Killer Queen Conversations, Queen Fan Podcast EP05, JJ Midnight of Celebrating Queen

Step into another unforgettable episode of Killer Queen Conversations, the Queen fan podcast hosted by me, Shane McDonald of Shane’s Queen Site, where the music, legacy, and enduring magic of Queen are explored through passionate discussion and exclusive interviews. 

In this special episode, we are joined by the incredible JJ Midnight — the powerhouse lead vocalist of Celebrating Queen and the driving force behind the Everybody Sings Project. Known for his remarkable vocal range and deep understanding of Freddie Mercury’s artistry, JJ has spent decades studying and performing Queen’s music, delivering a live experience that captures both the precision and spirit of the original recordings. 

Celebrating Queen has earned a reputation as one of the foremost tribute acts to Queen worldwide, blending theatrical production, powerful live instrumentation, and authentic vocal harmonies to recreate the magic of Queen’s legendary performances. Through JJ’s leadership, the band doesn’t simply imitate — it celebrates the depth, complexity, and emotional impact of Queen’s catalogue in a way that resonates with audiences across generations.

JJ, as founder of the Everybody Sings Project, he champions the idea that singing is not just entertainment, but a powerful tool for education, wellbeing, and community connection. The project encourages audiences to actively participate in music, reinforcing the belief that Freddie Mercury’s legacy lives on not just in performance, but in shared human expression. 

In this episode, we dive deep into JJ’s journey — from discovering Queen and honing his craft, to building one of the most authentic tribute experiences in the world. We explore what it truly means to interpret Freddie Mercury’s voice, the responsibility that comes with preserving such an iconic legacy, and the emotional connection that fans continue to have with Queen’s music decades later.

A major focus of the conversation is the upcoming global celebrations of Freddie Mercury’s 80th birthday, a milestone that will bring fans together around the world. At the heart of this is the highly anticipated “Las Vegas Queen Convene: Freddie’s 80th Birthday Bash”, taking place on September 5th, 2026 at the iconic Hard Rock Cafe on the Las Vegas Strip. 

Hosted by Celebrating Queen and supported by the Everybody Sings Project, this event promises to be one of the most exciting Queen celebrations of the year — combining the energy of a live concert with the community spirit of a fan convention. Attendees can expect immersive performances, passionate fan interaction, and a vibrant atmosphere dedicated to honouring Freddie Mercury’s legacy. 

We discuss what makes this Las Vegas event so special — particularly for fans who may not be able to attend the traditional celebrations in Montreux — and how it represents a uniquely American tribute to Freddie’s enduring influence. With multiple shows planned and demand already building, it’s shaping up to be a defining moment for the Queen fan community in 2026. 

Throughout the episode, JJ shares insights into the preparation behind these large-scale celebrations, the importance of keeping Queen’s music alive in a live setting, and how events like this continue to unite fans from all walks of life.

Whether you’re a lifelong Queen fan, a musician inspired by Freddie Mercury’s genius, or someone discovering this music for the first time, this conversation offers a fascinating look behind the curtain of one of the most dedicated and passionate figures in the Queen tribute world.

So sit back, turn up the volume, and join us for a conversation that celebrates not just the music of Queen, but the community, creativity, and legacy that continues to keep it alive.

This Queen Fan Podcast has Episodes which are released in the middle an at the end of each month on YouTube and once a month on the Podcast streaming platforms

Transcript

SPEAKER_05 0:01

Hello, and you are very welcome to Killer Queen Conversations, the Queen fan podcast from Shane's Queen site. On this podcast, we will be interviewing Queen fans, asking them about their favorite songs, favorite albums, how Queen became part of their life, and indeed how the music of Queen has formed the soundtrack to their lives. So, without further ado, let's see who we have today. So we're going to Las Vegas, Nevada, and lead singer of Celebrating Queen, JJ Midnight. JJ, how are you doing?

SPEAKER_03 0:43

Shane McDonald. I'm doing pretty good. It's good.

SPEAKER_05 0:49

So for those of you who don't know, JJ Midnight is the guy who called me back in 2021 and said, Do you want to be in a Queen band? And how could I turn JJ Midnight down? So uh yeah, I've been doing this now for just just over four years.

SPEAKER_03 1:06

Yeah, wow, wow.

SPEAKER_05 1:07

That's our first gig was only last week, four years ago. It was the Utah St. George at the Cox Auditorium. We'll be back. That was an excellent gig.

SPEAKER_03 1:20

Yeah, they're finishing it up. They were fixing it. We're gonna be back.

SPEAKER_05 1:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:24

So uh how are you getting on? You know, I'm doing pretty good, living day to day. Uh, out here trying to book some dates for the year, uh, doing a little bit of traveling. You know, it it's it's one of these things where we have some big stuff coming up and we just want to bring it out there.

SPEAKER_05 1:43

We really yeah, we'll certainly discuss that later on. So if you listen to this podcast, then please stay tuned. We have a quite a large uh announcement to make regarding Freddy. So uh that's a teaser for later on. We'll get we'll circle back to that. But for now, JJ, um, tell us like when you were growing up at home, what music was playing?

SPEAKER_03 2:06

You know, Shane, you know, I'd have some memory problems, but I'm gonna tell you something. There are some things that I could never forget, and that was being on the Sun Porch at 49 South Street Extension in Bristol, Connecticut, and listening to WCCC Rock and Roll Radio, who had a guy named Howard Stern on the air at the time. Okay, and I was listening to this song that came on. You know, I had heard Killer Queen, and I thought that was a pretty good song, but then I heard Bohemian Rhapsody. I think this was about 1975 or so. That's right, yeah. When I was but anyway, um, so I heard this song and I started singing it. And you know, uh unbeknownst to many people is while I was the athlete of the 11 kids in the family, um, my family was mostly musical, with my father being a performer, yeah, uh, a lead singer, a banjo player, a guitar player, and all the kids. Our second language was music. Wow. But I hear this song on the radio, and it's Bohemian Rhapsody, and they're singing, and I'm finding out that physically I can do some of those things. And my friends are like, Wow, that sounds great. And some of my friends were, Wow, you sound like a girl.

