Sir Brian May says new Queen music “could happen”.
The rock legends haven’t put out an album since 1995’s ‘Made In Heaven’, which was released four years after the death of iconic frontman Freddie Mercury in 1991.
However, the 77-year-old guitarist has revealed he and drummer Roger Taylor, 75, are always penning new material and he has the “beginnings of a Queen song” that could blossoms into something – if it “reaches maturity”.
He told Mojo magazine: “I think it could happen.”
May continued: “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.”
Taylor previously hinted at releasing new Queen music.
He told Uncut magazine last year: “I think we might.
“Brian and myself were talking the other day, and we both said that if we feel we have some good material, why not?
“We can still play. We can still sing. So I don’t see why not.”
The ‘We Will Rock You’ hitmakers have been touring with Adam Lambert since 2012 with their tours earning rave reviews, but May doubts there will be a new Queen album featuring the ‘American Idol’ runner-up.
Despite them laying down some potential songs in the studio, May is deterred by Queen fans who are opposed to the idea and respects their loyalty to Mercury.
In an interview with Total Guitar magazine in 2023, he said: “We have been in the studio. We did knock a few ideas around in the middle of one of those tours. But it just never quite reached the place where we felt it was going to be right. So we haven’t pursued it that far.
“I really don’t know. But I think there’s a bit of a barrier there. I think if people see Queen on a record label, they still want it to be Freddie singing. It could be Jesus Christ on it, but they’d still want Freddie, and I don’t blame people for that.
“There are people on Instagram who get annoyed with me, ‘Why are you still carrying on without Freddie?’ And I go, ‘Don’t tell me what I should do! I do what I feel I should be doing.’”
May admits there are still some fans who are unhappy that Queen + Adam Lambert even tour, but he insists Mercury would be happy that the band have continued to play their music.
He said: “There are people who like we shouldn’t even be going on stage without Freddie. But I think that would have been very sad, and that’s not what Freddie would have wanted either. He would have wanted us to continue developing. And of course, because we are continuing and developing, it keeps his legacy alive.”