|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
 Interviews : Pink Floyd Band » Radio Interview on Opening Night of 1994 Bell Tour |
|
|
|
Radio Interview on Opening Night of 1994 Tour The Division Bell
Interviewed:
David Gilmour - DG
Nick Mason - NM
Rick Wright - RW
Redbeard: I'm your host Redbeard, and recently I spoke with David Gilmour,
Nick Mason, and Richard Wright of Pink Floyd about their next sonic painting
in a gallery of masterpieces, including "Dark Side of the Moon", "Wish You
Were Here" and "The Wall".
I started by asking Pink Floyd's David Gilmour about the title of their newest, "The Division Bell".
DG: It comes from a line in, in a song, High Hopes contains a line about the Division Bell.
RB: What is, eh eh, the division bell?
DG: The division bell is, a bell that rings in, Westminster, in Houses of Parliament.
And it also rings in the apartments of many of the members of Parliament. And it is
a bell that rings to summon all the members of Parliament to go the houses, ah
House of Commons, and to divide into yeas and nays to vote on the issues. Mmm,
because often in debates in the house of Parliament, the members of Parliament are
not necessarily all there. Some of them have already made up their minds about what
they are want to do, or are just going to follow the party line.
And so they may be sitting at home in an apartment, there's a sort of catchment
area around the houses of Parliament where...within a certain distance where,
if you are a member of Parliament they install this bell in your apartment.
They get to the point where they finish debating, they ring this bell, everyone
that's in the area comes down, if you're all the Tories and all the labor people,
all come down to vote one way or the other. It's a, a division bell, it divides
the yesses from the noes.
RB: Pink Floyd drummer, Nick Mason, notes that even though it's been seven years
between Pink Floyd studio albums, the Division Bell has not necessarily been
seven years in the making.
NM: It's very hard to get the thing started, because you.... there is an
inevitability that it will be a long project...um, and that's, that's a problem,
because it's difficult to start work. I'm sure we'd all agree we make records
because we want to make records, it's not some contractual obligation, its not
something that, uh, at the end of the day, that sort of has to be done, it's
something that we want to do. But inevitably you know you're sort of lining
up for spending the entire year working on this record. And no matter how...
much you would like to be able to do it in two months or three months, you
*know* its going to take a long time. So it's real useful to have someone
there to help push it along a bit. I, I think the curious thing is that you
can all sit around and talk about being radical or changing things, or, or
sort of trying to do things in a different way, but of course, the length
of time you've been at it means that, that the um, the tunnel narrows in a
way, that uh, inevitably what appears radical to you after twenty years is
in fact very narrow band compared to how you might have behaved twenty
years before. (chuckle) Hindsight is an exact science. I don't think
that...I see...I see particular continuity to, to our, to our working life, if you like.
I, I think it's interesting that there are records that sort of come,
that you could actually take groups of..of our recording history and
say there's more continuity between let us say, um, let's say Dark Side
and The Wall, than the albums between.
And I think perhaps with this, the newest record, it goes back to perhaps
"Wish You Were Here" or something like that...there, there are jumps, but
I mean that's inevitable, from having uh, the same, more or less, the same
group of people working, working together for a long time.
RB: Ok, lets talk about that. Umm...is that, is that an accident, that the
same group of people *have* worked together, uh, for this length of time?
I mean, you've outlived marriages, you've watched kids grow up, you've
watched uh, walls being built and then being torn down almost in the
lifetime of this band.
NM: Yep, the whole of European history has sort of passed us by while
we've been in the recording studio. (laughs) New view of, uh, of world
order. Um....the, the general, I would have said the general rule of thumb
is that the reason why bands stay together is because the sum is greater
than the parts, that as long as the band feel, and *all* the members of
the band feel that, they can achieve more together than they can on their
own there is a purpose to the band remaining together. And the reason why
people leave bands is because they no longer believe that to be the case.
Certainly in case, someone like Roger, and he wanted to go and do it on
his own. Um..that's the, the more interesting thing, is how, is perhaps,
how bands actually get together in the first place. Which does seem to
be entirely a matter of luck.
RB: The first peal of the Division Bell came in the form of an intriguing
song, with the simple title Keep Talking. Even Pink Floyd's David Gilmour
has heard it on the radio.
