A Queen Mystery: The Legend of The Deacy Amp

A Queen Mystery: The Legend of The Deacy Amp
Source: Adam Fabio May 8, 2017 http://hackaday.com/2017/05/08/a-queen-mystery-the-legend-of-the-deacy-amp/#comment-3560168



It sounds like a scene from a movie. A dark night in London, 1972. A young man walks alone, heading home after a long night of practicing with his band. His heavy Fender bass slung over his back, he’s weary but excited about the future. As he passes a skip (dumpster for the Americans out there), a splash of color catches his attention. Wires – not building power wires, but thinner gauge electronics connection wire. A tinkerer studying for his Electrical Engineering degree, the man had to investigate. What he found would become rock and roll history, and the seed of mystery stretching over 40 years.

The man was John Deacon, and he had recently signed on as bassist for a band named Queen. Reaching into the skip, he found the wires attached to a circuit board. The circuit looked to be an amplifier. Probably from a transistor radio or a tape player. Queen hadn’t made it big yet, so all the members were struggling to get by in London.

Deacon took the board back home and examined it closer. It looked like it would make a good practice amplifier for his guitar. He fit the amp inside an old bookshelf speaker, added a ¼ “ jack for input, and closed up the case. A volume control potentiometer dangled out the back of the case. Power came from a 9-volt battery outside the amp case. No, not a tiny transistor battery; this was a rather beefy PP-9 pack, commonly used in radios back then. The amp sounded best cranked all the way up, so eventually, even the volume control was removed. John liked the knobless simplicity – just plug in the guitar and play. No controls to fiddle with.

And just like that, The Deacy amp was born.

The Sound

Now guitarists love the term “tone”. It’s used to describe the overall sound of the guitar, amplifier, and any effects devices in between. Words like “mellow” and “crunchy” come into play. It can be hard for a non-guitarist to keep up. John’s amp had a nice warm tone, slightly distorted – yet pleasant to the ear. He used it for awhile, then brought it along to a practice session with his Queen bandmates.

Guitarist Brian May took an interest in the amp. Now Brian is a hacker in his own right. His guitar, the Red Special, was built as a father/son project when Brian was a teen. The Red Special deserves an article all its own, so keep your eyes peeled for that one. Brian often played through a treble booster. This is a single transistor circuit acting as a 30 db preamp. It guarantees any amplifier plugged in will have its input stage driven to distortion.

Plugging this setup into the Deacy amp changed its sound even more. The overdriven amp sounded different from anything they had heard before. Not quite the warm sound of an overdriven tube amplifier, but much smoother than the clipping sound that came from distorted transistor amps of the time. It also had a sustain to it. The Red Special suddenly sounded like a violin, a cello, or even the human voice. Brian loved the sound and kept experimenting with the amp.

Queen’s sound guys loved the amp as well. It was very consistent, which made it suitable for layering tracks in a recording studio. Guitars are typically recorded by connecting them to an amplifier and then pointing a microphone at the amp’s speaker cabinet. Exactly how to place the microphone and amplifier, as well as the settings of each is as much art an art as it is a science.

The dusty Deacy Amp hard at work in 1998. Image Source Glen Fryer

Brian quickly adopted the amp, and it became an integral part of Queen’s early sound. You can hear it in classics such as God Save The Queen, Killer Queen, and the more recent A Winter’s Tale. In my humble opinion, the most interesting use of the Deacy amp would be Good Company, from Queen’s album A Night At the Opera. Brian layered track after track with the Deacy. In the end, he reproduced the sound of an entire brass band, just using his guitar.

And that’s how things stayed – Brian used The Deacy in many recording sessions from the 1970’s all the way through the 90’s. It never failed or needed adjustment. In fact, the amp was never opened after John Deacon built it. That all changed in 1998, While recording “Another World” Greg Fryer asked Brian about building a replica for the now aging Deacy. May agreed, and work soon started on studying the original.

There is a certain level of stress an archaeologist must feel when peeling back layers of dirt at a dig site. Greg Fryer and Pete Malandrone must have felt the same way when first opening the Deacy. The pair had no idea what they would find inside this decades-old hack. There was a real chance they could mess this up, and a working piece of rock history.


Carefully removing the back, the two found a single circuit board. It was a four-transistor circuit. The power section was a class B amplifier in push-pull configuration. The power transistors were AC128, germanium devices. Both input and output were transformer coupled, with the power transistors mounted above the two multi-tapped transformer cores. It was a bit odd, both electronically and physically, though some parts of the circuit seem to have been taken directly from the Mullard transistor manual.

Cloning an Original

The board was definitely from a low-cost mass-produced piece of consumer electronics. Replicating the basic design would be easy. The hard part would be replicating the transformers. The two transformers were cheaply made and had multiple taps. One could measure the resistance of each tap, but short of unwinding them, it was impossible to know exactly what material the core laminations were, or exactly how many winds there were.

