Iommi could play on your track

Queen guitarist Brian May has revealed plans to release an album consisting entirely of riffs written and played by Tony Iommi.

The aim is to allow fans to build their own songs out of the Black Sabbath axeman’s material.

The plan was uncovered via a Kerrang celebrity interview in which Iommi asked May: “When are we going to get to work on that album of riffs together? You know what I’m talking about.”

May replied: “Yes, I do know what he’s talking about and I’m very, very keen. The record was supposed to be a secret – but I guess he’s blown it now.”

He explained that, on a visit to Iommi’s studio, he discovered a huge catalogue of unused material. “I thought it would be great to make a compilation out of them. The idea was to put all these riffs out in some form so people could build their own sings of them. You could make your own music with Tony Iommi on guitar.”

It’s not been confirmed when such an album might appear. Iommi recently completed recording work on Sabbath’s first album with Ozzy Osbourne since 1978, commenting: “It’s different altogether now. We’ve got much more of a thing going than what it was in them days. The new material’s really good – we’ve got some good stuff going.”

source: classicrockmagazine.com

May unveils Queen ebook

Brian May has given Classic Rock a demonstration of the new multi-touch electronic edition of Queen’s career-encompassing book 40 Years Of Queen.




The affable guitarist hosted a media session at London’s Groucho Club to introduce a wide array of functions of the digital edition of the tome, written by Classic Rock contributor Harry Doherty.

“I’m a bit of a technophobe but this version does an incredible job of telling the life that Queen led,” May informed the mass of reporters, adding proudly: “This is the best book ever.”

Many of the new features were culled from May’s own collection of band memorabilia. “I was the guy that tried to hold onto these moments as they passed. If we played Madison Square Garden, I’d keep a ticket. I also kept hold of clothes and posters, an amazing cornucopia of artefacts. Instead of leaving them to gather dust in some air conditioned storage room I wanted people to see these things and be able to play with them.”

Brian revealed that his father had drawn a map charting the route of one of the band’s early continental tours. “Click on the city names and you can even see the set-list that was played while we were there,” he smiled. “I love seeing this stuff and it’s great to be able to share it.”

May is especially proud that the interactive edition allows readers to listen to the band’s music and even purchase songs from iTunes as they progress from page to page. “It takes you as deeply into the Queen legacy as you can get,” he claimed. “Touch an album and a replica of the vinyl comes out of the page. You can see the track listing. Our first album, for instance, now has all of our original demos. This version of the book leads you directly to all of those different extras; it’s as state-of-the-art as you can get.”

In the future, however, May believes that a wealth of extra features can be built into the format. “We will be updating the content as we go along. It already has a Live section which is already extremely good, but over the coming months we will be adding material from Live At The Rainbow which can be fed into this product… you’ll be able to see it and click on it as an update. The fact that it can continue to evolve is what makes it so exciting.”

Published by Carlton Digital, the web version of 40 Years Of Queen can be bought for £9.99 from the iBookstore. Find out more.

source: classicrockmagazine.com

Adam Lambert Confirms He Will Sing With Queen

Adam Lambert has confirmed through Twitter that he will be performing with Queen this summer. The American Idol star will join guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor on July 7th, as Queen headlines the second day of the Sonisphere Festival at Knebworth Park in England.

Lambert has long expressed his admiration for Queen and their late frontman, Freddie Mercury. For the American Idol finals in 2009, Lambert was backed onstage by the band’s surviving members for "We Are the Champions." In November 2011, Lambert performed several songs with them at the MTV European Music Awards in Belfast.

Although reports came out earlier this month that Lambert would be performing again with Queen, the singer and his label, Hollywood Records, would not confirm any guest appearances until today.

"As many suspected, I can finally confirm: I have been invited by Queen to sing one very special concert! Sonisphere at Knebworth July 7th!" Lambert tweeted this afternoon. "Sorry to be coy about the details the past few weeks, but I made a promise to keep it under wraps as best I could. Gonna be a surreal night!"

Freddie Mercury’s final performance with Queen took place at Knebworth Park in 1986.

source: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/adam-lambert-confirms-he-will-sing-with-queen-20120220#!/adamlambert/status/171688118473338880