Freddie Mercury And Brian May’s Weirdest Tour Habit, Kansas’ Rich Williams Recalls

Rich Williams recently chatted with Rock History Music and recalled touring with Queen, how fun it was working alongside them, and then exclusively sharing the weird habit the four British gentlemen had.

Kansas toured alongside Queen in the 70s, which led to the two bands spending a lot of time together and getting to know one another. Williams recalled how great the British act was while discussing their personalities, mentioning Roger Taylor’s friendship with Kansas, even secretly singing back vocals for a song, while noting how much of a quiet person John Deacon was.

Rich continued by calling Brian May ‘a proper British gentleman’ and also sharing similar feelings for Freddie Mercury, who he remembered to be a really lovely person. So, traveling across the U.S. with Queen sounded like a wonderful experience, although the rocker couldn’t help but share an odd habit the act had.

It seemed to him that Queen bandmates fixated on one meal whenever the two bands met in a restaurant and had something to eat together. Their orders never changed; they never wanted to try something other than a specific sandwich and always ordered a ‘cheese and tomato sandwich’ for themselves. So, for Rich, that was a bit odd.

Rich recalled working with Queen, the band member’s personalities, and the weirdest habit they had on tour:

“They were all great guys, just great guys. We knew nothing about Freddie being gay or anything, and it really wouldn’t have mattered anyway… but it was just a lot of fun. Roger Taylor was not listed, but he sang on Kansas’ song, ‘Play the Game Tonight,’ [singing] the choruses… the highest voices [belonged to] Roger Taylor… because we’re all buddies, and he was in town.

John Deacon was a very quiet guy; he did not talk so much to him. Brian was just a proper British gentleman, a very nice guy, interesting. Freddie was a good guy. Yeah, we’re always staying in the same hotel, traveling sort of together. The funniest thing I remember is every time we’d meet in a restaurant somewhere on the road, kind of traveling in tandem, they always ate cheese and tomato sandwiches…

I don’t know if they’re afraid of American meat or they were vegetarians or what, but [imitating the British rockers ordering] ‘Cheese and tomatoes, [for] four, please…’ [Laughs] [They were] really good guys.”

Maybe, it wasn’t that Queen didn’t like American meat or had doubts about it, but it was because they really, really loved a good, American-made cheese, and tomato sandwich… nonetheless, it was a bit weird and a funny thing to see the bandmates ordering the same meal at every chance they got.