From Glasgow To Sold-Out Arenas With One Night Of Queen

A Freddie Mercury tribute can’t survive on a costume and a few big notes. It takes nerve, stamina, and a real understanding of why Queen still matters and Gary Mullen has spent 26 years proving it on stages around the world.

We talk with Gary about the unlikely chain of events that took him from being a lifelong Queen fan in Glasgow to winning Stars in Their Eyes with a record vote, then turning that moment into One Night Of Queen, a full-scale live rock concert experience. He breaks down the “alter ego” side of performing Freddie, how he avoids overthinking the voice, and what it means to honor a legend without turning the show into a museum piece.

You’ll also hear the unglamorous parts that fans rarely see: vocal training for endurance, getting older on tour, the warmups and rituals that flip the switch before the lights go down, and the split-second panic when a lyric disappears mid-song. Along the way, Gary shares unforgettable fan stories, including a backstage encounter with Freddie Mercury’s Live Aid belt, plus why audience participation is the secret weapon that keeps Queen’s music timeless across generations.

If you love Queen, live music, and the craft behind stage presence, listen all the way through, then subscribe, share the episode with a friend, and leave a review so more fans can find the show.

Transcript

Welcome And Gary’s Origin Story

SPEAKER_00 1:12

Today on Soul Strings Podcast, we welcome an artist who has spent his career honoring one of the greatest voices in rock history while creating a powerful connection with audiences around the world. Gary Mullen first captured international attention when he won the television show Stars in Their Eyes with the highest number of votes in the show's history performing his Freddie Mercury. What began as an unforgettable performance turned into a global phenomenon. As the frontman of Gary Mullen in the works, Gary has spent more than two decades touring the world with the spectacular show One Night of Queen, delivering the energy, passion, and timeless music of Queen to sold-out audiences across the globe. But behind the iconic songs and the powerful stage presence is a fascinating personal journey, a story about inspiration, dedication, and the enduring power of music to connect generations. Today we're going to talk about that journey, what it takes to step into the shoes of Freddie Mercury, what he's learned from performing these legendary songs night after night, and the deeper meaning

Falling In Love With Queen

SPEAKER_00 2:10

of music can have in our lives. Gary, welcome to the Soul Strings Podcast. Thank you. It's great to have you on the show. You know, first of all, let's talk about a little bit about your journey from Glasgow to the world stage. It's an incredible, it's incredible. Can you take us back to the moment when you first fell in love with Queen and Freddie Mercury?

SPEAKER_01 2:28

Oh, a long time ago. I mean, I was I was a kid. I was about four or five years old. And it was the first sort of I've always had a family there where music was a big thing in my family. My uncle was my hero. He would take a guitar at family parties, and we have a big family. Um and and play and sing and would hold the room. And first kind of person I thought, that's cool. Imagine be able to do that. Sing, and everyone watches you. It's kind of cool, you know, and gets into it. And then fast forward to Top of the Pops, which was a pretty uh, you know, TV show, chart show, and and it was a weird champions video with Freddie and the black and white leotard, you know, and the band, and it starts just with Freddie, and then the boom, the you know, you know, the smoke and the lights and the big build-up. And I just was like, if it looked, it felt for me like it like these guys had fallen from the sky. It's like, who are these guys of aliens? And I just fell in love with it with the music. Instantly was like, That's my guys, like that's that's my band. Like, I love these guys. And I remember asking my mom, I was like, Who are they? That's queen, and that was it. That was me, boom, down that, down that road, down that journey of just being a fan and collecting the records, showing my age, correcting the records, and you know, looking at the gatefold covers and reading the lyrics and looking at the photographs, and and then just you know, having posters on my wall and doing the whole fan journey thing. Um, a lifelong sort of love affair with the band.

SPEAKER_00 3:45

You know, I can remember as a a kid too. Look what I think me and you were about the same age, and I can remember taking photo albums and I'd open them up in my bedroom, took the little hairbrush, and had the strobe light going, had the record. I I think it was Bachman Turner Overdrive, not fragile. And it had when you opened the album cover, it had like

The Surprise TV Audition Win

SPEAKER_00 4:05

a uh a view of the crowd and the stage as if you were on stage looking at them, and I'll never forget doing that. So I'm right with you, brother. I know what that was like. You know, your wife and mother secretly submitted you into the stars and uh in their eyes, and you went on to win with a record number of votes. What was that moment like emotionally? And did you ever imagine it would launch a career for you?

