JIM LADD: I’m Jim Ladd and we’re back now with Brian May and Cynthia Fox on 95.5 KLOS. Go ahead Ms Fox.

CYNTHIA FOX: See, you can’t just put me in the same sentence with Brian May. I’m sorry, but Dr Brian May, we’re so happy that you’re with us. Couple of quick things to ask before you leave is very soon you’re gonna be celebrating the six year anniversary of We Will Rock You…

BRIAN MAY: Yes.

CF: … the musical in London.

BM: Yeah.

CF: … which is fantastic, because it’s not only lasted and endured and enthusiastic audiences, but you’ve had productions actually go around the Globe.

BM: Yeah, we’ve had a few now. I think now at any one time... there’s about half a dozen running.

CF: It’s such a remarkable thing, I mean...

BM: It’s great. I love it. It’s a great baby to have, yeah. And it’s a constantly developing baby. (chuckle)

CF: South Africa, Australia, Madrid, Vienna, Zurich, Toronto – and that’s extended there too.

BM: Yeah.

CF: What’s so nice is how amazing is that? How often do you pinch yourself when you think, “My God, I did this.” Your music has touched and continued to touch people around the world. They get what you’re saying, and they get what you’re saying in the show too, which I was gonna point out.

BM: They do. It’s great. I love it actually. I still go, a lot and I never get fed up with it. It’s a wonderful, living thing, because you get to see different people every night, because there would be people off, the understudies will be coming up and very often, we believe in promoting within the organisation as part of our sort of loyalty thing, so very often you’ll see an understudy on there for the first time, who may end up being one of the principals later, if not in London, then somewhere else. And, yeah, I’m very proud of it. I think particularly because we fought through a very difficult birth. The critics utterly tried to destroy us and very nearly did, and we even had a director (chuckle) who nearly destroyed us - but I won’t go into that – but it was a very difficult beginning and we over… I think those things make you stronger and now there’s been two and a half million people seen it in London and everybody comes back. EVERYBODY comes back and brings their friends and they all go out smiling and laughing and that’s a great thing for me. And I sit there and watch it happen, and I see people get to their feet and stamp and clap and and just think, I just think people are gonna be doing this long after I’m gone.

CF: Wow.

BM: I think that that show will still be going on.

CF: Well what’s nice is, you know, you’ve got a show that has your music, but there’s also a lot of humour in the show.

BM: Yeah.

CF: There’s also some topicality. I mean you’re talking about... the characters are facing a world in which there’s been this complete homogenisation…

BM: Exactly.

CF: … of culture and all the quirky, neat little individual things that we like about certain places or certain people, have been just kind of mowed over.

BM: Mm.

CF: And so…

BM: Yes.

CF: … these are characters that are trying to discover this freedom of expression and individual expression again and kind of sparking that again, so …

BM: Yeah, exactly.

CF: ... how wonderful it is that you’ve got audiences around the world ‘getting’ that, and understanding that and feeling the same way.

BM: Yeah. That makes me very happy too, because, I mean, I’m very proud of the music, and the music is obviously our, our domain, and we keep a very close eye. Everybody who plays in the bands of the show I communicate with and, you know, we personally auditioned and hired and worked with all those guys. But the script has been much maligned, I have to say. Ben Elton is an easy man to, apparently, hate, if you’re in the media, but what he’s put in there is something great I think, and I thank God that it’s not a story - it’s not the history of Queen. It’s not that kind of a musical. It’s a story of kids in the future, and it has something very important to say, I think. You know if we manage to hold onto our individuality and our ability to express ourselves, rather than express something which we’ve been programmed to do, you know. It’s a sort of… there’s a lot of humour in there and it does take the, the Mickey out... - . I’m choosing my words carefully - does take the Mickey out of the whole Pop Idol kind of culture and the fact that people can be a star overnight supposedly, and it’s kind of merciless in the way that kind lampoons that stuff, but there’s a, there’s a little bit of a serious point, and then – Ben Elton wrote the script – did I say that? And he’s a well-known, you know, he has a great history in humour. He did Blackadder in England. He’s quite an amazing brain – has written lots of books, all of which are very apposite. You know, all of which have something to say. But he has this way of making you… When people come out of the theatre, not only have they got this message about global homogenisation or whatever, but they also feel that they’ve seen us in some strange way, because they understand our struggle; the Queen struggle to be, to keep their individuality and not get sucked into purely commercial stuff…

CF: Yeah.

