Photo source: https://www.facebook.com/RogerTaylor
Today, legendary QUEEN songwriter, musician & singer, Roger Taylor, announced his new album, Violence Insane In A Beautiful World, out September 18th on Columbia Records (PRE-ORDER ALBUM HERE).
The album is preceded by the exuberant single, “Come On Summer (It’s Party Time),” featuring a stunning performance by The Ndlovu Youth Choir from Limpopo, South Africa, who first came to prominence for their incredible Zulu-language translation of “Bohemian Rhapsody.”
Listen to “Come On Summer (It’s Party Time)”
Violence Insane In A Beautiful World is Roger’s seventh album in a solo career stretching back to 1977 and is his first since 2021’s critically and fan-acclaimed top 3 album Outsider. To celebrate the release of the new record, Roger will be going on the road in the UK, and fans who pre-order the album will have exclusive first access to tickets for the shows.
While not a concept record, Violence Insane In A Beautiful World does have an overarching theme, as Roger explains, “There is a theme, you know, it’s in the title really, what a beautiful world we live in, don’t fuck it up. There seems to be all this insanity at the moment. The violence in the world seems to be as bad as it ever was, at any point, and certainly in my lifetime. It’s just horrific, a lot of insane violence. And we do seem to be fucking up the world, plastics in the sea, you know, and all these awful wars everywhere and hatred born of different religions.”
However, the tone of the album is hopeful as Roger says, “It’s a beautiful world, you know. And kindness is very important, I think, it seems to be forgotten quite a lot. So, that is basically the sort of underlying theme.”
Roger wrote, with the exception of an exquisite cover of “Jealous Guy,” which he describes as “one of the greatest, ballads ever written”, produced, sang and performed all the songs on Violence Insane In A Beautiful World himself, with help from long-time collaborator Joshua J.Macrae, members of his live band and on three extraordinary tracks, The Ndlovu Youth Choir from Limpopo, South Africa. Speaking about their contributions, Roger says, “I was really happy when I became aware of this amazing South African choir, who sing in Zulu. They’re just wonderful. They did the most incredible cover version of Bohemian Rhapsody, and it’s fabulous. I couldn’t believe it when I saw it. So, we suddenly had the bright idea of asking them to sing on some of the tracks, which they did, and I think it’s transformed those songs. It gives them a whole new dimension. I’m really thrilled with their work on that.”
While Roger was finishing the artwork for the album, there was a cosmic coincidence: Artemis II, on its mission to the dark side of the Moon, also photographed Earth from a distance. The report from the Queen fans at NASA in Houston about the sleeve is that “everyone liked it and thought it was definitely kismet.” Of the cover, Roger comments, “Well, the cover is really the story of the lead song, which is A Beautiful World, and it’s really an old idea, but in a way, it’s just written from the view of an alien in a spacecraft literally orbiting the world and thinking how beautiful it is. On close observation, he sees there’s problems, there’s infection, all the violence and horrors that occur, and then there’s a list of all the great things about the earth. It’s really rather strange because it was done before we got those wonderful pictures from Artemis II.” He continues, “NASA approves! They’re very nice people. We’ve been there. Obviously. Brian knows them very well. We went whilst we were on tour in Houston. We had a fantastic tour of the whole NASA site. It’s quite something just to be sitting in the control room with all these guys and screens, and they’re actually talking to the space station, controlling it. Yeah, hell of a thing.”
Roger’s solo work never shied away from political statements and tracks on the album, such as “Chump,” speak for themselves. Does he feel optimistic about the state of the world? “To be honest, no, with Nigel Garage (sic) looming, no. My wife says she’s leaving the country if he gets in, and I don’t blame her. It’s like Trump, really. You can’t believe how popular he was. I’m not sure he’s quite as popular now, people are finally coming to their senses, but I can’t believe how popular Farage, who is intrinsically a horrible man, is, but he’s a populist, demagogue, politician appealing to the lowest sort of ideals.”
As throughout his solo career, Violence Insane In A Beautiful World embraces a multitude of styles and sounds “I like the idea of eclecticism. I like the idea of different things, you know? I mean, the great example being the Beatles. I always thought that their albums were very eclectic, especially the later albums from Revolver onwards. You never knew what the next track was going to be, and it was totally different to the track before it. We always tried to do that in Queen. We tried to make a lot of different things and fearlessly tread where no sane man would. Yeah, I think people are really going to like the surreal stuff.”