SPEAKER_05 3:36

Well, it's crazy. It's a lot of falsetto, a lot of head voice, you know.

SPEAKER_03 3:39

Yeah, where the song goes, a lot of texture, you know. Yeah, and um, so I had started singing that song, and people started telling me, man, you sound a lot like that guy. That that uh I know him as Faroque, as Freddie Mercury, you know what I mean? Yeah, as uh, and they said that I sounded a lot like him, and you know, and it was kind of funny. Music in my world was underneath athletics, yes. And the rest of the family were you know, they're all singers and musicians, and you know, they're great, great, very talented. But I gotta tell you, I took this a little further than the rest of them. Yeah, and uh, I'm getting to see the world with my voice, but Bohemian Rhapsody, that song kicking in, but it changed my life, and it changed a lot of other things in my life.

SPEAKER_05 4:27

And Queen weren't exactly your favorite group, so they weren't.

SPEAKER_03 4:31

I mean, what your favorite group in the world was well, Kansas, oh, and my family, my brothers and sisters. We would go to concerts to see Kansas at the Harvard, Connecticut Civic Center. Well, and we would go see Kansas and that singer Steve Walsh. My goodness, you know, as a singer, I gotta tell you, man, there's a lot of registers that he hits that I think would be tough for FM, you know.

SPEAKER_05 4:57

Yeah, so do you think there's a lot of similarities between his style and Freddie's style, or is it kind of just some of some of his and some of Freddie's joined together?

SPEAKER_03 5:07

Here, you won't hear this from other singers, maybe, but here's the thing you know, I told you I doubled in athletics. Freddie Mercury, Steve Walsh, in fact, Steve Walsh wore athletic outfits, were the athletic singers of their time to me. They sang with power, and and they used all of their chambers, you know. That's that was the difference.

SPEAKER_05 5:34

I think I yeah, I I get that. Like, I mean, that's how I do it.

SPEAKER_03 5:37

But yeah, that's how I do it. Oh, yeah. Yeah, I don't need a microphone. What's what's a microphone? I mean, put that away.

SPEAKER_05 5:45

And I mean, you spoke a minute about going to concerts, and um you have quite an interesting story about one of the queen concerts you're at as well, weren't you?

SPEAKER_03 5:53

Oh, Shane. Um, you know, independently, I I remember this vaguely because of some of the stuff that I've been through, but really I kept some accounts of it in writing. Yeah. And so I'm sitting in the seventh row at the New Haven Coliseum. And another thing that reminded me of this is I have a friend that was not with me at the concert, was sitting up at the side and saw this happen. Freddie Mercury, Roger Taylor, do you think you're better every day? And then Freddie goes, No. Not tambourine, and all of a sudden, this tambourine with the padding on it is in my hands, and I to this day don't know how it got there. Well, I yeah, I'll I'll claim some I I'll claim I possess some athletic ability as to catching a baseball or doing this or doing that, but that appeared.

SPEAKER_05 6:57

Well, well, I mean baseball was baseball was your life, so maybe it's a reaction, maybe it's it's like second nature when you see something flying, you put your hand up, you get it, catch it, you know.

SPEAKER_03 7:09

Yeah, I no, I would like to say it was second nature like a baseball move, but I gotta tell you, to this day, um, for whatever I don't remember how it got. Yeah, well, I don't remember seeing it fly through the air and consciously thinking, here it comes.

SPEAKER_05 7:24

Um it's a nice memory to have though, uh, knowing that the last person to touch tempering was Freddie.

SPEAKER_03 7:31

Yeah, no, that's right. That's right. And uh, you know, and I looked into it a little bit. I think Peter made them for him. Um, you know, you know, before concerts, he always had this padding thing. That's right, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 7:43

And uh well, they were very they were very they were very conscious of um making sure that if any anything went into the audience that would not injure anyone. And I heard a story one time that Freddie made sure that every single rose that was thrown into the audience had been dethorned.

SPEAKER_03 8:01

In other words, that no, that that was cool of them because it would have been mean otherwise. I gotta tell you, in in regards uh to the tambourine, what's really funny about it is so I catch this tambourine. Yeah, I go to a queen concert, probably the third time I saw them, and I have this tambourine. And you know, if you're in a band, you carry around those milk trapes and you put your wires in there and you put your connections and everything and guitar strings or whatever. And uh, so I used to, after the gig, throw the tambourine in there, and um, you know, damn it, after about three years of touring, somebody took it. Somebody, I know somebody took it because I knew I put it in there. My reaction was at the time, circa 82. My reaction at the time, ah, who's this Freddie Mercury guy? Freddie Mercury, you know, and um it's kind of a good story.

SPEAKER_05 9:06

It's a good story, yeah. Excellent. Um, did you did you have any queen albums at that stage? Did you actually purchase any albums or did someone give you any queen albums? And if so, what was your first?

SPEAKER_03 9:18

Oh, it's really interesting. My first album was um um Queen Two. Yeah, me too. My brother Frankie gave it to me. Oh, and he gave it to me and he said, Listen to this, you like Kansas, you'll like this. Yeah, I mean I I don't see a big resemblance, but I mean the intensity of it is there, that's for sure. Yeah, and Queen Two was um, you know, it still reins as my favorite. It sounds like it's the favorite of some of the band members themselves.

