The only guitarist Brian May says “no one could match”
Since the 1970s, Brian May has been at the forefront of the rock world. Over that time, the Queen guitarist has seen countless new faces emerge, and it takes a very special talent for May to be blown away. The key attribute he seeks is a level of originality rather than merely possessing technical prowess, and only one has been capable of playing in a way that even he struggled to comprehend.
May is a connoisseur of his instrument and proudly withholds an encyclopedic knowledge of everything worth comprehending about the guitar. Every now and again, an artist comes with an inexplicable gift, a set of skills seemingly carved from the gods, including May’s late friend Eddie Van Halen, who he believed existed on another planet altogether.
The two men had the privilege of teaming up in 1983 when May took a break from Queen to work on his Star Fleet Project. At the time, his band were one of the biggest in the world, and the pressure of being in an act of such stature naturally took its toll on those involved. Every time he was in the studio with Queen, they were expected to produce another hit record that would sell millions of copies. Yet, with his Star Fleet Project, May had the luxury to do as he pleased, which allowed him to step out of his comfort zone and collaborate with like-minded individuals, such as Van Halen.
Star Fleet Project was recorded over a two-day period. Alongside Van Halen, May was joined by Alan Gratzer on drums, Phil Chen on bass, and Freddie Mandel on keyboard. Following Van Halen’s death in 2020, the Queen guitarist vowed to revisit the album and shine a light on the LP once more. Although most artists would struggle to create a high-quality song in two days, May’s hand-selected crew forged an entire album that still fills the Queen guitarist with pride.
Although it was only a short recording process, seeing Van Halen work up close and personal confirmed that, in May’s mind, he was the best in the world. “He was the greatest. There was no one who could match him, no one who could come close. There will never be another one of him,” May said in an emotional statement following news of Van Halen’s passing due to throat cancer.
Van Halen’s passing also made May reflect fondly on his Star Fleet Project, emotionally noting, “A couple of days after I heard the news about Eddie, I went back to Star Fleet. I started revisiting all the feelings I had when we were in the studio doing that, and it sort of healed my soul a bit. I thought, ‘Yeah, this is what I should be doing at this time’.”
In the summer of 2023, May stayed true to the word and re-released the album. During an event at Abbey Road Studios attended by Far Out, the guitarist admitted he was somewhat frightened to be in the company of Van Halen, sharing, “I was very nervous in a very nice kind of way. There’s a very fine line between nerves and excitement, so I think we were all [feeling] very high rates of natural excitement.”
Although May could have allowed himself to be intimidated in the presence of a rock god, it instead forced him to step up his game and make magical music with a like-minded soul. In a separate conversation with Guitar World, May reflected on the recording process when discussing his favourite guitarists, stating: “Same with Ed Van Halen. We worked together, and it was the most wonderful experience. My jaw dropped every time he touched the strings. It was just beautiful.”
While May and Van Halen were both lead guitarists in their own groups, two of the world’s most successful at this point, there could have been an ego clash. Instead, they bonded over their shared love of music, and May left the sessions in no doubt that Van Halen operated in an unachievable league of his own.