DG: I heard it today for the first time, I heard the, my, my first thing
I've heard from this record, on the radio this morning. And it it's always
quite extraordinary when you hear...one of your things that you've been
working on for ages, and you know what it means, you know everything
about it, what it, you know...um, but the first time you hear it on
the radio you...have got the added weight of knowing that there are
millions of other people listening to it as well. So you get a completely
different perspective on it.
[Keep Talking fades in]
RB: It's also out, for you, its out of context, isn't it?
DG: It's not so much the out of context, its the, its the, that you *know*
the other people are listening, and there it is, their *first* listen,
and things are, you know, every bit of it, you, you sort of get invested
with a different, a different meaning if you like...and it was really,
really nice to hear that this morning on the radio. And wonder how
people would take to hearing this strange voice talking about "for
millions of years" and stuff on the beginning of it. It's really,
really...it's, there are some aspects to making records, and making
music, that you just never yourself get some of the things that are
in the stuff you have done, until you hear it yourself on the radio,
with the knowledge that millions of other people, millions or other
ears are listening at the same time. It's fascinating.
[Keep Talking]
RB: Who *is* that voice?
DG: Uh, well it's not a real voice. It's the voice of Stephen Hawking,
who is the professor who wrote this book called "A Brief History of Time",
it's a huge, huge popular book. And he's suffering from moto-neuro disease,
and he's in a wheelchair, he can't speak, and this is a voice synthesizer
computer thing that has been built for him. I think he can only move one
finger, a tiny, tiny little bit, and he works it all with that. And...I
saw an advert on the television in England, for a telephone company...and
his voice was on this advertisement. And...this advertisement nearly made
me weep. I've never had that with a television advertisement before, or
with a commercial on the television As I don't suppose *you* have...
RB: No, I...
DG: And I don't think I know *anyone* else who's ever, but this was such,
this was the most powerful piece of...television advertising that I've
ever seen in my life, and I thought it was fascinating. And I contacted
the company that made it and asked if I could borrow the voice track from it,
this voice-over track from it, which I did, which is this voice synthesizer
thing, and uh..I applied it to one of the pieces of music we already had,
and I fiddled around with it for months, changing it and putting (mumbles),
until it started...making sense.
RB: Now was this your first uh, awareness of Stephen Hawking?
DG: Oh no, no, I've known, known about him for years. He's an incredibly
well known, you know his book "A Brief History of Time" is all about black
holes and stuff is, is one of the biggest selling..sort of scientific
type books ever. It's, he's a very, very successful person, but he...he
can't talk or move or anything.
RB: Now what do you know about him, uh, personally. How, how, I mean he
is like preeminent scientist, is he not?
DG: Yeah, mm, he is, yeah. They got him to do this advert for, for a
telephone company in England, and um..I don't think he even wrote the
words that they used with him. But they *used* him in the advert, I mean
he was in it, on his, in his wheelchair. He looks kind of strange.
Um..and I just found it so moving that I felt that I had to try and
do something with it, or with him or something, in some way. I suppose
you could say that, you know, there's a, a theme throughout the album
which involves communication. And um, *all*, pretty much, *all* the
songs are connected to the theme of communication, in some way or another.
RB: Pink Floyd keyboardist Richard Wright was asked why their new album,
The Division Bell, has an instantly recognizable, *seamless* Pink Floyd
quality to it.
RW: Partly because I was involved with it alot more. And..and we made
certain decisions, for example Momentary Lapse of Reason I was involved
with it...virtually near the, sort of, the last quarter of making the
album. And just putting in a couple of alb, eh Hammond tracks down or
whatever. *This* - Nick, myself, and Dave were involved right from the
beginning, in Brittania Row, just playing together. And out of that,
the tracks came. And decisions like - Nick will play *all* the drums,
*I* will play all the keyboards, and Jon Carin came in as a programmer,
and played some of the keyboards, but it was to get the band feeling
back. And for that reason, I think uh, as you say, the fans will like
it more. I think we were kind of thinking of Wish You Were Here,
which was uh, which happens to be my favorite album.
RB: Tell me uh, what, in your opinion, makes that one special. And eh,
any parallels you see to The Division Bell.
