Its a project that was in the back of my mind for a while because I had all these 3-D pictures that Id taken over the years, Queen guitarist Brian May tells me in a posh Manhattan hotel suite. He grabs a strawberry from the coffee table and continues. I was thinking, Does it constitute some kind of history, or is it just snaps? <\/p>\n
The former is certainly the case in his new book, Queen in 3-D, which captures the thrilling history of his band with over 300 previously unseen stereoscopic photographs. (Stereoscopic, or 3-D, photography re-creates the illusion of depth by utilizing the binocularity of our vision.) The impressive book includes his own reflective narrative (May didnt need a ghostwriter), and comes with an OWL 3-D viewer, which brings out the full effect of these images. <\/p>\n
The cover photo, and many of the images within, focuseson Queens iconic lead singer, Freddie Mercury, who died in 1991 after battling AIDS. Mercurys vocalssometimes operatic (Queens mix of rock and opera is groundbreaking), other times roaring with rock furyand his theatrical stage personamade him one of musics most beloved frontmen. <\/p>\n
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He had a great vision for music of all kinds, but especially for harmonies, like you hear in Bohemian Rhapsody, May says. <\/p>\n
British rock group Queen in concert. From left: Freddie Mercury, John Deacon and Brian May. Express Newspapers\/Getty <\/p>\n
Queens music blended elements of prog rock, heavy metal, pop, folk and classical in unique ways on albums like A Night at the Opera, News of the World,Jazz and The Game. <\/p>\n
And Mays guitar work and songwriting often defined what was signature in Queen. Combining technical virtuosity with richly orchestrated multitracking, Mays playing, with its inventive harmonies,emotive melodies, soaring leads and clever rhythm work, has sometimes landed him on Greatest Guitarists of All Time lists. His unmistakeablesound is made possible by his Red Special, the guitar his father, Harold May, an electronics engineer, helped him build. He was very proud of the fact that wed done it together, as I still am, May tells me. <\/p>\n
Young Man Blues: A pre-Queen Brian May. QPL <\/p>\n
Following Mercurys death, Queen took an extended break. But in 2006, its surviving membersteamed up with former Bad Company vocalist Paul Rodgers and hit the road as Queen + Paul Rodgers. It wasnt exactly Queen, but it did rock. <\/p>\n
And since 2011, former American Idol finalist Adam Lambert has been the guy in the frontman role. His powerful vocals and flamboyant stage presence work well with Queens music. The first tour billed as Queen + Adam Lambert was in June 2014, and a few weeks ago, the band wrapped up the U.S. leg of its latest tour, which will head to Europe in November before reachingNew Zealand and Australia in mid-February 2018. (Heres the full tour itinerary.) <\/p>\n
Queen's Brian May, left, and Roger Taylor perform in Barcelona in 2016. QPL <\/p>\n
In concert, May is still very much a guitar hero. At the Queen + Adam Lambert show in Newark, New Jersey, last month, he launched into a lengthy solo, and I noticed some licks from Brighton Rock, the blistering leadoff track on 1974s Sheer Heart Attack. Theres a little bit of that in there, Mays tells me. Its always different. Its just what I feel, really. During thatportion of the show, visual effects made it seem as if May was soaring through outer space. <\/p>\n
Theres a reason for that. <\/p>\n
The man whom many call Dr. Mayand whose father built him not only a guitarbut a telescope as wellreceived his Ph.D. in astrophysics from Imperial College London in 2007. Eight years later, he became involved with NASA as a science team collaborator with the New Horizons Pluto mission, and he even used his stereoscopic photography skills on images of that planet. <\/p>\n
May was also a co-founder of Asteroid Day, and one of those big rocks is actually named after him (Asteroid 52665 Brianmay). Same goes for Mercury (Asteroid 17473 Freddiemercury). Now doesnt Queens Dont Stop Me Now seem all the more relevant (Im a shooting star leaping through the sky\/Like a tiger defying the laws of gravity, Mercury sings)? <\/p>\n
Guitarist Brian May, right, and lead singer Freddie Mercury, onstage in the '70s. QPL <\/p>\n
In his conversation with Newsweek, May also sheds light on his animal welfare work (when doesthis guysleep?), including his efforts to stop fox hunting in the U.K., and the significance of Frank, the robot on the cover of News of the World (and on the T-shirt May is wearing during our talk). Frank makes a number of appearances at each Queen + Adam Lambert gig, which makes sense since this year marks the 40th anniversary of that amazing album. <\/p>\n
