Roger Taylor Of Queen On New ‘Outsider Tour Live’ Album, Taylor Hawkins Tributes

The lock down of early pandemic wound up turning into a productive stretch for Queen drummer Roger Taylor, who recorded his sixth solo studio album Outsider, achieving some of his greatest solo success with the album, which charted in the U.K. top 5 upon release last fall.

It’s a batch of a dozen songs that address the world, nevertheless maintaining an optimistic bent despite the uncertain times from which it was born. Following release of the album, Taylor was able to mount his first proper solo tour in nearly 20 years, making it a point to perform in intimate venues with one very specific goal.

“Lock down was so weird wasn’t it? I just wanted to tour it for fun, which we did, and it was great,” said Taylor over the phone earlier this week. “And then people said, ‘Well, you know, we recorded them so we might as well put them out live.’ And it was a joyous experience on the tour. It wasn’t designed to be a massive, moneymaking thing. It was designed just to have a little fun really,” he said. “To actually be able to see people in a room all together… During that uncertain period of lock down, I think we were all wondering, ‘Are we ever going to have group events anymore? What’s gonna happen to concerts and festivals?’ But thanks to the wonders of science, here we are again.”

Each concert during Taylor’s two week run last fall was recorded and 22 songs from those performances make up the new album The Outsider Tour Live, now available on CD and vinyl and digitally via streaming services. The performances see the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame drummer step away from his 52 year day job, handling lead vocal and guitar on well-chosen solo cuts, Queen classics, covers and more.

A pair of tracks captured last October during a performance in London at O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, and included on the new live album, feature Queen guitarist Brian May. The liner notes for the new album also dedicate the project to late Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins, in tribute to whom Taylor performed alongside his son Rufus Taylor (drummer of The Darkness), May and powerhouse singer Pink Tuesday in Los Angeles.

“We just finished the second of two tribute concerts to Taylor Hawkins – the wonderful Taylor Hawkins,” said Taylor Wednesday afternoon following the event. “Everybody I know, we all miss him so much. But it was a wonderful coming together. We had all of the greatest rock drummers in the world in the same building last night at the Forum in L.A. And what an incredible mixture. We had Pink singing with us. She was wonderful. And my son [Rufus] was particularly good I thought. He’s becoming a most amazing drummer. I think he’s probably overtaken his dad by quite a long way now in terms of drumming ability!”

I spoke with Roger Taylor about stepping out as frontman, curating the new The Outsider Tour Live set, his 50 year partnership with Brian May and taking part in the Taylor Hawkins Tribute Concerts. A transcript of our phone conversation, lightly edited for length and clarity, follows below.

Obviously, it’s not your first time stepping out as frontman. But was it a fun departure from the day job?

ROGER TAYLOR: Well, yeah. By necessity, it’s a completely different thing obviously. I was playing one to two thousand people. A very different animal sort of than what we did with Queen. But it was very enjoyable. On that level, you can look people in the eye. And I really did enjoy every moment really. It’s as simple as that. I felt very at ease probably for the first time as a frontman.

Something I realized during lock down that I took for granted about concerts is the way music can connect people and bring people together in the live setting. How important a role is that for music to play today?

RT: Absolutely. Literally last night we just finished the second of two tribute concerts to Taylor Hawkins – the wonderful Taylor Hawkins. Everybody I know, we all miss him so much. But it was a wonderful coming together. We had all of the greatest rock drummers in the world in the same building last night at the Forum in L.A. And what an incredible mixture. We had Pink singing with us. She was wonderful. My son was particularly good I thought. He’s becoming a most amazing drummer. I think he’s probably overtaken his dad by quite a long way now in terms of drumming ability!

There’s a phrase that I caught in the liner notes for the new live album that I really loved. And that’s, “All performances are real and untampered with.” Every time I go to a show now, I find myself trying to figure out what I’m hearing that I’m not seeing being performed on stage. How important was it for you on that tour and with this album to not do that?

RT: Oh boy. I could go on about this for a while. But I’m continually outraged by the fact that so many acts now play to click. So they’re hampered. Literally they are locked in – they cannot run free if you know what I mean. And so many instruments are pre-recorded. And the vocals! The vocals are auto-tuned or they’re already recorded. And, sometimes, it’s just sort of ad-libs that are not recorded. And I just feel that that’s something they should be ashamed of.

And it does seem to be rife. There are so few bands. For instance, last night, the glorious Foo Fighters – that’s a real band. That’s the real deal. Everything you hear is real. It’s pretty much the same with Queen. Pretty much everything you hear is real. If anything is recorded, we don’t pretend to be playing or singing it, you know? There’s the middle section of “Bohemian Rhapsody” for instance – it is the record. Because we can’t really recreate that properly. So we don’t pretend that we can! We vacate the stage and let the sound and lights take over.

There’s just way too much chicanery. And, often, it’s covering a lack of innate talent, I think. I can’t stand it. I hate it. So there we are.

Well, I’m assuming you guys recorded each show during the two week tour last year but how did you go about selecting the cuts from each that made this live album?