RW: Now that's a specific question. (chuckle) Um, it's hard to say, it
just happens to be the album that, for me, just from the moment it starts
till it finishes it flows, the songs flow into each other, and it's just
a wonderful feeling in it. The intention of this album was to try and
recreate a band feeling. Which hadn't happened on Momentary Lapse of
Reason, I wasn't on Final Cut, I was on The Wall, but again, it wasn't
*a band*. And we wanted, both Dave, I..and Nick, I can speak for them I
think, and myself...really liked the feeling we had on Dark Side of the
Moon and Wish You Were Here.
[What Do You Want From Me]
RB: That's called, What Do You Want From Me. A song that bluntly re-examines
the performer/audience relationship. From the world premier broadcast of
Pink Floyd's The Division Bell. This album will be in your favorite music
store, *next Tuesday*. I'm Redbeard, we're live from opening night of Pink
Floyd's massive North American tour at Joe Robbie Stadium in Miami. It's
the first of 58 stadium concerts between now and July 18. While you were
listening to the song Keep Talking a few minutes ago, Pink Floyd was
*actually performing it* live, here in Miami. Right now, they're taking
a break at intermission. I want to tell you a little bit about this show
that's going from coast to coast all over North America. It takes two
hundred crew-people, in forty-nine tractor trailer trucks, hauling,
drum roll please, one million, four hundred thou...
[Someone taps on the table]
RB: Thank you! (chuckle) One million, four hundred pounds of steel,
for the three stages that leap-frog across the country. If you think
that's mind boggling, you haven't heard anything yet. Throughout the
night we'll give you more details of the Pink Floyd tour, we'll tell
you where you can still get tickets for this tour that's selling out
everywhere... But coming up next, more from David Gilmour, Rick Wright
and Nick Mason. Pink Floyd and the world premier of the new album,
The Division Bell, on the album network.
[Bells from High Hopes]
RB: I'm Redbeard. David Gilmour and I discussed the well known acrimony
that flared up publicly upon the release of 1987's A Momentary Lapse
of Reason album, the first without original member Roger Waters.
RB: Right upon release of Momentary Lapse, Roger had taken his vendetta
from the courts to the press. And he was lobbing verbal mortars at you
publicly. You were, at *that* point, uh, really kind of under a siege
mentality. Because the Momentary Lapse album and the tour, uh hadn't,
hadn't, really weren't, they weren't the documented success that we
now know them to be. And the press was allowing itself to be manipulated
into uh, being the uh, messenger boy. But sixty sold out stadium shows later,
and four million Momentary Lapse albums later, or more, when I saw you nine
months later, at the conclusion of that tour, you were confident, you were
jovial, you were self-satisfied.
DG: Too self-satisfied, maybe. (chuckle)
RB: Well, why..
DG: Maybe too self-satisfied.
RB: Why do you say that? Isn't success the best revenge?
DG: Yes, I mean, I don't know how interested I am in revenge, its... you
know it was a long, painful process which was trying to deprive me of
my liberty to do what I wanted to do. And um, I don't really react
terribly well to that. Lurching into the future, bearing the mantle
of Pink Floyd, without Roger in 1987 was a tough one. It's uh, as anyone
can imagine. It's, it's a big tough mantle to stick on my poor shoulders
and trudge forward into the future with.
RB: I don't know if I've ever heard you verbalize it that way.
DG: Well, it is, it's tough. And, uh you were right to say that I was
confident at the end and happy, ah. Anyone would be happy and confident
at the end when our moving forward and doing what we did, making the
album, doing that tour, was justified. One can consider the merits of
everyone's case in these things, but um, I don't think there's many
people that wouldn't think, wouldn't have thought at that point,
that we had every right to continue doing what we were doing.
[Take it Back]
RB: I continued with Pink Floyd's Nick Mason.
RB: What was the toughest question of conscience, or the, the, the most
difficult time uh, for this band? The point at which, uh, you honestly
had concerns for everything we know to be Pink Floyd and for it's future?
NM: I suppose for me, probably, the making of the Final Cut was the most
difficult. Umm...I think by then there was very much a feeling that we
were really hardly a band anymore, that the sum was no longer greater
than the parts, that we weren't...achieving anything like what, anything
like our potential. But the thing became... think it, it became a sort
of ahh, an arena for all the problems of Roger feeling that really he
either wanted to leave the band or run it his way. And...and the material
because, it, it sort of drifted actually, I think it probably drifted away
from one idea and then became a sort of new concept, and, and a new story.