Drummer Roger Taylor, guitarist Brian May and singer Adam Lambert perform with Queen at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, on July 26, while Frank looks on. Michael Loccisano\/Getty <\/p>\n
How did Adam get the job? Well, the funny thing is we didnt look for him. Then one day somebody rang me up and said, Theres this guy on American Idol, and hes just done Bohemian Rhapsody,and youve got to see him because hes the guy who should go out and sing for you. <\/p>\n
What was your first reaction? As you do, I looked on YouTube and thought, Hmmm, yeah.And at the same time, somebody had told Roger [Taylor, Queens drummer\/singer]. Then we got a phone call from American Idol people saying, Will you come over and play with the two finalists?And so we did. Adam was one, and Adam did not win [onAmerican Idol]. <\/p>\n
Queen + Adam Lambert perform in Brussels in 2016. QPL <\/p>\n
What was so captivating about Adams singing and stage persona? Its kind of funny looking back on it. The other guy [Kris Allen] was great too. But I think it was obvious that Adam had that kind of special, indefinable thing going for him, something unique, and almost scary. Hes on the edge, a bit like Freddy was. Some people could take him, and some people [couldnt]. And everybody deifies Freddy now, but if wed been sitting here 40 years ago, people were all out to get him. They were all like, Who does he think he is? <\/p>\n
So Adams a bit like that. A lot of people look at Adam and think, What the hell does he think he is? But when they see him in concert, they get it. They fall in love with him. I think because he has this insane confidence, but also a humility. Its like he has both ends of the spectrum. And its genuine, you know? Hes very respectful. But he also knows what he can do, and thats a powerful thing. <\/p>\n
'Queen in 3-D' was published by the London Stereoscopic Company. Paul Harmer <\/p>\n
How did the idea for Queen in 3-D come about? It was in the back of my mind for a while because I had all these 3-D pictures that Id taken over the years. What happened was, my team kind of caught hold of the idea and they said, Look, you should take this seriously. And I have an archivethis sounds very swank, doesnt itand an amazing guy looks after my stereoscopic collection [of photography], curates it and researches it. He said, Look, if you just let me go through your houseand well see what we have. <\/p>\n
So he ransacked the entire place and found all kinds of stuff that I had no idea I still had, including some bits of film that were processed but not mounted. And in one of those rolls we found this portrait of Freddy [Mercury], which is on pageI cant remember. This lovely one of him. And we gradually found more and more stuff. Then we thought, Not only is there enough for a book, theres probably too much, so were going to have to get really selective. <\/p>\n
What came up for you while putting it all together? Seeing these picturesthe essence of the 3-D picture is its much more than a snap, its almost like a tableau that you could walk into and see the things that you were seeing at the timeand all sorts of memories came out. <\/p>\n
'Queen in 3-D' London Stereoscopic Company\/Brian May <\/p>\n
How did the process of creating the book go? You get to the hard part where you really have to shape the book, and I started scratching my head about which dates were which and what came in what order. And theres a great joyful process of discovery in writing a book. You have all this stuff and its like nearly a book, and then theres this very hard piece where its the journey from nearly a book to a book. Then I thought, Ah, Im done now.But actually no, because youve got to sell the thing. <\/p>\n
I attended the Queen + Adam Lambert show in New Jersey recently. Tell me about the show. <\/p>\n
The stage reminded me a little of Queens stage on the 1978 Jazz tour, which I attended at the Nassau Coliseum [in Uniondale, New York]. Wow, all right!It is an interesting little vehicle we built there. Im very proud of it. For the first time, we actually put nine months of preparation in before we set foot on the stage, and I think it shows. In the past, we would throw a couple of ideas at the set designers and then arrive in the rehearsal room with a look on our faces like, Oh, what should we do now? <\/p>\n
Queen and Adam Lambert perform onstage during the North American Tour kickoff at Gila River Arena in Glendale, Arizona, on June 23. Christopher Polk\/Getty Images for Miracle Productions LLP <\/p>\n
