

Circus: What's your idea?

Brian: I knew you'd say that. Umm, my idea of the group functioning at its best is when somebody in the group has an idea, say something worth saying in a song, and somehow manage to get the best out of the rest of the group. In other words, they manage to use the group to its best effect.

Circus: What's the most contrary idea to yours?

Brian: You've got to ask the others that. Try asking them that and see what they say. You'll get very different answers, from Roger particularly. I think Roger's answer would be that a rock & roll band's important in its own right and he'd pursue it from that end - to entertain people.

Circus: Is the name Queen as in Queen Elizabeth or in the
Little Richard sense or...?

Brian: It's all too far back to remember, really. It's just our name now. It was sort of ambiguous. It was Freddie's idea. In England at that time, in circles that we moved in, it meant something very loose, like somebody pretty flamboyant. It didn't have particular bisexual connotations or anything. That probably came a bit later.

Circus: Ever in Queens, New York?

Brian: Passed through. We once ran a competition - Would you like to spend a day in Queens and see Queen? A crazy idea.

Circus: Would you like to be in fashion magazines?

Brian: Me personally, not particularly. There is a thing we did when Zandra Rhodes did our first leather stage costumes, one of the fashion supplements in England was very interested and got us to do some pictures. I think it was the Sunday Telegraph. At the time it was okay, but I wouldn't like to get too far into that because it's not what we're about. Freddie's more into fashion than I am probably, but he's concerned with being a performer most of all.

Circus: Who do you think are the great beauties of our day?

Brian: Natalie Wood. I can't think of anyone else. Oh, I'll tell you, Juliet Mills. I like sort of delicate, sensitive faces.

Circus: Are you more influenced by males or females?

Brian: In music, most of them have been males like Jimi Hendrix, Jeff Beck, Clapton and the blues people that preceded them.

Circus: There really aren't too many female guitarists.

Brian: I wonder why. Someone's sure going to do something about it soon.

In England, if you're going to advertise for a guitarist, you have to take female ones as well. That's because we now have equal rights for women. For once in me life I agree with the Pope. It's all gone too far. But at the same time it's all probably necessary to go too far in order to find the balance. I'd hate men and women to be the same though. That's my idea of a nightmare world. The duality of the male-female is the whole thing.

Circus: What's your idea of a dream world?

Brian: Being comfortably at home with the people I love, with the means to do what I do and get my ideas across.

Circus: Who was your first pop crush?

Brian: I like those early, sort of atmospheric records that Phil Spector did, "Born Too Late" - The Teddy Bears.

Circus: Did you like Connie Francis?

Brian: Yes. Yes. Definitely. I remember going out to see her and being embarrassed because I had this big crush on Connie Francis.

Circus: She does late night television ads now for "Connie Francis' Greatest Hits."