SPEAKER_05 9:48

Yeah, I mean, Queen Two will be released uh on the 27th of March. So we were recording this on the 24th of March, so in three days, no, four years' time, three days, four days time. Um, not sure exactly, yeah. So it is 27th. Yeah, so it'll be three days' time. Um, yeah, I love we're going to have a repackaged, remastered Queen Two with a load of new stuff, instrumentals, demos, that sort of thing. So, yeah, it's gonna be an interesting listen. I have it all.

SPEAKER_03 10:17

Yeah, if you're drawing, if you're drawing air on this earth, you gotta go listen to Queen Two. Yeah, I think it's the gateway drawing the queen. It's really, really special. I love singing Queen 2 music in our group. Used to do the March of the Black Queen, and it was great to learn, and but it was great to play, and it was great to listen to after. Yeah, the problem with a song like that in a tribute setting, yeah, is many of the people are coming to hear the hits, and a handful of people really appreciate the work you put into March of the Black Queen.

SPEAKER_05 10:48

Yeah, but Russian to many people, it's such an intense song, huge, and there's so many parts to it, and there's so many elements to it, and there's so many little um little intricacies that if they're not there, the queen fans will know it's not there, and if it is there, some people may not even know it's there because they this maybe it's their first time hearing it, you know.

SPEAKER_03 11:11

I think the style, the style is is really uh the predecessor to Bohemian rap song. Correct. I was just saying the same thing, yeah. And I would call Was It All Worth It the song that came after, because that song is packed with some of the same kind of sex, yes, yeah. You know, some people say that from the instrumental timpani to the to the vocals, the big vocals, and you know, and by that time there they were using synthesizers. I just don't say they were indeed, yes.

SPEAKER_05 11:42

They they introduced synthesizers for the first time on the game. Um, so that was the first time there. So yeah, uh interesting that both our first albums were was Queen too. Um like I mean, you have you've already discussed your own experience of being at a Queen concert. Uh, did you watch Live Aid, or was that something that passed you by because at that time you weren't really into Queen, or was it something you actually watched? Shane, I gotta tell you, Mr.

SPEAKER_03 12:13

McDonald. I watched Live Aid live, right? Okay, not not there, but I watched me. And I gotta tell you, I I kind of I didn't realize what was going on, but by the end of it, I kind of felt bad for some of the other bands.

SPEAKER_05 12:30

Yeah, really did, and that's interesting because I didn't at the time I didn't uh understand what was going on either. My cousin was a huge queen fan, and he just said, guys, shut up. I'm watching this, and we just want to shut yeah, and I I was I was like a backseat passenger, I was watching through him, if you know what I mean. He was the huge Queen fan, always was. He was the guy who gave me a Queen 2 in 1991. Hand in the window, yeah. He says, I think you'll like this. Yeah, so I mean, um, I have mentioned that on the podcast before, purely because it's just so weird. Like I wasn't a huge Queen fan. Um, I had some interest definitely, and out of nowhere, I got this cassette in through the passenger window of the car. And 20 minutes later, I was kind of going, Wow, I need to get I need to hear more of this band, you know. So um, so when you were watching live, a uh like obviously Queen stood out. Um, like, was it as amazing now looking back as you think it was then, or do you think there's other bands at the time that you that point I just made about feeling bad for the other bands is only made more poignant by watching the Freddie tribute and watching some of these guys try to handle his his catalog.

SPEAKER_03 13:47

And I've always said Paul Rogers, love Paul Rogers all my life. How many times have oh, you know, yeah, but you know, the fact was Freddie could sing anything in his catalog, but Paul couldn't, so Paul had to make it his own, and he did, and there's nobody like Paul Rogers, yeah. Appreciated him being at the time to keep it going, you know.

SPEAKER_05 14:10

Yeah, and actually, I'm glad he didn't try and do a Freddie. I'm glad he made it, me too.

SPEAKER_03 14:15

It would have been like a random attention, you know.

SPEAKER_05 14:17

Uh it goes to show as well how somebody can interpret a Queen's song and make it their own style, you know. When we were when we were at the the the Zenith in Paris, um, I think it was actually around this time of year as well. Um, it was March 20 uh 2005. Um, I think it was even around this time of the March, late March. Um, he did Hammer to Fall slowly, so it wasn't a very, very harder to do Doom, you know, it wasn't that thing. It was a very soft, um, almost like a clean guitar arpeggio that Brian would play. And it was a softer version, and then they went into the into the bluesier, bluesier, yeah, bluesier, yeah. And um, yeah, I like Paul. He's a he's a nice guy. Um, he was great for the show. It was amazing to see Roger and Brian live, uh, because I definitely didn't have a chance to see Queen when I was growing up. So um, yeah, and you like what's your thoughts on Bohemian Ropse the movie? Well, a live air.

SPEAKER_03 15:18

First thing I want to say is I was just just to get back to what you were saying there. While Paul did a great job in his own regard, I have to also say um that Adam Lambert, I love Adam Lambert. Yeah, I don't understand people that are ripping that guy, you know. Uh I love him. His his vibrato is a little quick for me, but that but that but that's it.

SPEAKER_05 15:44

He might be making his own. Look, people go on and on and on saying that Adam is not Queen. Adam is not, he was never part of the original Queen, but I believe that he is keeping the memory and the music and all of Queen alive and bringing it to a new audience who may not have heard it, bring it to the American audience who maybe have didn't um maybe fell out of love with Queen at some point, and now he's bringing it to a worldwide audience, and he's a great singer.