SPEAKER_01 4:25

No, because I mean when they when they applied to the show to the network, they said that they agreed with each other, they wouldn't tell me on the off chance that I never got a I never got anyone contacting me, you know. So we don't tell me, we won't know. And then I did get someone from the network contact me, and I was like, What? And I thought it was a friend pranking me, so I was really sarcastic to the guy on the phone. Oh, really? Oh wow, that's oh that's exciting. Wow, that's that'll be great. And my wife was like, Oh my god, they picked you, and I was like, What? We we and I was like, What the hell? And we it it just it just grew wings, you know. I went, I I thought, well, you know what, I've got a kid, my son who I who now actually is my lighting designer and engineer on the tour, um, who designs all the stage setting things, he was two and a half years old, and I thought, well, you know what? I've got a baby on the another baby on the way, and my kids, it'll be something to show if I go on the TV, it'll be something to show him when I'm when he's growing up, you know. Not expecting in a million years to win the entire thing, you know, and win it with the biggest vote ever. So if you can see the clip on YouTube, I'm gonna do it. I look I look like a moose that stepped in the front of a truck headlight, if you watch it. Because then when I win, I'm like, who won? And then they gotta dragged me out of the chair and took me through, and then I'm on stage and I've got a sing again, and I don't remember any of it. The next thing I knew I was on the makeup chair getting all the you know the wagon things taken off, and I'm like, who won? Like you did. I'm like, what? And and it it it it was that kind and then this it just felt like I was on like a wave from a tsunami, you know, and then the offers of work came through, and then I was out gigging, and it just became this beast that that that just keeps going, you know. And and and to be man, I'm 52 and I'll be 53 November, to to stand on a stage and and and see people having a good time, it's the ultimate thrill for me. I mean, I it it gratitude doesn't even you know begin to to exp explain it. You know, I said I said in a previous interview, it's one of the only jobs you get a round

Persona, Legacy, And Finding His Voice

SPEAKER_01 6:55

of applause. If a plumber comes to fix your toilet, you don't applaud him when he's done, you know. Well done. You so it's I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 7:04

If I had to go to the bathroom and I couldn't use the toilet for a while and you may applaud him, I may applaud him.

SPEAKER_01 7:08

You may applaud him, well done, mate. That was great. But um, you wouldn't ask for an encore, you know. But yeah, but well, maybe you would, I don't know. But um, but for it it it just it I always wanted to be a singer, let's say, from seeing from seeing Freddie on TV. And then it became the sort of, well, I better go do my homework here, I better s you know, study some concerts and watch videos and really get the sort of you know, take the persona because it is it is a persona, it's the it's like being an actor, the other guy does the show, and this guy stays in the wings, you know. It's the Clark Kent Superman kind of scenario where there's an alter ego, you know, and he does show and I I I I I can stay off the stage, um, or like an actor in a play. Um, but yeah, it's it it it's it's the best. I I do because I love it.

SPEAKER_00 7:50

And if I stop loving it, I'll be you know, how do you balance honouring his legacy with bringing your own voice and presence to the performance? Is that difficult?

SPEAKER_01 7:58

I think you kind of just lose yourself in the moment, you know, and and I never I've never heard the voice thing myself. I I love that people do, and people did even when I was in bands, amateur bands as a kid, you know. I would go, Oh, great, they think I sound like my hero, brilliant. And then when it became this, it was like, have you adapted your voice? It's like, no, that's just how I sing, that's just what comes out, you know. Um, so I don't really think about it. I think if you think about it, to change it, it maybe change for the wrong re the wrong way, you know, the kind of it it would be kind of counterproductive. So my thing is just to basically one, not fall over, two, keep breathing, keep moving, and just keep singing and and being key. That's kind of what's come through my head. I don't think about how I because I've heard these songs a million times and I still watch, I still listen to the albums and I still watch the concerts as a fan, so it's always there. Uh I don't think about it, I just go on and do it.

