09-19-1998 – The Times
ROGER TAYLOR made his millions as Queen’s drummer, but the first instrument he learnt to play as a child was the ukelele. “the last time I tried to play one was three years ago – a kid’s one which I was trying to tune,” he said last week. “It proved virtually impossible. I have to say, I’m no great ukelele player.”
For a man who makes a hell of a racket when in action behind a drum kit, Mr Taylor is surprisingly softly spoken. However, he hopes to be heard – and seen – by a record chunk of the planet when he launches his latest solo album, Electric Fire, with a live Internet concert this Thursday starting at 8pm. His “Cyberbarn Gig” will be beamed from his Surrey country pile.
He explained: “The venue is a purpose-built barn in which we do everything – record, have parties, store cars, we’ve even got tractors in there at times.” How many tractors? “Just a couple of small ones. We don’t have a great big farm or anything. The cyberspace concert is in unchartered territory” and he admits the quality of the PC pictures could be a bit jerky, depending on a receiving cornputer’s power; the secret for him as a performer will be to not move around too much. Was he planning to run around a lot? “Not really,” he admitted. “I stand and sing or sit and play. Just how it’s going to Iook I’ve got no idea but I think it’s all fascinating. We’ll be using five cameras and will project still imagery relating to the songs”
Most of the songs on the album contain autobiographical lyrics. One, Surrender, vividly portrays the ugliness of domestic violence. Also based on his own life? “I experienced some of that in my formative years, yes,” he said. The conversation gently moved on.
Mr Taylor penned two of Queen’s greatest hits, Radio Ga Ga and A Kind of Magic. As well as tracks from the upcoming album he expects to perform Radio Ga-Ga during the 45-minute set. It is an unusual song for him: air it live and, in unison, the audience claps above its head in time. “I did a charity gig with Bob Geldof the other Saturday at which I played Radio Ga-Ga and, yes, the audience immediately started clapping. It happens every time.”
It is almost seven years since Queen’s legendary frontman Freddie Mercury died. Mr Taylor said: “He is such a large part of my past but he’s still around in my life. I think it took about five years to get over it. One doesn’t realise quite how affected one is by something like that and I’ve only recently got back to normal.”
Even without Freddie, Queen still looks to the future. Mr Taylor added: “We get on very well these days and from time to time talk about the possibility of doing something. I think we are more likely to make the odd record with guest singers. This worked very well with George (Michael)and I would guess if we did that, he would be one of the guys we’d ask. He suits us because he’s got such a tremendous voice and I think he’d be good to collaborate with – but that’s ‘ just off the top of my head. We haven’t asked him.”
Over two decades, Queen repeatedly played their way into the record books and Mr Taylor hopes his Cyberbarn Gig might follow suit by attracting the largest number of simultaneous Internet hits for a live performance.
After the concert Mr Taylor will take part in an Internet question-and-answer session, which will probably throw up contrasting questions from fans in different countries. He explained: “Germans always want to talk about rock music, Latinos and South Americans always ask about Freddie and Americans like to know about the technicalities.”
Next year Roger Taylor will be 50. “It’s weird, isn’t it?” he remarked. “To celebrate, I’d like to leave a large footprint in both millenium!”
It will also coincides with the exclipse, which I’ll watch from my house in Comwall.”
To see and hear the event on your computer you will need to have downloaded the free Real Audio Player software. The concert may also be broadcast live on Virgin Radio. For further details, head for Roger Taylor’s pages at the Queen website (http://queen-fip.com).
