David Gilmour dotmusic.com webchat January 2002

Here's the full transcription of the David Gilmour webchat held in January, on dotmusic.com 

Welcome to the dotmusic chat with David Gilmour. Time to kick off ...
Dyolf from Greece asks: How many guitars do you have?? Do you keep collecting even now?
David: I don't know how many. Its over 100. I'm planning on selling most of them in the next year or so. I can't quite remember why I've got so many. The very first guitar I had I borrowed off my neighbour. He never quite got into guitar playing and I've still got it.
Lars Sande from Oslo, Norway asks: Do you own any Pink Floyd boots yourself? And if, what do you think about the sound quality in general?
David: The sound quality is usually dreadful, but I've got one with hundreds of things on. Not quite sure where they've got it from. For people like us who've done a lot over the years its not a major issue, whereas for people starting out its more difficult to cope with bootlegs.
Dan Pearce from Cambridge asks: I have tickets to one of your semi acoustic concerts in January at the Royal Festival Hall, will you be playing any of the Pink Floyd hits or will it be all your solo work?
David: More or less the same set list as I did last June. If you know that, great, or you'll find out! Quite a few pink floyd songs and one new song from the Bizet opera.
Keith Jordan from England, UK asks: David, do you sing in the shower and, if so, what do you sing most often? Is it available from all good bootleggers??? :-)

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Pink Floyd - Shine On You Crazy Diamond

Q Magazine Questionnaire

Nick Mason

Q Magazine Questionnaire
August, 1995
What's the first thing you do when you wake up in the morning? First, check the bed for occupants: wife, young children et cetera. And acting on that information I decide wheter sex is on the agenda. If not, It's porridge.

What was the first gig you went to? It was Tommy Steele, in 1956 I think. His appearances on 6.5 Special would have been my first rock'n'roll experience and after that I had to go and see him.

Which song do you wish you'd written? Practically anything by Dylan. I think you'd have to aspire to his range as much as any particular song, though Masters Of War springs to mind - that ability to make a meaningful political statement without being at all pretentious. If you asked me what I wished I'd drummed on, I think it'd be something by Cream...probably NSU.

What's the best advice you've ever received? I think Noel Redding said it best: Get a lawyer, buy a gun. That or, if you make a mistake, always glare at the bass player.

What is your most treasured material possession? Whatever is the racing car of the moment. Which at the moment is a Maserati of the sort Stirling Moss won in at the Nurburgring in 1960.

Who was the last person you slept with? See question one.

What do you think about Bob Dylan? Pivotal. He's produced good work, behaved erratically and then continued to produce good work, rather than fulfil what people expect, which is to produce good work, behave erriatically, go mad and explode. And I think that's enormously endearing. Can't stand his songs though.

When did you last cry and why? I suppose at the birth of my last son, Cary. Happy and relieved.

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Vintage Pink Floyd Interview

Roger Waters

How did your solo tour of the US go this year?
It was immensely energising. It all started when I did one gig in 1992 for Don Henley’s Walden Woods Project and we did an evening at the Universal Amphitheatre in LA. There were four of us, I did some tunes, Don did some tunes [Henley supplied the vocals for ‘Comfortably Numb’], Neil Young and John Fogerty did some tunes. The atmosphere was wonderful and the response I got to my few tunes was very gratifying.
I just really enjoyed the contact with an audience again and thought maybe I should have another go at it.I’m going to do some dates next summer and possibly in the Autumn come to Europe.
It was your first full-blown tour for 12 years. Were you nervous?
No. It’s much smaller than most of the things I’ve done. I had a certain trepidation as to whether anybody would come or not. My last experience of touring was with ‘Radio KAOS’ and was very much in the shadow of my past in that Gilmour and the boys were doing football stadiums at the same time. That was quite character forming. But this is what I do, and I know how to do this and I’m good at it.
What involvement have you had with the live version of ‘The Wall’?
I didn’t even know about it until around six weeks ago. Having found out that it was coming out I have had some input. For instance, James Guthrie, who’s mixing it, is sending me the mixes. We’ve had discussions about the title. If it was going to be called anything other than ‘Pink Floyd – The Wall Live’ then it was ‘Is There Anybody Out There…’.
I’ve only heard the first four mixes and they sound pretty good. They’re very different to the record. It will turn out to be not only an interesting document for the longstanding fans, but a valid performance.
Gerald Scarfe’s artwork was so synonymous with ‘The Wall’ yet Storm Thorgerson handles ‘Is There Anybody Out There…’. Why?

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Wish you were here(live)

Another brick in the wall

Pink Floyd

                                  

Biography

Pink Floyd was a psychedelic/progressive rock band formed in Cambridge, England, United Kingdom in 1965. Pink Floyd is one of rock’s most successful and influential acts, having sold over 200 million albums worldwide and with 74.5 million certified units in the United States, making them one of the best-selling artists of all time.

The band’s classic lineup was Roger Waters (vocals, bass), David Gilmour (vocals, guitar), Rick Wright(organ, keyboards, vocals) and Nick Mason (drums). Gilmour was brought into the band in 1968 to replace the band’s founder, singer, guitarist and songwriter Syd Barrett, who had become increasingly erratic and departed from the band a few months after Gilmour’s addition. The band became known for their advancements in the genres of psychedelic rock and progressive rock music, philosophical lyrics,avant-garde compositions, sonic experimentation, innovative cover art and elaborate live shows.

Pink Floyd enjoyed modest success in the late-1960s as a psychedelic band led by Syd Barrett. Barrett’s increasingly erratic behavior eventually caused his colleagues to replace him after The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn with guitarist David Gilmour. The band went on to record several elaborate concept albums; achieving worldwide success with 1973’s The Dark Side of the Moon (The second best-selling album of all time), 1975’s Wish You Were Here, 1977’s Animals, and 1979’s The Wall, among the best-selling, most critically acclaimed, and enduringly popular albums in rock music history. In 1985, singer and bassist Roger Waters declared Pink Floyd defunct. However, the remaining members continued recording and touring under the name, eventually reaching a settlement with Waters giving them rights to the name and most of the songs.

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