SPEAKER_03 16:16

And he presents it live as good as anybody could, probably in the in the genre, maybe a little heavier than Freddie would have done, but in the genre of Freddie Mercury, had Freddie Mercury been able to truly be immortal and live at that age forever. Adam brought us back to when Freddie was about that age, up a notch. Yeah, the vocals were right there, arguably live, maybe a little you know, yeah, but also he's doing it as himself.

SPEAKER_05 16:43

I mean, Adam is quite openly gay, and that's great for Adam, but it's a pity Freddie didn't have that luxury of the freedom at that time. Nobody like that wasn't something that we would like. We had the uh no, it wasn't as accepted at that time, you know.

SPEAKER_03 17:01

Yeah, it's a different world nowadays. I can remember somebody telling me, Oh, you like Queen. Yeah, not like I like Queen.

SPEAKER_01 17:07

Oh, it's a I like gays, they're nice people. What are you talking about?

SPEAKER_05 17:11

Yeah, so I mean it's it's unfortunate for Freddie that he didn't have the luxury to be free and open and relaxed about who he actually was, and try instead of just trying to be um you know press friendly or whatever it was at that time, you know. So um, and speaking of Freddie, we are now moving on to an extremely exciting event taking place in Las Vegas on September the 5th, which would be Freddie's 80th birthday. JJ Midnight. Yeah. So off you go.

SPEAKER_03 17:45

Yeah, off I go. You just have funny. Well, I want to talk about this, and and I'll tell you what, um, it's um it's a real personal thing. Yeah, a lot of you people out there, you don't need to know all the details and everything, but I went through a thing where I lost about six years to a car accident with brain injuries and that kind of thing. Okay, I'm pretty good now, right? Okay, good. You're gracious, yeah. But Freddie Mercury, okay. Um uh along the years of my life and in teaching for a program and creating a program called the Everybody Sings Project, years before my life-changing accident, have actually proven in the end to be lifesavers. Yeah, you know, and and right down to exercise, you know, having a little bit of muscle to prevent my accident from getting worse. But back to this event, so I decided okay, here we go. Um after six, seven years, I'm actually going out to full touring again, performing, writing, uh, making music my life, turning off the news. Okay, yeah, nothing good there. They're just selling ads and collecting eyeballs, yeah. Um, so um, so what I did was I decided, hey, you know what? Freddie Mercury is gonna be 80 years old this year. If he were alive, it would be the 80th year and a celebration of some of the best music the world has ever seen. And I and I maintained that. Queen is like singing, it's everywhere, everybody sings. It's a natural reaction, it's what we do. We hum, we sing, we do all these things, and we keep our body moving and the motion, and and singing is basically breathing, and that's what I say. So I contacted uh Matthew at the Hard Rock here in Las Vegas. It's a beautiful venue, icons of rock as a residency there. Um, it's one of the nicest hard rock cafes in the country, and we worked out a deal. So, what we did was we got the Everybody Sings Project to be a presenting sponsor for this event and the beneficiary of extra proceeds from this event, and celebrating Queen and our friends to be announced, and special surprises to be announced are gonna be part of Freddie Mercury's 80th birthday bash on the Las Vegas strip at the Hard Rock Cafe featuring Celebrating Queen. And if you're just joining us, guess who's gonna play keyboards? Oh, it's oh, oh, it's the music director, Shane McDonald. No, Shane. I was looking forward to it. Anyway, so I'm proud to be able to present um this Freddie Mercury concert with the Everybody Sings project, as it's sort of like a life experience. It's sort of like why I sing. And now that I know that through therapies and some of the things I went through to regain my health after my um my injuries, Freddie has a lot to do with that. Yeah, and and singing has a lot to almost said something has a lot to do with it, yeah. And that's what we're promoting. So we're gonna have a happy day, we're gonna have a happy party, we're gonna have queen fans from all over the world. Invites are going out. Yes, there's a huge official, official queen party in Montreux, Switzerland. Yeah, and it's it's a great event. Yeah, if I could go, I might go, but I can't. I'm gonna be yeah performing on the Las Vegas trip for all you people out there.

SPEAKER_05 21:35

So if you're looking for information on this, um uh if you visit celebratingqueen.com and also if you want to find out more information about the excellent work that the Everybody Sings Project does, that's everybody singsproject.org.

SPEAKER_03 21:49

So um Oh yeah, it's gonna be a great thanks for cutting me off, Shane. I'm so passionate about this stuff.

SPEAKER_05 21:55

No, no, I just have to get important info. That information in there because. Because we we have spoken quite at length about the Body Sings project. And you've told me some great stories about how you've brought schools and music projects and music programs into schools and how it has benefited not only the students but also the relationship between students and teachers. So that's quite an interesting.