SPEAKER_00 8:48

How many years have you been doing this, Gary?

SPEAKER_01 8:50

This is year 26.

SPEAKER_00 8:51

Year 26. Wow. Do you feel for 26 years of doing this? Do you feel as you get older that it's harder to perform vocally and maybe physically on stage?

SPEAKER_01 9:03

You don't bounce back as well

Aging On Tour And Vocal Endurance

SPEAKER_01 9:05

as you do, or you come off stage and go, Oh, that's that's new. That nigga, that's a bit new. And it's more about the health and welfare aspect. You know, when I started digging all those years ago, you'd have a beer after the show and it was rock and roll and everything was great. Right. And then you get older and you go, you know what, let me give that, let me give that. Knock that in the head and start looking at it.

SPEAKER_00 9:23

Having my tea.

SPEAKER_01 9:24

Yeah, I mean, I'm sitting here with a coffee, with my coffee cup, you know, or my teacup, having tea and drinking tea and stuff. And it is that thing if you start looking at it and going, right, people are paying money to come. They don't want to see someone that's wasted, that can't sing, that can't move, that you know, it's it's too out of it to do a show. They're paying their money. You are the escape from out there. You've got to be professional about it. You've got it. So I do work at it. You know, I I went for singing lessons, vocal training from for pure endurance more than anything else, and to learn how to keep that endurance level for you know, three shows back to back. And this show this year is the longest show we've ever done. It's about two hours and ten minutes without we have an intermission, so that you know, venues like to let people go to the bar, you know, go get a drink, spend money. Um, but the entire show is about two hours, five, two hours and ten. So it's a lot of it's intense, you know. It's and we're not a it's a rock concert, it's not a you know, right? It's not a sort of sort of half-assed, you know, performance. It's it's in it's intense, it's in it's it's from the word goes, wow, it's in you gotta get because Queen with Freddie were we're it was high energy, you know. You've got to keep the audience and you gotta involve the audience. They they are part of the show, they're an extension to the night. You know, you want them to sing along, you want them to headbang and play a guitar and and really involve themselves in it. And we call it the rock and roll party, and we say to people, come and join it, and you feed off that energy, you know, the adrenaline just gets more and more. You do something, you feed off them, they feed off you, and there's that constant back and forward, that energy tennis, as I call it, and it just it you do feel you feel invincible. Then you can go back to the bus and go, Oh man, I'm exhausted and fall asleep, but it's worth it, you know. But yeah, it just as you get older, it does get a little bit more difficult. But you put the effort in, you get the rewards, you know. I definitely believe that. I think if you look after yourself and you you look after your voice and you look after your body, you know, you've only got one body, you may as well look after it, you know, and that's right, and keep your and keep at the optimal level. We we we're our own worst critic, you know. Like if one of us if one of us have if one of us is a slightly off night, you go, ah, that sucked. To you it sucked, to the audience it didn't suck. You may have gone.

SPEAKER_00 11:26

Yeah, they don't they don't know, they don't know half the stuff that we know as performing. Exactly, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 11:30

You know, if you go and you go, ah, I hit a bell note there, ah, I went to go and do the day they go, I went to play that and suddenly I forgot how to play that, but nobody cares. You know, you find a way of getting through it, or you you you noodle and you you know you cover it up. Um, and I think that makes it exciting. That's what why live music's so exciting. Well, you know yourself, you no, no two nights are the same, no two audiences are the same. So you that that keeps you going.

SPEAKER_00 11:52

What is it like for you to prepare for going on stage? I mean, because Freddie Mercury did, he would sometimes he would do his scales and do his full

Pre-Show Warmups And Team Rituals

SPEAKER_00 12:00

boy scales, and sometimes he would sometimes he didn't do anything at all. He was just very quiet before he went on stage. What is it like for you to prepare before you go on stage?

SPEAKER_01 12:08

I do all the scales and the warm-ups and things. I I I I equate to it for people of a certain age who own the evil connectivist cycle. It's that it's the wind up, yeah. And then you press the button when you're about to hit the stage.

SPEAKER_00 12:20

Great analogy.