The pair closed the amp up and began designing the replicas. The first try had a similar sound to the Deacy, but wasn’t quite there. Greg continued to refine the design in his spare time. Each iteration getting closer to the Deacy’s sound. By 2003, replicating the amp had become a mission for Greg. He enlisted Nigel Knight to help with the effort. The hope wasn’t just to provide a few amps to Brian but to create replicas which could be purchased. There are thousands of Queen fans out trying to replicate the sound of Brian’s guitar setup. This would be as close as they could get.

In 2008, Brian gave the OK to completely tear down the amp, and determine what exactly was going on. The transistors were individually tested. The transformers were examined and tested by transformer manufacturers who came on board to help. Loops of wire were wrapped around the transformers, creating yet another secondary coil. Injecting and signals on the unknown primaries and reading the output on the known secondaries helped determine the transformer’s performance.

Many parts were found to be wildly out of spec. The AC128’s were both at the far opposite ends of what the datasheets called nominal. In a push-pull amplifier, you would want a matched pair of transistors. This pair was about as far from matched as one could get. The result was that for a sinusoid waveform input, the lower peaks of the waveform would begin clipping long before the upper peaks. This was one of the keys to the Deacy’s sound.

The result of Greg and Nigel’s work was the Knight Audio Technologies Deacy Replica. This wasn’t a cheap unit, pricing at well over 1,000 pounds sterling. It still sold well and satisfied just about everyone, including Brian May himself.

The Origin Mystery, Solved
The mystery still remained – where did the amplifier come from? Nigel postulated that it was originally part of a baby monitor or intercom of some sort, as it was a stand alone amplifier. Usually a radio or tape player would have placed all the parts on one circuit board. Both Greg and Nigel posted photos of the Deacy internals in the early 2000s. This brought the greater Internet on board. Surely the Internet would be able to find the origins of a common circuit board like this.

Unfortunately, the answer was no. The years went by, and curious searchers, including this article’s author, found nothing. That is, until January 2013. [Mitch, aka PBPP] on the antique radio forum dropped a bomb of a post. He had found the origin of the Deacy amp board. It was the amplifier section of a transistor radio after all, specifically the Supersonic PR80. He took it a step further and found documentation on the beast, in SAMS Photofact Transistor Radio Series TSM-60, published October 1965.

Supersonic was a company which built consumer electronics in Africa. They manufactured in Rhodesia and South Africa during different periods. Still, this particular model of radio is relatively rare to find. So far, only [Manuel Angelini] has come forward with photographic proof of his own PR80 amp board.

So, while the mystery of the Deacy amplifier origin story was solved, the actual components were just as hard as ever to find. Germanium transistors are becoming quite rare. Soon, the only way to get that Deacy amp yourself will be to fire up some DSP software and simulate it.
Source: Adam Fabio May 8, 2017 http://hackaday.com/2017/05/08/a-queen-mystery-the-legend-of-the-deacy-amp/#comment-3560168

Alabama resident's epic life touring with Queen, Rolling Stones, Elton John

Huntsville resident Michael Wiesman toured with rock bands from 1977 to 2000, working as a rigging technician, production manager, stage manager and site coordinator. (Matt Wake/mwake@al.com)

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By Matt Wake | mwake@al.com 
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on March 31, 2017 at 7:45 AM, updated April 03, 2017 at 10:43 AM

Source-http://www.al.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2017/03/my_life_touring_with_queen_the.html

At one point during Queen's run of April 1985 shows in Australia, the band called Michael Wiesman into their dressing room. Weisman had been working as a member of the "We Will Rock You" hit makers' road crew since 1980 as a rigger, hanging lighting, speakers and other equipment at concerts.

And at this very moment though, he was wondering, "OK (expletive), what have I done?"

But Weisman hadn't messed up. Queen, a group who treated their crew like family, had heard Wiesman and his wife Margie's 15^th wedding anniversary was coming up, right when the tour promoting their "The Works" album, which contained the hit "Radio Gaga," would be in Japan. In that Australia dressing room, the band presented Wiesman with a plane ticket to fly Margie over to Japan from the U.S., so the couple could be together on their anniversary.

Weisman was moved. Looking back to that moment, on a recent morning while sipping coffee out of a Double Bubble mug underneath a skylight in his kitchen, Wiesman, now in his late-60s, says. "That's the kind of spirit there was on that tour - on all their tours."

Michael Wiesman, third row top left, is pictured among Queen's road crew in this photo from one of the band's tour programs. (Matt Wake/mwake@al.com) 

From 1977 to 2000, Wiesman traveled the world working for rock bands, all while he and Margie were based in quaint Huntsville, Alabama. The couple still resides here, on a leafy cul-de-sac towards Monte Sano Mountain. In addition to Queen, Wiesman did multiple tours with Elton John, Rolling Stones and Rod Stewart. There were treks with Ozzy Osbourne, Eric Clapton, Peter Gabriel, Tina Turner and even campy disco group Village People. His work took him to South America. Asia. Japan. New Zealand. Australia. Europe. "Not a lot of places I haven't been to - I've never been to India, I never went to Russia," Wiesman says. Once while on tour he had to go to a U.S. embassy in Vienna and get supplemental pages added his stamp-saturated passport.

