Queen legend Brian May has revealed that a love of creating keeps him from stepping back from work and simply playing golf. Although Queen are not currently touring or recording, the 79-year-old music icon has been kept very busy in recent times.
Aside from his astrophysics work, he has also been involved in music collaborations with artists such as Benson Boone, contributed to the soundtrack for the summer blockbuster Masters of the Universe, and launched his own gin.
Motivation to keep working
Speaking exclusively to Express.co.uk at the launch of the beverage, he revealed his motivation to keep working. "You want to make something that has never been made before, and that's what kind of keeps me going. That's why I still do projects. That's why I don't golf or something and forget about it. I want to be creative. I love to create at least part of it," he said.
For his latest venture he took this to heart literally, using calamansi oranges from his own greenhouse to help develop the gin. While many of his projects may appear to be on a grand scale, this latest venture is a far more modest affair made in collaboration with Notting Hill's Portobello Distillery.
"To me, it's all about excellence that you do personally," he said. "It's not about big sales or big corporations. It's about making something that you believe in, and you put your heart and soul into it, make it as good as it can be," he explained.
Inspiration from the Red Special
He admitted he took inspiration from his famous Red Special guitar when it came to creating the drink, even naming it after it in a conscious decision to reflect the "homespun" nature of the project. Brian famously built the guitar with his father when he was a teenager, and that bonding project between the pair has gone on to become one of the most famous, valuable and influential instruments in the world.
He explained: "I think of my dad all the time because he would love it. All those hours that we put in in his little spare bedroom, which was his workshop in our house in Felton for two years. It was more than either of us could have dreamed that the guitar would go all around the world many times with Queen, with me, and now it's it's gone into other areas."
"So the fact that this gin is named after it is something special to me because it commemorates the homespun nature of our guitar." Pointing to his surroundings, he smiled: "You can see what this place is like. It's very kind of homey, and it's a cottage industry, if you like. And that's the way it was with me and my dad."
New venture and non-alcoholic version
"I never thought I'd be making gin. Never. It wasn't on my horizon. But in 1972, it wasn't on my agenda to play Madison Square Garden. You come across these doors open and you walk through. And to me, if it's creative and it's different, then it's worth having a really good look," he said, explaining why he had decided to get involved in the gin business.
He also revealed there will be a non-alcoholic version released later on. "I think it was very important for me to know [that]. Very important for me to know that we're not trying to put out a message which says, 'Oh, you must drink gin in order to play the guitar better,' or something. I don't want kids to be brought into drinking alcohol for the wrong reasons. And so, always when I've been asked, I've said, 'Drinking gin is a pleasure. It's to be treated like guitar playing. That's something that you do in moderation'."
