Queen guitarist Brian May joined an interview with Guitar Player in which he revealed one of his biggest regrets, which is about the late frontman of the band Freddie Mercury.
Brian May co-founded Queen in 1970 along with Freddie Mercury and Roger Taylor. Since the formation of the band, May achieved fame as their lead guitarist, and he contributed to the band’s success significantly with his songwriting and talented guitar playing.
As a member of Queen, May became recognized as a virtuoso musician. During the band’s concerts, he often used a special guitar he built with his father called the Red Special. Besides, the guitarist wrote many of Queen’s hits including the classics ‘We Will Rock You’ or ‘The Show Must Go On.’
Apart from writing songs for Queen, Brian May also wrote the guitar solos for several Queen hits, such as ‘Bohemian Rhapsody.’ Written by Freddie Mercury, it is still Queen’s most popular song. In the interview by Guitar Player, Brian May reflected on the makings of ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’s solo.
The guitarist stated that their interactions were part of their magic, and they supported each other by pushing each other to try new things. May then recalled Freddie Mercury came into the studio one day to surprise him with a cassette in which he put all the guitar solos they’d done and strung them all together. Brian then revealed that he can’t find that cassette now which is one of his big regrets considering the importance of every work his beloved bandmate did before he passed away.
In the interview, Guitar Player asked Brian May:
“‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ was Freddie’s masterpiece. Did that make it more of a challenge for you to create that solo?”
Brian May then responded:
“There was a lot of interaction, and I think that was part of the magic that we had. We gave each other a lot of stick, really, but in a very positive way. We were always pushing each other to try things. You know, one day Freddie had a big smile on his face when I came into the studio, and he popped a cassette into the player and said, ‘Listen to this, darling. This is going to surprise you.’
And what he’d done was spend the whole morning putting together all the guitar solos that he could find in the work that we’d done, and he’d strung them all together. It was quite amazing. And one of my big regrets is I can’t find that cassette! I never throw anything away. I’m a bit of a hoarder. So it ought to be somewhere. But Freddie was very proud of the stuff that I’d done and that we’d done together.”
Losing such an important work that compiled all of May’s previous solos is indeed saddening for the guitarist. However, as May claimed he never throws anything away, it is still possible for him to find it and maybe share it with his fans in the future.
