It’s easy to be envious of the talents of Eric Clapton, but a session guitarist, famed for his time working with Roger Waters, says the Pink Floyd bass player was “resentful” of Slowhand.

The comments come from Tim Renwick's new interview with Guitar Player. The guitarist, who has also starred in Elton John's band, was part of the group Waters assembled for his 1984 The Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking album and tour, with Clapton and Pink Floyd collaborator Michael Kamen also part of the picture. Indeed, Clapton’s guitar solo exploits litter the concept album.

Like Kamen, who helped arrange orchestras for The Wall and played on its succeeding tour, Renwick arrived on the scene having already had previous experience with Pink Floyd.

Later, he would tour A Momentary Lapse of Reason for two years with the group, and record on The Division Bell a decade later. He says that Waters didn’t take kindly to how the audience reacted to Clapton’s playing.

“It wasn't as lighthearted as it could have been,” Renwick says of the tour, with Waters running a tight ship. “He took everything very seriously and tended to want everything to sound exactly the same as the record; he was very vigilant.”

“Roger was a bit resentful of the fact that whenever Eric Clapton got up and played a solo, the place would erupt,” he adds. “People would get their lighters out, and there would be a tremendous outpouring of applause.

“And that annoyed Roger quite a lot because, rightly or wrongly, he felt that the audience weren't actually listening to the songs. They were just watching out for what Eric was doing. So there was a certain amount of resentment there.”

Waters, however, surely knew what he was letting himself in for by welcoming the guitarist into his band. Nearly 20 years earlier, one superfan had graffitied “Clapton is God” onto a London wall – an honor Clapton would later tell Guitar World he deserved – and as the years went by, that hype around him never diminished. The reaction of the audience should have come as no surprise.

In related news, the acoustic guitar that Eric Clapton and George Harrison both wrote hits on went to auction late last year, just months after it was listed on Reverb for a cool $1 million.

Best of 2025: Over the holiday season, GW is shining the spotlight on some of its biggest stories of the year.

As a gun for hire, Snowy White has worked with Pink Floyd, Peter Green and Joan Armatrading, to name a few; and he was also a paid-up member of Thin Lizzy, appearing on 1980’s Chinatown and 1981’s Renegade.

He embarked on a prolific solo career with 1983’s solo debut White Flames – featuring signature track Bird of Paradise, and became touring guitarist with Roger Waters before retiring from live work in 2019.

You worked with Peter Green on his 1979 album In the Skies. What was that experience like?

“Peter rang me one day and said, ‘I’m doing an album for a small record company that my brother is involved in. Can I use you and your band?’ So we went into a studio and basically just jammed.

“He was in a good mood and it was a fun session. He was playing rhythm stuff and asked me to play lead, but I said, ‘Pete, it’s your album – you play some lead.’ In the end we both did a bit of each.”

“Of course, I was very happy to be doing it. I’d known him for a few years and I didn’t think he’d ever record again. He took away the tracks and worked on them, then we went to The Who's studio in Battersea, London, and recorded the tracks again.

“I’d put in some of my ideas, but unfortunately, in the end, I wasn't credited with any songwriting. That was a pity. But I didn't make a fuss – I figured Peter was still pretty fragile and unsure about dealing with the business side of things, so I let it pass.”

Your 1994 album Highway To The Sun featured David Gilmour and Gary Moore. What was it like working with them?

“I only asked them because the record company thought a few well-known names would be a good selling point. I didn’t really mind either way! But it was very nice of them to agree to appear – Chris Rea also.

“Gary came to the studio and I just asked him to blow over the end of a slow blues. With Dave’s contribution, I took the tapes to his boat studio and said, ‘It’s a really simple track; just do a few takes and I'll sort it out later.’ He used his Whammy pedal, which I hadn't heard before. I chose the best bits when I mixed it.

“It was all pretty simple, really. I guess the obvious difference is that I was telling them what I wanted, as opposed to the other way round.”

Which do you prefer: being in a band or being a solo artist?

“I’m not very good at playing other guitarists' parts, so I had to work quite hard to make it sound okay. It was occasionally a bit hairy, but I learned many years ago how to bluff my way through. It occasionally came in very handy; I didn’t come unstuck very often.

“Both situations have plusses and minuses. For instance, the nicest thing about being in Roger’s band – apart from being involved in all those great shows – was that all I had to do was walk on stage, pick up my already-tuned guitar and start playing. And we went all over the world for 13 years, so I saw a lot of places that I would never have got to on my own.

“In contrast, when I was touring Europe with my own band, The White Flames – firstly in the ‘90s, and then later, in between tours with Roger – I was doing almost everything. I was driving, booking hotels, sorting out travel, collecting the money, dealing with the various hassles, and then going onstage and doing the gig.

“But the reward for that was that I was up on stage doing my own thing with musicians that were really loyal and helpful, and, more importantly, good-humoured, whatever happened, whatever went wrong. There was a lot of energy around and a lot of respect.

“Later on, we had some great guys as our crew, who took on most of those touring jobs, so I was able to relax a bit more. My favourite memories from my whole career are from those days – the three of us and couple of crew, travelling around Europe, having the energy to deal with everything that goes on, and still having plenty of energy left onstage.

“We had some great times together. So, I guess the answer is that I’ve been happy that I could do both; but doing small gigs with my own band far outweighs the big stadium tours.”

In 1995 you released a compilation album called Goldtop, a reference to your famed Les Paul.

“I went on holiday to Sweden with a friend and met a lovely Swedish girl, so I stayed there for over a year. I joined a three-piece band, The Train, and the drummer had a friend who was selling his Les Paul Goldtop. I had a go and liked it, so I bought it.

“I have to admit that I don’t know much about guitars – I’m not really interested in the way they work or the different makes and models. I just liked that Les Paul; and as it turned out, it was the only guitar I had for many years.

“I played it nearly every day, and later, when I had to use different guitars for the various bands I was with, I still used my old Les Paul whenever I could. I kept it for 45 years, finally letting it go about five years ago.”

How has your guitar playing has evolved over the years?

“It was a slow process, but as time went by my playing became more confident. Quite a few years ago I started to feel that I had nothing to prove any longer. I think I became able to choose better notes and spaces, just pleasing myself, really.”

Looking back on Bird of Paradise, how important was that track and album for your career?

“Obviously having a successful single means you get heard by more people. But in the case of Bird of Paradise, many people saw me as a ballad singer who happened to play a bit of decent guitar.

“As it was my first solo album, I wasn’t really expecting much from it – certainly not a hit single. I was pretty uncomfortable with the whole idea of being in that area of pop music, and I soon discovered that it wasn’t for me.

“I soon went back to the blues, forming Snowy White’s Blues Agency. But Bird of Paradise opened some doors though, and I’m grateful for that.”

What’s your current gear setup?

“I used to have a very simple setup – just my guitar into a Vox AC30 via a [Boss] Blues Driver pedal and a [Electro-Harmonix] Holy Grail reverb. But I don’t have a setup any longer; I haven’t done a live show since June 7, 2019.

“These days my fingers don’t do exactly what my brain tells them to do, so I preferred to retire from live shows rather than put on a second-rate performance.”

So what’s next for you?

“I’m still recording albums, but apart from that I’m not really very active in the music business any longer. I’m very happy to spend most of my time at home. In fact, right now, I never want to get on a plane again!

“But you never know what might transpire in the future. We’ll see what fate has in store.”

• Unfinished Business is out now.

Most Pink Floyd fans were aggrieved when the highly fruitful Gilmour–Waters partnership – the one that gave the world albums like Wish You Were Here and The Dark Side of the Moon – came to an end.

And while David Gilmour and drummer Nick Mason still own the name, and the band still owns the publishing rights, the two have “absolutely no intention” of reviving Floyd.

This is partly due to the fact that Gilmour and Waters still seem to be on no-speaking terms.

As reported by The Telegraph, in February 2023, Polly Samson, Gilmour's wife, wrote on X that Waters is “anti-Semitic to your rotten core. Also a Putin apologist and a lying, thieving, hypocritical, tax-avoiding, lip-synching, misogynistic, sick-with-envy megalomaniac” – to which Gilmour added, “Every word demonstrably true.”

From his end, Waters “refutes entirely” Samson’s “incendiary and wildly inaccurate portrayal”. In a new interview with The Telegraph, Samson explains her reasoning behind making that comment in the first place.

“The reason I did it was because Pink Floyd are quite a faceless band. Everywhere I went, there’s a chance that people thought I was married to the one who said things like that. And it wasn’t a great feeling.”

She continues, “If they knew you’re married to someone from Pink Floyd, half the time people were giving me quite strange looks and it was really uncomfortable and I just wanted to draw a line and make it clear that these were not views held by me or the person I was married to.”

So is there ever a world in which Gilmour reunites with Waters, for one last time? “Nothing,” he tells journalist James Hall. “There is no possible way that I would do that.”

And for those nostalgic for Pink Floyd's heyday, Pink Floyd at Pompeii – MCMLXXII, the newly restored version of the band's groundbreaking Live At Pompeii film, was released earlier this year.

In Pink Floyd at Pompeii – MCMLXXII – the newly restored version of the 1972 film directed by Adrian Maben – a clip of the band recording what would become The Dark Side of the Moon at Abbey Road Studios has been unearthed from the depths of the Floyd archives.

Perhaps most interesting are the band's thoughts on the criticisms they were receiving at the time – that they depended too much on their gear and new technologies.

In the clip, David Gilmour can be seen saying, “I don't think equipment could take over. We do rely on it a lot. I mean, we couldn't do what we do as we do it without it. We could still do a good, entertaining, musical show, I suppose, without it. But all those things are down to how you control them and whether you're controlling them, not the other way around.”

Roger Waters, on the other hand, ponders, “It's a danger that we could become slaves of all our equipment, and in the past, we have been.” However, he clarifies that it's just a question of using the tools “that are available, when they're available.”

“More and more now, there's all kinds of electronic goodies which are available [for] people like us to use.”

And in true Waters fashion, he doubles down on his argument, asserting, “It's like saying, ‘Give a man a Les Paul guitar, and he becomes Eric Clapton,’ and it's not true. ‘And give a man an amplifier and a synthesizer, and he doesn't become whoever.’ He doesn't become us.”

Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii was filmed in October 1971 and captures a band finally finding their footing after years of experimentation in the wake of the departure of their founder, Syd Barrett.

The movie has now been meticulously hand-restored, frame by frame, after being discovered in five dubiously labeled cans in the band’s own archive. Under its updated title, Pink Floyd at Pompeii – MCMLXXII, it is set to be released in cinemas worldwide starting April 24.

David Gilmour later returned to the Amphitheatre of Pompeii in 2016, where, for two nights only, he performed for just 3,000 lucky concertgoers – with a Live at Pompeii album and concert film released in 2017.

Andy Fairweather Low’s career is a smorgasbord of musical successes. He hit the big-time in 1968 with Amen Corner. Top 10 hits such as Bend Me, Shape Me, High In The Sky and the chart-topper (If Paradise Is) Half As Nice propelled the Cardiff-based pop-soul outfit to heady heights.

Following a stint as Fair Weather and scoring a Top 10 with Natural Sinner, Andy forged a solo path with his beautiful composition Wide Eyed and Legless.

However, for decades he was guitar-playing sideman to superstars including Eric Clapton and Roger Waters, toured with Chris Rea, Paul Carrack, Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris. He’s even recorded with Joe Satriani and jammed with Jimi Hendrix. And that’s the tip of a very large iceberg.

Andy’s new album, The Invisible Bluesman, could give any of his famous employers a run for their money.

The album’s title alludes to Andy’s status as perennial sideman. “But I’m not bitter,” he laughs, as he sits down to chat about some of the album’s tracks, his gear and his phenomenal backstory.

There’s an extremely cohesive feel to the album, considering the tracks were recorded at different times and places.

“It’s the band, the combination. Because Henry [Spinetti], the Low Riders’ drummer, was going off with Katie Melua, bass player Dave Bronze said, ‘Check Paul Beavis out.’ And within three minutes it felt right. So Paul’s on it. Dave’s on it. And the thing is, the Low Riders is a co-operative. We’re all in it together, so when it’s good, it’s really good.

“Chris Stainton [Eric Clapton, keyboards] helped us out, too – so gracious. I asked [Paul] ‘Wix’ Wickens, McCartney’s keyboard player, if he fancied doing some gigs and he said, ‘Yeah, it’d be great.’ We were going to Rhyl, so the van picks him up in London, and by the time we got to North Wales he was regretting it! But no, it was all so joyful.

“Playing in arenas is great. It’s about money, it’s about life, it’s about history, it’s about what went before, and it’s about what’s in people’s minds.

“But playing in small venues to 200 people, it’s about what’s happening right now: we control the dynamic of loud and we control the dynamic of quiet. So you get to ‘be’, as a player, in front of people right there and then. We do play Paradise, Wide Eyed, and Gin House [Blues], but I tell them, ‘Not until later or you’ll all bugger off!’”