SPEAKER_03 22:21

Oh, Shane, you know, this is really funny. Let me tell you about the origin of the Everybody Sings Project. I told you a little background on my family, how I grew up with music and all of that. But really, the Everybody Sings Project emanated when, you know, Freddie was gone, and I wanted to do something special with this special music. And so I decided I'm gonna put together the finest band in the land, and we're gonna have background singers, and we're gonna this is 2007. Wow, 2008. Okay, this is and my daughter who I was raising alone was old enough to move on a bit, and I had some time, and I was I was focused on having a great queen band. Yeah, I do a pretty good job singing, and I've seen some of the footage, amazing, yeah. Yeah, thank you. And my band members are awesome. And that goes for you, Shane. Stop blushing, okay. But so I decided I was gonna put together this band, and I did. And you know, I thought to myself, there's a lot of great bands in the land out there, and I thought I need something that's gonna make us just a little more special. And I had believed in and I had done a little bit of research into the health benefits of singing, physiosity. You know what I mean? Yeah, physiostically, or uh however you say that physiology. Thank you, Shane. Thank you for helping me. Oh, I have a closed caption there too. But anyway, but we can organize that, yeah. Yeah, yeah. So I decided, you know, to do something into that, and I thought, you know what? I'm gonna contact the choral department at Green Bay East High School. We were playing at the Meyer Theater, a beautiful National Act Theater. And I said, I want to come into your school and talk about the health benefits of singing. And the choral teacher said, That'll be great for our class and bohemian rhapsody and all. And so I put it together. I put together a nice event. There are three different news crews showed up, and they're like, and then one of them says, You should start something with this. People need this, people need to understand that singing is like yoga, singing is like a lot of different exercises that passively or even aggressively help you. Yeah, and so I started doing some research, and the next thing I know, we have this, and the next thing I know we're we're we're booking lawyers to form the organization. And since 2014, we've been doing the Everybody Sings Project. And in 2018, I got crushed by a car on my bicycle, and I decided I needed the Everybody Sings Project. That kept you going. That kept you going, yeah. Yeah, you know, well, you know, COVID kept us out of schools, yeah, yeah. And it gave me a time to recover somewhat, but every minute of that time I was working on recovering my vocals, recovering my lungs, recovering my brain, and and I used many of the things and the disciplines that uh you know a singer would use to get more breath because it was it was tough. That was everything to me, yeah, you know, and and and to be able to envision myself at first I had no dreams, but to be able to envision myself on stage again, yeah, and now I'm envisioning myself on that hard rock stage for Freddie Mercury's 80th birthday. Oh my god, that's a great, that's a great way you are now.

SPEAKER_05 25:52

And um, everybody Sings Project is a fully registered 501c charity, so that's linked with celebrating Queens. So this is gonna be part and parcel of the event on the 5th of September in Las Vegas. Um, so yeah, it's gonna be an excellent event. Um before that, we have a show coming up in how do you pronounce it? Are you grande? Aurora Grande.

SPEAKER_03 26:16

Yeah, that's California. We got a show coming up there, but you know, Shane, I expect to now that I got doctor clearance and everything on a lot of things, I expect to be booking some great shows, and you know, I'd like to do 20 or 30 more this year, you know. And so if there's agents out there looking, you know, we want to get out there and play some more. Yeah, we love this stuff. Celebratingqueen.com, of course. We make people happy, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 26:40

Well, I mean, we like you, Shane McDonald's. That's what I love. How long has your website been going?

SPEAKER_05 26:45

Oh, we're um into the 23rd or 24th year now at this stage. Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_02 26:51

Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_05 26:52

But this is the this is actually the this is actually the first year where it's actually at celebrate. Uh sorry, I'm telling you, your bad, your your website now. Sorry, um of my website. It's the first year, it's actually been on shane's queensite.com. Prior to that, it was on a load of different domain names. Um, it was actually a subdomain of a website, and I just felt it had enough content and enough clarity and enough um kind of demand that we move it off to its own separate uh domain name to make it uh a website of its own, you know. Um I have I have a uh link from you going back as far as 2013 asking me to put a link on my website for celebrating queen, even before I knew who celebrating queen was. Because you didn't contact me until 2021, so that was like eight years before that. And I think you're using all the all the music from my website as well, weren't you on stage? You're printing out all my chords.

SPEAKER_03 27:51

Well, I'm gonna tell you, without knowing you, I know and seeing what you were doing. I thought, wow, this guy's really cool. This guy, this guy, and then I found out you played the piano, yeah, and you have these tutorials on there that's right, yeah. You know, I'm I'm up there singing Queen, I'm up there singing some of these lyrics and stuff. And I don't even have to think about it.

SPEAKER_05 28:14

It's good fun. Yeah, oh, that's the thing. That's I agree as well. Like I think when when you get into flow, pure flow states, where you're playing without thinking. I remember looking down at my hands at the Cox, our very first show at the Cox uh back in 2022 in Utah, and I was looking down at my hands there, it was playing Don't Stop Me Now, and I was like thinking to myself, what are they doing? I I can see them moving, but I don't it's because it's so ingrained in what I do, I no longer think about what chords I'm playing. It's more along the lines of ensuring everything is going well with the band and everything is going well out here and that sort of thing. So you start, you do kind of lose you know connection with your body sometimes when you're playing music like this, when you love it so much, you know.

SPEAKER_03 29:06

I gotta tell you, you know, that's really funny. That's how I beat anything that resembles stage fright. Oh, yeah, I get it. I don't get it, I get it. I don't get it. No, no, I don't get it either. I get out there and it's like second nature to go out there and entertain and smile and make people happy because I'm so grateful that they're there and I'm so grateful. Freddie, great tunes, and I'm so grateful.

SPEAKER_05 29:30

That's nice, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 29:32

You know, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 29:33

I I don't get I don't get staged fright with celebrating queen, but I used to get staged fright years ago when um like I I used to do weddings, for example. I used to play at weddings and I used to play like the um in the church, you know. And I think it was a case that really I didn't embody the music, like the music was something that I was reading. I was reading the music one as opposed to. Exactly. But but because queen is part of me, I don't feel it's something that I need to be worried about because I know it so well, and it's you know, that's the that's the nice thing about it, you know.

SPEAKER_03 30:08

Well, when my brain got rewired, msparacy wrote about that. I think I sent it to you. Did you see that one? The new edited one. Oh I sent it to you. It's it's M Spiracy was covering my brain injury and how Freddie Mercury was on my frequency. Oh, yes, you had a brain scan. Well, there's a new version that you have in your book. I just sent it to you.