In addition to the thrills of travel and helping bring rock & roll joy to fans, Wiesman cherished the camaraderie among the crews he worked on. "You may hate each other on a given day but it's just like families are with brothers - don't (mess) with them. [Laughs] Because they're going to come after you. There were friendships that developed over time, not only with the travelling crews but the people who were in those local settings I got to know a lot of friends all around the world."

An image of Queen onstage from one of the band's tour programs. (Matt Wake/mwake@al.com) 

As a rigger, Wiesman's typical workday on-tour began around 7 a.m. at the venue. "Everything has very defined spatial dimensions," Wiesman says, "and so all the chain motors that we're hanging, that subsequently hang all the lighting and sound systems, they have to be located specifically in geographic coordinates. Otherwise, show's not going to go up. Stuff's going to bump into itself or you're going to have stuff out of place." During set-up Wiesman would also communicate and coordinate the local crew assisting with rigging.

There's more math and science involved with getting a rock show ready than you might think. Especially when you're hanging tons of equipment from an arena roof that in many cases was not designed to do so. Usually the crew would have things ready for soundcheck around 3 p.m. or so. Rigging was the first equipment out of the truck and the first back in, followed by lighting, scenery (aka "carpenters"), audio and then, if there was any, video. Outdoor productions presented challenges of scale.

Wiesman often spent 40 weeks a year out on the road working with various acts. "That will eat you up," he says. "You've got to be really careful about that. Fortunately, the marriage sustained. We never had any kids so that was at least a factor in the success. And my wife is also in the business and understood that's the nature of the beast." The average tour was maybe 15 weeks or so. He and Margie, a North Carolina native, first met while attending University of North Carolina School of the Arts in Winston-Salem, both studying production management. Wiesman had grown up in Huntsville. While in third-grade at East Clinton School, his teacher had the class put on a student play using handmade puppets. "Quite frankly that hooked me," Wiesman says. "I wanted to be in the business." After graduating from Winston-Salem in 1970, he and Margie moved back to Huntsville and Wiesman began working at the Von Braun Center, for in-house and travelling productions, such as ice shows and circuses.

Photos of Queen from one of the band's tour programs. (Matt Wake/mwake@al.com) 

He also began to get work as local crew for rock shows, including Elvis Presley and Kiss concerts at the VBC, then known as the Von Braun Civic Center. Nothing long term though. "These shows come in and go out on the same day, and you may have three or four shows in a week and then you may not have any shows for two or three weeks," Wiesman says. "So, by the time we got to 1977 I really realized there was no career opportunity for me here, long term." However, he had developed working relationships with many touring riggers, so he started making phone calls, got some referrals and in 1977 landed his first touring job, with R&B stars The Commodores.

"It scared me to death. Having learned what I learned and developed my skills here, I was not prepared to encounter 50 venues across the U.S. each with completely different structures, completely different dynamics internally. You've got to be really quick and creative."

An outdoor stage from a Queen tour, as show in a tour program. (Matt Wake/mwake@al.com) 

Charlie Sanderson is another longtime Huntsville resident who's carved out a notable touring career. Since 2010, Sanderson has been country music icon Hank Williams Jr.'s tour manager, and previously he spent six years working with Stevie Wonder as the R&B legend's stage manager and monitor engineer. Sanderson got his foot in the music biz door years earlier, as a sound engineer at legendary Huntsville dive bar Tip Top Cafe. He'd heard of Wiesman for years, and when they did finally met the two men bonded over touring life and became close friends quickly.

"People like Michael made helped me realize it was OK to be based here," Sanderson says, "and that you could still travel the world doing what we love to do and actually make a career of it. Make a living. You didn't have to go to New York or L.A. or somewhere else where typically people in this industry feel like they have to gravitate to." Sanderson says Wiesman is well-respected in the music business and not just for his work. "He's always been a teacher, to help people further their abilities and careers in the industry," Sanderson says.

Having grown up in classical theatre, Wiesman would've never thought of transitioning into rock & roll if it wasn't for financial needs. Once he got into rock though, he realized it could more than hold its own as performance art. "For a regular production in theatre, you're out here in the audience and effectively it's like looking at a TV screen," Wiesman says. "In a rock & roll show the audience is a part of the show. Often times, critical to the show. If an artist is having a bad day at the keyboard or whatever the audience picks up at that and responds negatively. But if he's having a good night at the keyboard they respond positively. They feed him. It becomes very symbiotic."