RT: I guess I just selected songs which, some are well-known hits so that people know them. Obviously, you need a certain amount of that. Then I really selected the other songs on the basis of, “Would these work live?” One of my sort of favorite songs is an old one that I recorded quite a long time ago called “Surrender.” And that works better live than it did on the record. It’s about domestic violence – a cheery little thing! But some songs work great live – sometimes better than they do on the record.

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Two of the performances on The Outsider Tour Live were recorded at the London show and feature Brian May. He’s on guitar for “Tutti Frutti” and “A Kind of Magic.” On the album, you can be heard calling him “my brother from another mother.” Starts and stops, ups and downs, all of these things over 50 years. But to still have that relationship, what does that mean to you after more than five decades? (This is from last stop of tour – London O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire)

RT: It’s extraordinary. I think we’re closer now than we ever were. We always had lots of arguments in the studio. Brian is an absolute perfectionist and painstakingly slow sometimes. It used to drive me crazy. But we’re very close. We even live now quite near each other in the countryside. And we know we are sort of mutually reliant. We need one another, you know? We are all that’s left of Queen. And we feel that’s a precious thing. And we feel protective of it. We’re kind of proud of our achievement and our past. So we share so much.

I met Brian at Imperial College in London. You don’t even dream that you’re going to be friends and colleagues 50 odd years later or more – whatever it is, 52. It’s just incredible to think. But here we are. And, actually, life is good. Life is very good.

You guys cover Led Zeppelin on the new live album. And I’ve heard you say what John Bonham’s playing means to you. What’s it like taking a song like “Rock and Roll” and putting your own spin on it?

RT: I just love that whole – everything about that song. The sort of relative simplicity and the sheer joy of rock and roll. It is so simple. Because Bonzo was probably the greatest rock and roll drummer of all time. I think most drummers would name him. And I just love Robert’s vocals. It’s such fun to play on stage. Hopefully, we can recreate some of that excitement.

It’s like a nod really. Because Led Zeppelin is a very important band to me. And I love them. It’s nice just to do one of those songs.

Speaking of a great vocal, you also took on “Heroes.” There’s such a long history there with you and David Bowie. How did you go about tackling that one on the new album?

RT: That song has such a great melody and has a great depth and soul to it. And, of course, David was a contemporary of ours. He was a wonderful, wonderful man to work with – an inspiration. I think a kind of genius.

In 2016, it was horrible to lose David Bowie. But wow, what a clever man – a dangerous mind. Fantastic. So, really, that’s another little salute to the great David Bowie. And I try to give it my best, you know? (Laughing)

I think of David and I think of Freddie Mercury and something that always struck me growing up in the 80s and seeing them both is how they made it cool to be different – made it acceptable. They made it acceptable to look or act or sound or dress differently. That type of tolerance seems like something we could really use today. How important a role is that for music or musicians to play?

RT: Well, I think it is. They obviously were two greats. I think to be… You need to be fearless. And focused. And have great self-belief. And they both had that. And then you need a load of talent. And they both had that too.

You mentioned last night’s tribute event. The liner notes dedicate the new album to the memory of Taylor Hawkins. What did Taylor mean to you as a friend, colleague and drummer?

RT: He was with Alanis Morissette when we first met. And I think we were the first band he ever saw when he was about 12. So, for that reason, we meant a lot to him.

My wife put it very well: He was like sunshine in human form. He was so keen. And a sensational drummer – but just a great human being.

And he loved music – all sorts of music. Everything from Rush to the Eagles, all sorts of things – not necessarily always my taste. But he felt like my younger brother. And we were very close. Our families became close. My son Rufus was totally inspired by Taylor Hawkins and drums miraculously like him. He kind of based his style on Taylor’s style. And he’s actually his godson. So it meant an awful lot to us last night. It was really great.

And it was also great to have Pink sing with us. We really love Pink’s voice. She’s got such a voice and she’s a great performer. We just threw that together. So that was wonderful. That was a very positive outcome from last night. It was a pure rock and roll night. It was a parade of very able musicians, not to mention drummers.

But I’ve got to say, I’m glad it’s over.

Something I couldn’t help but think, especially watching the Wembley event a few weeks ago, was how much it reminded me of the Freddie Mercury tribute concert…

RT: Pat Smear and Dave Grohl, who were the main movers in both of the events, said they used the Freddie tribute concert as the model for the Taylor tributes.

That concert in 1991 was very much kind of my baby really. I stoked the fire in the beginning and managed to get most of the acts. It was a cathartic time for us. I think Brian and I took five years to get over the fact that Freddie wasn’t around. But it did put a full stop to the story at the time.

You guys also just wrapped the Queen + Adam Lambert tour at the end of July. Again, what was it like finally getting back on stage with Queen after the break?

RT: Great. It kind of happened by accident. We played “We Are the Champions” on the final of American Idol with the two finalists. And that’s when we met Adam. We were bowled over by his voice. We ended up doing a couple of things – like an MTV awards show together and then I think we did an iHeart thing, a radio show in Las Vegas. And we did about a half hour and it really worked well. This touring grew out of that. And then we just toured more and more and more. And Adam really grew into the role.

He’s amazing. His instrument is without parallel. He’s a truly amazingly good singer with range that exceeds anybody I know.

So it’s worked very well.