SPEAKER_05 30:33

So you you had uh interesting. You had a brain scan and Freddie look like there's a silhouette of Freddie in your in your in your scan. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 30:41

Oh, wait, reads. That was freaky, I saw that.

SPEAKER_05 30:43

Yeah, that was you know that was quite interesting.

SPEAKER_03 30:46

So uh singing, I might not have a lot.

SPEAKER_05 30:50

Yeah, but like singing is important. Um, like there's other research out there to show that uh, for example, uh, people who are undergoing Parkinson's, uh people who are suffering from Alzheimer's, singing is one of those things that actually helps them. It's a it's a huge benefit for anybody who's at you know doing something like that. Um, that singing actually is a huge benefit because it creates new connections and also uses the connections out of there. It's one of the one of the core things. Um, I remember like seeing a video of some person who had Alzheimer's aged 89, and they put the lady in front of a piano and she's able to play perfectly because the music was was within her, you know. So it's it's a mute. I like I can't do without music. I just can't.

SPEAKER_03 31:32

Yeah, no, and I I can't either. And you know, and I'm really grateful for uh the queen music I get to sing. I'm grateful for Freddie. We're gonna prove all that out on September 15th.

SPEAKER_05 31:43

Well, I'm grateful for you for asking me to be part of part of your um amazing group. Thank you.

SPEAKER_03 31:48

I'm grateful for you for saying yes. It's almost like I asked a hot girl to go out with me and she said yes.

SPEAKER_05 31:55

I'm sorry for I appreciate you for equating me to a hot girl.

SPEAKER_03 32:01

But you know what I mean. You know what I'm trying to say, right?

SPEAKER_05 32:04

I do indeed. Thank you very much.

SPEAKER_03 32:05

Oh, Shane, I um listen, everybody out there. I'm blessed to have this guy on stage. You want to come out there and hear somebody who sounds like Freddie Mercury, you can come out there and hear me. I got the power, I got the finesse. I'm not Freddie Mercury. Genius.

SPEAKER_05 32:19

Well, you can you can sing like him. That's the main thing.

SPEAKER_03 32:22

Yeah, but the big part of our show that it might not reflect in the in the dollar signs on the ticket is this guy right here, Shane McDonald. Him and his lovely family, his beautiful wife Maria. Ireland, he calls Ireland home. What a great place. I can't wait to visit. Yep. Shane McDonald, you guys. So uh following us.

SPEAKER_05 32:43

As you can see behind me up right up there to the poster of Celebrating Queen, and that's the Friday show.

SPEAKER_01 32:48

There we are.

SPEAKER_05 32:49

There we are. And the reason why that one is there is because that's the Wembley show, is because that was one of the very first live shows I ever saw of Queen. My uncle gave me a VHS of um Wembley concert that was shown on Channel 4. There was a program years ago called The Tube, and they had it uh kind of uh shown on that. And I remember watching it, I was blown away by what Queen were doing, even before I actually really fell in love with Queen. Um, I had that VHS, and I probably burnt a hole in it from playing it so many times.

SPEAKER_03 33:22

Well, you know, those things were meant to wear out, you know. Yeah, yeah. You know, they're Shane. I have a question for you about your audience. Yeah. Oh you know, we know what the hits are and everything. Well, what kind of or deep cuts does your audience like? Um that surprises you, you know.

SPEAKER_05 33:44

Um, my melancholy blues is one of the songs that I consistently get requested as a tutorial, and it is one I will be doing very, very soon, but that is one that people do come back with um as regards songs to do, and it's an amazing song, and also Millionaires Waltz, those those two songs, you know. And I think that's one of the songs you think that would deserve more love, would it be?

SPEAKER_01 34:09

We're happy we spent all our days holding hands together. Do you remember my love? How we danced and played in the rain we laid. Wish we could stay there forever and ever.

SPEAKER_03 34:32

That's all my agents in the room. I gotta start charging you, McDonald's.

SPEAKER_05 34:37

Yeah, we're gonna be cut for for copyright breach now at this stage.

SPEAKER_03 34:41

Ah, yeah, right, right, right.

SPEAKER_05 34:43

But anyway, um, yeah, yeah, that's why I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_03 34:46

I wouldn't mind doing that. I love where that guitar crashes.

SPEAKER_05 34:49

Yeah, it's a it's an excellent song again. Very like um Marsh the Black Queen in that there's loads of bits to it, there's loads of sections to the actual song.

SPEAKER_03 34:58

I didn't think of it that way, but you're right. Um, it sounds like a romance movie, yeah. That goes through segments, you know. Yeah, well, I mean, like the guy meets the girl, and they're just yeah, that's what it reminds me of.

SPEAKER_05 35:12

It's in three, four time. I mean, like what other group can kind of get away with recording a huge yeah, it's queen.

SPEAKER_03 35:20

Saying ready, ready, my fine friend, take me with you who love me forever. My fine friend. He does that, huh? He does that, yeah. Oh my god, I that I used to love it.

SPEAKER_05 35:42

It's almost like he almost says with you, as in Yeah, he does. He says with a like almost like a foreign accent. I do like that bit.

SPEAKER_02 35:50

The way put that up in the liner notes.

SPEAKER_03 35:55

I think he does say whiz.

SPEAKER_05 35:56

Yeah. Um, Freddie will do that a few times in certain songs, but where he'll pronounce something just differently, and that accentuates the song quite a lot, you know, or he'll roll his oars, or you know that that's what I love with Queen. They're so very not simply just an artist.