A technical diagram of a late-80s Rolling Stones stage system. (Matt Wake/mwake@al.com) 

The Rolling Stones tours Wiesman worked on in the early- and late-80s are some of his favorite he ever did. Some of the productions featured a stage that was around 300-feet wide and 90-feet tall. Extremely challenging to build up and take down every show. The pages of The Stones' "Steel Wheels" tour's technical manual is full of diagrams that look like they could be for aircraft carriers or sizable buildings, except for the giant inflatable women. The tour featured two identical stage systems, which were rehearsed at New York's Nassau Coliseum for about four weeks. In addition to rigging, during Wiesman's career he also did some shows as production manager, stage manager and site coordinator.

Wiesman says the crew didn't have much chance to be social with The Stones. (Although there is a handwritten thank-you note from Mick Jagger in Wiesman's cozy home office, along with a platinum Commodores record, Rock in Rio concert poster, stack of tour programs and other mementos.) But Queen was another matter. "The band, all four of them, were very, very concerned about us being taken care of on the road," Wiesman says of Queen's Freddie Mercury, Brian May, Roger Taylor and John Deacon. "So, they were really friendly to us. We were well taken care of, stayed in nice hotels, we got well-paid. Whenever there was a party we got invited, no matter what. And at the end of every leg of a tour or tour itself there would generally be a big party for the crew and a nice cash bonus. It was a nice time to be in the business."

During his touring days, Wiesman got to watch some unforgettable onstage moments. Mercury's spellbinding singing and stagecraft during Queen's Live Aid performance at London's Wembley Stadium. A dazzling Elton John 14-minute piano improvisation during a late-70s show and years later, Sir Elton surprising Rod Stewart by sauntering out onstage in drag during a Stewart acoustic set. "You would have thought it was Marilyn Monroe," Wiesman says. "Audience never knew it was Elton. It was hilarious."

Of course, he was also privy to some unforgettable offstage moments. As when in the early-80s, Queen was doing a multi-night run at New York's Madison Square Garden and wanted to throw a lavish party for New York buddies and showbiz folks. "And we were invited to be a part of it," Wiesman says. "Freddie wanted to have topless waiters with little short shorts and suspenders. And so, the rest of us said, 'Well how about topless waitresses, too?' [Laughs] 'Sure.' (The band) had so much money it didn't matter."

Queen played to massive crowds during a South American tour. (Matt Wake/mwake@al.com) 

Wasn't it a complete cultural jolt, coming off a tour back to sleepy Huntsville? "It didn't bother me at all," Wiesman says. "I enjoyed being back here."

By the turn of the century, the music business was undergoing seismic shifts and the family aesthetic Wiesman had enjoyed on earlier tours had become an endangered species. "There were too many suits in the venue. Too many accountants, too many lawyers," he says with a laugh. As rock entered the digital age, the few record companies still in existence had greatly diminished powers, and for bands touring became - with vastly diminished record sales - a vital revenue stream and much more business-like. "Because the bands were paying for everything themselves at that point. It wasn't passed over to the record company. The record companies would do anything the bands wanted in the earlier days. Whatever limousines they needed, whatever drugs they needed."

Wiesman left the rock & roll business and started freelancing for various rigging companies doing one-off type productions, including automobile shows, trade-shows and television productions. He and Margie, who used to work in summer theatre and video production, also now operate a dog school. Approaching 70, Wiesman is still quite fit. Today he's wearing a flannel shirt, cargo shorts, hiking shoes and his gray hair is cropped short. In his spare time, he enjoys doing woodwork out in the workshop behind their home.  

A little radio in the workshop is tuned to a local rock station. Sometimes the station will play a Queen song. When that happens, Wiesman stops what he's doing, puts down his tools and listens attentively as Freddie sings like only he could. "And I bask."

Images of Queen from one the band's tour programs. (Matt Wake/mwake@al.com) 

Brian May pays tribute to Freddie Mercury's mother Jer Bulsara after she dies aged 94

The mother of the late iconic rock star has sadly died aged 94 on 13th Nov 2016

ByLaura Withers, http://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/freddie-mercury-mother-dead-tributes--9289452

Brian May and Jer Bulsara (Photo: Facebook)

Jer Bulsara, the mother of former Queen frontman Freddie Mercury , died last Sunday "peacefully in her sleep", according to Brian May. 

Since the tragic news broke, Freddie's former bandmate and close family friend, Brian May has taken to social media to share his condolences.
Describing Jer as a "warm and devoted Mum" Brain, 69, compared Jen's likeness to Freddie - who died in 1991 after contracting bronchial pneumonia resulting from AIDS - saying both always had a "twinkle" in their eye.

Freddie Mercury's mother Jer Bulsara passed away aged 94 (Photo: John Furlong)

"Freddie’s Mum, Jer Bulsara, passed away a few days ago [13/11/16], very quietly and peacefully in her sleep. She was 94. It’s the wish of the family that the funeral and subsequent arrangements remain private," Brian wrote on his Facebook page.
"Jer was a warm and devoted Mum to Freddie, and, like Freddie, always had a strong twinkle in the eye. Although she was also devoted to her husband Bomi, and lived in the Zoroastrian faith as a good Parsee, she had an independent spirit and a strong sense of humour.