SPEAKER_01 12:20

So that that's the only way I can. And I'm a I'm a kid, you you the you're the you're I think we're a similar age. You remember that wind up, you know, and and off you off it goes at speed. It is that thing, it's like a dynamo, you've got to wind your you can't just go, well, you know, I'm just gonna go on and sing. That's not how we you watch Freddie at Wembley or any of the shows, he's he's he's he's winding himself up because he he wants to come out like wow, and it's gotta be that that intensity, that dynamic, you know, start. So I I start about an hour and a half before the show, start putting the wig on and the mustache and the makeup. I've always got like as I call it part my party tune mixer on in the dressing room, so it can be 80s music or disco or high-energy rock music, just whatever I'm in the mood for that night, and that's on, and I'm doing push-ups and I'm stretching and stretching the voice and getting ready so that when I leave the dressing room, when we do the walk, we all do the fist bumps. It's a tradition, we fist bump each other. And if anyone from the cruise there backstage local, vegetables. Because it's bad juju if you don't give everyone a fist bump because you want everyone to be part of it. It's like a team, let's do it, you know. We're all a team, we're a big team. Um, and that so by the time we hit the stage, we're all ramped up and literally ready to go, you know. So it is the it is the as I call it evil can evil effect.

SPEAKER_00 13:27

What do you think it is about Queen's music that continues to resonate across generations and cultures today?

SPEAKER_01 13:32

I think it's just timeless, you know. I think they would just have an incredible

Why Queen Still Connects Worldwide

SPEAKER_01 13:35

knack of right, catchy hooks, things that and songs that can resonate with people, you know. Songs like, you know, we are the champions, we you no time for losers because we're the champions, you know. You're like, you're like, yeah, come on, we got this, you know, we will rock you every sporting event in the world. You hear those songs.

SPEAKER_00 13:49

Oh such great anthems, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:51

Yeah, you know, beaming rahsery. I don't know anybody that doesn't go, da da da like Wainsworld. It just you just do it, you know. From grandparents to five-year-olds and everyone in between just giving a da-da-da-da, or you hear da da dum dum dum da dum dum. You just can't help it, groove. They just had a knacker for it. And and and one of the things a lot of people don't know about Queen is is that every single member of the band wrote a top 20 hit. They were all songwriters, and they brought their particular, you know, love for each style of music and and put it into this big melting pot called Queen. You know, I mean, John Deacon unashamedly said that chic good times inspired another one bites of dust. Freddie, crazy little thing called Love is Freddy's Elvis Tribune. You know, it just premium rhapsody. I mean, God knows where he was gone with that. I mean, nobody knows that. I don't even think the band knew about Freddie because it was all in his head, you know. We've got the opera section. What? You know, and and and and and you still put that record on it, still sounds as fresh as it did in 75. It's like, who writes that? How do you write that? How do you go? I've got this idea for a song. By the way, it's a ballad and it's an opera piece, and then it's a hard rock song, and then it's a ballad at the end. What? You know, or it's six and a half minutes long. What?

SPEAKER_00 15:02

You know, and and I'll never forget hearing Queen, I'll never forget hearing a night at the opera that album the first time. I was like, What is this? Yeah, what is it's so different? What's like, what is this?

SPEAKER_01 15:12

Like, for example, my John John the drummer and I, John John Hallowell or drummer, we've been friends since we were teenagers, and we formed our first band together. And then I got married, had kids, and you know, I he'd he became he was a professional musician. I was just the family man, I'd go to karaoke and stuff. But when I first met John at 15 and introduced him to Queen, and he was like, It tells we all rock you and we're the champions, and all the radio hit. And I gave him Queen 2 on a cassette, and I said, This album will change your life, and it did. It's his favourite album of all time. He's like, It just seventies awry, Fairy Fellas Master Stroke, all these songs that just are so out there and so complex. And he was just like, What the hell is that? And I'm like, That's Queen, but Queen or Radio Gaga, yeah, but Queen aren't just Radio Gaga, Queen of that, prog rock and opera in vaudeville, song and dance, you know, like Fred Astaire numbers and heavy rock and everything with ballads and harps and orchestrations with guitars, and he he was he just fell in love and it changed his life. That one album it was like that will change and it did change his life.

