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Excerpts from KILLER QUEEN, the forthcoming limited edition book featuring the photographs of Mick Rock and the words of the band.
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BRIAN MAY [from his Foreword]: My earliest memories are of the tall, gaunt and mysterious figure of Mr Rock, striding around a very bare studio, drinking herbal teas, and pausing for yogic breathing exercises before cupping his hands in front of him to illustrate the idea he wanted to put to us. The man was a one-off, a curious meeting of Zen and George Hurrell, of intellectual aestheticism and total awareness of commercial wiles, an artist for the people. You can see why he appealed to us!
We were full of ideas, and precocious enough to want to control everything, just like the fabulous Marlene Dietrich, who was such an influence on the Queen II concept. But in Mick Rock we had found our match, our foil, stocked with his own ideas and his own matching stubbornness!
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FREDDIE MERCURY: The moment we made a demo we were aware of the sharks - we had amazing offers from people saying, 'We'll make you the next T. Rex' - but we were careful not to jump straight in. Literally, we went to every company before we finally settled. We didn't want to be treated like an ordinary band that's going to be launched.
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MICK ROCK: There was plenty of bickering, disagreement and discussion but that was part of the process. I never saw any ganging up or experienced any bad feeling. They bitched to each others' faces. They were genuinely fond of each other. They were a group - that was the big thing. They wanted to make that super clear.
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FREDDIE MERCURY: The concept of Queen is to be regal and majestic. Glamour is part of us, and we want to be dandy. |
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BRIAN MAY: Very glam, we look here! I'm sure we were never really a 'glam rock' group per se. We were a hard rock group with melodic and harmonic aspirations and glam overtones I guess! But the make up, frocks and painted fingernails provided the accentuation we wanted at that time, and stayed with us for quite a few tours, until we realised that, in a sense, we didn't need the masks any more. It is quite funny that people think that Freddie imposed such a look upon us. If you look at pictures of Roger in the early days you can see that he was well Glam long before Queen was in existence! And as for John and I, well there is a fine line between dreaming of magnificence, and wearing flowing robesÉ! Heterosexual we may have been, (ALL of us, I think, then!) but in those heady days, socially the distinctions were very blurred, and for me the nice thing about the name 'Queen' was that it emphasised the fact that we didn't care what your sexual proclivities were. In a way I felt that we were part of a new initiative which championed open-mindedness. [2001]
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JOHN DEACON: On tour in Britain the biggest date was obviously the Rainbow, but the most fun gig was the last. It was a tiny club in Birmingham we'd had to cancel earlier. We went back and because it was the last we were very relaxed, all had a couple of drinks and enjoyed ourselves. We even got half the road crew to streak across the stage - Roger bet them a bottle of champagne each that they wouldn't do it, and they did. [1974]
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ROGER TAYLOR: I couldn't stand [college], so I left to run a market stall with Freddie. At the time Brian and I were in a group called Smile, and Freddie was always coming round to our flat with the lead singer, who was a mate of his. So we thought, 'Let's run a clothes stall, why not?' [1974] |
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MARY AUSTIN: Watching Freddie and Mick I thought there was a real coming together between the two. Their relationship was very interesting. Freddie was excited because I remember him mentioning Dietrich and all these different ideas. [2001]
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MICK ROCK: Ask John about his singing! What a great shot! [2001] |
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JOHN DEACON: I remember my first musical instrument - a little plastic Tommy Steele guitar when I must have been about seven. I had it around a lot but I didn't really play it that much, nothing seemed to click, but a few years later some friends up the road started to practice on two based-up guitars. I only went along because I had a tape recorder which they could use as an amplifier. But after a few weeks, I got interested enough to get my mum to buy me a Spanish guitar and that's when it really started properly. Personally, one of the most important times for me was when I left home to go to college in London. It wasn't so much the event itself, but it steered me in the musical direction, I met the other lads and got more professional, having played at home in little amateur groups. [1974]
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FREDDIE MERCURY: I hate pockets in trousers. By the way I do not wear a hose. My hose is my own. No coke bottle, nothing stuffed down there. [1974] |
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MARY AUSTIN: Even when things were hard I had a great deal of respect for him. I knew that if things were difficult between us, they were difficult for him too. Sometimes, however, when you push your parameters, if have too many late nights, or take too many drugs, or you drink too much, there are consequences.
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BRIAN MAY: This is a nice shot of me, which I don't ever remember seeing before. Can I have a copy Mr Rock?! [2001] |
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JOHN DEACON: Mike Stone worked a great deal on Queen II, he's so good, so he came everywhere with us. Trident loaned him out to us. We got hold of the US cut and we preferred that and so used the American cut for the English release. This is why the album was one week late. There was no cutting of corners, we get so involved and it really seems as though one album a year is for us. [1975]
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