And...that happened half way through, and instead of perhaps ditching it,
which is perhaps what we should have done, or rethinking it, um, we didn't
even really have the, sort of, mechanism set up anymore as a band to, to
be able to sit and talk rationally about it. It would have simply been
another opportunity for a fight.
RB: Mm hmm. You had stopped talking, rather than keep talking, right?
NM: Yeah.
RB: At that time, eh, in that moment, could you have imagined that in
January, 1993, that you and Rick and David would be creatively jamming together?
NM: No, absolutely not. I think, uh, at the time I thought this was, I
suppose I saw that album, as the beginning of the end. It's, it's really
easy to look back, and really hard to look forward, in terms of um, any
sort of understanding uh of, what, what we're up to. I mean, we, we were
all *absolutely* brought up to believe that, ah, that rock music was some
ephemeral activity that would last for a year, or two years, or a few years
and then one would get on and do something else, get a proper job and all
that. And, and of course it's not like that. But, you have...*no* idea,
there, there is absolutely no guarantee that people will continue to buy
the records, or like the records. You can *suddenly* be out of step with,
with what people are interested in, what they want to hear. It could happen
tomorrow. So, uh, you have no, sort of, real game plan as to how the future
will go. But, at that time, certainly I just thought 'I can't really see
how we can make the next record, or if we can, it's a long time in the
future. And it'll probably be more for just because of feeling of some
obligation, that we ought to do it, rather than for an enthusiasm.'
[Coming Back to Life]
RB: From the world premiere of their new album The Division Bell, that's
Pink Floyd with "Coming Back to Life", preceded by "Take it Back." I'm
Redbeard! We're live from opening night of Pink Floyd's 58 concert North
American tour, in Miami. After a brief intermission, Pink Floyd has returned
on the gargantuan stage to serenade the 63,000 fans with Shine on You Crazy
Diamond. And that saxophonist you hear right now, live from Miami, with Pink
Floyd, is the original saxophonist from uh, the Dark Side of the Moon album,
Dick Parry. We've even seen stereo pigs so far tonight, at Pink Floyd's opening night.
[Redbeard reads off a list of show venues & ticket sales]
RB: If one of your goals was to create an environment for the listener,
listening to the Division Bell, you've uh, succeeded remarkably. It's
kind of magic really.
DG: Well, that's what we're trying to create, simply magic. It's as simple
as that. Um, try to create magic, try to move people, move their hearts a
little bit. I have already had...vast amounts of enjoyment out of this
record myself. And um....I sit at home late at night and listen to it
through, in all the stages it's been through, just a collection of songs,
a collection of tracks with words, with melodies, without melodies, all
the way through. And I get home from the studio and I listen through to
the progress that we've made. And as soon as we had, you know, a collection
of pieces, a few months ago we had a collection of pieces, I had a tape
an hour long, over an hour long with basic, pretty much all the tracks
on it. And I'd sit at home late at night, after returning from the studio
listen to them, and uh I really have got off on it myself, enjoyed it so
much. You then just keep honing away at it, working those things to try
and make them even...better, make them have more point, make them have
more poignancy, if you like, more, more *heart*. And um, you can then
only hope when you deliver it out, that uh, the pleasure that you've
had will be shared by other people.
*I know*, nothing pleases everyone, but um, there will be people listen,
who will listen to this who will derive the same sort of pleasure that
I have out of it, and that is something that makes me feel very good
about this, this particular record.
[Marooned has already begun to play while David was speaking]
RB: It should.
DG: The, the trouble with making records really, is that you do tend to
finish the record, and then go out and do a tour. And you're so busy
playing the tour, playing all the songs, and doing stuff, that you never
listen to the record again. I mean, from, usually from the date of
release of the record that's about the last time I get to listen to
the record for G-d knows how long, maybe a year or more. And then
it's um, it can be very, very enjoyable. Really good fun to actually
not have listened to it for a long period of time and just sit at home,
relax with a glass of wine and uh, listen to the record for the first
time for a long time, and um, yeah. So, I'm looking forward to that,
the end of this year maybe.
RB: Is it ever, uh, disconcerting to let it go from that special place
where you've created it, you've lived with it *intimately*, you've
been the birthmother for this project...Is there, is there ever a
point at which you've got to let it go, kinda like sending your child
off to school for the first time?