This time, we thought it through more. You want to be conscious of the past, but you want to be conscious that its an organic thing, a new thing, and you have a new generation to play to. Theres so much new video and sound technology. Theyre all new toys. We were always a band that embraced every toy we could lay our hands on because its fun to do that. <\/p>\n
What were some of the key elements that made Freddie such an amazing frontman? Well, the answer that comes to mind to me ishe was a self-made man. He had a vision of himself which was cast-iron. He knew where he wanted to be, he had a total focus on how he wanted to live, to create, to be perceived, to workand to play. <\/p>\n
Singer Freddie Mercury during a Queen performance at London's Earls Court in June 1977. Gary Merrin\/Keystone\/Getty <\/p>\n
All of that was very much part of him, even when we first met him. He wasnt a star when we met him, but a guy working in a boot store, and he was also at art school doing graphic design. But he had an insane confidence and belief. He behaved like he was a rock star. Not in an arrogant way, but just in a very kind of innocent way. Of course Im going to be a rock star, that kind of thing. You know, we were all kids. The funny thing was, as Roger will tell you too, he had this belief in himself as a singer, but wasnt yet a singer because he hadnt had the chance to mold himself. And when we first...Im cutting to the chase. <\/p>\n
Go for it. When we first played with him, he ran around like a whirling dervish and kind of screamed, and we were a bit taken aback. We thought, Oh, my God, the guy has talent, but hes very untamed. Is this ever going to work? What happened was, when we first got into a studio, Freddie started to hear himself coming back off the tape, and there was this enormous cataclysm, because he didnt like what he heard. Hes like, Thats not good enough. Let me try this. <\/p>\n
Queen in concert in the 1970s. QPL <\/p>\n
In the space of a few months, he had transformed himself into a guy who not only had a great instrumentbut actually knew how to use it. And that process went on for quite a few years, until hes in the studio doing things like the introduction to You Take My Breath Away[from 1976s A Day at the Races], which we play in the [Queen + Adam Lambert] show. <\/p>\n
Whats particularly striking about that song? Its a priceless gem. Normally, its the four of us singing harmonies, because we did that; well, the three of us. John [Deacon, Queens bassist] was kind of not interested [in singing]. But this was just Freddie, and he was in there with Mike Stone, a very unsung hero engineer, and he would just do track after track, multitracking himself. You could hear that on this beautiful little intro. I dont know how many voices there are, probably 30 to 40, but its all Freddie, molding this beautiful sound sculpture. The harmonies were unusual. <\/p>\n
What often occurred when you, the guitarist, combined forces with Freddie, the singer? Its hard to say. Its a four-way thing, not just two-way. But Freddie did have a sort of vision of me. In the very early days, he said, You are what I want. You are my Jimi Hendrix, and we will do this thing.I think he had more belief in me than I had. And I remember that once wed done a few albums, Freddie said, Ive got something for you, darling. Ive got this little cassette.He had spent hours and hours in the studio putting together all of the solos that Id done up to that time. He said, Just listen to this.And hed made it into a continuous sort of guitar solo thing. <\/p>\n
Wow! That is wonderful. I lost it. <\/p>\n
Oh no! I never lose things, but I cant find that. <\/p>\n
Brian May hits the red zone in concert. QPL <\/p>\n
But that was him. He would surprise you in all sorts of ways. And he did have a vision. And not just for the musicbut for the presentation as well. Freddie was very conscious. Well, I guess we were all conscious in different ways; Im the guitar player, and I have a different kind of consciousness, and Roger, whos very much the rock star drummer, has a different kind of awareness of where we sat in music in general. John [Deacon] has a consciousness of the technical stuff and business too, which is important, and he also became an amazing bass player and a songwriter. <\/p>\n
We all turned into songwriters. I guess Id already started writing songs before I met Freddie. But the four of us were all very keen to create, and it was quite competitive. We were mutually supportive, but also quite combative, like John comes in with something and goes, I want to do this.And Roger goes, Thats crap, thats disco, we dont do disco. Thats rubbish. This kind of confrontation [led to] Another One Bites the Dust, and everybody loved it. <\/p>\n