Did you rehearse the studio cuts first and then lay them down?

“No, we’d already played them live. I’d finished my last album, Flang Dang, and decided I was not going to do any more. And then Malcolm Mills from The Last Record Company said those words, ‘the invisible bluesman’, and I went, ‘Yeah, that’s exactly how I feel through all the years of whoever I played with.’”

But you have your own niche, don’t you?

“And I’m very grateful for it. And a lot of it is not connected to Roger Waters or Eric Clapton; it’s connected to Amen Corner and my solo records. We get some fabulous, dedicated Eric fans that have continually turned up to support us. But it’s a handful, considering the maybe millions I’ve played in front of.”

My Baby Left Me has a lovely lazy feel.

“That’s from 2007, the first time we went out. I’ve stolen a few bits: Robert Johnson’s Kind Hearted Woman, Mississippi John Hurt [Since I’ve Laid My] Burden Down. But the feel is all Paul and Dave, there’s nothing else going on.”

Lightin’s Boogie is fantastic, too.

“I heard the Herald recordings from the ’50s with Lightin’ [Hopkins] on acoustic, then later on electric. And to play that stuff you have to know it. It’s like Irish music; it’s in the blood. And I knew it.

“I got the funny timings. I was doing a film soundtrack, One Of The Hollywood Ten with Glyn Johns. We recorded 19 tracks in one day. That was one of the songs, and that’s the recording from that moment.”

Your solo in the live Gin House Blues is phenomenal. And what a sound.

“Eric said, ‘Who’s playing that?’ I said, ‘It’s me.’ Well, I had my Fender Vibro-King, and no matter how many times I changed the valves, they got tired. So Dave Bronze brought Dennis Cornell along and he said, ‘Show me what you want.’ So I cranked up the Vibro-King and Dennis looked at Dave and said, ‘Is he serious?’

“But Dennis is all about efficiency and making a wonderful amp. I want a dirty amp. I want an inefficient amp. I want one control. Albert King, BB King, Freddie King – they never had graphic equalisers. It was a lead into an amp, into a man, and into his soul.

“And I’ve stuck with that. I only ever had a pedal for a tour I did with Chris Rea, for one sound. And I used one pedal with Paul Carrack, and with Roger Waters it was a rack delay that they had. But I never got in-ears, and I never got a wireless system.

“It needs to be me, the amp and the guitar. But Dennis did make me an amp so Gin House Blues is the Cornell with a 4x10.

“The guitar was the white Clapton Strat with one humbucker. When I joined Eric, I only had one guitar, and with Eric you have to have two of everything. So they ordered this white Strat with Lace Sensors and I didn’t like them, so I ripped everything out and put the humbucker in. You only need one good pickup for what I do.”

Your unique, high-toned voice is perfect for blues.

“Stevie Wonder’s a singer. Ray Charles is a singer. Aretha Franklin is a singer. I’m just a guy who sings. I mean, I love Ry Cooder, I love Mick Jagger, but you wouldn’t say they’re singers, except they sing.”

You don’t do the ‘pentatonic licks’ thing – you play melodies over bluesy changes.

“No, I don’t have that vocabulary of licks where I open the door and it’s there. Before Amen Corner we were doing stuff like Otis Redding’s Don’t Mess With Cupid, Booker T’s Hip Hug-Her, so it’s all Steve Cropper licks.

“Then I had those years with Amen Corner and with my solo stuff I was writing. So I ended up being a guitar player that doesn’t play. The rhythm player. Eric’s always been taking solos. That’s what he does.”

But these artists trust you. Getting it right is important.

“But I can’t step out of the zone the moment I want to be somebody else, which, after 13 years without it, I did.

“Occasionally, I’d sneak a couple of my Jimmy Vaughan, Johnny ‘Guitar’ Watson licks in and he’d go, ‘No, Andy!’ And that was it. I’m back in my box.”

The Unplugged film for MTV in 1992 must have been special to work on.

“It was. But none of those guitars were mine. The Martin is Eric’s, the Super 300 Alan [Rogan, legendary guitar tech] lent me. The D’Angelico mandolin, someone lent it. But to be able to just play and not have ‘a bit more bass there, a bit less something there, you’re a little too loud’ – no, you just play. That was glorious.

“I didn’t play mandolin. I could do When I’m Dead And Gone and Malt And Barley Blues by McGuinness Flint, but that was it. And then we get to the rehearsals and Eric says, ‘You play mandolin, don’t you?’ ‘Er, not really.’

“So they get this mandolin and he presents me with My Father’s Eyes. So on Unplugged you can see a bit of paper on the floor with triads written out of how to play My Father’s Eyes.”

Were there lots of rehearsals?

“I spent a week at Eric’s house. ‘Come on, we’ll sit around and work some stuff out.’ So we’d play through Nobody Knows [You When You’re Down And Out], Running On Faith, Old Love and so on. He wanted to do Malted Milk by Robert Johnson, which has a diminished chord, and that’s the only one I had to do a bit of work on.

“But, man, it was a joy. We did the same for the Concert For George [in 2002]; I spent a week with him, routining things.”

You toured with Harrison, too, didn’t you?

“Eric had said, ‘Look, I’ll put my band together and we’ll back you.’ We were having a meal in Japan and George gets up and says, ‘Andy was not the first choice. There were seven guitarists and he was the seventh choice.’ Because Gary Moore was one, Alvin Lee was another, and eventually it came to me. But George said, ‘He wasn’t the first choice, but he was the right choice.’

“George and I had met at Ry Cooder shows backstage, so he’d assumed I played slide. Anyway, the first song we played when I went over was Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth). I knew it inside out because I loved [Living] In The Material World. But I said, ‘George, I’m the rhythm player, you play the slide. It doesn’t make any sense.’ Well, I learned the solo, but, believe me, there’s so many nights I didn’t sleep!”

And then there’s Roger Waters.

“I’d done the ARMS tour for multiple sclerosis. Then we toured America with Eric, Jeff [Beck], Jimmy [Page] and a full cast. And the person who was doing press for the tour, Adie Cook, was a friend of Roger’s. So when Roger was looking for a replacement for Eric for The Pros And Cons Of Hitch Hiking tour, my name came up.

“‘Hello, Andy. Roger Waters here. Will you come up and see whether we get on?’ We did get on. And I stayed for 24 years. Then I’m doing The Wall in 1990 with Roger, and Van Morrison is on the show. So I do the Van Morrison tour. I’m doing a charity gig at the Natural History Museum. Chris Rea is on that bill. I do the Road To Hell tour.

“The other connection is Glyn [Johns]. Glyn got me in with Joe Satriani, David Crosby, Linda Ronstadt, Stevie Nicks and Pete Townshend. I’m staying with Glyn and they’re recording Who Are You. Pete says, ‘Come down, do some vocals.’

“I did a live album with Joe Satriani. Me! Think about it! I phoned him up and said, ‘Joe, why? Do you know what I do?’ He said, ‘Yeah.’ He’d seen me with Eric. But I can’t even think as quickly as he can play. I mean, he wasn’t just in control of the guitar; it’s like he’d invented the bloody thing.”

Clearly, you are that safe pair of hands because all these incredible artists want to work with you.

“Well, there was a guitar player called Roy Smeck. It came to the end of a concert and someone shouted, ‘You’re a genius!’ And he just said, ‘No. I’m a lucky guy. I’m very grateful.’ And that’s me. I’m a very lucky guy, and I’m very, very grateful.

“And you need luck. Amen Corner got a record deal because the guy from Decca saw the band that went on before us, then left and said, ‘Tell them to be in the studio Monday morning, nine o’clock.’

“So we turn up and we’re not that band. He said, ‘Well, we might as well do something.’ So we played Gin House, and without that bit of luck, and a bit of payola, too, we may not have got our success.”

When you were with Amen Corner, were you already into blues?

“No. In the ’70s, when we were called Fair Weather, I got hold of the Robert Johnson album, put it on and said these immortal words, ‘They all sound the same.’ The blues came along when touring with Eric in the big band, doing baseball stadiums with Elton John around America and Europe.

“One day in the car he puts on Chicago Bound by Jimmy Rogers, and that was his way of saying, ‘Check that out – because this is what’s coming.’

“The thing is, he’d got so big that no-one was listening any more. We came off one night and Greg Phillinganes [keyboards] said, ‘Man, just like The Beatles.’ And Eric looked at him and went, ‘Yeah, just like The Beatles.’ And that was him saying, ‘I’m done with this. I need to play what I really want to play.’ And that’s when he seriously played. And in 13 years I never tired of any of it.

“But I wanted to play more, and it was inappropriate with Eric or Roger. I was not the lead guitarist, and I wanted to be, and that’s why I left two of the best-paying and most socially comfortable gigs. I knew I had to do it and not hear those words, ‘No, Andy.’ I can’t pretend I’m a guitar player next to Eric Clapton, can I?”

Did you meet Hendrix?

“He’d been on Top of the Pops, so the word is out. Amen Corner had a residency at the Speakeasy, and one night Jimi is there and wants to play. So he borrows Clive [Taylor]’s bass, flips it upside down, and we do Otis Redding’s I Can’t Turn You Loose. So great!

“Next night, he wanted to play guitar, so he took Neil [Jones]’s guitar, flipped it upside down, I took the bass, so it was Dennis [Bryon, drums], me and Hendrix. I have to say it was three o’clock in the morning and I wasn’t very good! You gotta learn somewhere though, eh?

“Then it’s 1969, I’m in New York and I get a phone call. ‘Jimi’s in the studio. Would you come down and do some vocals?’ He’s recutting Stone Free. So we go down, Roger Chapman [of Family] is also there, so we did it. It’s not a good version. There’s only one version of Stone Free.”

And you even recorded with Kate Bush!

“Oh, man. This is off the scale. I’m at home, nothing’s going on. Phone rings. There’s this woman who says she’s Kate Bush. ‘Would you consider doing some vocals on a track? You’d be absolutely perfect.’ I said, ‘Well, can you send me something?’ ‘No, just come up.’

“I’m apprehensive. But I get up there and gosh, she’s just fabulous. She plays me Wild Man and we record it. I get home, send my bill in: ‘Hello, Andy, I’ve just got your bill. You don’t charge enough.’ So she gave me three times more, then put the single out as Kate Bush and Andy Fairweather Low.”

You’ve had and continue to have a long and distinguished career. What’s the secret?

“The point is to keep aiming for that high bar. If you aim high and fail, it’s not that bad. If you aim for a low bar and fail, then you’re in trouble.”

• The Invisible Bluesman is out now via The Last Music Company.
• This article first appeared in Guitarist. Subscribe and save.

Andy Fairweather Low is one of the world’s all-time great sidemen. Once upon a time you would find him onstage, electric guitar in hand, alongside Eric Clapton. Roger Waters is one of his regular clients.

But sometimes it is time for the sideman to step out and take their position on center stage. Here, with his new solo album, The Invisible Bluesman, out now, we put the spotlight on Low, asking about first guitars, first songs learned, and, y’know, if there were any embarrassing moments in an illustrious career.

What was your very first guitar?

“My first proper guitar was a Höfner Verithin that I got when I was 17 from a guitar shop I worked in – Barratts of Manchester in Cardiff, Wales.

“I really wanted a Futurama, though, as it was going to be my Christmas present, but I never got it; the person in our estate [who ran a Christmas savings club] embezzled the money! Because of that, I never got it. I actually own a Futurama now.”

What was the first song you learned to play?

“Rocket Man by the Spotnicks [Swedish instrumental group], which I learned by ear. That song really sort of hit me. Through that song, I got introduced to the music of Chuck Berry and Jimmy Reed. And because you can play a thousand songs once you learned those little licks, it opened the door for me.”

What was your first gig?

“I was in a band called the Firebrands, and we played the Kennard Rooms, a venue in Cardiff. We played for 30 minutes to an empty room! Our drummer was in the Boys’ Brigade, so everything we did tended to have a bit of a military beat to it. But even though nobody was there, once I’d been on that stage, that was it – nothing was going to stop me.”

Ever had an embarrassing moment on stage?

“I’ve had a couple of embarrassing moments, but one was with Roger Waters that happened after I’d only just joined him. It was on the The Pros and Cons of Hitch-Hiking tour during Welcome to the Machine. Because it was a big setup on stage, we had to wear headphones, which involved learning the art of taking the headphones off first before you took your guitar off.

“I managed that no problem, but I was also playing with a jacket on, which I wasn’t used to doing. And the first chord of Welcome to the Machine is this strum on a 12-string.

“Well, I strummed, but the sleeve of the jacket and my guitar caused the strum to sound like a ‘blurt’! I can still see that look from Roger now. Obviously, I was forgiven – because I spent 24 years with him.”