DG: It is like that, yes. You do have to let it go, and um, you *always*
think there was more that you could've and should've done, and you always
kind of want a little bit more time, to get the thing finished, to, to
the perfection that you imagined. Everyone knows about uh, records in
the past, Neil Young I remember once ah, put a record out, actually
released it, then recalled it, and then remixed it and reworked it
for months and then put it out again. And then recalled it again,
I think. I mean, we've all heard about these things. I wouldn't want
to take it that far, but you always think there was a little bit
more that you could have done.
[Marooned ends]
RB: That's Pink Floyd, from The Division Bell, with the achingly
beautiful instrumental, Marooned. With David Gilmour's plaintiff guitar
dipping and soaring like a solitary seagull. In talking with drummer
Nick Mason, I pointed out that almost everything about Pink Floyd is
exaggerated, from their album cover graphics to their legendary stadium
concert extravaganzas, from anatomically correct, giant flying pigs to
this years psychedelic blimp. Nick Mason recognizes that all of this makes
them a huge success *and* a huge target.
NM: You know, there are *always* people who are going to find what we do,
er as sort of...I suppose you almost say unnatural and it will never work
for them, because it, it ah in some ways goes against the rules of rock
and roll. About, about how real rock music should be, which may be. It
should be in a, a bar somewhere, or it should be where you, ever, you
can see the sweat on everyone, or you have personalities or, or whatever.
RB: But I thought it was about also breaking rules, and that's just it.
See, these are self-imposed rules, and the first thing, one of the things
that we, we all love about Pink Floyd is that the first thing that goes
is the rules, the boundaries that restrict thought and imagination, it's
the first thing that you throw out.
NM: Well, eh, yes, but there, I mean, there are all sorts of rules, uh
that um, some are spoken, some are unspoken, and some are *complete* nonsense,
but that we all, sort of, we allow to, to sort of roll, roll along.
RB: That's a good word, we *allow* it.
NM: Um..there will always be people who feel that Pink Floyd finished when Roger
left, just as there are people who feel Pink Floyd ended when Syd Barrett left.
And you can't change that, for them that..that is the case, and as much as I would
love to be able to, sort of, convince them otherwise, I, I understand, that that's
the case. There's also a sort of concept, that bands have to be, um, have, people
would like to believe that they are made up of, sort of, groups of lovable mop-tops.
Its the sort of, The Beatles as they were in 1967, that's really our, our sort of
ideal view of a band. And of course, it's, it's not true. This goes back to the
elements that make up a band generally. There's an enormous amount of conflict
and tension in a band. It's considered, when it's reported, it's considered to
be, uh, ah, scandal almost. But it, it's something that is allowed to drift
on as a sort of concept of how rock music should be, but of course it's complete nonsense.
[Poles Apart]
RB: That song was called Poles Apart, it's another complex, thought provoking
song from the world premiere of Pink Floyd's The Division Bell. I'm Redbeard,
live from Pink Floyd's opening night concert, in Miami's Joe Robbie Stadium.
[David is heard singing Wish You Were Here in the background]
RB: Listen to the crowd singing along with David Gilmour.
RB: Ahh, this is just fantastic. Opening night of Pink Floyd's world tour here,
uh, at Joe Robbie Stadium, in Miami. Several of the things that we have seen and
experienced so far tonight: *Mind boggling* lighting show, which you would expect
from Pink Floyd, but something I don't think has ever been seen in any concert in
history, and that is the use of *gold* lasers. Stop and think about it, of all the
concerts you've gone to, *gold* lasers, I guess are so intense that they have been
outlawed. (Laughs) They have, like, atom-splitting capabilities, so don't get, don't
get too near the gold lasers when you see Pink Floyd this year on tour. We've seen
that, we've seen the use of *huge* circular video screens, which is a Pink Floyd
trademark. But, never before seen videos, being used in the show.
And *later* we expect to see the largest prop ever used in a rock concert anywhere
on planet earth - The Pink Floyd Blimp is supposed to make it's appearance. It's now
been known, uh commissioned as, The Division Belle. You remember the Memphis Belle
plane, well this is the Division Belle. It was first suggested that this huge,
psychedelically painted blimp should fly and float over the stage here at Joe
Robbie Stadium, during the encore, which will be Run Like Hell. But then someone
noticed that the pyrotechnic explosions would shoot flames so high into the air,
that they would be blowing up their own blimp. So, they've had a guy on a walkie
talkie for an hour now, telling the blimp pilots "Don't fly over the stage"! (laughs)
This is just part of the wild extravaganza, the concert experience that's going
on right now at Joe Robbie Stadium, opening night of Pink Floyd's North American
tour. There are 57 more concerts that you can catch between now and July 18th.