SPEAKER_00 16:07

What is the most memorable experience that you've ever

Unforgettable Fan Encounters

SPEAKER_00 16:10

had with a fan? Something that still sticks with you today.

SPEAKER_01 16:12

I had a lady in in England quite a few years ago now uh contact the management and say, Hey, can we meet Gary after the show? I want I'll I I've got something that belonged to Freddie, I want to show him. And I was like, Cool, back you come. And it was Freddie's live aid belt. She'd bought it at an auction. Wow. And she wanted me to wear it for the show. And I was like, no, uh-uh, nope, nope. Because if anything happens to it, I I I could I I would I would never forgive myself. And she let me try it on. Um, and I was like, Oh my god, this is this is the belt, this is the live aid belt, this is the that the one of the greatest performances of all time. He wore this, and she was like, I just wanted you to, and she got I got a picture taken with her, and she wanted an autograph, and she was she was happy, and I was over the moon, but I got to touch and wear the belt that he did uh performance for. So that was kind of special. I also signed an autograph for Freddie's mum, which blew me away. I signed one of my tour programmes because one of the staff that worked for her came to the show and asked, could I sign an autograph for her on the tour brochure? And then she emailed me and thanked me for keeping her son's legacy alive, which made me laugh. I just thought he doesn't need any help from her. I applied that tour. I was like, Thank you so much, but he doesn't need my help. And she was like, Thank you. I'm gonna treasure it with all the things that I have, all the possessions, and it blew that blew me away. So that was that was pretty special too.

SPEAKER_00 17:26

Yeah, uh I can't only imagine. What you know, what has been the biggest challenge of touring internationally and how do you stay grounded through it all?

SPEAKER_01 17:34

I think you've just gotta, like I say, gratitude's a big part. I think you've never got to you we always play the the shows like it, like, like it would be a last. You've always got to do that, you've got to leave everything on the stage, you know, and you gotta play for that audience that night, you know, you've got to give them everything because they've paid their money and and they want to see a show, and that keeps you grounded because you kind of go right, you know, ego gets put away, ego comes a little bit during the show. You've got to be that big bombastic personality, you know, and and do that. But you've also got to have that connection, that human connection with the audience, and really make them feel this is your show. You've

Staying Grounded While Touring

SPEAKER_01 18:05

paid your ticket money, this is your party, this is your this is all night, this is special, and make them feel that you're singing the songs to each person in that audience because there'll be people there that saw Queen back in their heyday, and there'll be new generations of fans. A lot of young kids come to the show now because they saw the movie and they've fallen in love and they've got the records, you know, and and they listen to them. And I think that keeps you pretty grounded, it keeps you working hard to make sure that you're all you are only as good as your last perform, you know, and not to as you know the the the term dial it in where someone just kind of goes through the motion, you know, they perform a little bit and then it's like right, take the money and run. It's not us, we can't do that. And we and we come our pedigree is you know, watching bands like Queen, you know, and Led Zeppelin and ACDC and Iron Maiden and Black Sabbath and bands that left it all on the stage that gave everything that was do or die for them, you know, uh back in the heidi or rock and roll. And and and you know, playing this music, you feel a legacy. There's a part of a legacy you're trying to keep alive here because you know, Freddie isn't here anymore, John Deakin doesn't play, but you know, Brian and Roger are nearly 80. You know, it's it's getting an art. Unfortunately, we're losing our peers, you know, and we're trying to keep that music alive. We're doing us our small bit. So that keeps you that keeps it keeps it grounded. But the gratitude aspect, you've got to be grateful doing this because we are to be the these many years down the line, and still people come and want to see us play that that you know, these songs that that these guys wrote is is it's a blessing. It really is.

SPEAKER_00 19:27

So you say you play, so the show is two hours or so so long, right? Um, about how many songs are played during. I mean, well, and we gotta remember

Building A Two-Hour Queen Set

SPEAKER_00 19:35

some of them are six, seven minutes long. So it's like, how many songs do you typically get through on a set list?