"Of course I knew her for over 50 years, and when I first used to go around to Freddie’s parents’ house in Feltham, only a few yards from where I lived, in our student days, Jer was a busy Mum, full of life and optimism.

Freddie Mercury and his Mother, Jer Bulsara

"And even then, fiercely proud of her children, Freddie and Kashmira," the former Queen lead guitarist recollected.
Reminiscing about one particular Queen gig years ago, where Jer was in the audience, Brian revealed Freddie acted up on purpose. He wrote: “I remember one night before a show in London (Wembley Arena, I think) when Freddie announced .. 'Mother’s in the audience tonight. Better throw in a few extra ‘f—ks !'
"There was never any sign that she was shocked."

Brian also insisted that after Freddie passed away, Jer remained "close" to him and her son's fellow bandmates, Roger Taylor, and John Deacon.

Freddie Mercury's Mother, Jer Bulsara sadly passed away last Sunday

Signing off his touching note, Brian said: "In private moments with us, away from the glare of the spotlights, in latter years Jer was always ready with a cup of tea when we visited, and we were always able to speak about ‘My Freddie’ without shyness, feeling that he was not far away."

A Queen fan’s pilgrimage to a sleepy Swiss town where Freddie Mercury found tranquility

A Queen fan’s pilgrimage to a sleepy Swiss town where Freddie Mercury found tranquility
By Amanda Loudin October 27
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/travel/a-queen-fans-pilgrimage-to-a-sleepy-swiss-town-where-freddie-mercury-found-tranquility/2016/10/27/9eda4f88-9c70-11e6-b3c9-f662adaa0048_story.html

Crowds gather near a statue of Freddie Mercury, late singer of rock band Queen, on the shore of Lake Geneva in 2007. Mercury’s spirit permeates the town of Montreux, Switzerland. (REUTERS /Alamy Stock Photo)

For the past 50 summers, music lovers have flocked to the banks of Lake Geneva to take in the Montreux Jazz Festival. Drawing more than 250,000 visitors over its annual two-week run, the festival looms large and dominates the Swiss town’s landscape and culture. But Montreux has another claim to musical fame: It was where Freddie Mercury, the legendary lead singer and songwriter of Queen, came to find peace.

Like many well-known rock bands and musicians — including David Bowie, Deep Purple and Iggy Pop — Queen was drawn to Montreux by its quiet solitude and the lower taxes. The band members grew to appreciate the town so much that Mercury rented homes there. In 1979, they bought Mountain Studios, where they did much of their recording. Though Mercury died 25 years ago this month, a visitor today need only go slightly beneath the surface to find his spirit throughout the town.

I visited Montreux in June after a stay in Chamonix, France. With a return flight out of Geneva, I decided to tack on a couple of days in the town, drawn as much by its alpine lakeside location as its music history. I was charmed by both and upon arrival, drawn to the waterfront promenade for a stroll past the town’s restaurants, hotels and historical Chillon Castle.

When Mercury came to Montreux in 1978, it was not love at first sight. “He hated it,” says Peter Freestone, who was Mercury’s personal assistant from 1979 until his death in 1991. I spoke to Freestone via telephone from his home in Prague. “Early on, in fact, he said that the best place for the studio would be at the bottom of the lake.”

Montreux, apparently, was too quiet for the famously energetic Mercury. “Back when Queen first got here, the town was tiny and there was absolutely nothing to do,” says Freestone. “But if you wanted to record an album, it was perfect.”


Montreux began to appeal to Mercury once he had accepted his AIDS diagnosis in 1987, Freestone says. “At that point, Freddie needed and wanted peace and quiet, and the town could deliver it,” he explains. “The Swiss were very used to seeing famous faces in Montreux, and they tended to leave them alone.” Mercury could visit shops, eat out at local restaurants and move about town without the throng of fans and media following him in Montreux as they did in his home town of London.

Indeed, the city has plenty to offer. If following in Queen’s footsteps doesn’t appeal, there’s the lake, available for recreation of all kinds, touring the history-rich town and taking in the castle. It’s easy to enjoy it all in at a relaxed pace and simply people-watch along the promenade. As in most Swiss cities, the food is top-notch, albeit expensive. Montreux enjoys a temperate climate, and touring the area can be pleasant year-round. If jazz and crowds are not your thing, however, you probably want to avoid early July.

Queen produced seven albums in Montreux, including the band’s 15th and final one, “Made in Heaven.” The band members knew they were recording on borrowed time; Mercury worked as much as his diminishing energy would allow, with the other three members accommodating his scheduling needs. “The band spent as much time as possible in the studio during this period,” says Julia Tames, media and communications representative for Montreux Riviera, the local tourist office where I checked in. “After he passed, the rest of the band finished the album.” (It was released four years after his death, in 1995.)