Somehow Pink Floyd has even orchestrated a light rain to fall into Joe Robbie
Stadium and it lends a totally electric capability to the lasers. As you hear
"Wish You Were Here" in the background, we're going to take this short time out...
RB: I'm Redbeard, let's continue our discussion with Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason.
RB: Comment on uh, specifically about Rick Wright's contribution musically to The Division Bell.
NM: The sound is quite often, it's not necessarily to do with what the solo
instruments are. It, it is to do with an overall sound, and Rick's contribution
at that level is immeasurable. And you forget it until you hear it. He's an
extraordinary character anyway, because alot of what he does is totally natural.
I mean, if you ask him to sort of, if you explain what you want he might have
some difficulty with it. If you just leave him to do it, it just comes straight
out. But there are certainly bits and pieces on the record that were done by
simply leaving Rick in the room with a tape recorder running, and just while
he was, and he just played, and you could, it was a bit like panning for gold,
you know, you could then take this stuff and shake it, and there were the golden nuggets.
RB: David Gilmour notes that keyboardist Rick Wright possesses another talent
which has been missing in action for two decades.
DG: Rick's got a very good voice, you know. He's got an, he's, an instantly
recognizable voice, you know. You can't miss Rick's voice and, I've always
wanted to use it, but you've got to find the right place, the right vehicle
for him, and this is substantially his song. Anthony Moore was working with
us again on this album, um, and he came up with the idea for that one, and
Rick sang it. What can I say, it's, it's very nice, very lovely piece. And
it's, and um, everyone who listens to it, you know that I know in listening
to it, goes "Oh G-d, it's that voice, it's that voice, that used to be, you
know, used to be a part of the Pink Floyd sound, and hasn't been so much
lately", and it's, it's kind of a thrill for people.
RB: And finally, Richard Wright, on the subject of Richard Wright!
RB: Because of, of the unique perspective you have on this, because of the
way you've done it, is The Division Bell particularly sweet for you personally?
RW: It was fulfilling...because I wrote on it, and I wrote with Dave on it.
And I sang on it! For the first time in, since Da, I mean a lead vocal, since
Dark Side of the Moon. So that was very fulfilling.
RB: Good. It uh..
RW: Cause you see, I have to say, I've never, ever had any confidence in my voice.
RB: Ok.
RW: And uh, but I wrote this song, Wearing the Inside out, and so, I had to
sing it. And it was quite interesting 'cause I hadn't really sung, and uh,
went in to, and did a track...of singing it. And, I'd rehearsed it with
Anthony Moore, who wrote the lyrics, but I basically hadn't really sung
for 20 years. And did one take, and Bob Ezrin said, 'Ok, that's it.' Which
I couldn't believe. And went and listened to it, and 'yes, it *is* nearly
it.' I mean, we worked on it, a bit, but it's a song that really suits my
voice. I don't have uh, a versatile voice, OK? I'm not a Dave. But certain
ways of singing I can do, like the choruses of Time, Us and Them. Well
the chorus of Time. I have a voice that can do *certain* ways of singing,
and Wearing the Inside Out, 'cause I wrote it, would suit my voice.
I couldn't sing Money, for example.
RB: (laughs)
[Wearing the Inside Out]
RB: I'm Redbeard. Just as the Division Bell tolls, Rock superstardom exacts
a heavy toll on the personal, unseen lives of it's purveyors, Pink Floyd's
David Gilmour included.
RB: What kind of person returned home after the *extended* Momentary Lapse
world tour, and it's dizzying success.
DG: Well, a sort of a schizophrenic person, I think, is the person that
returned from all that. Um, I was...very happy with our success, very happy
with what we had achieved professionally, during that time. But I was going
through a very, very bad uh, stage in my personal life which um, wound up
in divorce and all that sort of stuff that one goes through. So, it was a,
like I say, it was very schizophrenic. I was, sort of, very happy professionally,
very unhappy personally. And...so I was kind of messed up, I think, at the
end of it all.
