Brian May reveals another huge guest on William Shatner’s upcoming album

Queen guitarist Brian May revealed that he will make an appearance as a special guest on William Shatner’s unexpected metal album in a recent interview with Zoe Ball of the UK’s Greatest Hits Radio, as per Blabbermouth. May made this statement on Shatner, who portrayed Captain James T. Kirk in the 1966–1969 original “Star Trek” series.

He wasn’t a friend of mine, but he is now. We’ve met on Zoom. What a great guy. He’s 95. And he’s full of life and vitality and ambition and anger and all this stuff. He’s like a kid. I really enjoyed meeting him, and I insisted that I do ’cause I just worked on his track remotely and I said, ‘Look, I gotta play this to Mr. Shatner and see his face when he hears it.’ And he loved it, so I’m really pleased.

Yeah, it’s a heavy metal album. Here he is, 95 years old, and he’s full of rage, rage against the dying of the light. You’ll hear it. I mean, I’ve worked hard on it. He loves it, and I love the song ’cause you might think William Shatner… I mean, if you don’t know ‘Star Trek’, it doesn’t mean anything perhaps, but if you’ve lived like we did through all those editions of ‘Star Trek’, he’s a hero, and he’s, in later life, become a real luminary in the world. He does so much for children, so much for the outreach of science. He’s a very active man, and for him to step into… Well, it’s not… I don’t call it heavy metal; I call it rock, really. But it will probably be a heavy metal album because I think Tony Iommi’s [Black Sabbath] gonna play on it now as well. Tony’s really my best mate, so it’s easy for me to pick up the phone to him. And Tony’s like me — he loves a challenge.

In recent years, Shatner has been collaborating with a number of special guests on a future metal/rock record. He will collaborate with Judas Priest singer Rob Halford on a cover of the 1982 Judas Priest song “You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’“; members of Nuclear Messiah, Zakk Wylde (Black Label Society/Ozzy Osbourne), Ritchie Blackmore (formerly Deep Purple), and Henry Rollins (formerly Black Flag) will also be featured on that upcoming record, which Cleopatra Records plans to oversee.

One of the most recent contributors to that record is drummer Mikkey Dee (Scorpions, Motörhead), who recorded a cover of “Living After Midnight,” another Judas Priest classic. Other guests are:

• Dave Lombardo (ex-Slayer, Mr. Bungle, etc.)
• Chris Adler (ex-Lamb Of God/Megadeth)
• Vinny Appice (ex-Black Sabbath, etc.)
• Carmine Appice (Vanilla Fudge, Cactus)
• Kenny Aronoff (Steve Vai)
• Simon Wright (ex-AC/DC, UFO)
• Bobby Rondinelli (Blue Öyster Cult, Quiet Riot)
• Matt Starr (Ace Frehley, Joe Lynn Turner)
• Steve Zing (Danzig, Samhain, Mourning Noise)
• Fred Aching (Kings Of Thrash, Nuclear Messiah, Fraxures)

Upcoming shows:

William Shatner And The *uckers:
09/19 Chicago, IL – Park West