SPEAKER_01 19:40

I don't know which one. This one, 29, 30 songs, maybe more. It's a lot of music, it's a lot of there's a couple of things that you know segue into each other because Queen were known for their medlies, you know, they'd do a bit of a song and then jump to something else, and you know, we do a bit of that as well. But um, we've got we've got a little kind of acoustic section in this tour because this is the the 40 yearth anniversary of the magic tour, which was Freddie's last tour with Queen that never toured America. So we've we thought, you know what, let's bring that, you know, the costumes, the light, the set list. And we took all the kind of bits out that we thought, well, that's not really Queen, but they did like, you know, uh like a rock and roll medley of like Hello Mary Lou and Toot You Fruity and things like that. We just threw other Queen songs in, other hits to kind of go right, well, you know, we'll put somebody to love in, and we'll put Don't Stop Me Now, you know, the kind of real big hits that people will turn, and then we'll go back to the the the Wembley concert and we'll do it for the end. We have an acoustic set and we have a little acoustic section which is two Love of My Life and another acoustic song where the band come down to the front of the stage and we do it, and it just adds a different dynamic dimension because Queen would do that, and it's a lot of fun because it you're kind of you're there right in front of the audience, it's like stripped down, there you go. You know, no bells, no whistles, just an acoustic guitar, a bass drum, a tambourine, a bass, some vo some microphones, and there's a couple of songs, and then back to the rot heavy rock and roll and pianos and keyboards and all the the pizzazz. So it it it just and that's the point where there's no room for error. It's just like, well, here we are, you know. You know, and we get the audience to join in and sing along, especially love in my life. Everyone knows that, especially because it's one of the big songs in the movie. We get the audience to join, and you know, somebody to love, we get them to be the choir. You know, if they join me with it, because there's only five of us on stage, and that that again is the classic queen, you know, 60 voices, can't replicate 60 voices on stage. Get the audience to do it, get them to join, find me somebody. Come on, join in with us. And they love it because it's like, oh, you're breaking the fourth wall. It's like it's not it's not a musical, it's like it is a concert. You can sing along, you can boogie, you can dance, you can, you know, let yourself go. It's the rock and roll. Please join us. You know, Radio Gaga, do that. It it it's it's the involvement of the audience, and it's their night.

SPEAKER_00 21:42

So, you guys got a concert coming up here in

Chesterfield Show Preview And Venue Energy

SPEAKER_00 21:45

Chesterfield at the factory on March 22nd. Uh, tell us a little bit about that show, and then I got a couple more closing questions for you. But tell us a little bit about that upcoming show on March 22nd. What can we expect? I know it's two hours something long, it's about 29 songs with What what can we expect?

SPEAKER_01 22:01

Well, first of all, the factory is a very, very cool venue. We played we played that a couple of years ago when we were doing the works tour, which was very industrial, you know, the cogs and all that, and we get there, and the first thing they do is say, Hey, welcome to the factory, you're sold out. We're going to put you on the silo wall. Here's a cog to sign. And we were just like, Seriously? You know, the the works tour is all mechanics and cogs. Yeah. And we signed the cog, and the and the guys there are so cool. It's a great rock and roll venue. This concert is literally, we're recreating something that American audiences didn't get a chance to see live, which was the magic tour, which was 1986, which was Queen after wit after Live Aid, the Ken of Magic album came out. The Highlander movie came out, all that music was in the movie. Things like Who Wants to Live Forever and A Ken of Magic.

SPEAKER_02 22:42

That's right.

SPEAKER_01 22:43

You know, and and and and and it's it's so you know, it's the military jackets and and you know, the white costumes and the big light and rig and and the smoke and and all the all the big hits, all all we've crammed in, we've shoehorned in as much music as we physically can for that amount of time. Um, and and we're looking forward to it. We're really proud of this show again this year. We've done a brand new show and we're really proud of it, and we and we hope that the audience will enjoy it as much as we will enjoy performing it. And and like I say, the factory is a cool rock and roll three week that you know you guys down there, you you you like your rock and roll.

SPEAKER_00 23:17

You know, it's one of my favorite places to see a big to see a band and see a show.

SPEAKER_01 23:21

I always think it that that that Simpsons at the you know Aerosmith. Hello, St. Louis! Springfield Stephen Hello St.

unknown 23:29

Louis!