What’s your favorite piece of gear?

“I’ve got a guitar made by Gordon and Robert Wells from Knight Guitars that’s called a Knight Arena, and it’s just fabulous.”

There’s an emergency, and you can save/protect only one guitar. Which one would it be?

“It’d be a little Gibson archtop. My mate, Micky Gee, a guitar player from Wales, who played with Shakin’ Stevens and Tom Jones, found the guitar in a skip down the bay in the early ’70s. It had been in a fire, so the body was rippled a bit, but I put some strings on it and got it set up and really loved it.

“I offered to buy it from him because he wasn’t using it; I paid £47 and told him if he ever wanted it back, he could have it back for £47. I play it all the time; it’s the guitar that stays at home.”

When was the last time you practiced? What did you play?

“I play every day and need to. I spent 26 years playing rhythm and not playing solos. I was always the guy that played that part. But ever since I went out in my own band in 2007, the wheels have been oiled when it comes to playing solos, and because of that, I need to continue to familiarize myself with it all.

“What I can’t do, and would make me a most fabulous guitar player, is actually utilize all the things I’ve learned. That’s where great players come from. They access all their information like that.”

What guitar advice would you give your younger self?

“It wouldn’t be about the guitar, it would be about life. I’d tell myself to enjoy it more. When I worked with Eric Clapton, not so much with Roger, I thought I was getting fired every tour, because at the end of every tour, you never knew whether you were doing the next tour.

“Whoever you were – and it didn’t matter who you were – you never knew because in truth, Eric never knew which way it was going to go, too. So, it would be, enjoy it for goodness’ sake and let it run its course!”

• The Invisible Bluesman is out now via The Last Music Company.

Dumpster-diving is a sometimes risky and legally questionable practice, but it sometimes produces priceless acoustic guitars. That’s what happened for longtime Clapton collaborator Andy Fairweather Low. In a new Guitar World interview, he reveals that his most treasured guitar was found in a skip [UK parlance for dumpster].

After a career that has seen him working alongside Van Morrison, Roger Waters, George Harrison, and Joe Satriani, we assume Low no longer needs to find his guitars in the trash.

Yet when asked by Guitar World what guitar he would save in a fire, Low replies, “It’d be a little Gibson archtop. My mate, Mickey Gee, a guitar player from Wales, who played with Shakin’ Stevens and Tom Jones, found the guitar in a skip down the bay in the early ’70s.”

Ironically, given that this is the guitar Low would save from a fire, it was found with burns on the body. “It had been in a fire, so the body was rippled a bit, but I put some strings on it and got it set up and really loved it,” says Low.

“I offered to buy it from him because he wasn’t using it; I paid £47 [$59 at that time] and told him if he ever wanted it back, he could have it back for £47,” Low remembers. That’s around £550 ($713 USD) in today’s money.

Identifying vintage Gibson archtops is notoriously tricky, but we believe this is an L-37 [not an L-40 as identified in the video above].

Low has previously talked about the find with Guitarist. “I got some guy, Colin Mackey, to do some work on it, to get it to where it is. Now it's playable, and it fits in with how I'd like to think I am as a guitar player. And the first song I wrote on it was Wide Eyed and Legless,” he said, referring to his 1975 #6 UK hit.

The archtop is one of many highlights in a collection that also includes a Teisco that Eric Clapton refused to let him play on stage. Andy also admitted that he had never heard of Roger Waters when they first met.

In a way, the origins of Pink Floyd's original live performances of The Wall in 1980 and 1981, at that time the most ambitious rock concerts ever staged – at least on the arena scale – are a bit ironic.

The concept of The Wall itself was meant to symbolize the great chasm Floyd's bassist and chief lyricist, Roger Waters, felt between himself and the band's fans – especially during the band's previous tours of enormous football stadiums.

Nonetheless, it could be argued that the The Wall tour only made it bigger. After all, what other band of that era could stage such a show? Complete with the absolute cream of the crop of visual and practical effects of the time, the production was hammered home with an enormous, literal wall.

In any case, the show was quite the spectacle, and added many new elements to the workload of not only the band's crew, but the band members themselves.

Reflecting on the experience in a 2000 interview with Guitar World, David Gilmour lauded the show as being “terrific fun,” adding that it was “really an achievement for everyone involved, particularly Roger.”

With that said, though, Gilmour also found himself playing a much more regimented role in the band's live shows than he had previously.

“I had to take on the role of music director and deal with a lot of musical details onstage so that Roger didn’t have to think about that,” he said. “It was really tough at first. Later on it got a little easier, once we all got into it.”

On the intricacies of his duties, the guitarist explained, “I had a huge cue sheet up on my amps, because we had all these cues coming up on monitors or on screen, and there were different DDL settings which I had to transmit with very primitive equipment to all the delay lines onstage. Very tricky.

“Except for the Comfortably Numb solo, there were virtually no moments where I could say, ‘Forget everything. Just play.’ You know?

“It was very rigid,” Gilmour went on. “On all the previous tours – Wish You Were Here, Dark Side of the Moon – there were moments that could be extended longer or made shorter if you liked. The Wall, quite reasonably, because it was a different kind of project, didn’t have that.”

The first nights of tours always bring kinks that need to be ironed out, hiccups that resolve themselves as the show gets rolling. The Wall, as Gilmour said, was no different, as he juggled with his many new music director-esque duties.

As if that weren't enough, though, the guitarist, his bandmates, and the crowd were all also treated to a, shall we say, fiery, surprise on opening night.

Speaking to Guitar World in 2000, Roger Waters remembers, “Andy Bown and Snowy [White, who served, respectively, as the band's bass and second guitar players on the tour] and those guys did their thing,” Waters recalls, “And then this drape went up to reveal us. Fireworks had gone off beforehand and one of the Roman candles had gotten into this drape and set light to it.

“I was singing away and I kept hearing this noise and I thought, ‘God, the P.A.’s going off.’ 'Cause I could hear this strange noise. Eventually I looked up and saw one of the riggers, a guy called Rocky, leap about six feet through the air, with no safety harness or anything on him, from one drape to another.

“He had a fire extinguisher in one hand and he was trying to put the thing out,” Waters continued. “And then lumps of burning drape the size of tennis balls started hitting the stage all around us. And the auditorium was beginning to fill up with smoke.”

As Waters tells it, it took a few minutes for all involved – absorbed as they were in the show – to fully comprehend what was happening.

“I stopped singing and just shouted ‘stop!’ through the PA,” Waters recounted. “Throughout rehearsals, the guys out at the mixing console were so used to me constantly yelling ‘stop’ – if something wasn’t right, you know. So when I did it during the actual show they must have all thought they were hallucinating. ’Cause they just carried on. So I shouted ‘stop!’ again. This time, they said, ‘Okay, he really does seem to be saying stop. I guess we have to.’

“I said, ‘Look, we’re going to have to lower this drape, because we’ve got a fire. Everything’s cool. We’ll put it out, go back five minutes and pick up from there.’ Which we did. But it was quite a hair-raising beginning to the first show.”

Andy Fairweather Low is one of the music world’s most prolific and revered rhythm electric guitar heroes, having recorded and toured with the likes of Eric Clapton, George Harrison, B.B. King, Joe Satriani, Jimi Hendrix and many more.

In the new issue of Classic Rock, Low looks back some of his biggest session credits, and recalls how he originally came to work with Roger Waters… whose name he didn’t recognize when he was personally called by the Pink Floyd legend.

As Low relays, Amen Corner – the band he founded in 1966 – were on tour bill in the late 1960s with Pink Floyd, and it was during this time that the six-string sideman first dropped onto Waters’ radar.

“In November 1967, Amen Corner played our first tour ever on a bill with Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd, The Move, The Nice, Heir Apparent and Outer Limits,” Low says. “We were all in one bus apart from Floyd, who travelled on their own.

“Our manager, Ron King, overheard one of them say something about our keyboardist Blue Weaver, and he threatened to break their legs. They’d open with Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun, and it would completely baffle me, like: ‘What are they doing?’”

A few decades later, Low received a phone call from the Pink Floyd bassist himself, who was piecing together a new band for an upcoming tour. Unfortunately, the name ‘Roger Waters’ fell on deaf ears.

Low continues, “One day in around 1984 I get a call: ‘Hello, Andy, it’s Roger Waters.’ Who? I hadn’t paid attention to their names. He asked me to come up and see how we got along, with a tour for The Pros And Cons Of Hitchhiking in mind. I went to see him, and we didn’t just get along, we talked all about the tour.”

Despite the clumsy first impression, the pair would go on to share a prolific partnership, and played together for 24 years.

“He treated me with unbelievable respect, was superb company and very funny,” Low concludes. “And you know what? Set The Controls became my favourite thing to play live!”

Low’s career has been littered with similar stories. Speaking in a new interview with Guitar World, the rhythm hero recently recalled the time he was recruited by George Harrison to play slide even though he’d never played slide guitar before.

Visit Magazines Direct to pick up the new issue of Classic Rock, which also features an interview with Joe Satriani discussing the unique challenges of inviting Yngwie Malmsteen on the G3 tour.

Saying that Tony Levin has had just an illustrious career would be an understatement. The esteemed bassist has played with everyone, from John Lennon to King Crimson, Peter Gabriel, and David Bowie.

Levin also played a significant role in Pink Floyd's legacy during a particularly precarious time for the band – the recording of 1987's A Momentary Lapse of Reason and the post-Roger Waters era.

“David Gilmour asked me to play bass on the album after Roger Waters famously left the band, thinking it was the end of them,” Levin tells Vulture. “I wasn’t part of any of the band’s intrigue and was thrilled to enter into the world of trying to play appropriately for a Pink Floyd context but also be somewhat myself.

“I brought out the Chapman Stick, an instrument I can play as a bass. It’s not the most common instrument, but I use it as one of my regular basses. I found David to be a fascinating guy and a real gentleman – a wonderful person to be with.”

Levin explains that while the sessions weren’t particularly hard, capturing the style Pink Floyd had honed over the years was challenging.

“I can remember one instance when I had a long vamp out and I played an extra few notes. I’m not talking about a fast bass riff here; I’m just talking about a couple notes,” he recalls.

“After the take, when we got together to listen, David smiled and said, ‘Tony, in Pink Floyd you don’t do that extra couple notes until far later.’ I had the right idea, but I did it too quickly. He was silently saying, ‘You don’t know that, but the rest of us do.’”

Levin also reveals that after a week or so of recording, the band approached him to tour with them. However, due to scheduling conflicts with Peter Gabriel’s tour, Levin was forced to decline.

“It was one of those big career decisions, perhaps even my biggest, where I went to stay with Peter. I’ve never regretted it, but I’m sure my career path would’ve been different had I spent that next year and a half doing Pink Floyd,” he concludes.

Tony Levin has recently wrapped up the 65-date BEAT tour alongside superstar guitar soloist Steve Vai, King Crimson guitarist and frontman Adrian Belew, and Tool drummer Danny Carey, celebrating the ’80s era of King Crimson.

Pink Floyd's ninth studio Wish You Were Here will celebrate its 50th anniversary next year. The album, which spawned the iconic title track, features a memorable intro played on a 12-string guitar, which Roger Waters has revealed was the catalyst that inspired the rest of the song and set a melancholic tone for the rest of the album.

“It's one of those strange songs that came to me very easily, because David Gilmour had been playing the riff, and I've been listening to it and going, ‘What's that?’ And he played it. I said, ‘Play that again,’” he says in an interview with AXS TV.

“So I learned it. And I said, ‘And then what happens?’ And he said, ‘No, that's it.’ And I went, ‘I like it.’ I said, ‘So do you mind if I see what happens next?’”

Waters went on to write the rest of the song in just an hour. “It was one of those happy times when the stream of consciousness works, and words come out that have meter and meaning and fit a melody,” he recalls.

“I don't try to investigate them too much. It would feel a little bit like investigating a butterfly, you end up with dust and a few broken bits.

“So it was when we were making the record Wish You Were Here, which was all about absence. And it was to some extent about the loss of [founding vocalist and guitarist] Syd Barrett, who would succumb to mental illness seven or eight years before.”

In a 1993 Guitar World interview, Gilmour opened up about the public and commercial pressure that weighed down on the band during the Wish You Were Here sessions.

“It's about that feeling we were left with at the end of Dark Side – that feeling of ‘What do you do when you've done everything?’ But I think we got over that.

“For me, Wish You Were Here is the most satisfying album. I really love it. I mean, I'd rather listen to that than Dark Side of the Moon. Because I think we achieved a better balance of music and lyrics on Wish You Were Here.”

Famed for its use of tape loops and the iconic cash register intro, Money is undoubtedly one of Pink Floyd’s finest moments on record. The hit song first appeared on their 1973 album The Dark Side of the Moon.

