In my last YouTube video of 2023 which is ten minutes in duration, I take you on a 21 year journey through Brian May’s musical activities after he stopped touring and recording with the original Queen band members. I tell you the stories behind the souvenir sixpences minted to mark notable occasions illustrated with close up shots of all the coins and related video footage.
Tag: Brian May
Supreme Queen Tribute Band Full Concert
Supreme Queen tribute band guitarist Luke Timmins invited me to attend their concert at The Town House in Hamilton near Glasgow, Scotland on 30 September 2023 and back stage to film their set-up and sound checks. I was able to take advantage of empty gallery seats immediately overlooking the stage on the band’s left (right from the audience’s perspective) to film the band close up. Check out the video below which is 1h 46m in duration; each song is time indexed from the description.
The set list plus additional information and links can be found here:
https://dsgb.net/events/supremequeen/
U.K. Brian May Red Special Meet-up TVH 2023
Please check out my highlights package of the 2023 U.K. Brian May Red Special enthusiast meet-up on Saturday, 7th October 2023 and read the full report illustrated with 25 photographs here: https://dsgb.net/events/tvh2023/
Attended by 60-70 enthusiasts, the event has been held at Theale Village Hall near Reading in Berkshire since 2017. The theme of this year’s meet-up was “Good Company” which reflects the friendliness, trust and respect in the global Brian May enthusiast community.
To celebrate twenty years of working with Brian May, Andrew Guyton brought three guitars never seen or rarely seen in public: the spade, the 12/6 doubleneck and scalloped fretboard guitars. He also exhibited the “Badger” semi-acoustic and three customer guitars based on the original Red Special including Pete Malandrone’s semi-acoustic archtop and Nigel Knight’s heavily customised Ruby Special. These were all demonstrated by Luke Timmins, lead guitarist with the Supreme Queen tribute band using his KAT Brian May live rig.
Many other Red Special guitar variants were on display which had been made by amateur and professional luthiers in addition to custom guitar hardware and musical equipment including Deacy amplifier replicas and various Vox AC30 amplifiers.
Supreme Queen Tribute Band – Behind The Scenes
Billed as “a concert through time and space” and a “dazzling tribute”, let me welcome you ladies and gentlemen behind the scenes at the Supreme Queen tribute band concert at The Town House in Hamilton near Glasgow in Scotland on Saturday, 30 September 2023. I cover band set-up, full song sound checks and some concert footage is included.
Supreme Queen are Scott Maley as Freddie Mercury on lead vocal, Luke Timmins as Brian May on lead guitar, Allan Brown as Roger Taylor on percussion, Alan Wallbanks as John Deacon on bass guitar and Ben Marshall representing Spike Edney on keyboards. Check out their website for futher details about the band:
https://www.supremequeen.co.uk/
Crew technical support is provided by Blue Thunder Sound from Ivybridge in Devon: https://www.bluethundersound.co.uk/
Brian May Red Special Guitar Body CAD Design Walkthrough
In this second video on how I designed my interpretation of Brian May’s Red Special guitar from first principles, I explain how I created the overall shape and the internal details of the guitar body and the pickguard outline. I have illustrated this video with TurboCAD screen recordings and animated renders of the 3D objects in the same style as my previous video on the guitar neck.
Brian May Red Special Guitar Neck CAD Design Walkthrough
In my latest YouTube video, I demonstrate and discuss how I designed the neck for my Brian May Red Special guitar build using TurboCAD 2016 Professional CAD software. I begin by explaining how I worked up overall design sketches using known measurements and design details including the assumptions I made, then move on to cover the detail on the headstock, main section and tenon separately. The video is illustrated with TurboCAD screen recordings and animated renders of the 3D objects.
Brian May Guitar Effects Processor Settings
This video introduces you to some of the main settings that Brian May uses on his TC Electronic G-Major 2 digital effects processor units when playing Queen songs live so you can reproduce them for yourself with the same or similar equipment. It includes pictures of Brian May’s KAT touring and guesting mini rig at Allerton Hill and my ex Andy Barnett KAT Brian May rig being set up and tested by Pete Malandrone at Allerton Hill in June 2013 as well as Brian’s TC Electronic G-Major 2 global settings and user presets. You can read more about all the content featured in this video and download the settings in Adobe PDF format here:
https://dsgb.net/gear/brian-may-live-rig/
Credits to Nigel Knight and Pete Malandrone for the pictures taken at Brian’s equipment store at Allerton Hill featured in this video. I have a standing agreement with Nigel to reproduce KAT media with appropriate credit. Thanks to other Red Special enthusiasts for validating and publishing G-Major 2 settings in the public domain including Luke Timmins (guitarist with U.K. based Queen tribute band Supreme Queen), Iain Angell, Pete Michalowski and Mark Reynolds.
Brian May Deacy Amplifier: Legendary Tones
This brief follow-up video to my series on building a replica of Brian May’s legendary Deacy amplifier illustrates some of the tones you can get from it when paired with a Red Special guitar and suitable treble booster. Thanks to Ricky Peraza of Miami, FL for demonstrating my DIY Deacy and Luke Holwerda of Phoenix, AZ for recording the clips.
U.S. Red Special Meet-up 2023 (Phoenix, AZ)
The 2023 U.S. Brian May Red Special enthusiast meet-up is happening on Saturday, 29 April at the Linger Longer Lounge, 6522 N 16th Street #6, Phoenix, AZ 85016. Organized once more by Luke Holwerda, it will build on the success of the 2022 event with more space at the venue and more equipment to see, hear and test out. The entry fee is US$25 which includes a unique commemorative sixpence coin, name badge and meal.
https://www.facebook.com/events/872704047211743
Event merchandise is available here: https://www.etsy.com/shop/LukeHolwerda
Brian May Treble Boosters: Varieties, How They Work + Build Your Own KAT Plush Kit
In my latest YouTube video I explain how treble booster effects pedals work and why you need one if you want to emulate Brian May’s distinctive Queen live and studio tones. I show you eight variants associated with Brian May then assemble a KAT Treble Booster Plush kit. The video duration is 16m 41s and is divided into two parts and thirty chapters.
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