“If you listen to the lyrics of ‘A Winter’s Tale’ from the final album, you can hear and see everything in Montreux,” Freestone says.

The album’s cover was shot in three frames in Montreux, later combined. The blended photo shows the 10-foot Freddie Mercury statue that still overlooks the lake from the town promenade, the three remaining band members on the shores of the lake and the boat house of the home Mercury rented while in Montreux.

Lake Geneva as seen from the Fairmont Montreux Palace. (Amanda Loudin)

These days, fans of Mercury and Queen can tour Mountain Studios, located on the top floor of the town’s casino. The control room is unchanged from Queen’s recording days except for a new recording console. Visitors can also see some of Mercury’s performance costumes, handwritten lyrics and a wide variety of memorabilia. A brass plate marks the spot where Mercury stood to record his final songs. Both an interior and exterior wall at the building are covered in signatures and handwritten tributes to Mercury.

To enter the studio, you must first pass through the dated, gilded casino and walk up to the second floor. Here Queen’s music loudly greets you, even if crowds do not. I had the studio to myself while there, and I meandered through its three rooms at my own pace.

Beyond the studio, “you can feel Freddie all over town,” Freestone says.

There’s the statue, a bronze work by Czech sculptor Irena Sedlecka that was unveiled in 1996 and has become, local officials say, one of the 10 most visited tourist attractions in Switzerland. And several of the bars and restaurants Mercury favored still stand: Fans can have a meal at Brasserie Bavaria, a drink at Funky Claude’s, or stay at the Montreux Palace, where Mercury and the band spent many a night.


 
Queen frontman Freddie Mercury is shown in Germany on July 20, 1986. (MARCO ARNDT/AP file photo)

A section of memorabilia from Queen's 15th album “Made in Heaven” and released in 1995, after Mercury’s death. (Richard Gray)

I stayed down the road/promenade from the palace at the Royal Plaza. Although the location was good, the hotel has seen better days, and a heavy 1980s vibe permeates the property.

Visitors with a boat can get a view of a lakeside house that Mercury rented for several years — he called it the “duck house,” due to the landlord’s decorating motif. Each fall, Freestone, who is semiretired, spends a weekend hosting several boat tours, taking visitors to view the house and other sights. You can generally score tickets from Freestone’s website or inquire about them at the tourist office. “We occasionally do walking tours as well, but that’s not quite as regular,” he says.

After Mercury’s death in 1991, surviving band members Brian May and Roger Taylor and manager Jim Beach set up the Mercury Phoenix Trust (MPT) to raise money for AIDS education and awareness projects around the world.

For the past three years, the MPT has held a fundraising party at the Montreux casino around Sept. 5, commemorating Mercury’s birthday. The event is open to the public; fans can purchase tickets through the MPT. This year marked what would have been his 70th.

“It’s difficult to imagine Freddie at the age of 70,” Freestone says, “because he never wanted to slow down. We . . . use his birthday as an excuse to party, which is what he would have wanted.”

Loudin is a freelance writer based in Ellicott City, Md.

Joe Satriani: “Brian May-The Guitarist Whose Tone I’d Never Mistake for Anyone Else”

Joe Satriani: “Brian May-The Guitarist Whose Tone I’d Never Mistake for Anyone Else”
Posted 10/18/2016 by Guitar World Staff , photo by Peter Pakvis/Getty Images
http://www.guitarworld.com/artist-news/joe-satriani-guitarist-whose-tone-i%E2%80%99d-never-mistake-anyone-else/30034



Joe Satriani was asked to name one guitarist whose sound he would never confuse for anyone else.

His choice? Queen guitarist Brian May.

Speaking with Classic Rock, Satriani says, “Brian’s like a whole universe unto himself. The first time you hear him you go, ‘What the fuck is that?’ It’s beautiful music, original tone and an amazing application of the guitar—the harmony, the way he strings together his rhythm and solo parts, his ensemble and call-and-response parts.

“It’s unbelievable how deep his universe is.”

Satch has been on a Brian May kick for quite some time. Just last year, he raved about May in an interview with MusicRadar.com, noting, “Brian’s got a composing style that you notice right away. His guitar style is famous along with his gear—that famous guitar from the fireplace mantel that he and his dad built,” he said, referring to May’s Red Special, which he handbuilt with his father, Harold, while in his teens.

“I’ve played it,” Satch says, “and, unfortunately, I don’t sound anything like Brian when I play that guitar. Only Brian sounds like that.”

In that same interview, Satriani revealed his first time hearing May’s guitar work.

“When I was a young player and someone played a Queen record for me the first time, I was utterly floored,” Satch said. “There’s just nothing but questions in your mind. Meanwhile, your body is loving it. The visceral experience is just so wonderful and it's so much fun.

“He’s one of those guitar players that could mix fun and serious and really pull it off. That music can be cathartic and unapologetic and just make you want to get up and kick ass. I love that. That’s rock ’n’ roll right there.”