SPEAKER_01 23:31

Uh that's Springfield Stephen. Oh, yeah. Just that just remind you know, uh that I just remember that as well. But no, it's you guys have got a great rock and roll area, uh a rock and roll stick.

SPEAKER_06 23:39

And they really do.

SPEAKER_01 23:41

And it's great. We've we've we've been there, I think we've done four shows in the factory. I think we did two and then two. I think this year we could only do the one because of scheduling, but both nights were sold out, and it was like as soon as the lights went down, because you sometimes the lights go down, and if you're especially for a new venue, you know, or uh and the audience take a bit of time. We call it the pot boiler effect where you put when you put a pot in the stove and it it but it takes a while to boil. Whereas placing the fact too, the first night we played, the lights went down and the cheer went up, and it was like, oh, you could feel the energy before before the intro tape had even finished and weed even stepped on the stage. It was like, Oh, this is gonna be good because you feel that energy, the crackle in the room. So we're looking forward to feeling that crackle before because it gets us big, gets the start cycle wound up even more, and you go, right, let's do this, and you know you're gonna get a great start to the show, and that energy just keeps building as the show comes.

SPEAKER_00 24:31

Well, before that show, and you hear that and you know the pot's boiling and everything's getting ready to take off. What is a ritual you have before stepping on stage?

SPEAKER_01 24:39

It's when I leave this guy in the wing, he stays there, and the other guy goes, Darling, I have this, and he runs on and does it because every I still get nervous. So, as I'm walking stage, I'm kind of my nervous energy gets gets more and more because I'm like because there's a point of no return when the lights go down and the intro start. You can't just go, Ah, I'm not gonna bother and go back to your dressing room. You're committed, the gig started.

SPEAKER_00 25:00

That's right.

SPEAKER_01 25:01

You wait, you've got to go forward, you're not running back, you've got to go, charge, it's like the

Nerves, Having Fun, And Audience Connection

SPEAKER_01 25:05

charge of the light brigade, you're going through the curtain and you're on. There's no, there's no, I'm not ready yet. Screw that, you're going. The light, we're on. And and that is exciting. And the the and my stomach kind of drops a little bit, and then the other side of my brain goes, I've got this, we're okay, let's enjoy it. And I always think to myself, let's have fun. Because if I have fun and we have fun, the audience will have fun. You know, if we look bored or we look, you know, annoyed or there's no it it dies, there's no energy, and we always do, and we we we laugh and joke with each other and and muck around with each other on stage because not just for the audience point of view, for us, you know, it's just it's just for us. We're fans, we're fans playing this music to this is like this is awesome. We're fans, we're playing this music to other fans, and they're they're digging it, we're digging it, it's great, and that is it, that's the key to the show. It's like, yeah, as long as you're digging it, we're digging it, great. It's a good night.

SPEAKER_00 25:56

And you know, if Freddie Mercury were still alive and you could sing any song with him, what would you choose and why?

SPEAKER_01 26:01

Oh, that's a good that's a that I've never been, I've not been asked that question for a long time, actually. That's that's one that that's a good one. You got got me there. I don't know, probably under pressure because it was a duet, or maybe somebody I love because it's one of my favourite queen songs, and that's the song, that's the song when you sound baddy too. Everybody in the audience goes like that and leans in. Is he gonna hit that note? Because you that's the note.

SPEAKER_00 26:24

Do you ever lean in and go, Am I gonna hit that note?