As the sole credited writer on Money, one must assume that bassist Roger Waters was responsible for coming up with the riff and the basic form of the song. “It’s Roger’s riff,” said David Gilmour when asked where the famous 7/4 time signature came from. “Roger came in with the verses and lyrics for Money more or less completed. We just made up middle sections, guitar solos and all that stuff.” 

If you’re unfamiliar with the bassline you should consider wearing your best counting hat – if it’s any consolation the guitar solo is in 4/4.

“We also invented some new riffs,” said Gilmour. “We created a 4/4 progression for the guitar solo, but made the poor saxophone player play in 7/4. It was my idea to break down and become dry and empty for the second chorus of the solo.”

Money came fifth in our list of the 40 best basslines of all time.

You can revisit the isolated bassline below.

The main riff is made up of downbeat quarter notes, so if you can follow the order of the notes you shouldn’t go far wrong. All you need then is to catch the changes from seven to four and back. In the 7/4 sections, all of the notes can be found in the b natural minor scale (b aeolian mode). 

The blues has got a lot to answer for too – can you hear how the vocal section is a 12-bar sequence complete with chords I, IV and V, and the guitar solo a double length at 24 bars?

You might also notice the tempo varies by around 22 beats per minute – during the course of the song the band reaches 125 bpm by the end of the second verse, 132 bpm when the guitar solo comes in, and 140 bpm during the closing stages of the guitar solo. The guys back then wouldn’t have used a click track. They were obviously high on adrenaline that day.

Your memory of Roger Waters may be of him playing a Fender or Rickenbacker bass guitar, flatwound strings with a pick, in an unspectacular, but solid way – after all, he did often have lead vocal duties as well. Aim for a strong middle-pickup sound with a little added bottom-end, but don’t pull out the mids or you might lose the body of the tone. If you can’t bring yourself to use a pick, boost some treble as well to give some added presence.

When Waters left Pink Floyd in 1985, bassist Guy Pratt found himself standing in his spot onstage, and has remained a key part of the Pink Floyd setup ever since, essentially replacing him in the group, at least on bass.]

“It’s quite funny for me because I’m trying to copy Roger’s bassline,” Pratt told BP. “There’s a real lazy feel on this track, especially on the bass. It’s very good for discipline to retain that authenticity. However, it’s the only track I can bring myself to use a pick on.”

In 2022, producer Bob Ezrin spoke to UK guitar magazine Total Guitar – part of GuitarWorld.com’s family of brands – about his work with Pink Floyd. However, a comment that Ezrin made in this interview about the song Comfortably Numb was misconstrued by TG – so we are now clarifying exactly what Ezrin said in relation to the two guitar solos in this track, performed by David Gilmour.

Ezrin was misquoted in Total Guitar with the statement: “The second solo in Comfortably Numb was a first take.” Ezrin was in fact referring specifically to the first solo in the middle of the track when he said: “It was a first take.” But at the time, TG believed – incorrectly – that Ezrin was referring to the second solo at the end of the song.

As a result of this mistake, the incorrect quote which TG attributed to Ezrin has been repeated in recent days in various online stories in which it was also reported that former Pink Floyd bassist/vocalist Roger Waters had claimed that Bob Ezrin “lied” about the recording of the second guitar solo in Comfortably Numb.

Total Guitar is happy to set the record straight, and we offer our sincere apologies to Bob Ezrin, Roger Waters and David Gilmour for any misunderstanding arising from the interview we published in 2022.

UPDATE (10.02.23): In his 2022 interview, Bob Ezrin was in fact referring to David Gilmour’s first solo when he claimed it was a first take. Please see Total Guitar’s clarification for more info.

Last year, producer of Pink Floyd’s The Wall Bob Ezrin gave David Gilmour’s iconic second guitar solo on Comfortably Numb an extra layer of mysticism by revealing the lead effort that eventually made the final cut was the Stratocaster master’s first take.

According to Ezrin, while recording the 1979 masterpiece Gilmour attempted to use “scores of takes” to improve upon his initial effort, but “it never got better”: “The second solo in Comfortably Numb, which may be the best solo of all time,” he told Total Guitar, “is actually a first take.”

Well, Roger Waters has now taken issue with Ezrin’s comments, and has claimed during a YouTube Q&A that the producer wasn’t in the room when Gilmour recorded the solo, and that he’s “lied through his fucking teeth” about it for “years and “years”.

When asked by one fan whether he ever interjected his “opinions or criticisms on David’s solos” while recording The Wall, Waters replied, “Of course I expressed my opinions, because I was producing the record and so was he. 

“And so was, who else… Who was it? [Bob] Ezrin and James Guthrie. So we would all stick our oar in,” he continued, before adding the team would “sometimes leave him alone to do a few takes”.

While on the topic of Gilmour’s solos, Waters then singled out the Comfortably Numb solo – which was voted third best of all time by Guitar World readers in 2021 – and sought to seemingly set the record straight on how the effort was put together.

“When you read my memoir, you can read various peoples' stories about what happened,” Waters asserted. “Ezrin has lied through his fucking teeth about it for years and years. It’s wonderful. 

“The end of Comfortably Numb, for instance – and if I’m getting this wrong, James Guthrie will correct me – Ezrin waxes eloquent in interviews that he’s done since about how incredible it was that David did it in one take, and how moving it is and universal and blah, blah blah…

“The only problem with that story is he wasn't there. Bob Ezrin was not in the studio when Dave did that. Guthrie was there and David did umpteen takes, and then he went away and James Guthrie edited the best bits of all the takes and stuck it together.”

It’s not the first time Waters and Gilmour’s solos have been mentioned in the same breath recently. Discussion of the Comfortably Numb solo calls back to an exchange from earlier this year, in which Waters says he was misquoted calling David Gilmour’s solos “horrible”.

In February, an uncited source referenced in a publication called El Pais made the claim that all of Gilmour’s guitar solos from The Dark Side of the Moon – which is being reissued as The Dark Side of the Moon Redux by Waters – were removed because the singer disliked them.

Those lead efforts were indeed removed – the recently released re-recording of Money was completely solo-less – but it wasn’t because Waters thought they were “horrible”.

“I love Dave’s guitar solos on DSOTM, both of them, and on [Wish You Were Here] and on Animals and on The Wall and on The Final Cut,” Waters said in an Instagram post at the time. “In my, albeit biased view, Dave’s solos on those albums, constitute a collection of some of the very best guitar solos in the history of rock and roll.”

In his YouTube Q&A, Waters once again doubled down on his praise: “I like all [of] Gilmour’s solos,” he stressed. “I say [it] so often. I say so, I believe, in the sleeve notes on the new record.

“There’s nothing wrong with Dave’s solos. There’s nothing wrong with his solos on The Wall, or his solos on Animals, or his solos on The Dark Side of the Moon, or Wish You Were Here, or The Final Cut, or any of the work that I did with him. I’m a fan. They’re great.”

Roger Waters has released a new take on Pink Floyd’s Money, which serves as the lead single from the vocalist/bassist's forthcoming re-recording of The Dark Side of the Moon.

News of Waters’ revisionist project broke back in February, with the Pink Floyd co-founder reportedly cutting David Gilmour and the rest of the band out of the 1973 classic without their knowledge.

“I wrote The Dark Side of the Moon,” he asserted at the time in an interview with The Telegraph. “Let’s get rid of all this ‘we’ crap! Of course we were a band, there were four of us, we all contributed – but it’s my project and I wrote it. So… blah!”

Now, after sharing a brief snippet of a reimagined Us and Them in March, Waters has officially dropped the first preview of The Dark Side of the Moon Redux.

It’s certainly a stark contrast to the original. Gone are Gilmour’s swanky Fender Stratocaster snaps and electrifying guitar solos. Gone, too, are Mason’s galloping drums, and that sizzling sax solo.

Instead, Waters has flipped Money on its head, transforming it from a helter skelter thrill ride into a brooding, reflective acoustic guitar journey, further differentiating it from the original with dense layers of moody strings, foreboding piano and a spoken word section. 

Also absent from the song is the opening’s iconic cash register sound effect – no wonder, considering the sound effect has been the cause of yet more tension between Waters and Gilmour in recent months.

Citing an interview Gilmour gave Rolling Stone in 1982 in which he described the origins of the cash register effect, Waters wrote on his website, “He has no fucking idea what he’s talking about. Why? Because… DG wasn’t there when I made that SFX tape loop for Money in the studio I shared with my wife Judy.”

Upon releasing his new take on Money, Waters dove deeper into his reasoning for wanting to re-record The Dark Side of the Moon, arguing that the message of the original take “hasn’t stuck”.

“The original Dark Side of the Moon feels in some ways like the lament of an elder being on the human condition,” he offered. “But Dave, Rick, Nick and I were so young when we made it, and when you look at the world around us, clearly the message hasn’t stuck. 

“That’s why I started to consider what the wisdom of an 80 year-old could bring to a reimagined version. I’m immensely proud of what we have created, a work that can sit proudly alongside the original, hand-in-hand across a half-century of time.”

Accompanying the single is news that The Dark Side of the Moon Redux will arrive on October 6, along with a 13-minute original composition to serve as the record closer.

For updates, head over to Roger Waters' website.

Known for his warm tones and buttery-smooth licks, Terence Charles White, aka 'Snowy', quietly positioned himself as one of the more sought-after rock guitar guns for hire in the 1970s and '80s.

Though he's long been known for brandishing a vintage Gibson Les Paul Goldtop, for many, White's grandest moment came as an ancillary member of Pink Floyd's ranks during the recording of the band's 1977 album, Animals. As legend states, White wandered into Britannia Row one fateful day, and after securing a gig as a touring member, White – at the urging of Roger Waters – laid down a solo that would last a lifetime – in just one take.

“It was just after they offered me the gig that I recorded the solo for Pigs on the Wing," White recalls. "David [Gilmour] and I went back into the control room, and he said to Roger [Waters], 'Snowy has agreed to take the gig,' and Roger said, 'Well, while you're here, you might as well play something.'”

“So, Roger swivels around and puts on Pigs on the Wing," White continues. "And then he said, 'Why don't you do a solo in the middle? Go ahead and pick up any of those guitars out there and have a go at it.' So, I picked up this white Strat, plugged it in, fiddled about, and then did the solo in one take. I know one take sounds impressive, but honestly, I got lucky that I did such a nice one right away.”

Ironically, the entire reason that White devoted himself to his Les Paul in the first place was a rather intense disdain for Fender Stratocasters. And while White's Goldtop-slinging ways might have garnered him attention from the boys in Floyd, on that fateful date in the studio, it was a Strat that White used to work his magic.

“I know, I know… it's funny that I used a Strat for Pigs on the Wing," White laughs. "I was so used to my Les Paul by that point, and I was surprised that I felt as comfortable as I did with that Strat. I still hated it, but I got through it [laughs]. Even though I was using a Strat, I still think that solo turned out quite nice.”

“What's funny, though, is I remember reading someone comment on that,” White recalls. “I remember it clear as day – they said, 'What's this? Snowy White doesn't play Strats; this can't be Snowy White.' And I just thought, 'You know, I'm allowed to pick up another guitar and play it, too.' But I'm known as the Les Paul man, so what can I say?”

Now retired from touring, and in-between sessions for his next record, White dialed in with Guitar World to recount his long journey from a Strat-wilding kid from Barnstaple to sharing the stage with Pink Floyd, Thin Lizzy, and beyond.

What first inspired you to pick up the guitar?

“When I was 10 or 11 years old, I wasn't a very outgoing sort of boy, meaning I was a bit shy. I often kept to myself, but one day I walked past a classroom with this handsome lad – unlike me – sitting at a table playing the guitar. He was surrounded by girls, and I thought, 'Right… I'd like to learn to play the guitar.' Truth be told, I'd been interested in it before, but the idea of girls and increased popularity is what spurred me on to finally pursue it full-on.”

Moving forward, when did you obtain your trusty Gibson Les Paul Goldtop?

“I came upon the Goldtop while I was in Sweden with my first band, Train. I'd moved there when I was just 17, and at the time, I'd been playing a Strat that my parents had given me when I was 10. Anyway, we were rehearsing, and the drummer in Train knew that I'd been yearning for a Les Paul and that I didn't like the Strat.

“So, he said, 'Listen, I've got a friend who has had this Les Paul under his bed for ages, and he's thinking of selling it. Shall I put you in touch?' I was quite excited to hear this, and I said, 'Go on then, let's have a look.' So, I did, and this guy pulled the guitar out from under his bed, and as fate would have it, there was my Les Paul.”

What was it about the Les Paul that drew you in?

“Now, I have to say, I don't really know anything about guitars [laughs]. All I knew then is what I know now – I wanted a Les Paul. I loved how they looked and thought they sounded much better than my Strat. When I picked it up, as I suspected, it sounded alright, so I swapped him my Strat and £120 for the Les Paul. 