SPEAKER_03 36:14

Yeah, that guy, that guy was such an artist. He knew what he was doing. I mean, come on, FM. I got FM. I told my doctors that I got FM. Do you have O? No Freddie Mercury. Um they even named the frequency after him, FM.

SPEAKER_05 36:33

Well, that's nice, yeah. So, um with that in mind, I mean, what what are you looking forward to? What's the one thing you're looking forward to regarding uh the Freddie birthday on September 5th in Las Vegas?

SPEAKER_03 36:48

Well, you know, it it's interesting because no doubt many are are going to the Montreux one. And you know, we're offering this one as the American answer and an American iconic place. So, you know, I know the band's gonna rock. I think we're gonna pick a few different songs here and there, but the audience that we're we're presenting this to, look, if you're over there in the Netherlands or you're over there in Hong Kong and you hear about this show through the socials or online or any way you hear it, come on out. We want to see uh a real diverse section of people from around the world that enjoy Queen. And and I will be so proud to perform for you. Yeah, it's not just a gig, yeah. It's it's it's it's it's a place, it's it's a mark in time. This is Freddie Mercury's 80th birthday on the Las Vegas. Yeah, if you've never come to Las Vegas, I think it's about Labor Day weekend, and it might be a great time for you to come to Las Vegas. Book your tickets and your lodging now. We will we will rock you.

SPEAKER_05 37:57

And we have two shows. One is at 4 p.m. and one is at 8 p.m. So we've got two different uh choices. So if you're if you've got a family with you, maybe you want to go to the 4 p.m. one and you get to see the show and get to meet the band and all that. And what I love about our shows is actually meeting people after the show, oh um, and understanding. Like I think we often like the last show, it was nearly half an hour of meet and greets after the show, I think.

SPEAKER_03 38:20

So it was just yeah, singing is an excuse to meet people, yeah. You know, it's great because some of these people we've met. Oh my goodness, I just met a guy from Vietnam at one of our last shows. And I had a lot of questions for him because I grew up with Walter Cronkite doing the countdown, and uh, but he he loves Vietnam, he's an American who lives in Vietnam now, and they're people from all over the world. Music is great. People have to learn to fold into loving each other no matter who they are. Yeah, there's no room for nonsense. We have no room for nonsense in this world. Let's enjoy each other. Exactly.

SPEAKER_05 38:56

So um, one last question for you what is your favorite song to perform?

SPEAKER_03 39:02

Oh wow, you know, and when I think of favorite songs with Queen, because they have so many of my favorite songs, um, I I break it down to genres. And I think I did that a little bit earlier in this conversation. You know, why you can't ignore Crazy Little Thing Called Love when that was on the radio, and when you can't ignore and another one bites the dust, and and those I look back at the March of the Black Queen, and I look back at the parts that my brother and I used to sing in that middle section together, and uh, and I look back at at that and in these other songs. So I would say the March of the Black Queen really really um no, actually, I heard Bohemian first, but the March of the Black Queen in Queen's chronological history to me started it all.

SPEAKER_05 39:55

Yeah, you know, yeah, and uh in and I have I have heard your rendition of that from the videos that you've sent me of the previous iteration of the celebrating queen band. And your brother Carl did amazing vocals on on that. Um, a shout out to Carl because Carl was yes quite um involved in the band.

SPEAKER_03 40:15

Um uh really integral. He kept me going, yeah. And many times, along the times of when I was down, he kept me going. Yeah, Carl is a great singer, he was all Eastern in school, went to hard school of music, very well trained, great musician as well. But now he's happily married, yeah. Exactly. Next thing you know, there you go. That's the right song, right?

SPEAKER_05 40:44

It's all about happiness. That's correct. That's that's it. That's the that's the right song. So um, yeah, so I mean, um, yeah, I think Marshall Black Queen is a good choice. Um, Bohemian Rhapsody is another good choice because they're so related as regards the stylings of the songs, and some people would actually argue that Bohem Rhapsody was something that they were trying for in uh Marshall the Black Queen because they like there's a lot of elements that are similar to it.

SPEAKER_03 41:09

Yeah, and and it all boils down to the genius of uh Freddie, really. Yeah, but you know, Brian May. You know, we have Brian May in our band, by the way.

SPEAKER_05 41:20

You must do it. Yeah, well, that's a good point. Like that's a very, very good point. Um, just going through the band celebrating Queen, obviously JJ uh Midnight is on vocals, I'm on keys. Uh, we've got Steve Burchell on guitar, fantastic guitarist, not only looking like Brian, but also playing exactly like Steve. Steve would put so much work into getting the tone and the stylings right. Like he um he learned the Brighton Rock solo and sent it to me, and he went, How's this? And I really thought it was from off the album, it was just so perfect. Right. Um, then we have um Daryl Craig Harris on bass. You probably know Daryl through his amazing podcast of Music Music Matters. Um, really, really excellent. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 42:09

He has he has played with it, played with every and James played with Sammy Hagar, not full band, but James with Sammy Hagar and uh Toby Keith. What this is Las Vegas, yeah, yeah. And Shane comes over from Waterford, Ireland, and we are so happy to have him. So uh hold on a second here. Hold on, I gotta get it off. Yeah, we are so people calling me, and that's it's only 7.30 people are 7.56, Shane.

SPEAKER_05 42:45

So um, yeah, so it's gonna be a great show. And uh celebratingqueen.com, all the information is there, all the ticketing information is there as well for the show on the 5th of September in Las Vegas and also the other shows. And JJ, thank you very, very much for having me on the show. And uh thank you very much for joining me on the show. Sorry. Um, I really appreciate you here joining the podcast.