In the video from 1992 shown below, Satch and his pal Steve Vai join with May for a rendition of the Queen track “Tie Your Mother Down.”
https://youtu.be/ZS5hGIWFb4k

Google and Queen Release a VR App: The Bohemian Rhapsody Experience

Google and Queen Release a VR App: The Bohemian Rhapsody ExperienceBy Priya Trivedi -September 15, 2016  https://www.droidmen.com/google-queen-release-vr-app-bohemian-rhapsody-experience/

One of the most intense musical experiences in the world is listening to Freddie Mercury sing. To listen to him live in performance was a treat, and is something that will never happen again. The man was a sheer genius, and even forty years past the release of perhaps their most famous song, Bohemian Rhapsody, the song remains one of the most popular tracks of all times. What truly makes Freddie Mercury special is the fact that the man thought on a whole different level. Google now takes us inside the subconscious mind of Freddie Mercury with the release of The Bohemian Rhapsody Experience, a VR app.



The app takes you into a whole different world, and is perhaps the best way to enjoy this song. While many might that when they wear their VR headsets and start off this app, it will take them to a Freddie Mercury concert. However, the Bohemian Rhapsody Experience is not about that. The app does not transport you to a concert, but it does something else – it shows a 360 degree animation featuring various elements of the song.

The Bohemian Rhapsody Experience has been developed in cooperation of Brian May and Roger Taylor, the original members of Queen. They helped give the developers at Google a better insight inside the mind of Freddie Mercury. The users could now see the inspiration of the song, and the intense feelings that Freddie went through while he composed and sang the song.

Over the years, this song has been used in various pop cultural references, most recently in the Suicide Squad promos. Google, in association with Queen is all set to take the legacy of this song to a whole new level. The Bohemian Rhapsody Experience is indeed a very unique app, and we are pretty sure all the fans of Queen would enjoy this experience.

Queen’s Brian May on Adam Lambert and story behind Bohemian Rhapsody

Queen’s Brian May on Adam Lambert and story behind Bohemian Rhapsody

Ahead of their Hong Kong and China debuts, band’s guitarist and founding member talks about how Queen came to be, and the thinking behind bringing American Idol runner-up on board as lead singer
PUBLISHED : Wednesday, 14 September, 2016, 8:18am UPDATED : Thursday, 15 September, 2016, 3:53pm http://www.scmp.com/culture/music/article/2018950/queens-brian-may-adam-lambert-and-story-behind-bohemian-rhapsody



Over the course of their career, rock legends Queen have sold more than 150 million albums – one of them, Greatest Hits (1981), the biggest-selling album in UK history.

They have had 18 number-one albums and 18 number-one singles – several of them fixed in rock’s firmament, such as Bohemian Rhapsody, We Will Rock You and We Are the Champions.

And they’ve earned a reputation as the most incendiary live band in history, responsible for arguably the most memorable live performance ever when they upstaged the whole of musical royalty at 1985’s Live Aid.

But one thing they’ve never done is play in Hong Kong – a tiny gap in their accomplished CV that will finally be filled in on September 28, when they perform at AsiaWorld-Expo, Lantau, as part of an Asian tour that also includes Singapore, Taipei, Tokyo, Bangkok and Shanghai. That last gig will also be their first in China.

“It’s extraordinary that we never could make direct contact with China all these years, and we have fans there and we never really knew,” says the band’s guitarist, Brian May. “It wasn’t possible in the old days. We wanted to come, but I think culturally we were unacceptable at that time. It’s amazing that we can actually come now. At the age of 69, it’s just extraordinary.”

The band on stage at the AsiaWorld-Expo, of course, won’t be all of Queen; singer Freddie Mercury died in 1991, while bassist John Deacon retired in 1997, leaving guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor to carry the torch. It is particularly tough to have been robbed of one of rock’s greatest frontmen, whose astonishingly versatile voice, blistering charisma and warm, humorous personality made him one of the most compulsively watchable performers ever to take to a stage.

We wanted to come [to China], but I think culturally we were unacceptable at that time. It’s amazing that we can actually come now-BRIAN MAY

The daunting task of trying to fill his shoes falls to American singer Adam Lambert. May has said he wanted to get away from Queen after Mercury’s death; his decision to breathe new life into the band came only because he found a new singer in 2005. It wasn’t Lambert, though; it was Paul Rodgers, formerly of Free and Bad Company, of whom the band were already fans.

“I just bumped into Paul Rodgers, who I’ve known for a while, and I found myself playing with him at a show, just a one-off, playing [Free classic] All Right Now,” says May. “There was obviously good chemistry, we felt good about it, and then he and myself and the lady who was to be his wife were in the dressing room, and she said, ‘You guys really have something; all you need is a drummer.’ And I said, ‘Well, I think I know a drummer.’