“I think I borrowed some money from my dad when I was last in England, and my Swedish girlfriend put some money towards it, too. I was lucky because it turned out to be a fantastic guitar. Of course, I didn't know that at the time… for all I knew, it could have been rubbish [laughs].”

What was it about the Strat that you didn't like?

“Everything. I didn't like the weight of it. I didn't like the sound – I couldn't get the sounds I wanted out of it. Plus, I felt it felt it was a bit flimsy. I started hitting my guitar pretty hard, and I didn't think the Strat could handle it. I also liked that warm Les Paul sound, which is the main reason I wanted the thing. So, it was an easy decision for all those reasons.”

How did the Les Paul shape your sound as you moved forward?

“That's hard to say, because all I did was fiddle with the amplifier until I got a sound I liked. But I knew that Peter Green had his pickups installed incorrectly, giving him a special sound. I liked that, but Pete's guitar was sort of permanently like that, and I didn't want that all the time, so I added a switch on mine that would put it out of phase. So, I had a whole range of nice, subtle changes of time to play with.

“The sounds I was after were warm and not too distorted. I wanted that nice, warm tone, but it had to be fairly clean. I also wanted it to stay in the middle range, with just a touch of reverb to sweeten it up as I wanted. I guess I was always searching for what I'll call a 'sweet tone,' which is not always so obvious or easy to describe. It's a sound with just the right amount of treble and reverb, and not very distorted at all.”

What was the earliest recording that you recall using the Goldtop on?

“Oh, that's a good question. Nobody's ever asked me that before. I did a session for a singer called Linda Lewis; the girlfriend of a friend called Jim Cregan. She was doing a recording and asked me if I would come in and play on a few things. 

“Not too long after I arrived in Sweden, it became apparent that I needed to be in London if I wanted to do anything. So, I went to London, and soon after that – in 1969 – I met Jim and his girlfriend, Linda Lewis. And several years later, Linda was recording her album, Not a Little Girl Anymore – that was the first session I used the Goldtop on.”

How did you become involved with Pink Floyd later in the '70s?

“I got a call from someone who said Pink Floyd was looking for an augmenting guitar player for their live work and that they were given my name. I was told that the guys in Floyd had been trying to call me and that I should get in touch. I had ignored the calls at first because, at the time, I was a fairly narrow-minded blues player, and I didn't know anything about Pink Floyd and didn't care much to find out.

“Honestly, I thought they were drug-crazed hippies [laughs]. They had been messing about with all this funny stuff, and none of it was the sort of thing I was interested in. So, I didn't call them. But somebody else mentioned it to me again and said, 'Snowy, why don't you call them? This would be a good gig for you.' So, I thought about it, and I did. 

“I went and contacted their manager [Steve O'Rourke], and he said, 'Can you come down to the studio, see the guys, hear what they're recording, and get a feel for what it's all about?' I thought about it again and said, 'Okay, I'll come down and see about it.'”

Can you describe the scene once you arrived at the studio?

“It was quite casual, really. Roger and David were hanging out in the control room. Roger said to Dave, 'Why don't you take Snowy into the office and tell him what the gig's about?' 

“Next thing I know, I'm sitting across from Dave, who says, 'Right, okay. So, we'll need you to play a bit of 12-string, some rhythm, some lead, a bit of harmony, and some bass – you can play bass, can't you?' I said, 'Well, yeah…' and he said, 'Great. So, what do you think? Do you want the gig?' I said, 'Yeah, okay, but – don't you want to hear me play?'

“The truth was that I didn't know their music. I really didn't. And I always loathed doing that sort of thing because I'm useless at learning other people's songs - I'm not a session guy. I don't know where that came from – because, again, I'm a narrow-minded blues guy. So, I said, 'Well, maybe we should have a jam, so you can hear me play?' And he said, 'Well, you wouldn't be here if you couldn't play, would you?' I said, 'Well, no.' He said, 'Right. You've got the job,' and that was it. That's how I got the gig with Pink Floyd.”

Once on tour with Floyd, how did the division of guitar-related labor between you and David shake out?

“Again, it was very casual. Before we got on the road, they sent me all the albums, and I sat at home and listened to them, with a particular focus on the tracks they wanted me to play live. The first record I put on was Wish You Were Here, and I found that to be quite nice, with some lovely guitar playing. So, that eased things up for a bit and made me feel like, 'This is something I can handle, and maybe I can even add something here.'

“When we got to rehearsals, I roughly knew what I wanted to do and what was expected of me on each track. It was as Dave said – some bass, some acoustic, some rhythm, some harmony, and even some lead. I must say that Dave was very generous with the leads and gave me chances to shine. He had a great feel for the songs, and he'd queue me in when he wanted me to take the lead or if he wanted me to hang back.”

The interrelations within Floyd in the late '70s are said to have been quite interesting. What were your observations between Roger and David during your time with them?

“Interesting… that's one way to describe it. I think it's a lot like living in China – it all depends on where you are – but it was an interesting time. Things would be going on all the time, but I am the sort of guy who lets things go in one ear and out the other. I was learning my songs, playing my parts, and doing my best, so I had my hands full. But there was stuff going on, and it wasn't very good. 

“I could hear the arguments between Roger and Dave occasionally, but I did my best to drown that out and focus on doing my thing. It wasn't any concern of mine. But I could tell things weren't going smoothly, and they weren't getting on well.”

Considering you toured with Roger later, would you say you ultimately became closer to Roger than the rest of the band?

“Well, yeah, I worked with Roger a lot more. We did 13 years of touring, which went on almost every year for months. So yeah, I guess so. Then again, I didn't ever really get close too close with any of them. And I think that was because I felt that I didn't need to do that. Instead, I did my thing, did my best, and enjoyed it. 

“For me, it was fine, but I didn't get involved on a social level with Roger, particularly. We'd email and occasionally talk, but we're not on the same wavelength overall. We had musical chemistry rather than a personal one, I think.”

How did you become involved with Thin Lizzy?

“Well, that was another thing that I drifted into. I was rehearsing in London with Cliff Richard, and I bumped into Scott Gorham. He said, 'I saw you playing with Pink Floyd at Madison Square Garden; what a great concert. We're actually trying out guitar players next door, do you want to come and have a go?' And I said, 'Well, I can't; I'm working with Cliff Richard right now, sorry.'

“But a few days later, Scott found me and said, 'We still haven't found anybody. Do you want to come along and have a go?' So, I did, and we played a bit, and then Phil [Lynott] said to the band, 'Shall we let Snowy into the band?' And they said, 'Yeah, let's have him.' But looking back, I don't think I was the right person for that band. I did add some things, but it never felt right.”

Why do you feel you weren't a fit?

“Musically, we did some great things, but our mindsets were not aligned. I was quite surprised at how much time was wasted. I wasn't used to that sort of rock and roll thing where it's, 'Oh, we don't really care about wasting money and not being on time.' It certainly took me a while to get used to that, because when I'm booked in the studio at a certain time, I'm there. 

“I tried to get used to it, and I did alright. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't for me. I put everything into it that I could, but I didn't fit in socially. I was the only former member not in attendance at Thin Lizzy's famed final concert, which shows how well we got on socially [laughs].”

My understanding is that you've parted ways with your beloved Goldtop. What led to that?

“Yes, I'm afraid that's true. I had a lot of problems with my elbow and my shoulder, and the Goldtop was wasting away in the cupboard under a pile of clothes in my bedroom. I don't know what came over me, but I just wanted to move on from it for some reason. I felt it was holding me back, although I had it for about 45 years or more. 

“That Goldtop was my only guitar for a long time, and I loved it. It sounded great, but I had started thinking about selling it. So, I contacted Heritage Auctions in America, and they put it in their Beverly Hills auction, and it went overseas. From there, it took on a life of its own, so I let it go.”

Do you have any regrets about doing so?

“I regret it occasionally, and I'll tell you why: I haven't found another Les Paul that sounds anything like it. And that's quite frustrating, but I don't do live shows anymore, and I've got other guitars that can do the job in the studio. It would be a problem if I were still playing live, but I haven't done a live show since June 7, 2019. 

“Occasionally, I get a twinge and miss it, but I was pleased I'd sold it then, and I understand that it went to a good home. I wish I hadn't – but I'm glad I did, if that makes sense. Even if it doesn't, it makes sense to me.”

You're using PRS guitars for the most part now, right?

“Well, yes, but I've been using them to some extent since I started touring with Roger in '99. Roger asking prompted me to use PRS in the first place. He called and said, 'We're starting to rehearse; I need you in the Hamptons next week.' So, I had to go overseas for this tour, but I didn't want to have to carry my Les Paul.

“So, Paul Reed Smith loaned me a couple of guitars to play over there, and he let me keep them. I found that I liked them as they were very light and lovely guitars. No, they're not the same as a Les Paul, but I added some humbuckers and a few bits to get some authentic sounds when needed. So, after I sold the Goldtop, I did start using my PRS guitars more as they're easier on my body, and I was used to them to some extent.”

How do you stay inspired to create new sounds?

“I must say, it's a little bit frustrating sometimes; there are days when I'll only play for maybe five or 10 minutes because my fingers don't do what my brain tells them to do anymore. But I suppose my attitude is that I've got nothing to prove to others or myself at this point. 

“So, I just do some tasty little bits until I don't feel like doing it anymore. The problem is, when you've been playing for as long as I have, it's difficult not to think that you've done it all and that you're somehow repeating yourself. So, I'll occasionally try and change things to do something different, but I'll usually mess around with the controls and hope that what comes back at me sounds good.”

Pink Floyd's 1973 opus, The Dark Side of the Moon, is one of the most commercially successful albums in rock history, having sold over 15 million copies in the United States alone.

Still, the band's former bass guitar player, Roger Waters, recently decided to embark on a wholesale re-imagining of the album.

Waters, who served as Pink Floyd's principal songwriter for the majority of his tenure in the band, decided to embark on the project without his surviving bandmates, drummer Nick Mason and electric guitar hero David Gilmour. 

To hear Waters tell it, Mason, Gilmour and late Floyd keyboardist Rick Wright have received far too much credit for Dark Side over the years. 

“I wrote The Dark Side of the Moon. Let’s get rid of all this ‘we’ crap," he told The Telegraph in an interview last month. "Of course we were a band – there were four of us, we all contributed – but it’s my project and I wrote it, so... blah.”

Earlier this week, Waters released a clip teasing his re-working of Us and Them, the first snippet of music from the new version of the album that's been made public to date. You can hear it below. 

It's worth noting that the "Let’s get rid of all this ‘we’ crap" quote wasn't even the most fiery from the Waters Telegraph interview, a crown that probably goes to: “Well, Nick never pretended. But Gilmour and Rick? They can’t write songs, they’ve nothing to say," Waters said. "They are not artists! They have no ideas, not a single one between them. They never have had, and that drives them crazy.” 

In a note accompanying the release of the new Us and Them snippet, however, Waters struck a much more conciliatory tone toward his former collaborators.

"It's not a replacement for the original which, obviously, is irreplaceable," Waters wrote of the new recording on YouTube, "But it is a way for the 79-year-old man to look back across the intervening fifty years into the eyes of the 29-year-old and say – to quote a poem of mine about my father – 'We did our best, we kept his trust, our Dad would have been proud of us.' 

"Also," Waters continued, "it's a way for me to honor a recording that Nick and Rick and Dave and I have every right to be very proud of."

Waters' 2023 version of The Dark Side of the Moon is provisionally set for release in May.

For updates on the project, visit Waters' website.

Pink Floyd have been in the news quite a bit lately, though not for entirely good reasons.

Since his acrimonious departure from Pink Floyd almost 40 years ago, Roger Waters' relationship with Floyd's lead singer and electric guitar player, David Gilmour, has been – even at the best of times – fairly icy.

Indeed, in 2023, the pair's public squabbling has taken a particularly nasty, and personal, turn. Before this, even, there was the pair's public spat in 2021 over the the remastered edition of Pink Floyd's 1977 album, Animals, which was – according to Waters – held up by Gilmour for featuring liner notes that centered too much on the band's former bass guitar player and principal songwriter. 

Let's look back on the better times then, shall we?  

In 2005, at the behest of Bob Geldof, the band's classic lineup – Gilmour, Waters, Rick Wright on keyboards and Nick Mason on drums – got together for what turned out to be their final performance, a triumphant, 20-minute headlining slot at the worldwide Live 8 festival. 

Though brief, the performance would play host to a stunning, set-closing version of Comfortably Numb, which marked the final time Gilmour would use his iconic black Stratocaster – an instrument that would later sell for $3.98 million, making it, at the time, the most valuable guitar ever sold at auction – onstage with Pink Floyd.

Along with Comfortably Numb, the band performed Breathe, Money and Wish You Were Here. The re-constituted group didn't arrive at even that brief setlist, however, without some internal bickering.