The Violence Insane In A Beautiful World tour opens in Newcastle on 21st September, and fans who pre-order the album will receive exclusive first access to tickets. Roger’s extraordinary band will feature keyboardist Spike Edney, supporting drummer Tyler Warren, multi-instrumentalist Tina Keys, Neil Fairclough on bass, and Christian Mendoza on guitar. The tour will then visit Edinburgh, Birmingham, Manchester, Swansea, and the legendary Roundhouse in London, where Roger has performed before, as a guest of Foo Fighters, back in 2011. For more information on Roger Taylor, visit https://www.rogertaylorofficial.com/.
Violence Insane In A Beautiful World Tracklist
- A Beautiful World – Feat. The Ndlovu Youth Choir
- Violence Insane
- What Really Matters
- Don’t Photograph Food
- I See You Now
- Chump
- Spit In His Eye
- Jealous Guy*
- Come On Summer (It’s Party Time) – Feat. The Ndlovu Youth Choir
- A Great Big Beautiful World (reprise) – Feat. The Ndlovu Youth Choir
Produced by Roger Taylor & Joshua J. Macrae
All songs written by Roger Taylor except *John Lennon
ROGER TAYLOR VIOLENCE INSANE IN A BEAUTIFUL WORLD TOUR
SEPTEMBER 2026
21st Newcastle O2 City Hall
22nd Edinburgh Usher Hall
24th Birmingham The Alexandra
25th Manchester Opera House
28th London Roundhouse
29th Swansea Building Society Arena
ABOUT ROGER TAYLOR
Musician, singer, songwriter, rock star, bon vivant, the legendary Queen drummer Roger Taylor is all of these and more.
For more than 50 years, Roger has been a driving force behind one of the most successful bands in history. With Queen, he has sold more than 300 million albums, leaving his indelible musical and vocal stamp on such iconic songs as Bohemian Rhapsody, Under Pressure and Another One Bites The Dust, as well as writing the worldwide hits Radio Gaga, A Kind Of Magic, These Are The Days Of Our Lives and co-writing countless more.
Few people embody the idea of the rock star quite like Roger does. From his early days as Queen’s resident poster boy to his current role as one of the custodians of the band’s immense legacy, he has always been at ease with the lifestyle that success has given him.
Roger Taylor formed the band Smile with guitarist Brian May in 1968. Within three years, that band had transformed into Queen with the addition of singer Freddie Mercury and bassist John Deacon, embarking on one of the most successful careers in the history of popular music.
Roger was an integral part of the alchemy that made Queen so unique, bringing his own distinct songwriting and playing to each of the band’s 15 albums. He launched his solo career in the late 1970s, subsequently releasing six albums under his own name and another three with his side project The Cross. His latest album, Violence Insane In A Beautiful World, will be released this Autumn, and he will be touring in support of it.
Queen’s story was immortalised in the Oscar-winning 2018 movie Bohemian Rhapsody, on which Roger was co-Executive Music Producer. The film would go on to gross almost $1Bn worldwide, making it the most successful music biopic in history.
In 2011, Roger and Brian May relaunched Queen with singer Adam Lambert, embarking on a series of hugely successful international tours. In recent years, he has balanced Queen with his own career, releasing the widely acclaimed solo album Outsider in 2021. In 2020, Roger was awarded an OBE for services to music.
Roger, alongside fellow Queen member Brian May, recently curated and released a lavish Collector’s Edition version of their classic 1974 album Queen II, featuring a 2026 mix of the album, intimate fly-on-the-wall audio of Queen in the recording studio, previously unheard outtakes and demos, live tracks and radio sessions.
While music has always been Roger’s prime passion, it’s been far from his only interest. Queen’s beloved 1975 song I’m In Love With My Car was the drummer’s hymn to petrolheads everywhere, an interest he has pursued over the years via an impressive collection of cars. It’s not just four-wheeled vehicles that have captured his imagination over the years. Since the 1980s, he has been an avid sailor, owning a string of luxury yachts and sailing as far as the Caribbean and, subsequently, around the world. Most recently, his hands-on involvement with Queen Côtes de Provence Rosé wine is an extension of his love for the finer things life has to offer.
Follow Roger Taylor: Facebook | Instagram | YouTube | TikTok | Spotify | Apple Music | Tidal
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