SPEAKER_01 26:26

I I always I always go, Oh god, don't sound like Scoopy

Dream Duet Picks And Hitting The Notes

SPEAKER_01 26:30

Doo. It's that that's thinking of right, is he any good? Can he do it? And and tight underwear definitely helps, you know. And it's one that I practice in warm-up, you know, somebody too, somebody, somebody too, you go right, all right. I'm all right, I it's there, it's all good, we're all good. But but on this tour, there's a song called we do a piece of in a medley, or so there's a medley at the beginning of the show quite early on, and it's a song called In the Lap of the Gods we visited from uh Sheer Heart Attack, and it's got a lot of that falsetto stuff in that range. So it's like early on in the show, it's like you go from like hit song, and you're in that and you go, Don't don't screw up there, don't go from that and then just fall off the cliff, and you know, it's certainly scoopy-doo turns up, you don't want that happening. So there is that kind of like element of and you can see the audience go, Oh, is he gonna hit that note? Oh, he did, oh well done, and then they applaud and they go for it, and it becomes like an American Idol moment for applause. And sometimes I want to applaud myself. Oh well done, you got it, you know. Because it's because the human voice is you know, it's like you get tired, you get you know, it's like this is my instrument. Guitar is gonna tune, you retune it, the voice goes, the voice goes, you know, it goes, it goes away.

SPEAKER_00 27:40

I grew up as a singer myself, and I told musicians that all the time, your instrument's always gonna play. Must doesn't always play.

SPEAKER_01 27:46

And then you go, and then you have an argument with yourself. What the hell was that? What are you singing? And then you start this internal monologue with yourself, you idiot. You didn't warm up enough. No, it did. No, it didn't. And you're suddenly just having this mad and singers get it, they know what I'm talking about. Because every singer I speak to has that inner battle. Where were you going with that? What was it, build up? What was it diaphragm control? And you suddenly, because you're you're singing the gig, you know the gig, so you don't need

When Lyrics Vanish On Stage

SPEAKER_01 28:10

to worry about what words. Well, sometimes you do. I mean, there's been a couple of moments on stage where I've maybe sung some of some of these songs maybe I don't know several thousand times where your brain just goes, You don't know this, and you just go, Uh-oh, and you make it up. You just go, sing it, sing a lyric, and you can see some die hard queen fan going, That's not right.

SPEAKER_00 28:27

Now in Japanese, that's not right.

SPEAKER_01 28:29

Like we were rocky. I remember one night getting to the second verse and completely forgetting how it went and just making it up. And I could see a guy saying to his daughter, that's not right. Front row, that's not right. And I'm thinking, Yeah, you're right, that isn't right. But what am I gonna do?

SPEAKER_00 28:42

Isn't it crazy how that happens sometimes? Yeah, I'll never forget. I'll never read singing in a band one time, and we had these two songs and they were back to back. I think it was a you know, just a cover band, but there were two songs back to back and they sounded very similar. And I couldn't get the first tune out of my head when I got went to the next tune. I couldn't get it out of my head, and I was like, I couldn't, I couldn't get the I couldn't figure it out. Yeah, I was the old the first tune was still in my head, I couldn't get rid of it.

SPEAKER_01 29:08

Well, we were to we were touring in France before we came here in the US. We will get a big massive following in France. We're doing these arena shows, and I'm introducing Don't Stop Me Now. And at the same time, I'm going, right? I'm a superstar leaping, leaping where? What's the next line? As I'm as I'm introducing the song, I'm like, what the hell's the next line? And I'm like, I'm a s and I'm like, tonight, I'm gonna have myself, right? You get that line's coming up. I'm a superstar leaping through the sky. I'm I'm in the sky, it's okay, you're okay, you know it. Because I'm thinking, what the hell's what's the next what's the next what? I know there's a tiger somewhere in the mirror, but we how do I get to the tiger? What's before the tiger? And that does happen. And I've I've a Dave, your guitarist one night, just we were doing a one to break free, and he got to the guitar solo, and he said he just looked at the guitar strings and we just all looked all the notes, the frets looked the same. He just went and did a dive bomb and then came in on the bit he remembered, and it was just like he's played the song about six thousand times, but it's just like I don't know, I don't know what happened. That's all and it again, it's live music, you know how it is, it's live music, it keeps it exciting.

Tickets Reminder And Farewell

SPEAKER_00 30:10

Yeah. Well, Gary, thank you so much, Gary Mullen, ladies and gentlemen. It's One Night of Queen, and it's performed by Gary Mullen in the works. They will be at the factory on March 22nd. Make sure if you don't have your tickets to get your tickets, go see them. And uh, Gary, it's been a pleasure. Thank you so much for your time. And uh we can't wait to see the show. So we'll see you at the factory.

SPEAKER_05 30:32

Look at Volta.