"We made suggestions [for the Live 8 setlist] and Roger made suggestions, and I didn’t care for Roger’s suggestions," Gilmour told Guitar Player in a 2021 interview. "In the end, I thought, 'Actually, we’re Pink Floyd and he’s our guest, and he can just do what we tell him to do or fuck off.'"

Waters, Gilmour explained, wanted the band to play a set heavy on tracks from The Wall, like Another Brick in the Wall and In the Flesh, along with Money, but was overruled on the former two.

For Wish You Were Here, Gilmour used a 1985 Gibson J-200 Celebrity acoustic guitar that was originally owned by Dire Straits' John Illsley, sold to Gilmour in 1994 – ahead of Pink Floyd's Division Bell tour – then subsequently auctioned off in 2019 (along with the Black Strat) as part of the record-shattering auction of much of the Pink Floyd legend's guitar collection for charity.

The ornate acoustic has since been listed on Reverb.com, where today it can be acquired for a mere $357,500.

Inevitably, Pink Floyd's Live 8 set generated quite a bit of buzz about a permanent reunion of the band's classic lineup – a fantasy that never came to pass, and was permanently scuttled by Rick Wright's death in 2008 due to lung cancer.

Gilmour, for his part, has repeatedly and firmly dismissed the possibility, telling Louder in a 2022 oral history of the Live 8 performance, "The rehearsals convinced me it [playing with Pink Floyd] wasn’t something I wanted to be doing a lot of."

It is worth noting, though, that Live 8 didn't mark the final time Gilmour used the Black Strat live with Roger Waters. 

On May 12, 2011, Gilmour made a special onstage cameo at one of Waters' solo performances of The Wall, assisting his one-time bandmate – Black Strat in hand – with a stirring (and much-appreciated) rendition of Comfortably Numb.

He and Floyd drummer Nick Mason – on mandolin and tambourine, respectively – would also join Waters later that night for a set-closing Outside the Wall, marking the last time to date the three surviving members of Pink Floyd have performed together in any capacity. 

Gilmour and Mason have revived the Pink Floyd name for two Waters-less studio projects in recent years – The Endless River, a 2014 album culled from recordings the duo made with Wright in the mid-'90s, and Hey Hey Rise Up, a new song the duo recorded and released in the wake of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Just don't expect any more live performances.

"I’m done with it," Gilmour said of Pink Floyd's live career in a 2021 Guitar Player interview. "I’ve had a life in Pink Floyd for quite a lot of years, and quite a few of those years at the beginning, with Roger. And those years in what is now considered to be our heyday were 95 percent musically fulfilling and joyous and full of fun and laughter. 

"I certainly don’t want to let the other five percent color my view of what was a long and fantastic time together. But it has run its course, we are done, and it would be fakery to go back and do it again. And to do it without Rick [Wright] would just be wrong.

"I’m all for Roger doing whatever he wants to do and enjoying himself and getting the joy he must have had out of those Wall shows," he continued. "I’m at peace with all of these things. But I absolutely don’t want to go back. I don’t want to go and play stadiums. I’m free to do exactly what I want to do and how I want to do it."

Roger Waters has issued a statement in which he says he was misquoted by a previously published article that claimed he called David Gilmour’s guitar solos “horrible”.

In a lengthy post on Twitter, Waters singled out an article published by The New Statesman titled The War within Pink Floyd, and took aim at the fact it quoted him as labeling Gilmour’s guitar solos in The Dark Side of the Moon as “horrible”.

However, The New Statesman’s article attributed the quote to a Spanish publication called El País – which in turn did not cite a source at the time – with the latter suggesting the solos were removed by Waters’ from his upcoming re-recorded version of The Dark Side of the Moon as they were “horrible”.

In response, Water has defended Gilmour’s guitar playing, saying his solos on that album along with a handful of other Pink Floyd records “constitute a collection of some of the very best guitar solos in the history of rock and roll”.

“There is, in the article, something upon which I need to set the record straight,” he wrote. “I quote, ‘Part of this will involve him removing, as quoted in Spain’s El País newspaper, Gilmour’s “horrible guitar solos.”’

“Now, I don’t know who he thinks he’s quoting when he says Gilmour’s ‘horrible guitar solos’ but it sure as shit ain’t me,” Waters went on. “I was there, I love Dave’s guitar solos on DSOTM, both of them, and on [Wish You Were Here] and on Animals and on The Wall and on The Final Cut.

“In my, albeit biased view, Dave’s solos on those albums, constitute a collection of some of the very best guitar solos in the history of rock and roll.”

Waters’s defence of Gilmour’s guitar solos comes after the pair – along with Gilmour’s wife, novelist Polly Samson – engaged in a war of words, with Samson recently labeling the bassist a Putin apologist and “anti-semitic to your rotten core”. Gilmour backed up Samson by saying every word of her post was “demonstrably true”.

After the tweets, Waters disparaged the contributions of Gilmour and late keyboardist Richard Wright in an interview with The Telegraph, claiming, “They can’t write songs, they’ve nothing to say. They are not artists! They have no ideas, not a single one between them. They never have had, and that drives them crazy.”

In that same interview, Waters announced he would be releasing a rerecorded version of Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon, reportedly cutting his former bandmates out of the record without their knowledge.

Waters has apparently augmented the album’s instrumentals with spoken word, putting a “dreadful prose poem” that was written after a nightmare over On the Run. Waters also went on to say he reworked the album because no-one understood its meaning.

“I wrote The Dark Side of the Moon,” he said. “Let’s get rid of all this ‘we’ crap! Of course we were a band, there were four of us, we all contributed – but it’s my project and I wrote it. So… blah!”

The recording is reportedly set to release in May.

In a week in which relations between Roger Waters and his former Pink Floyd bandmate David Gilmour reached new lows, Waters has revealed that he has rerecorded the band’s 1973 classic The Dark Side of the Moon – cutting the rest of the band out of the album.

Indeed, the other members of Pink Floyd were not made aware of the project, which is reportedly scheduled for release in May. The former Floyd bass guitar player revealed the project in an interview with the Telegraph, arguing that it was his album all along. He then trashed his former bandmates, accusing them being irrelevant to Pink Floyd’s songwriting.

“Well, Nick never pretended. But Gilmour and Rick [Wright, the keyboardist]? They can’t write songs, they’ve nothing to say. They are not artists!” said Waters. “They have no ideas, not a single one between them. They never have had, and that drives them crazy.” 

On Monday, 6 February, Polly Samson, Pink Floyd lyricist and wife of Gilmour, accused Waters of being a “Putin apologist”, an antisemite and a megalomaniac amongst other things. Gilmour quoted Samson’s tweet and wrote, “Every word demonstrably true.”

Waters refuted the allegations and suggested he was taking legal advice. Sadly, he is not taking an oath of silence. In the Telegraph interview, he indeed offered more apologia for Putin, advancing more Kremlin talking points – “It may be that he’s leading his country to the benefit of all of the people of Russia.”

As for the music, the Telegraph’s Tristram Fane Saunders says Waters has augmented The Dark Side of the Moon’s instrumentals with spoken word, putting a “dreadful pose poem” that was written after a nightmare over On the Run.

Waters says he reworked the album because no-one understood its meaning, a suitably arcane theme about “the voice of reason” and Atticus Finch speaking via bonfire. All of which sounds a little like Harper Lee rewriting the Old Testament – which would only be mildly more blasphemous than reworking The Dark Side of the Moon without David Gilmour’s Fender Stratocaster in the mix. 

Waters says he has no idea what copyright issues might arise from this project – the credits suggest there will be several – but nevertheless insists that the album is his to do with as he likes.

 “I wrote The Dark Side of the Moon,” he said. “Let’s get rid of all this ‘we’ crap! Of course we were a band, there were four of us, we all contributed – but it’s my project and I wrote it. So… blah!”

Saunders reports that the multi-instrumentalist Gus Seyffert and Azniv Korkejian (aka Boudaine) feature on the recording, with a Baptist minister on Hammond organ. Waters apparently sings throughout and plays bass on just one track, Us and Them.

Former Pink Floyd bassist/vocalist and co-founder Roger Waters has taken aim at R&B royalty The Weeknd – aka Abel Makkonen Tesfaye – and rap titan Drake, arguing that he considers himself and his music to be “far, far, far more important” than them.

The comments came during an interview with Canadian outlet Globe and Mail, during which Waters lamented the fact The Weeknd’s recent gig in Toronto – which was canceled due to a widespread outage – seemed to get extensive media coverage.

Waters’ more direct criticism of The Weeknd, however, came after the interviewer apologized for not reviewing his first This Is Not a Drill tour show earlier this month as he was tasked with covering The Weeknd’s debut After Hours Til Dawn tour concert on the same night.

“I have no idea what or who the Weeknd is, because I don’t listen to much music,” Waters responded. “People have told me he’s a big act. Well, good luck to him. I’ve got nothing against him. Would it not have been possible to review his show one night and my show another night?”

The Pink Floyd guitarist then name-dropped The Weeknd’s Canadian compatriot Drake in the discussion, saying, “With all due respect to The Weeknd or Drake or any of them, I am far, far, far more important than any of them will ever be, however many billions of streams they’ve got. 

“I’m not trying to make a personal attack. I’m just saying it seemed odd,” he continued. “There is stuff going on here that is fundamentally important to all of our lives.”

It's not clear who “any of them” are, but the “fundamentally important” things that Water alludes to are presumably related to the political and social commentaries that feature in his This Is Not a Drill setlist.

Waters suggested that his former bandmates in Pink Floyd put the brakes on his polemical instincts. “They were always trying to drag me back from my natural instinct, which is to tell the truth,” he said.

Back in January 2020, Waters said, “This tour will be part of a global movement by people who are concerned by others to affect the change that is necessary.

“That’s why we’re going on the road. That’s why we speak to each other in pubs. That’s why this conversation should be on everybody’s lips, constantly, the whole time, because it’s super important. So I hope you’ll all come to the shows.”

If you do, don't expect Waters to play all the hits. After upbraiding the Globe and Mail's reviews section, he was delighted to hear that one audience member didn’t find his show “upbeat”, and expressed no little contempt for heritage acts who cater to their audience’s nostalgia. 

“Thank you for noticing that it wasn’t just a sing-along party of old hits,” Waters said. “I don’t go to those kinds of shows, because I don’t like them. The old bands go out and trundle through their hits year after year after year. 

“Yeah, some are my friends. And do you know what I noticed? The audiences are all 100 years old. They’re listening to Layla and they’re almost a dying breed.” 

Waters said that if anyone comes to his show and expects old Pink Floyd then they have misunderstood what he has been about his whole career. That said, he did say he still enjoyed performing Money, Us and Them, and Eclipse.

Speaking to Rolling Stone a year before about a forthcoming tour, Waters also stated, “It will be even more political than Us + Them was – political and humane… I thought that could be a good title for the show: This Is Not a Drill. The ruling class is killing us.”

Having said that, The Weeknd is not afraid of addressing such topics in his own work. His 2022 album, Dawn FM, was equally influenced by the issues that permeated through America at the time.

“I have been more inspired and creative during the pandemic than I might normally be,” he told Tmrw Magazine in 2021. "The pandemic, the Black Lives Matter movement and the tensions of the US election have mostly created a sense of gratitude for what I have and closeness with the people near me.”

Head over to Roger Waters' website and The Weeknd's website to find out their respective live dates for this year. The former might be pleased to hear they aren't set to cross paths again for the remainder of the two tours.

Last June, Roger Waters – Pink Floyd's one-time bass guitar player and main songwriter – made headlines when he publicly attacked former bandmate David Gilmour for allegedly vetoing the release of a forthcoming remastered edition of Pink Floyd's 1977 album, Animals. 

Gilmour, Waters said, would not let the release of the new edition of Animals occur until its liner notes – which were written by Mark Blake and centered mostly on Waters' vision for the album and the band's direction at the time – were removed. Waters subsequently agreed to the alleged provision, but only after he posted the liner notes to his own website.

Now, with the public jousting seemingly over, Pink Floyd have finally detailed the Animals remaster.

Overseen by James Guthrie, the "2018 remix" edition of Animals will be released in CD, LP, Blu-ray, SACD and Deluxe Gatefold formats.

The Deluxe Gatefold edition of the album features the LP, CD, Blu-ray, and DVD, plus a 32-page book with live images and behind-the-scenes photos of the album sleeve shoot, while the Blu-ray and DVD feature the remix in stereo and 5.1 Surround Sound. The Blu-ray and DVD also include the original stereo mix of the LP from 1977.

Sandwiched between two of Pink Floyd's most successful and enduring works – 1975's Wish You Were Here and 1979's The Wall – Animals was notable for its dour themes of societal decay and harder-edged sound, which dovetailed with the punk rock that was in vogue at the time of its release.

Intriguingly, Animals 2018 Remix also features a re-imagining of the original LP's iconic cover, created by Aubrey ‘Po’ Powell, a longtime creative partner of the late Pink Floyd-associated artist Storm Thorgerson. 

