He’s played Spider-Man on Broadway, Dorian Gray in “Penny Dreadful,” time-warped as Riff Raff in “Rocky Horror,” and even gone to hell in “Hadestown.” Next up, Reeve Carney returns to Feinstein’s at the Nikko for two nights celebrating the music of the rock band Queen.
Born in Manhattan’s West Village into a talented performing arts family (his great-uncle is celebrated Oscar winner, the late Art Carney of “The Honeymooners”), Carney’s childhood performing arts credits includes playing opposite actor/playwright Sam Shepard in the film “Snow Falling on Cedars,” and even playing at Lincoln Center with Peter, Paul and Mary. A gifted musician, Carney has performed in a variety of settings before and after his breakout role in the Broadway musical “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark” from 2010-2013.
His natural style comes off with a very unassuming demeanor, despite such prestigious gigs like opening for Arcade Fire and U2 with his band.
After a brief discussion of our mutual reverence for Queen, in a phone interview with the Bay Area Reporter from his home in New York City, Carney talked about his upcoming San Francisco concerts as well as other musical accomplishments.
A Kind of Magic
“I grew up being obsessed with Queen, both Brian May and Freddie Mercury for many reasons,” said Carney, 42. “As a kid, he was one of the only people I could actually sing along with on the radio because of his voice. In terms of male voices –because for young boys before their voices change– guys who sing in that register, you can sing a lot more easily to Freddie Mercury than you can to Elvis. I grew up loving him, but then I started playing guitar by my twelfth birthday, and I was immediately obsessed with Brian May.”
May’s unique sound isn’t easy to replicate, as he’s known for making his own guitars.
“During the pandemic, I started building electronic effects and pedals for myself and for other musicians with a company I have called Quarantine Effects, USA (https://quarantineeffectsusa.com/ )” said Carney. “After building my first circuit, the very next thing I realized I needed to do was try to figure out how the heck I could build a pedal that would get me as close to sounding like Brian May as possible. I’ve got one of those now that I use in the show. It’s fun for me because it’s an unexpected thing for a one-man show, getting to explore both of those ridiculously talented and incredible artists. It’s really fun, and I get to control the dynamics with tempo and all of that. It’s great. I love doing this show. This will be probably my fifth time doing it.”
In effect, Reeve is paying homage to the late gay singer Mercury, and to guitarist May (who recently finished a world tour with Roger Taylor and Adam Lambert) at the same time.
“It’s not an excessively overdriven sound,” said Carney of his guitar-playing. “It’s such an amazing tone that allows me to get somewhere in the ballpark of what Brian’s known for in terms of his tonality while singing those songs too, which is fun.”
Flick of the Wrist
At the mention of May’s combination of accuracy and spontaneity in his solos across decades, Carney agreed.
“Yeah, and I love that,” he said. “I remember being a kid, that was kind of the beginning of my really getting deeply into the first few years of being into guitar and going to certain shows and kind of missing that sometimes. With someone like Brian May, I remember seeing other people sometimes say, ‘Oh man, I wish they would play something that was more familiar to us from the album.’ But when you write melodies as great as Brian May does, I’m glad that he decides to play them with some sense of spontaneity, but with a recognizable style with such wonderful composed solos.”
In discussing Mercury’s peak vocal technique, Carney compared studio recording to live concerts.
“I’ve watched so many interviews with him over the years,” said Carney. “If I had written these songs and some of them on the recordings originally the way he did, I would agree with his thinking that the live show is a different animal. ‘Let’s give the audience something different.’
“In a lot of cases, as singers, some nights you don’t want to try something different if you’re feeling under the weather. But I think a lot of it for him was also creative license. I’d like to keep it fresh for the audience. Because I’m not Freddie Mercury but I admire him so much, it’s fun for me to try to do all the things that he did on the record, just because I’m a different person. And so that’s part of why I do it, as opposed to kind of veering too far from his melodies. I can challenge myself to do the things that he did.”
Some Queen fans can be critical of other performances of Queen songs, including Adam Lambert, who’s toured for years with May and drummer Roger Taylor. Carney maintains a reverence, but holds fast to allowing himself to interpret Queen, not imitate.
“Every note with Queen was just, it had such a tension behind it,” said Carney. “I’m not singing every night like Adam. I can see how he might start to loosen things up over time. But for me, I play this show a couple times a year at most. If I were performing it more, I would loosen it up even more. People have told me, ‘I love the way you make it your own.’ I’m glad they think that. Because these songs are so great. I love to sing them as close to note-for-note as I can, but naturally it’s going to be a little different.”
Now I’m Here
Carney’s last concerts at Feinstein’s in October 2024 paid homage to “The Rocky Horror Show” and the film version, as he had portrayed Riff Raff in the 2016 Fox TV adaptation. This led to a discussion of Tim Curry’s vocal chops back then as Frank-N-Furter.
“He’s really got a bit of Freddie Mercury and David Bowie qualities,” said Carney. “I was surprised he didn’t have a bigger career as a singer, just strictly singing, because I think his voice is amazing. For ‘I’m Going Home,’ I’m definitely inspired by his version when I do that one.”
And although he’s straight, and recently engaged to actress Eva Noblezada, his former costar in “Hadestown,” Carney is aware of the gay connection in some of his roles and song choices.
“I love that that’s a part of it, but it’s really just people that I’ve felt inspired by, and a lot of them happened to be in that category,” he said. “But yeah, people who have inspired me throughout my life in a musical way, and at the top of the list are people that happened to be gay like Freddie. I guess I just love amazing singers and people who have, I think there’s also a darkness that all of them have that I’m really drawn to. It’s not just pure sweetness. I’m drawn to that kind of combination.”
It’s Late
Speaking of darkness, singer-songwriter Jeff Buckley, who died in 1997, is the subject of a stalled biographical film project, with Carney set to portray Buckley, whom he resembles physically and vocally.
“It was going to start in 2021,” said Carney. “We were in pre-production for it, and then it all had to stop, partially because of the pandemic, and nothing’s happened since. I hope that they make that movie. I really don’t know. It’s really complicated with the financing, and they’ve had a lot of versions of it, different scripts. I think they haven’t fully landed on what they want. It would be great to make that movie.”
Getting back to Queen, Carney was asked which songs he most enjoys performing.
“I would probably be more inclined to open up the set list to more obscure deep cuts, because I have a few favorites that are maybe a little less known than others, but mostly they have so many incredibly well-known songs that are unique to the band.
“I mean, it’s shocking to me that ‘Killer Queen’ could have been their first single. I can’t picture any other band having a single that cool, especially for their first single. I’m just going for some of my favorites, which happen to be some of their biggest hits, which is really cool. But there are definitely some that aren’t on the list that maybe at some point, if I keep doing it more regularly, I’ll add those or switch things up a little bit.
“‘Love of my Life’ is really interesting, some of the chord movement is really unexpected,” Carney added. “I have to practice it a lot every time I perform it, because there are a couple of chord moves in there that make the song what it is on my levels, but they’re slightly unexpected, and I really enjoy playing it.
“I mean, I don’t know if I should give this away, but there are parts when I don’t necessarily play only one instrument at a time. So that’s pretty fun. Those particular moments are fun when I’m jumping between multiple instruments.”
What else would one expect from such a multi-talent?
Reeve Carney plays The Music of Queen at Feinstein’s at the Nikko, $62, June 13 & 14, 8pm, 222 Mason St.
https://www.feinsteinssf.com/
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