A Day at the Studio: Freddie Mercury, left, and Brian May. QPL <\/p>\n
There was always support, but also conflict. I think that's what made us what we were, what made us strong. It was a big rejection process of That isnt good enough.We can do that better.In the end, there was enough mutual respect that the guy who originally brought the song would have the final say. <\/p>\n
And it was a process that did us proud all the way up to a certain point where we realized there was an element missing. We thought the thing thats missing is that we ought to be sharing everything, knowingly, with the creative process. So we made this big decision, which was every song that got used in the album would be credited to the four of us, as opposed to the guy who brought it in. And that was a big, big thing. It changed the way we worked. <\/p>\n
When did that happen? It happened with things like I Want It All. I brought I Want It All [from 1989s The Miracle] in. It was a sort of recharging thing for us. The funny thing is, theres a price to pay. Because somebodys using I Want It All, they want to use it for a sports anthem at the moment. And people are bringing me these versions of it. And Im thinking, Oh, thats really nice, theyre using my song.Then Im thinking, Its not really my song, its Queens song, because its credited to the four of us.So theres a little bit of a price to pay, but thats OK. <\/p>\n
Guitarist Brian May QPL <\/p>\n
Some of Queens most thrilling music features operatic parts. Bohemian Rhapsody is a quintessential example. Theres a lot of elements. As kids, we were brought up in an environment which was so different from the way things are today. If youre a kid and youre into one kind of music, thats what you plug into. But in our day, there was nothing like that. There was only one radio station, to start. And what we heard on the radio was dictated by what just a few people would bring to it. <\/p>\n
Youre speaking about the BBC? Yeah, and it was incredibly broad. We were brought up with everything from Mantovani, which is sort of light classical, to proper classicalTchaikovsky, Beethoven, whatever. And this kind of strange English kind of world which is music hall. Its got George Formby, a Lancaster boy with an amazing, kind of naughty sense of humor, but an incredible technique on banjo [May plays air banjo ukulele for a moment]. So I grew up listening to a lot of that because my dad played ukulele. But also there would be Uncle Macs Childrens Favourites[a BBC radio show] onSaturday morning. Uncle Mac was the guy who would play requests from children. And there was Lonnie Donegan. <\/p>\n
How did the music of Lonnie Donegan influence Queen? He is a very interesting phenomenon. I mention him especially because hes part of the English development towards what we are. Hes singing songs like My Old Mans a Dustman and Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavor (on the Bedpost Over Night)? [May plays a bit of air uke that resembles his strumming on Good Company from A Night at the Opera.]Hes been to America, hes picked up all kinds of stuff, and hes basically bringing blues to England. It becomes this thing called skiffle. That was the first exposure England had to the American blues. I grew up with this amazing kind of saturation of all different styles. <\/p>\n
Hollywood <\/p>\n
Theres also plenty of terrific piano parts in Queens repertoire. Freddie and I had piano lessons, strangely enough. We didnt know each other in those days, but we both had four years of piano lessons. And of course you get exposed to a lot of classical stuff. No one would teach you pop in those days. <\/p>\n
And no one would teach you guitar. The guitar was outlawed at my school. You were not allowed to bring a guitar to school, so we used to hide and play in our lunchtime. And thered be some guy on the lookout to make sure nobody discovered it. It was something sort of degenerate to play guitar. So its unthinkable that you would have guitar lessons, but you had piano lessons, and I had violin lessons. Its kind of an unimaginably different background from now, isnt it? <\/p>\n
Queen's Freddie Mercury, left, and Brian May are photographed onstage in the '70s. QPL <\/p>\n
