Queen's Brian May swaps strings for snaps

[Nergal]

 

The long, black curls may be silver now but Queen guitarist Brian May still looked every inch the rock star while meeting fans in Sydney.

The rocker was visiting CBD bookstore Kinokuniya in his capacity as a photographer, promoting his book of 3D pictures of his band through the decades.

"This is the Victorian way of viewing 3D and it's still the best, to be honest," May told AAP on Thursday.

Queen in 3D features never-before-seen pictures of the band taken by May from the 1970s to today using a 3D camera.

It also includes some writing from the guitarist, reminiscing on the events surrounding the photos.

"In the end there was a whole story to be told around these pictures which is what you find in the book," said May, who performed to about 20,000 people in Sydney's Qudos Bank Arena the night before.

Queen, whose frontman Freddie Mercury died in 1991, have been performing with American singer Adam Lambert since 2011.

"We've kind of grown together as a team like a family really ... he really does give the band new life and he doesn't have to be Freddie in any way whatsoever. He just is what he is and it works," he said.

Mercury is still a huge part of the band's identity, featuring on the cover and also on May's T-shirt.

"We always have Freddie with us and the fact that we have Adam there doesn't take away from that at all," he said.

A feature film on the band's life, Bohemian Rhapsody, has been in the works for nearly a decade.

Directors Stephen Frears and Dexter Fletcher were reportedly signed on to the project at different times. Then, last December, director Bryan Singer was fired and Fletcher was back on board.

Sacha Baron Cohen was originally hired to play Mercury but quit and Rami Malek took on the role.

"Sometimes you have a bumpy journey but it comes to a great conclusion. I think people will love (the film) from what I've seen," May said.