“So very organically we started to do a couple of things. And then we just thought, well, is this Queen or not? Without Freddie it’s never the original Queen; of course it’s not. So, the question was: can me and Roger and this man who influenced us be Queen?”

May says the collaboration with Rodgers “went organically”. Following that, he wasn’t sure he wanted to “continue to try to be Queen without Freddie”, but then “out of the sky came this boy Adam Lambert”.

May and Taylor first performed with Lambert during the 2009 season finale ofAmerican Idol, in which he finished runner-up, and he started to perform with them regularly in 2011. While they weren’t looking for a singer, May says, Lambert’s performances of Queen songs on American Idol made them realise that his soaring, versatile voice and theatrical stage presence made him the ideal candidate.

“I must have had 1,000 people e-mailing me saying: you have to see this guy; he’s the guy you need to be singing for you. When it came to the final, I think immediately there was some chemistry and I remember thinking, ‘Hmm, this could work’.”



“A couple of years later we had the opportunity to play an awards show, and the response was just phenomenal. Soon we found ourselves playing in front of 400,000 people in eastern Europe; it was the first fully fledged Queen show for years.”

Tellingly, the band refers to itself as Queen + Adam Lambert, suggesting that no one is trying to replace Mercury. “The thing is, he’s not Freddie,” says May. “He doesn’t need to be. But he has an extraordinary instrument, and he’s a natural with crowds. He also has humility, which is nice, and that delightful kind of lightness which makes people warm to him, and it really fits so well with us because we’d spent those years with Freddie, who also had that lightness.”
I think the toughest part is finding the balance between making it my own and honouring the original recording

ADAM LAMBERT
Lambert says the challenge of filling a Mercury-shaped hole might have receded over time, but the eclecticism of Queen’s oeuvre remains as challenging as ever.

“I think the toughest part is finding the balance between making it my own and honouring the original recording. But I think over the years it has become much easier to do that because I think now the music is sort of in my body,” Lambert says.

Queen are perhaps the most eclectic mainstream rock band in history, taking in elements of opera, music hall, funk, folk, heavy metal, disco, prog rock, R&B, symphonic rock, Dixieland jazz, gospel and rockabilly. In addition to Mercury’s unique voice and presence, the British band (Mercury was born Farrokh Bulsara in Zanzibar and mostly raised in India, but was a British citizen throughout his life) are instantly recognisable for their tight vocal harmonies; their densely textured, multilayered, repeatedly overdubbed, wall-of-sound production; and of course May’s virtuoso orchestral guitar solos, played on the guitar he made himself in the early 1960s, known as the Red Special.

Queen formed in 1970 while they were students in London. May, then a physics student, has since completed his PhD and become a respected astrophysicist; he’s also a renowned animal rights activist and also an expert in stereoscopics, a sort of 19th-century experiment in 3D imaging, and will be meeting the Hong Kong company that produces stereoscopic views he designs for the first time when he plays in the city.

The band hit the big time with their third album, Sheer Heart Attack (1974), featuring debut hit single Killer Queen, and then went stellar with the follow-up, A Night at the Opera (1975), which included their biggest hit, Bohemian Rhapsody, a six-minute ballad/opera/hard rock opus that ripped up the rule book when it came to commercial pop, spent a record nine weeks at number one and pretty much invented the music video. It was Lambert’s startlingly ambitious choice to perform onAmerican Idol.

“Obviously that was such a big turning point for me,” he says. “I am glad I picked that one. Maybe if I hadn’t sung that song I might not be part of the band now.”



The album it appeared on, says May, “was life-changing for us. We were on the edge of disaster ’cause the whole operation was so much in debt. So if we hadn’t made that album, which was successful around the world, we probably wouldn’t be speaking at the moment. And artistically it was great because we finally had the freedom that we needed to get in there and do anything we wanted. We had full use of studios, state-of-the-art equipment and enough time to experiment very deeply with both music and the technical side.

“I think all these ideas which had been lurking in our brains but didn’t come out suddenly were able to come out. It was a period of high activity, high hopes and inspiration; it was a very good time, becoming ourselves.”

Not that there weren’t creative clashes. Each member wrote songs and contributed to each other’s songs, creating tensions about whose songs made the grade, and who was credited for writing them. The solution, says May, was the band’s eventual decision to all take joint credit for every song.

“It was a constantly evolving relationship. We were trying to paint on the same canvas and we really had very different ideas as to what the finished canvas should look like. Most groups split up after a while, usually because of the writing situation. Somebody in the band feels like they are not represented. When you bring a song into a group situation in the studio it’s like your baby. You care passionately about it. If that baby doesn’t get to grow up and be something in the world you feel frustrated. So we had to learn to accommodate each other and make sure there was room for somebody else to breathe.

“You get the situation where everybody will work very hard on somebody’s baby and then they get no credit on it. Eventually we thought: let’s change this. What we did was we share the authorship of everything, so no matter who brought the baby in, it would be everybody’s baby.”

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as:
Queen for a day