Queen continued to progress on News of the World. In Queens recent concert, the robot on the cover of the album makes quite an appearance. Frank is named after his creator, Frank Kelly Freas. Were always on the lookout for connections. And Roger [Taylor] is particularly good at this stuff. Roger picked up a science fiction magazine called Astounding Science Fiction, from the 50s, and on the front of it is a picture of a robot, this guy, and in his hand, hes got blood on it, hes picked up a soldier. And this robot is a character who looks very fearsome and frightening because hes huge and hes mechanical, but actually what hes done is he picks up this soldier and hes injured him by accident or he was already injured, I dont know. But hes not picking him up because he wants to harm him, but because he wants to fix him. <\/p>\n
It was a very appealing idea to us. It connected to some of the things we were into. So we got in touch with the artist, Frank Kelly Freas, and said, Will you re-create this robot for us and make a cover for us? And he did. Franks got me in his hands, strangely, enough, and Rogerhes dropping him. <\/p>\n
Island <\/p>\n
The audience was thrilled when Frank appears onstage. He picks you up in his hand. And Adam sits on his head, and says, This guy gives great head! Perfect! The Queen archivist was saying to me, Look, this is the 40th anniversary of News of the World. Then we picked up this album, and I went, You know what, it would be so great if we did theme [parts of the show] on this anniversary. And look at this guy, wouldnt it be great if he came to life? I thought, Wouldnt it be great if he picked me up? In his hand. And they were like, Yeah, we can make that happen. <\/p>\n
Frank is there in peoples minds the whole time, and we love it. It gives the show a kind of theatrical overtone. And I know Freddy wouldve loved it. He loved all that theater stuff. <\/p>\n
Sheer Ax Attack: Bassist John Deacon, left, Freddie Mercury and Brian May. QPL <\/p>\n
Some of the most moving moments of Queens current live show occur when you perform Love of My Life on a 12-string acoustic guitar and sing. The song originally featured Freddies beautiful vocals. I love doing that. Its exactly the way I used to do it with Freddie, so its nice. And I get to sing. Im not the world's greatest singer, but I enjoy that moment of communication. Then Freddie [via holographic effect] is the jewel in the crown. From certain angles, it looks like he is actually with me. I can sort of communicate with him because I know what hes going to do. I know when hes going to put his hand out. <\/p>\n
Sometimes its very jolly, and I just think, Ah, this is great. Hey, Fred. And sometimes, it gets me and I think, Shit, hes not really there. Its funny the things that go through your mind.... Thats the moment when all the things come out of the box, and I think, Wow, were here 20 years after Freddys gone, and hes still there large as life. And hes still emotionally connecting with people. <\/p>\n
Guitarist\/songwriter Brian May performs with Queen + Adam Lambert in Barcelona in 2016. QPL <\/p>\n
Your guitar work is very distinctive. And you play a guitar that you created with your father. Yeah, its very much part of me really. My dad was also a good musician. He was a great piano playeran instinctive piano player. All through the war, he played piano and ukulele as well. And when the war was over, he had a wife and a child on the way. It was me. I said to him, Why didnt you continue playing the piano? He said, I couldnt. I had to geta job, I had to make money to bring up my family and to get a mortgage and stuff. <\/p>\n
But he was a great scientist and engineer, my dad, so thats the career he followed. It was like a proper job, if you like. He was in the civil service. He was an electronics draftsman. He worked on blind landing equipment for airplanes. Anyways, the reason Im telling you this is because he supported everything I did. He was a great father to me. <\/p>\n
Thats wonderful. And he taught me about electronics. We couldnt afford a guitar, so we made a guitar together. It took us two years. And he was very proud of the fact that wed done it together, as I still am. And then I continued my schooling. Now the thing is, my father had given up his sort of artistic side so that I could go to school and I could have clothes to wear, you know, because we were poor. <\/p>\n
So when I went through school, he was proud of the fact that I was good at science as well. I went on to get a degree in science at the Imperial College [London]. So hes really happy, he thinks things have turned out well. One day, I say, Dad, Im going to give all this up, and Im going to go out and play guitar.Hes so horrified because he feels like I have thrown away everything he fought to give me. <\/p>\n