SPEAKER_03 43:09

Before we leave these people, Shane. I love Queen fans, lovers of music in general, but queen fans and the stories and the beautiful music. You're doing a great job with what you do. Yeah, look, I enjoy it.

SPEAKER_05 43:25

I enjoy meeting people, I enjoy discussing everything that there is to music in Queen and that sort of thing. So thank you very much. Uh, before we leave, um, we have the 11 questions. The 11 questions I always ask at the end of the show. These have been on other shows, including the Actors Studio. I'm sure you know them. Uh what's your favorite word? My favorite word? Excellence. Oh, nice. Yeah, well, I suppose you do it every day, don't you, in the show? So, yeah. Second nature. Least favorite word. What do you think?

SPEAKER_03 44:00

Let's come back to that one. Go ahead. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 44:06

Can I name names? No. Sorry. No. Not money kidding. No. I missed that. Can I name names? No. No.

SPEAKER_03 44:22

Waking up.

SPEAKER_05 44:23

Yeah. Yeah. Well, I I actually heard a nice thing by uh a friend of mine.

SPEAKER_03 44:28

War. War is the word that I hate words. Okay. Very, very apt. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 44:35

As regards, you said he said waking up turns you on, that which is nice. Uh, a friend of mine said that every morning she wakes up in the corner. Uh, a friend of mine said that she wakes up every morning, looks and imagines a gift in the corner because that's the present. Waking up every day. Some people just don't get the chance, you know.

SPEAKER_03 44:54

So you know the old saying, Jane, yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Nice. But today, today is the present. Oh, nice. Very good. Today's the gift.

SPEAKER_05 45:07

So if that if that turns you on, what turns you off?

SPEAKER_03 45:15

Can I name names? But no, no, it is. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. But um, but um betrayal.

SPEAKER_05 45:28

Yeah, fair enough. I get it. What sound or noise do you love?

SPEAKER_03 45:37

I like to hear Shane McDonald play the prelude to Bohemian Rhapsody when we perform it live. Nice. I actually thought you were going to say Love of My Life. Shortly after that. Yeah. Oh, because shortly after that, we're into some of the most beautiful pieces. Well, one of the most beautiful pieces of music in the world.

SPEAKER_05 46:00

Fair enough. Well, thank you very much for that. And what sound and noise do you hate?

SPEAKER_03 46:06

I hate the sound of pain.

SPEAKER_05 46:09

Yeah. Yeah. Same. Now here's the fun one. What's your favorite courseword?

SPEAKER_03 46:18

Fuck, let me think.

SPEAKER_05 46:21

Um we said one, but it doesn't matter.

SPEAKER_03 46:31

Damn it, damn, damn, because it's spelled for me. D-A-M-A.

SPEAKER_05 46:35

Yeah. That's interesting. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 46:37

No, wait. Fuck. That's not it. No.

SPEAKER_05 46:40

Okay, we move on. What profession other what profession other than your own would you like to attempt?

SPEAKER_03 46:48

I'd like to be a road scholar.

SPEAKER_05 46:52

What profession would you not like to do?

SPEAKER_03 46:55

Oh, um. Sanitation.

SPEAKER_05 47:02

Hmm. It's it's a common theme for people who are. Yeah, that's fair enough. And and fair play to anybody who does that, yeah, of course.

SPEAKER_03 47:10

And specifically, I would not want to work in Gehenna. What's that? Look it up. No. Later.

SPEAKER_05 47:21

If you were stranded on a desert island, which Queen album would you take?

SPEAKER_03 47:25

Oh, a night of the opera.

SPEAKER_05 47:27

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 47:27

And the last one is serious, not Queen Two. A Knight of the Opera does it remind me of more memories than Queen Two would have.

SPEAKER_05 47:35

Of course. Nice. And finally, if heaven exists, what would you like God to say to you when you arrive at the Pearlie Gates? Hold on. Can you rephrase that again? So if if heaven exists, what would you like God to say to you when you arrive at the pearly gates?

SPEAKER_01 48:03

Um told you so. I told you so.

SPEAKER_05 48:16

The best one I ever heard for that one was you're early.

SPEAKER_03 48:20

Oh, yeah, that's really good. That's really good. That's that's a great one. You're early. That's funny.

SPEAKER_05 48:26

So with that in mind, JJ, thank you very much for joining me on the podcast. Uh pleasure to have you on and look forward to seeing you very, very soon. And um, we will be renouncing more information regarding the celebrating Queen and Everybody's Things Project uh show on the Las Vegas strip on September 5th, celebrating Frederick Mercury's birthday, his 80th birthday, and that would be at the Hard Rock Cafe in Las Vegas. So, JJ, thank you very much for coming on board and joining me this morning. I know it's very, very early for you. It's just gone 7:30 a.m. or approaching 8 a.m.

SPEAKER_03 49:03

It's 8 o'clock, machine. You're the best host that's interviewed me from around the world. I just got to tell you and thank you for your uh your viewers and people that participate with you. If you want to know about Queen, right there. Yeah, right there. Oh, yeah. Hey, have a beautiful day, everybody. Have a beautiful day, Shane. Cheers. Thanks, JJ. Talk to you soon.

SPEAKER_00 49:26

Woo, everybody, killer queen conversation.

SPEAKER_05 49:31

Thank you very much for tuning in to the Queen Fan podcast here on Shane's Queen site, Killer Queen Conversations. We hope to see you again very soon. And we would like to thank our guests this week for joining us. Join us again next week for more great conversations about Queen, their music, and what it means to be a Queen fan. See you again very soon. My name is Shane MacDonald, and I hope you have a great day.