ROGER TAYLOR COULD never be described as "just a drummer". Bucking the stereotype
of the empty-headed sticks man, the former public schoolboy, once billed on Queen albums as Roger Meadows-Taylor, has always
been a highly active, vocal member of the Queen camp. Aside from drumming for Queen, Taylor was the first to make a solo album,
1981's Fun In Space, and more have followed since. He famously wrote Queen's landmark pop hits Radio Ga Ga and A Kind Of Magic,
while regularly weighing in with backing vocals and handling the lead on some of his own compositions, notably Bohemian Rhapsody's
B-side, I'm In Love With My Car.
As that song title suggested, Taylor also seems to have embraced the role of
Queen's resident playboy: sipping fine wines, squiring beautiful women, and, these days, holidaying on his ocean-going schooner.
"I'm very lucky; it's a privileged lifestyle," he once said.
Holed up at London's Dominion Theatre to audition cast members for the Queen
stage musical, We Will Rock You, before dashing off to a five-hour rehearsal for the impending Queen And Paul Rodgers tour,
Taylor's hectic lifestyle seems undiminished by his 55 years. Today a snow-white goatee and dandyish black velvet jacket give
him the appearance of an Edwardian roué. When he talks, though, that slightly husky lilt is instantly familiar as the one
that belted out behind Freddie Mercury's operatic roar on all those Queen classics.
MARK BLAKE: Doesn't it feel strange to be doing all this again?
ROGER TAYLOR: You know, I think its given us a sense of rejuvenation.
I'm even growing my hair long again [strokes shoulder-length locks]. It hasn't been this long for years. Mind you, at least
I've still go some. It feels great but I do have to remind myself of my own age - and think, Oh come on, behave yourself.
Two shows in London, a European and US tour and now a show at Hyde Park in the summer,
this Queen tour seems to have taken on a life of its own…
Yes, very much so. It's been in the back of our minds to do something like this
for a long time but Brian and I couldn't think of how to do it properly, so it kept being put on the back burner. Then with
Paul [Rodgers] it all fell into place. He really was one of our benchmarks when we were starting out as Queen. I'm sure we
played on a bill with his old band Free at the Albert Hall…
Was Robbie Williams ever a serious contender to sing with Queen?
We talked about maybe touring America with Robbie - and we were quite serious about
it but circumstances didn't come together. He is very young, much younger than us anyway, but that didn't seem to be an issue.
In retrospect, though, it wouldn't have been a good idea. It'll be interesting to see, but I think Robbie would have struggled
in the States. He's very pop and very English, very cheekie chappie. Americans don't always get that, they like their rock.
Brian has been interviewed for this magazine, but he won't tell us what's on the setlist…
We haven't decided yet. Honestly. We're learning a load of songs and then going
to see what we do best. We want a rolling setlist, so we can alter it from night to night. It's been absurdly easy to do,
in fact. Hopefully we can work in a couple of surprises.
QUEEN'S 2005 JAUNT puts then alongside any number of their rock 'n' roll contemporaries
to have reunited without original band members for a reunion tour. Some, among them Deep Purple and The Eagles, have maintained
their names despite missing some earlier players. Others have been more reluctant to trade off their old moniker: most notably
Page And Plant who reunited in the mid-'90s but refused to call themselves Led Zeppelin without their late drummer John Bonham
or absent bassist John Paul Jones.
Did you ever consider not using the Queen name for this tour?
No, never. If you're going to go out and you are intrinsically as much as you can
get together or the original group then you're a mug not to use your brand name.