All that education. Yeah, everything that he gave up his artistic side to do. So I think he had a terrible time and I didnt realize how painful it was for him. We hardly spoke for about a year and a half. It was really hard while we went off and started Queen. <\/p>\n
The idea that I would go off and be a pop star instead of becoming a scientist or an engineerit was just unthinkable to my dad. So we had this crazy situation where hes enabled me to make the guitar, but he doesnt want me to go out and become the guy that plays that guitar. It was a hard thing for me. <\/p>\n
Rock Royalty: Guitarist Brian May with Queen in concert. QPL <\/p>\n
And it only resolved itself when we played Madison Square Garden, and I flew my mom and dad out on the Concord, which is an airplane that hed worked onbut could never afford to fly on. So I put my mom and dad on it, and put them up in the Plaza Hotel and said order room service. He came to the show, and after, he came back and shook my hand. My dad was kind of formal. He said, OK, I get it now. Which was a big moment for me. <\/p>\n
These days, you have so much going in your life. Theres an insane amount going on now. <\/p>\n
Has your study of astrophysics blended with your role in Queen? I dont know if they blend, but I think they complement each other. I like cross-pollinating everything, you know? At school, there was this terrible divide between arts and science. Like if you were an artist, you could not take a scientific course, and vice versa. So I remember having this terrible argument with one of my teachers. I said, I want to do both. And he said, You cant. If youre a scientist, you have to do this, and you have to learn German so that you can read scientific papers. <\/p>\n
They had it all mapped out. You cant take the art courses, and you have to give up music as a subject, which I did. SoI sort of rebelled against that all my life. And I had to make the choice at some point, and it was clear that I was a better musician than I was a scientist, in my mind. <\/p>\n
Brian May during a sound check. QPL <\/p>\n
Eventually, I did three years undergraduate physics, with astronomy as a part of it, and I did four years postgraduate research in zodiacal dust, at Imperial College. And thats the point where I had to decide, because Queen was already going. I was teaching math to make some money in a comprehensive school. <\/p>\n
What was going through your mind at that point? I thought, If I dont do music now, Ill never do it, the opportunity will go. So we went off, and we did this insane Queen thing, which couldve completely disappeared down the plughole, but didnt. <\/p>\n
But what about your science studies? I wrote up a couple of papers, which was good, and they were published, so at least the work was out there, but I didnt finish the [Ph.D.] thesis. And it was always in the back of my mind.... Theres an amazing man named Sir Patrick Moore, who is the father of English astronomy. And I was lucky enough to become friendly with him, and he became like an uncle to me. He said, Brian, youve never finished your Ph.D., why dont you go back and do it now? I said, Patrick, I cant. Its all gone from my head. Ive been a musician for 30 years, its not going to work. He said, Dont be ridiculous, of course you can do it. <\/p>\n
Musician and author Brian May poses for a portrait at a signing of his astronomy book 'Bang! The Complete History of the Universe' in Los Angeles on at Book Soup on May 6, 2008. Charley Gallay\/Getty <\/p>\n
So I started talking about it in interviews, like we are, and somebody posted it. And the head of astrophysics at Imperial College at that time read the interview and phoned me up and said, If youre serious about wanting to finish up your Ph.D., I will be your supervisor. <\/p>\n
Wow! No one can say no to that. So I ditched everything for a year, just absolutely cleared the decks, went inand did it. And it was tough, because he wasnt easy on me. <\/p>\n
Was he a Queen fan? Not in the least. But he enjoyed what I did. Getting the Ph.D. opened all these doors. Suddenly I could go back to some of the places I had been when I was doing the astronomy, and I remet with all these guys. The funny thing is, so many of these scientists are very much like metheyre very much into music. So we have a lot in common. <\/p>\n