You can see the re-imagined cover below, and preorder Animals 2018 Remix via Pink Floyd's website. The individual versions of the album will be available starting September 16, with the Deluxe edition dropping on October 7.

It's the most significant activity from the band since they – sans Waters – stunned the music world by resurfacing with a new song, Hey Hey Rise Up, in April. Recorded in support of the people of Ukraine, the song features Gilmour, Nick Mason, longtime Floyd bassist Guy Pratt and keyboardist Nitin Sawhney, and vocals from Andriy Khlyvnyuk, of the Ukrainian band BoomBox.

Roger Waters, the former Pink Floyd bassist, songwriter and vocalist, has said he was in “toxic environment” during his time with the progressive rock giants.

Speaking to Marc Maron’s WTF Podcast, Waters made the comments as part of a larger discussion about the band’s legacy, revealing that he was not confident in his musical abilities during the his time with the band.

“I always felt insignificant and somewhat inept,” says Waters. “It’s more recently, over the years, I’ve come to realise that actually I have quite a sophisticated musical brain. That I notice things that other people don’t notice.” 

Waters also says that it was not until he left the band that he started to understand why he felt that way at the time.

“I think it’s very important that I got away when I did…” says the musician. “I was in a very toxic environment. I was around some people, well, David and Rick mainly, who were always trying to drag me down. They were always trying to knock me off whatever that perch was.”

Maron then prompted Waters to explain how his bandmates did this.

“By claiming that I was tone deaf and that I didn’t understand music,” alleges Waters. “[They’d thought] ‘Oh he’s just a boring, kind of, teacher figure who tells us what to do, but he can’t tune his own guitar.’ Stuff like that… They were very snotty or snipe-y because they felt very insignificant at that point.”

Somewhat surprisingly Waters later insists, “I’m not putting them down, but those years we were together, whatever it was like socially, there is no question that we did some really good work together and we all contributed.”

The fallout of Pink Floyd’s classic line-up has been well-documented, but it seems this is one situation where time has not been a great healer. David Gilmour has insisted there will never be a reunion, while earlier this year Waters took to Twitter to share some prospective liner notes from the recent reissue of Pink Floyd’s Animals, alleging that Gilmour wanted them removed in order to “claim more credit… than is his due” for the album.

Roger Waters has shared the liner notes for Pink Floyd’s recent Animals remaster following a dispute with electric guitar legend David Gilmour, alleging that Gilmour wanted them removed due to credit issues.

In a lengthy statement posted to his website on May 31, Waters accused Gilmour of wanting to bury the liner notes in order to “claim more credit… than is his due” for the album.

Waters also alleges that Gilmour “has for the last 35 years told a lot of whopping porky pies about who did what in Pink Floyd when I was still in charge”.

“As I am banned by Dave Gilmour from posting on Pink Floyd’s Facebook page with its 30,000,000 subscribers, I am posting this announcement here today and in full on rogerwaters.com,” the post reads.

“What precipitated this note is that there are new James Guthrie Stereo and 5.1 mixes of the Pink Floyd album Animals, 1977. These mixes have languished unreleased because of a dispute over some sleeve notes that Mark Blake has written for this new release.

“Gilmour has vetoed the release of the album unless these liner notes are removed. He does not dispute the veracity of the history described in Mark’s notes, but he wants that history to remain a secret.”

Waters continues, “This is a small part of an ongoing campaign by the Gilmour/Samson camp to claim more credit for Dave on the work he did in Pink Floyd, 1967-1985, than is his due. He has for the last 35 years told a lot of whopping porky pies… There’s a lot of, ‘We did this’ and, ‘We did that’, and, ‘I did this’ and, ‘I did that.’”

As an example, the Pink Floyd bass player cites a 1982 interview with Rolling Stone magazine, during which Gilmour recalled the process of creating the cash register effect found on Money.

“The reason everything DG is saying here sounds like gobbledygook, is because it is fucking gobbledygook,” claims Waters. “He has no fucking idea what he’s talking about. Why? Because… DG wasn’t there when I made that SFX tape loop for Money in the studio I shared with my wife Judy.”

The liner notes, which Waters has posted in their entirety, will not feature when the remastered version of Animals is released.

Head over to Roger Waters’ official website to read the album liner notes in full.

When Pink Floyd recorded 1987’s A Momentary Lapse of Reason, it was following an acrimonious split with founding bass guitar player and songwriter Roger Waters. In Waters’ place, singer and guitarist David Gilmour drafted 20-something bassist Guy Pratt, who, at that time, was best known for playing with David Bowie and Robert Palmer.

In a new interview with Rolling Stone, Pratt, who went on to fill the bass slot on every subsequent Floyd album and tour, as well as for the majority of Gilmour’s solo work, details his audition for Floyd – which, amazingly, did not include him actually playing the bass.

As he recalls, “Singing Run Like Hell was my audition. I actually turned up after a really big night. I was in terrible shape and was like, ‘I’ve fuckin’ blown it.’ But it was actually because I was so battered that I sang it fantastically. If I was rested, I’d probably have been way too self-conscious.

“David asked me to go back for a second audition and he was like, ‘Okay, sing it again.’ I was like, ‘Why? I’ve done it once.’ Even though I was terrified, I was coming off as cocky. David was like, ‘Fuck this guy. I’ll risk him.'

He continued, "I never actually played bass at the auditions. All I did was sing Run Like Hell. I don’t know what that says about what David thinks about the complexity of Pink Floyd bass playing. He was just like, ‘I know you can play the bass.’”

Pratt went on to say that he never felt like he was replacing Waters, primarily because, according to him, Waters didn’t play much bass on Pink Floyd records.

“David played half the bass on those records and I never thought of Roger as a bass player,” Pratt said. “He was this sort of grand conceptualist.

“I used to think it was funny when people said it as a compliment, ‘You’re as good a bass player as Roger Waters.’ It was like, ‘Well, thanks. I think I’d rather write The Wall.'"

Many of us might recognise guitar player and multi-instrumentalist Jonathan Wilson for his collaborations, most recently accompanying Roger Waters on tour and playing stadium shows that presented Waters' oeuvre in a quasi-cinematic production.

Wilson has played with the likes of Roy Harper and Jackson Browne, and when it comes time to cut his own records he has spun the Rolodex to invite the likes of David Crosby, the Heartbreaker Benmont Tench, and Wilco's Patrick Sansone to the studio.

He has also shared studio and stage space with the great Erikah Badu, Father John Misty, and Bonnie Prince Billy. Wilson gets around.

But perhaps Jonathan Wilson's greatest ability is to tap into the panoramic spirit of Americana and find fresh ways to tell a story. He is an exceptional guitar player but not the type who lets grandstanding get in the way of the song, or get in the way of the storytelling. 

The song is always in the foreground. That's his USP. Recorded in Nashville, Wilson's latest album, Dixie Blur, boils this idea down to its quintessence. There's a country, rock 'n' roll, and Wilson's wry observational wit, too, but ultimately it sounds like sincerity – poignant, fun, a paean to home. 

Here he takes five minutes out to talk about his career, starting at the logical point: his first guitar.

I got my first real six-string...

“I got my first proper guitar as a combined Christmas/13th birthday present, a black Squier Stratocaster with a Squier 15 amplifier. I could already play because my dad had an amateur band and he had several acoustics at the house. His band were playing the British Invasion stuff – they were that generation of kids who saw the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show. 

“I was sounding decent for a youngster and got a lot of encouragement from my family to keep it up. That made me realise I could pursue this beyond just playing for fun in my bedroom. 

“My own first acoustic guitar was actually a 1962 Gibson J-50 I bought in the 90s for $1,000 plus some trade-ins. It’s my main acoustic to this day – that thing’s fantastic.”

Get rhythm…

“My dad was a real big fan of John Lennon’s jagged rhythm style, and he encouraged me to listen and not be too noodly, to notice the other aspects of playing. I spent a long time on the drums too, and that informs my timing and rhythm as a guitarist. 

“I always say that is what makes you money, not speed and tons and tons of notes. If your timing’s great and you can sit in the pocket and you’re maybe even content to chug on the same chord for a while, you should be okay.”

Let me whisper in your ear…

“It’s important to figure out ways to grow the potential of your ears. The greats would sit at a turntable and play along to Elmore James or someone like that, and that’s a tried and true way of training your ear that has served me well. With tab or visuals there’s no real connection to the notes, the tonic or the key of the song. 

“YouTube can be good because you can see songs played close up, half-speed if you want, but you see these kids just showing off, playing fast and jumping from song to song – that’s not useful. 

“Slow down, try to understand the tonal centres of a song without the flashy bits and get your playing steady and confident. It’s easy to have a home studio these days and it’s a good idea to overdub over yourself – get it in the form of a recording session, get familiar with the sound of yourself in headphones.”

Chasin’ the big wheels all over Nashville…

“It wasn’t on purpose but [new album] Dixie Blur is definitely the most emotional, straight‑ahead album I’ve done. I recorded in Nashville to tap into the vibe there – it’s such a good-time session town and you can hear that in the sound of the pedal steel, the fiddle. 

“In the past I’ve self-produced and it’s been along, arduous process, so to be in a band with these incredible session musicians all tracking together at the same time was a hugely freeing experience for me.”

Just another brick in the wall...

“I never expected to be working with Roger Waters. We played 156 shows on the Us + Them tour, I sang pretty much all the David Gilmour parts and did a few solos, but all the iconic Gilmour note-for-note stuff was done by Dave Kilminster, an amazing shredder. I was off the hook! It can be a daunting gig, but Roger is totally chilled out and super-funny. He’s 76 and he rocks harder than the rest of us!

“I do remember some incredible moments – playing the Circus Maximus in Rome in front of 80,000 people; playing Wish You Were Here in front of a stadium of people in South America on a Guild 12-string I borrowed from Jackson Browne. Then I have to come back to planet earth and play my own shows. But it isn’t that hard. I get the best of both worlds – that’s the idea, right?”

• Jonathan Wilson's Dixie Blur is out now via BMG Rights Management

The Eric Clapton & Friends: A Tribute to Ginger Baker concert took place at London’s Eventim Apollo Hammersmith on February 17, and the one-time-only event didn’t disappoint as far as the friends that came out to celebrate the legendary drummer’s legacy. 

Following a short montage of Baker’s life, Clapton – Baker’s two-time electric guitar band mate in Cream and Blind Faith – and his band were joined by Roger Waters on bass for Cream’s Sunshine of Your Love. 

Waters remained onstage for two more Cream songs, Strange Brew and White Room, the latter also featuring former Faces band mates Ronnie Wood on guitar and Kenney Jones on drums.

Other highlights included Wood on Badge; Chic guitar legend Nile Rodgers on I Feel Free and Tales of Brave Ulysses; and a Blind Faith mini-set (essentially, most of the supergroup’s entire 1969 debut album) with Clapton, Rogers, Steve Winwood on organ, vocals and guitar and Baker’s son, Kofi Baker, on drums.

The entire guest list, which also included drummer Henry Spinetti and guitarist Will Johns (son of producer Andy Johns), closed the night with a run-through of Crossroads, with Clapton, Wood and Rodgers trading solos on a trio of Strats and Johns contributing some tasty licks on an Ernie Ball Music Man EVH.

Commented Clapton to the audience early on, “Some of that stuff was 50 years ago but it feels like yesterday.”

He also riffed on Baker’s famously prickly personality, saying, “He was a scoundrel but I loved him and he loved me and that was that.

“I saw some people get the rough edge of his tongue but I never did, so I feel blessed. That’s why I’m doing this.”

You can check out more performances from the show below.

In September 2017, David Gilmour released Live at Pompeii, a live album and concert film documenting his performance at the Pompeii Amphitheatre the previous year.

You can get a taste of the film and album with a gorgeously shot, high-definition video of Gilmour and his band performing the Pink Floyd classic, "Run Like Hell."

The Live at Pompeii album was produced by Gilmour himself, while the film was directed by Gavin Elder. You can pick up a copy here.

Gilmour—in one of the trailers for Live at Pompeii—hinted that a new album may not be too far off in the distance. "I feel very uncomfortable heading off out and doing another tour without having made new music," he said. "There are several songs that are close to being complete which didn't make it onto this album (his most recent solo album, 2015's Rattle That Lock)."

"I can't see myself doing another tour without making another album first, and that takes me awhile," he continued. "It took 10 years last time. I'm really hoping that—without making any promises—that it won't take 10 years this time."

You can watch the live clip of "Run Like Hell" below, and be sure to look out for more Gilmour coverage from us in the near future...

For five days in October 1969, Amougies, Belgium, played host to the Actuel Festival, an open-air music fest. Acts included Pink Floyd, Yes, Ten Years After, the Pretty Things, Keith Relf's Renaissance, Captain Beefheart and a horde of bands you've probably never heard of.