BM: … and our ability, or at least hopefully our ability to tread that fine line between doing art for art’s sake, and doing art for an audience. And so that is written in there very cleverly, very subtly, and so it does us a great service. It makes a lot of people who just drift into a theatre because they have nothing… you know people just drift. They think, “Let’s go see a show”, but they come out understanding a bit about what’s happening in the world, but also a bit about us, in a strange way. (tails off)

CF: Yeah. So it’s a positive, life-affirming show. It’s a celebration of your music but you’re also – people are coming away with a lot of inspiration.

BM: They are and they come back. They’re happy. That’s the great [thing] and I just watch them going out, and they’re all punching the air and laughing…

CF: Yeah.

BM: … and smiling, and it’s a great feeling to watch that.

CF: And how nice is…

BM: No, no, I was just gonna say, and I haven’t done anything that night. You know, I’ve just watched our people, our babies, our wonderful performers, the actors and the singers and the dancers and the musicians, the guitar players, drummers. They have all done it. I haven’t lifted a finger, but that thing has happened in the theatre. It’s magic. It’s incredible.

CF: Yeah.

BM: Sorry – you were gonna say?

CF: Oh I’m sorry. I was just gonna say, and here we are, you know, sometimes we seem, we feel like we’re drenching in culture, where every time we turn around, what’s considered hip, you go and see a certain film or something like that, and it doesn’t seem - healthy. It just seems so negative. And that to see a show like that, where like I said, it’s positive, life-affirming. You have, you know, the feisty female heroines, which we love…

BM: Ah – the ladies drive the show.

CF: No – it’s just so appreciated.

BM: Great. Cool.

JL: Well, very good. You are a man of many parts, Dr May.

BM: It seems that way.

(Cynthia laughs)

BM: Yes, one day I will figure out what it’s all about.

JL: And you know what, I think that this is a wonderful time to be a renaissance man because there’s a lot of great tools at one’s disposal. It’s not just a quill pen and some parchment that you have to work with. There’s a lot of wonderful things to work with, so why not express yourself in as many ways as you can and follow all of your interests, you know?

BM: It’s an interesting thought. I also think it’s a time when there’s a danger of us all becoming too specialised, so in a way, I regard myself as a little bit of a symbol of what I believe. You know I think it’s a little dangerous that we’ve become so specialised and so narrow as scientists, as musicians, as whatever, and I think it’s good to encourage people to keep their fingers in the broad flow of life.

JL: Right.

BM: So that’s kinda where I come from.

JL: You know, and also you are one of the rare, and maybe the only, person I can think of in this position, which, who brings an artist’s eye and sensibility to hard science.

BM: Hmm. Thank you for saying that. I couldn’t have written that better. (chuckle)

JL: Well, it’s true and…

BM: Thank you.

JL: … and that’s really special because you can help to translate that into a vocabulary that all of us can understand. And not only understand, but maybe get inspired by.

BM: Oh, thanks a lot. Yeah. I do think that it’s all part of a whole, and it’s all, everything, every piece of knowledge or art or science is something which we should all be sharing, and there should be ways of sharing it. Things should not be locked up in jargon and made more mystifying than they ought to be. There are people … we should be talking to each other and sharing all the stuff that we love, so yeah, thank you. That’s what I would like to do.

JL: I guess it’s a great place to leave it. You have anything else (clapping) to say there, Miss Fox?

CF: Just thank you for taking the time…

BM: Thank you.

CF: You honour us with your perspective and we so appreciate it.

JL: Great seeing you.

BM: The lovely Cindy Fox (Cynthia titters) and the great Jim Ladd here. Yeah, you’re great people and I’m very happy to be with you and…

CF: Awww.

BM: … grateful to you.

(Jingle Recording. … Cynthia laughs.) “You use your tongue prettier than a twenty dollar whore.”

BM: I’m sorry.

Yee haw. (clapping)

JL: Brian May, Cynthia Fox.
(clapping)

JL: KLOS

PLAYS: “Rock it (Prime Jive)”

JL: Lord have mercy. Queen and Rock It and Prime Jive on 95.5 KLOS. What a pleasure it was to have Brian May and Cynthia Fox here. I hope you enjoyed it and thanks to the people who called in. Thanks for everybody on MySpace, all the great pictures and comments and so forth. It was really a delight and I hope you enjoyed that. Well, we’ll stop here for a moment and we’ll be back on KLOS right after this.