Audition to LITERALLY become the next Freddie Mercury - Queen launch US Tribute band

Motley Crue

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5L8-FTvSVxs

I think story is just so bizzare, in fact it makes me shudder being honest, but this is actually true and actually what Roger Taylor is spending his time doing.

Queen legend Roger Taylor is putting together an official tribute band to tour the country, just so he doesn't have to.

The drummer claims the band are ready to hang up their guitars and let someone else take over their touring duties.

"We can still do it, but I don't really think I want to travel around the world doing it anymore," Roger told Rolling Stone magazine.

So, channeling his inner Cowell, he's off to scour the country in an X Factor stylee to find younger rockers to fill their shoes.

I should mention this is only open to residents of the United States and you have to have a US passport in order to qualify to perform this band for legal reasons and for travel purposes.

Roger Taylor has announced plans for an official Queen tribute band. The group's drummer is recruiting "great-looking guys" for Queen Extravaganza, a touring retrospective that will combine archive footage, celebrity cameos, and faithful renditions of the band's best-known songs.

"Let's face it," Taylor told Rolling Stone magazine, "we're getting a little long in the tooth, but there are an awful lot of tribute bands, some of them good, some of them not good." Inspired by a poster he saw in Norfolk, Taylor hopes to start a "never ending" Queen tribute tour, keeping the band's music alive with performances by young lookalikes. "I'm quite convinced that there are tens of thousands of kids, of really talented people, in their bedrooms around the world playing drums, guitar, and singing," he said. "And I want to find some of those people."

Until recently, Queen didn't need an official tribute act – they were still touring themselves. But although Taylor and guitarist Brian May played together as recently as last week, the days of load-ins and soundchecks are probably behind them.

Taylor has also said that he doesn't rule out having Queen and Paul Rodgers performing together for the 2012 Olympics, or something special, but has mentioned that this is also just in his own head.

P.S. Don't bother auditioning for the role of a drummer, since Roger's son is a drummer and I would be doubtful anyone would get the role over a man whose surname is Taylor and learnt from Roger himself....especially considering Roger is on the judging panel. Thankfully, so far, they've not decided to make a TV programme out of this.

delbertgrady

Most of the comments on the Queen website are very negative about this. What the hell are they (or, in this case, just Roger) playing at? It's just embarrassing. For all their talk of celebrity cameos and other nonsense, how different is The Queen Extravaganza from, say, a touring production of We Will Rock You? Okay, it puts the songs back into a conventional "concert" setting, but at the end of the day, it's still just the songs being sung by a bunch of people we've never heard of, with some visuals. That's all We Will Rock You is. And that's s***e.

The article you've quoted refers to "young lookalikes". That's not the case. They have said they're not interested in recruiting lookalikes, so by that rationale, any decent Queen tribute band must be livid that a bunch of random people will be pooled together to form a tribute act, with a spectacle bankrolled by Roger.

Apart from the absolute folly of the whole project, most of the grievances with fans are to do with Brian and Roger focusing all their energies in the wrong direction. For whatever reason, they refuse to raid the archives for DVD releases, despite the fact that fans have pleaded for years for official releases of The Rainbow, Hyde Park, Houston 1977, Budapest, etc. While there were some nice unreleased gems included in this year's remasters, they ultimately screwed those up too (the last wave of them were awful) and now this type of thing does them no favours.

I would LOVE for someone to get John Deacon on the record about this.

Motley Crue

delbertgrady wrote: »

I would LOVE for someone to get John Deacon on the record about this.

I'm using my 5,000 post officially to comment on what a brilliant idea that would be

However, from what Jacky Smith herself told me in 2009 on a radio interview I did with her, John spends a lot of his time playing golf and living abroad as a tax exile. She also mentioned that his only real contact with the band (and therefore the fan club) is through the accountant whom he meets every year, he offers some signed photos for fan club competitions at this time as well and is intensely private about his concerns.

He was photographed at a Blind Guardian gig, with the lead vocalist, around 2000....he had lost his air and that was the last photo I ever seen of him

Riddle101

Tbh I don't like this. I mean, first of all why is it US based? Surely a tribute band should come from Britain, but even more so is why is it only restricted to US residents, why not other countries. Secondly, nobody is going to like a Queen tribute band. Unless it's the real deal, there's just nothing to it. It wouldn't be the same as seeing the actual band live. Not to mention, you could go to plenty of nightclubs and bars to see Queen tribute bands already so why bother making all the effort to go to a concert, what's going to be the difference between these guys any everyone else? Is it because Roger Taylor is endoursing this band or something that people would go? Finally, in fairness I'd rather Queen just ended and leave it be. For me, Queen was never the same after Mercury died and Deacon left, and i've always been a little upset that Taylor and May still toured under the name Queen, why didn't they just make a new band with Paul Rogers instead, but still played Queen songs.

Anyway that's my rant, i'm just a little worried that Roger Taylor is going to end up like Steven Tyler and sell out or something. If he isn't already one.

Richard Hillman

I dont see the problem with this. People like tribute bands. If they find a cracking band then i would like to go see them, as would thousands of people.

Motley Crue

Richard Hillman wrote: »

I dont see the problem with this. People like tribute bands. If they find a cracking band then i would like to go see them, as would thousands of people.

This is one of the best auditions I've seen, think they've found their Freddie

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dREKkAk628I

Jelle1880

Saw that too, the guy's voice... It's insane how much he sounds alike.

triggermortis

WTF?

I think Roger has lost the plot. There are some good tribute bands about, but do we need one like this?