RB: Hmm. I'm wondering, why are you showing so much of yourself on The
Division Bell, and letting us into a place that I don't think you've ever let us into before?
DG: I, I suppose really the first album that I've, I was in charge of, that
was having a, you know, that I *could* have done that on, was the Momentary
Lapse of Reason album. Um, when I was sort of entering a really difficult
personal phase, but didn't want to get into it, and didn't want that to get
into the record particularly, I guess. I don't really know. Right now, I'm in
a much better personal state than I was at that time, very happy in my life,
and uh, not unhappy to sort of, um, let it seep through into, into some of
the music. You have to do what you feel is the right thing to do at any one
given moment, and you may not have the reasons for it firm up against the
front of your mind, but um, these felt like the things that, I wanted to
put into the music. And some of them just come about accidentally, you know,
and you start off with a little piece of music and something comes to mind,
and you think 'yeah', and you start exploring it, and uh, it, it takes its
own volition. And the, the only decision you really have to make is, is
whether you are are brave enough to, to actually leave it there like that,
not change it, not disguise it over much.
RB: There's the risk.
DG: Yeah, but I, I don't feel that there's, I, I don't think there's any
great risk in the stuff that we recorded on here. I don't...feel so exposed
by it, I mean there are aspects of me that I expose in it, I suppose,
that I am very happy to expose. I don't have any great problem with exposing them.
RB: Richard Wright of Pink Floyd continues.
RB: What was the feeling at the conclusion of the Momentary Lapse tour, uh,
what was said, what was left unsaid about the future?
RW: I don't think there was any clear idea of the future, except that everyone
realized that the band had started happening again. And there was alot of sadness.
RB: Wh, why?
RW: At the end of the tour. That last tour had a wonderful feeling to it, that
we hadn't had for *years*. Because, you know, I've done every Pink Floyd tour.
And...certainly for me, I had probably the best feeling of the band being
together since the beginning, virtually. Um, so I knew it was going to happen
again. There was no way, that uh, after the feeling that we had in that tour,
that Dave or Nick would say, not again.
RB: Pink Floyd's Nick Mason:
RB: What has changed with you, Rick and David that allows you to create music this way?
NM: It was a moment when, when we did revue how other albums had been done,
and what, what we liked in past albums, and what, what we'd like to do again,
and, and fine. What I particularly wanted, on this record, was um, for it to
be much more a played record, and played by the band, rather than bringing
people in to help, to augment it, and help do it, and so on. At least the
sort of, basic ideas are all designed and therefore playable by the um,
by the principles.
RB: David Gilmour tells us about High Hopes, the epic closing song on Pink Floyd's The Division Bell.
DG: High Hopes was really the last one, it was written after all the other were
sort of, in some form or another. I think I wrote it in July or something.
It was very, very quick. It's one of those one's that works, quickly, but
beautifully, almost immediately and, I uh, came up with a tiny bit of music,
just had it on a cassette, just a few bars of piano. And then I went off
to get away to a small house somewhere with my girlfriend, Polly, and uh,
try and make some progress on the lyric writing. And uh, she gave me a
phrase about uh, something about before time wears you down. And uh, I
took it from there, and...got stuck into a whole sort of thing about,
I suppose, my, it's autobiographical really, I suppose I'd have to say
on that one, it's about my life, Cambridge life, and my childhood, I suppose.
Um, yeah, we came up with it very, very quickly, we wrote the words to it in,
most of the words to it in a day. And then I went back to the studio, with no
one else there, the minute I got back, and uh, put a demo down of it. Did
everything myself on it, and uh, it was virtually complete in a day.
[High Hopes]
RB: That's the way Pink Floyd's first studio album of the nineties concludes,
with the song High Hopes. I'm Redbeard, live from Pink Floyd's opening night
of their North American tour, in Miami's Joe Robbie Stadium, where Pink Floyd
is mesmerizing 63,000 South Floridians with the song Comfortably Numb. This
is from their 1979 album, The Wall.
Listen to this crowd. Oh, and the spectacle, it's just amazing! Right now,
63,000 sold out, is being bathed in spectacular light, from the largest mirror
ball, I think, ever produced in the world. The entire stadium is just awash in
lighted glitter, it's fantastic. And of course this song is such a signature
piece for Pink Floyd.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
« Back to Interviews
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