Oh, thats interesting. Then I got to know a lot of these NASA guys who run these experiments, these things like Rosetta, where they rendezvous with a comet, and New Horizons, where they rendezvous with Pluto. And Im the luckiest man in the world because I got invited to go and see their operations. I was in the control room when New Horizons was passing Pluto. I saw those images come in. I was able to grab a couple and make a stereo pair of them. And the guy whos head of the project instigator for Rosetta is the biggest heavy metal freak Ive ever met in my life. His bodys covered in tattoos, half of which are, like, Einstein and scientists, but the other half is heavy metal, you know? <\/p>\n
So now I find there isnt that dividing line. They all come to our shows. I love when the NASA guys come. And I was happy to show them what weve done in my guitar solo. <\/p>\n
Brian May performs onstage during Queen + Adam Lambert for iHeartRadio Live at the iHeartRadio Theater on June 16, 2014 in Burbank, California. Kevin Winter\/Getty Images for Clear Channel) <\/p>\n
The space, celestial scenes that are projected... Yeah, its a little journey. Its nice that I dont feel alone anymore, because all of these people feel the same as me, that art and science should be mixed and a complete, rounded human being needs to have an appreciation of both. <\/p>\n
Your animal welfare work is another big part of your life. When did your passion for it begin? When I got a message from this lady, where I live in the country, saying, Can I come on your property and build some runs to soft-release some foxes? I didnt know what it all was. She already ran this wonderful wildlife rescue, and all the animals that came in would be medically seen and restored to health, but then its like, What do you do? You dont want to keep them as pets, you want them to have a life back out there. <\/p>\n
What did you learn from her? She explained that if you take an animal from its environment and then you fix it physically and then put it out in the middle of a forest, its probably not going to survive. So this soft-release thing is really important, and the run is a place where they can recover physically, but they also are in contact with the wildlife thats around. You gradually open the door and they will go out, and theyll keep coming back for food. But theyll be able to learn how to take care of themselves all over again. Finally comes the day when they dont come back. So thats what changed my life. I said, Yes, you can build anything you want, well do all these runs. <\/p>\n
Queen's Brian May holds a baby fox rescued by the Secret World Wildlife Rescue centre in Somerset in Midsomer Norton, England, on April 24, 2010. The guitarist is a passionate campaigner for animal welfare. Matt Cardy\/Getty <\/p>\n
You and Anne Brummer founded the organization Save Me, which campaigns against a repeal of the Hunting Act in the U.K. Fox hunting is still outlawed in Britain, yet Prime Minister Theresa May wants to bring it back. Anne had been involved in the political side of things. Shed been around when the Hunting Act was brought in, at great pain, in Britain. Under Tony Blairs government, the Hunting Act was brought in, which outlawed hunting foxes. The sad thing is, it still goes on undercover. And we have a prime minister whos in favor of fox huntingand would like to bring it back. But shes failed to do that. Shes failed at everything, basically. <\/p>\n
I became involved with Anne on the political side. But we spent half of our time actually physically on the ground, rescuing animals. And we started going into the House of Parliament, and lobbying MPs, to support our cause. <\/p>\n
Brian May leads an anti-fox hunting rally for PETA on July 14, 2015 in London. Stuart C. Wilson\/Getty <\/p>\n
Were the MPs surprised that Queens guitarist was lobbying in the House of Parliament? A lot of these MPs wouldnt be interested, except that theyre interested in talking to me because perhaps their kids were into Queen. So Queen is a fantastic way of opening doors.... So being a sort of well-known face in music has been very useful. What you do once the doors opened is a different matter, because theres plenty of celebrities who will just put their name to causes. But all these MPs discovered that I wasnt one of those people, that I was a person who wanted to work at it every day and was committed to changing the way animals are treated. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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Queen's Brian May Will Rock You With 3-D book, Adam Lambert Tour, Astrophysics, Animal Rescue - Newsweek<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Its a project that was in the back of my mind for a while because I had all these 3-D pictures that Id taken over the years, Queen guitarist Brian May tells me in a posh Manhattan hotel suite. Continue reading