It's good to be busy. I prefer that than sitting back and enjoying life.

What was Freddie like then? Alongside the showman, he was a rather shy introvert. But if the attention was focused on him, he was a natural star, as we all saw after we put Queen together. Week by week, we saw him grow into this character, Freddie Mercury.

Freddie had this unbelievable power and stamina. He had range both in his voice and in style. It's hard to find someone that can do everything he could do.

Once a musician, always a musician.

Hearing loss has not affected my vocal range. I can still pitch perfectly, but without the hearing aids, I don't hear the intricate high parts of the actual spectrum.

I think a lot of big musicals close because of the rules they're bound by that make it impossible for them to be efficient.

Our story is in two halves, as the band's career up to Freddie's death was 20 years, and 20 years later, our music is as popular as it was then. It's a sort of everlasting... income.

Nobody does our music better than us.

Most theatrical events range in the inaudible. When I went to see 'Mamma Mia,' I thought they were playing it through a megaphone.

Of the Queen tributes, some of them are very funny, and some of them are really not funny at all. The terrible ones are cheesy and pantolike, more about dressing up in a Brian May wig and a Freddie Mercury moustache, and what they're missing out is the fact that the music is quite complicated and actually not easy to perform.

I am a little deaf now. Without my hearing aids in, I miss a lot of peripheral sounds. I had tinnitus, too, for a while.

Freddie was very much able to ride the neutral wave. We all respected his views because he was such a great songwriter. It was his idea that we share all the credits. It was decided all the songs would be attributed equally to Queen. That immediately got rid of the arguments. That was a fantastic, democratic notion.

Obviously, I like the drums to be heard. I think they're important.

Everybody's got an opinion, and I was just lucky enough to have an outlet for mine.

'We Are the Champions' is meant to be 'we,' as in 'all of us,' collectively, not us the band. It's a shame that some people understandably had the wrong take on that. 'No time for losers' is not the kindest line, but it's really more of a 'we all of us.' It's a celebration.

I know that drummers tend to be the butt of a thousand jokes, usually from the uninformed and untalented, but I always felt I had an important role.

I prefer to stay out of politics, really.

'We Will Rock You' we didn't think was a single. We almost saw it like an introduction to 'We Are the Champions,' which is a more classic, very grand song.

It was Freddie who instilled in us the belief that we had to make people gasp every time.

We are just continually surprised and obviously happy that the interest in Queen and Freddie keeps alive. It's a constant source of pleasure for ourselves.

I see no end to the possibility and the potential of Adam Lambert. He's a fabulous performer, and I think it would be very interesting to do something with him.

If somebody's going to represent our music live, I'd like to see it represented with excellence and spectacularly and with really great musicianship.

When hearing aids were first mentioned, I pictured myself as that old geezer at the back of the church with the whistling ear trumpet, but you can't see these Phonak hearing aids, and people don't realise you've got them in.

We've been fairly eclectic in our time, and we did branch out. Whenever we got a little bit too far out, people started to moan and groan a bit.

The only thing I've got is that the ring fingers on both my hands have a little arthritis in each. It's a worn out joint because of too much exertion and stress. But it doesn't affect my playing, which is good.

I understand people who say, 'There is no Queen without Freddie. Just leave it be.' Because that's what we felt, following his death. All three of us said, 'Right, that's the end of the band.' But the band just didn't seem to die.

Freddie obviously knew he was ill long before we did. We knew there was something wrong, but we didn't know what it was. He told us eventually. We didnt want to believe it was true. But we all stuck round him, formed a circle, and gave him support.

I wouldn't sit down and work at writing a song like a novelist or something.

Radio is so heavily programmed; you have to fit into a certain box. So it's harder for anything different to get through.

I know how hard it is to make it in the music business.

I played with a few local bands in the West Country, where I grew up, but when I was 18, I moved to London, which at that time was probably the most exciting musical city in the world. I was supposed to be studying dentistry, but all the time I was looking for a band to join.