Could Queen be on the verge of recording their first new single in 30 years? Guitarist Brian May confirmed there is a real possibility of the rock band releasing new material.
“I think it could happen,” May said in a new interview with MOJO. “Both Roger [Taylor] and I are constantly writing and coming up with ideas and doing things in our studios. I could have the beginnings of a Queen song right there in front of me now. It’s just whether the idea reaches maturity or not. It’s whether that seed can grow.”
Queen’s last LP, Made in Heaven, was released in 1995 following the death of frontman Freddie Mercury. In 2022, the band shared a rediscovered track, “Face It Alone,” featuring Mercury’s vocals, although they have not unveiled any new songs in recent years. Last year, Taylor told Uncut “I think we might” record and release fresh material.
“Brian and myself were talking the other day, and we both said that if we feel we have some good material, why not?” Taylor said. “We can still play. We can still sing. So I don’t see why not.”
In 2004, Queen began performing live again with Paul Rodgers as their lead vocalist. In 2011, Adam Lambert took over the role. The band’s most recent tour, the Rhapsody Tour, took place over 2023 and 2024. May has previously said that Lambert has “dabbled” with the musicians in the studio. “It would have to be something so special that we would feel we would want to launch it on the public,” he noted.
Lambert added, “It’s a lot of pressure if you think about it. If they’re going to put something out that’s new, it’s got to be at a certain level. It has to be the right thing. And I’ve always said, ‘Is it appropriate for me to be doing new material?’ I feel like it scares me.”
Elsewhere in the MOJO article, May discussed being anxious about presenting new songs to Queen. “Every time I brought a new song to the boys I’d be as nervous as hell, thinking, They’re gonna say it’s rubbish, they’re gonna hate it…” he said. “I’d always be embarrassed and apologizing. That never ever went away.”
He also reflected on working with Mercury. “Deep down Freddie was one of the shyest people I’ve ever met, but he was so full of bluster you’d forget,” May said. “Freddie would always be excited, and his excitement would take over… He’d be so full of excitement he could hardly speak. Freddie’s ideas were off the wall and cheeky and different — and we tended to encourage them. Sometimes the idea he brought in was brilliant, and sometimes not brilliant.”