Blog 19

Another week gone! I have been making some very slow progress on something a friend of mine here in CZ, Milan Satnik, and I are working on. We seem to be making some headway, so hopefully I can let you know more about this sooner rather than later.

German wanted to know how singles were picked from albums.
Basically it was a group decision. When I say that of course not everyone was happy with every decision, but as in most groups, the majority won. Each would come up with their ideas on which track should be a single, and discussions would start. They would come up with their reasons why and careful thought would go into it. None of the band had a veto, they might not agree, but would accept the majority vote.

David asked about Freddie’s thoughts on tribute bands.
A few were in existence in the early 90s and Freddie really thought, WHY. He didn’t understand how much the fans missed the band and shows, and to be honest he did rather have other things on his mind. I think now he would understand that they can fulfill a need for old and new fans to experience the Queen sound, from copy bands, or Queen music from the others. Whatever any of us might think about these bands, they have helped to keep the music in the ears and eyes of us fans. I know none can give the complete package as the original band gave in the 70s and 80s, but some of them can give a very good idea of what it was like.

Henry and Marcella amongst many others have asked about Freddie’s relationship with the other band members.
First and foremost they were FRIENDS. As with all of us, Freddie went through short phases when he might think less of one than another, but like with all true friends, they were always there for each other. At the very beginning Brian, Roger and Freddie basically lived in each other’s pockets. Brian wrote most of the music which Freddie was incredibly interested in, Freddie lived and worked in Kensington Market with Roger, and when John started, Freddie sheltered him under his wing, to protect him from the worst of the rock and roll life. When John married Veronica, Freddie didn’t have to be John’s protector anymore. Like all real relationships, they went through phases, but in the end, particularly the last couple of years, they were as close as they had ever been. They all had different interests, so naturally they grew apart a bit, but they were all equal partners of the group QUEEN and good friends.

David asked about Freddie’s involvement in the making of the videos.
Freddie was totally involved from the beginning to the end. Once a director had been picked, they would come up with a storyboard. There would then be a meeting with Freddie and he would give his thoughts. He would come up with ideas all the time; you just have to see some of the ‘making of’ pieces. I ‘Slightly Mad’ you can see Freddie’s input all the way through. Very often he would involve himself in the editing. Most of the time Freddie knew what the rest of the guys would be happy doing, but even Freddie wasn’t infallible. You only have to see the faces of John and Roger in the ‘Hard Life’ shots :) !

Diego asked if Freddie ever re-visited Zanzibar or India.
The simple answer to that is NO. Freddie rarely visited the past in conversation, he always thought about the present, and thought the past was done and out of reach, so he wouldn’t have taken time out of his life to go back and rake up some memories that he didn’t want to re-live.
Paula asked about Freddie and food.
His favourite for the early part of my time with him was Chicken Dhansak, a Parsee dish that his mother used to make for him. When Freddie visited his mother, she often made his the dishes he loved from when he was younger. He used to describe then to us and we had the job of trying to replicate them at Garden Lodge. More often than not he was happy with our results. At home he liked basic home cooking, as there were plenty of other places to get luxury foods.

Matthias wanted to know whether Freddie talked about his musical future.
As I said earlier, Freddie really thought about now, not what would be. I can’t think of one conversation where he described what he would be doing in the future. The only thing he said in interviews a few times was that he would hang up his touring boots, as he didn’t like the thought of being an old man walking slowly around the stage. One thing I am sure about is that if Freddie were still with us today Queen would still be making music, as original as always, not following trends, which was something they didn’t really do. I’m sure he would also be making his own music, as would the other guys, and having gained some confidence with working with Montserrat Caballe, I am sure he would have worked a bit more with other artists.

Leda wanted to know where Freddie spent time alone.
His favourite place in Garden Lodge was in one of the shelters against the wall by the Koi carp pond. We always knew when he wanted to be alone as he would just walk out of the house into the garden. If he wanted company he would ask one of us, who were in the house at the time to go out with him. He would just sit and think or feed the fish. One of us would always keep an eye on him from inside the house just in case he looked like he needed something.

Andrew asked about Freddie auditioning for ‘Phantom of the Opera’.
It didn’t happen, so, no, there are no existing demos that people haven’t heard. He was asked once by Joseph Papp, the New York producer, to audition for the role of Rodolfo in a production of Puccini’s La Boheme that he was going to mount in Central Park. You can guess Freddie’s reaction…. ME, audition? Also Freddie said he wouldn’t go back to singing seven shows a week, he had finished that in the 70s!

I can’t remember if I gave this recipe on here before, but here goes anyway. Have a good week!