Bringing a bonus layer of weird to the event was its master of ceremonies, the one and only Frank Zappa.

"That was after the Mothers [of Invention] had broken up, and y'know, I had time on my hands," Zappa said several years later. "These people contacted me. They offered me $10,000 to be an emcee at a festival, all expenses paid, and go over there, and, y'know, whatever I wanted to do, and I said, 'Fine.' So, I get there, and they neglected to tell me that nobody spoke English."

They did, however, speak the international language of music (sorry, that was corny)—so Zappa made a point of jamming with several acts on the bill, including Aynsley Dunbar and Pink Floyd. Oddly enough, even though the video below shows Zappa on stage with Roger Waters, David Gilmour and the rest of Pink Floyd, Zappa had no recollection of the jam session. It must've been one hell of a music fest.

Interviewer: [You] performed onstage with Pink Floyd. True or false?

Zappa: Not with Pink Floyd.

...and...

To nail that down once and for all, you did not perform with Pink Floyd, right?

No.

Well, he did. Below, check out Pink Floyd and Zappa jamming their way through an extended version of the former's "Interstellar Overdrive," a brilliant tune from 1967's The Piper at the Gates of Dawn.

Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason said in 1973, “Zappa is really one of those rare musicians that can play with us. The little he did in Amougies was terribly correct.” See for yourself.

Avenged Sevenfold have made quite a habit of left-field covers lately, re-interpreting the Mexican folk song “Malagueña Salerosa,” Mr. Bungle’s “Retrovertigo,” an original track (“Dose”), Del Shannon’s 1961 hit, “Runaway," The Beach Boys' "God Only Knows" and—most recently—The Rolling Stones' "As Tears Go By."

Now, the band have released yet another eyebrow-raising cover, taking on the Pink Floyd classic, "Wish You Were Here."

"This is the song that started us down the rabbit hole with our recent cover recordings," said M. Shadows, the band's lead singer. "I’ve always loved this song and though I felt it would be impossible to capture the somberness of the original, we approached it with another purpose."

"There’s a poignancy to the song that seems appropriate with everything going on in the world today. We put a bit of a modern twist on it to reintroduce it at a time when it might help capture what some of us are feeling.”

This series of covers is a part of the band's latest project, The Stage. Though the band released The Stage as a proper album earlier this year, they recently decided to turn it into an evolving body of work by consistently adding on to it.

Today, the band announced that these covers—in addition to four previously unreleased live cuts—would be released as part of a deluxe edition of The Stage, which will come out on December 15.

You can listen to the band's cover below.

For more on Avenged Sevenfold, stop by avengedsevenfold.com.

In 1979, the British songwriter wrote The Wall, a nightmarish rock opera he recorded with his former band, Pink Floyd. For over 40 years the album’s themes of isolation, tyranny and alienation have connected with audiences worldwide, selling an estimated 30 million copies.

It’s still selling and is perhaps more relevant than ever, as Trump seems determined to bring the dark metaphor to life, brick by brick.

In fact, with all his bluster about “the wall,” it almost felt like the president was taunting Waters and his magnum opus. If that’s even remotely true, he fucked with the wrong rock star.

On his fourth, and best, solo album, Is This the Life We Really Want? produced by Nigel Godrich (Radiohead, Paul McCartney), Waters is certainly responding like someone who’s been personally maligned. Never one to suffer fools, the concept album is loaded with disparaging references to the U.S. commander-in-chief, calling him a “nincompoop” and “a leader with no fucking brains.”

And if that wasn’t enough, he devotes even more time lambasting Trump on his arena-sized Us + Them tour. During the Pink Floyd classic “Pigs (Three Different Ones),” grotesque images of the president flicker on giant screens, while a flying pig buzzes around the arena with Orwellian menace. The fact that the huge pink swine is powered by a weapons-grade drone furthers the political implications.

Given the bold and uncompromising nature of his work, one might assume that the real Roger Waters might be an aggressive interview, but the person I meet is nothing of the sort. Soft spoken, thoughtful and not afraid to laugh at his own foibles, he is a smart and considerate conversationalist. At the same time, he’s not afraid to explicitly express his opinion.

“Because of the nincompoop and the current broken political system, it is demanded of every citizen of the United States to decide whether they are going to resist this or go along with it,” he says quietly, yet firmly. “Trump is entirely clear that he is out to fuck everybody except Trump. He doesn’t give a shit about anybody and makes it quite clear.

“It has to be difficult for anybody who voted for him to swallow that he is trying to reduce corporate taxes to 15 percent. What does that have to do with their life? He doesn’t care about their life! He just wants his taxes down to 15 percent.”

He is pissed, yes, but he’s far from one dimensional. Waters runs deep, and as our conversation unfolds, he speaks often about the “transcendental nature of love” and even refers to himself as “an optimist.” On his new album, he may sing that “fear drives the mills of modern man,” but three uplifting songs that finish Is This the Life We Really Want? hold out hope that love and compassion can ultimately save the day.

What motivated you to record your new album? It’s your first album of original rock-oriented material in almost two decades.
I had written a narrative and quite few songs for something I envisioned as a play for radio. It was a long complex story about an old Irish bloke whose grandchild has a nightmare about children being killed “over there.” [Waters recently wrote an editorial for the Huffington Post about the slaughter of youngsters in Syria, Nigeria and Gaza.] The grandfather promises the child that they will go on a quest to find out who and why they are killing children.

I eventually recorded a demo of much of the material and played it for lots of people, including Nigel Godrich who mixed my last project, Roger Waters: The Wall [a documentary of Waters’ 2010–13 tour re-imagining Pink Floyd’s The Wall]. He was really interested in it, but persuaded me that the concept was not a record, and asked whether I would consider approaching it another way. He was, “Well, I like these two bits!” [laughs] Those bits eventually became two of the tracks on the album, “Déjà Vu” and “Broken Bones.” In the end, we completely jettisoned the original plot and edited the music down to something more manageable.

Did he feel the original idea was not universal enough?
Yeah, partly. I think that’s fair to say. All throughout the project he was always steering me away from being too politically specific.

What made Nigel a good partner for you to work with?
He works hard, is very focused and is good at what he does. He’s also stubborn, which can be a good thing. So, we negotiated through this project, mostly with me rolling over. [laughs]

He’s also a fan. He grew up on Dark Side of the Moon, and loved all those voices and sound effects, and how those things moved and worked. That’s a magical kingdom for him, and something he urged me to do again. Part of the album is an homage to that and the history of where I come from.

I wondered whether those “found sounds” were part of your personal aesthetic, or something for listeners who might desire that kind of continuity from your earlier work.
It’s what I do! When we recorded Dark Side, I had the idea to add those voices as commentary, and I really liked the impact it made on the music and I still do. I’ve done it on all the records I’ve made. I wouldn’t dream of not doing it.

Your new album has explicit political overtones. At one point you refer to the president as a “nincompoop,” but what does that say about the people who elected him?
It could say two things. It shows Donald Trump duped a certain section of the working class by pretending he cared about them, when it’s obvious he doesn’t care about anyone but himself. Or, it shows that—as in any society—there are people who’re so damaged, they think they are better than other people. In the United States, they’re called “white supremacists,” in other countries they might be called “extremists” of one kind or another. These are people whose inferiority complex is so deeply ingrained that it can manifest in anger and violence. But, more often, it comes out as a trumpeting of their extreme worth, and their belief that they are a master race.

That idea will always strike a chord with some people in society, unless at some point in some Utopian future, we can raise our children in a way they don’t turn into those assholes, which is quite possible. We all know lovely people who aren’t like that, and we all know people who are like that. But I feel sorry for those kinds of extremists, because they must be damaged in some way, and it must be miserable to live with those beliefs.

It’s certainly easy to fall prey to people who tell you that you are special and encourage you to kick the shit out of someone else. That’s one of Trump’s tactics.

Do you think he’s laughing at those people?
I don’t think so. I believe he is sincere and really enjoys playing the game of being in charge. He’s boss and you’re fired! I don’t think he’s tongue-in-cheek. I think he believes he’s a real person and is fulfilling a real function.

Do you think musicians are obligated to speak out?
I don’t think musicians have any special obligation. We speak with whatever voice we have. It depends on your perspective. From where I stand, I want to hear what Neil Young has to say, but I’m not very interested in what Ted Nugent has to say! [laughs]

But everybody has their voice and we’re all entitled to our opinions, and freedom of speech is very important. Your First Amendment is very precious to this republic and all the people that live in it. Unlike your Second Amendment, which is a disaster, especially when people buy semi-automatic weapons and go to schools and kill children with them.

Is it difficult to write about politics effectively without being overly preachy?
That’s a good question, but it’s up to the audience to decide whether you succeed or don’t. People will have different opinions about that. But I can’t restrict myself to only writing boy-meets-girl love songs. I wouldn’t be honest if I didn’t express what’s in my heart, like when I hear about a child being blown to bits on a beach.

I try not to sound preachy, but I feel it’s perfectly legitimate to use my music to question why we are killing children with F-16s and bombs made in Oregon. Why are we doing that? It’s the central question of the album—is this the life we really want? Do we want to live in a state of perpetual war? That needs to be discussed…then we can talk about guitar strings or whatever. [laughs]

You admire both Bob Dylan and John Lennon, two guys who were able to be both political and popular. What made them effective?
Dylan denies ever being political, which is fucking ridiculous. What makes him great is his ability to talk about the reality of society in such a subtle way. For example, just take one line from “Subterranean Homesick Blues,” like “the pump don’t work ’cause the vandals took the handle.”

First, it brings a smile to your face immediately, but secondly, I think it says a lot about what happens when we don’t cooperate with one another. It asks what responsibility does the individual have to society?

Dylan would probably say that wasn’t anywhere in his mind, but it’s inherent in the writing of that sentence. It brings up a whole series of questions on how human beings relate to one another in social terms—or it does to me! It’s just brilliant.

He always creates a sense of wonder in me. How does someone pick up a legal pad and write something like that? How does he open his mind up in such a way to let those words flow out? He has the uncanny ability to help us see something we know is there, but can’t quite identify. That’s what makes him a great artist. The same with Lennon.

Regarding John Lennon, it’s pretty ballsy to write something as simple as “all you need is love” or “give peace a chance” and make it work.
Lennon made those ideas resonate because of his ability to harness them to those incredible melodies. The meter and phrasing in “All You Need Is Love” is so sophisticated, yet feels so simple and effortless. That’s how you get away with “all you need is love.”

It’s interesting, because the Beatles were into Maharishi and transcendental meditation during that period in the late Sixties. I wasn’t…I was a little suspicious of what I thought was “mystical bullshit.” But rather late in life, I’ve begun to understand the transcendental nature of love. Of all love. Love for a woman, or love for fellow human beings, or even nature and the planet. We know about this word L-O-V-E, and it’s attached to some perception we have about something that brings us joy, or where we can give joy. I tried to make that idea part of my album, as well. So, is this the life we really want? Well, most of us would like a life where we were exchanging more joy, and spending less of our time building F-16s and killing brown people.

The juxtaposition between political outrage and personal intimacy is really powerful on songs like “Déjà Vu.” Was that your original intention?
No. Basically, I wrote some love songs and some political songs and Nigel stuck them together and somehow it takes you on a satisfying journey.

How do you personally keep cynicism at bay, when you observe people making bad decisions, or the same mistakes?
The underlying question is, are babies innocent or not? Do we all have the potential to express our love for each other or nurture each other or are we doomed to beat each other to death? I am an optimist. Yes, I do believe we have that potential for goodness when we are conceived. That’s what I’m getting at in the lyrics to “Broken Bones.”

[sings] Could’ve been born in Shreveport/ Or he could’ve been born in Tehran.

It don’t much matter wherever you’re born/Little babies mean us no harm

They have to be taught to despise us/To bulldoze our homes to the ground…

I believe that is true, so I’m not cynical. We can just as easily learn to be good.

You aren’t just shaking your fist and screaming in the streets…
That’s right. At the end of one of the love songs I sing about the child within, and the idea that there should be no need for people to be seeking refuge. That’s what refugees are—people who are in such dire straits they need refuge. We have a responsibility to give refuge to those that need it. People don’t want to cross dangerous seas with their children in their laps knowing they could drown without a reason. The far right in the United States and Europe want us to say, “Fuck those people, they’re coming to destroy us! They’re terrorists! We must build walls and keep them out,” rather than ask what can we do to help them and make the world a better place. That picture has something deeply wrong with it.

Do you find it ironic that Donald Trump shared your outrage at the killing of children and used it to bomb the Syrian army back in April? What should his response have been?
The response from both Trump and media should’ve been, “Let’s find out what happened.” It shouldn’t have been, “Oh fuck me, there goes [Syrian President] al-Assad again killing his own people, because that’s the story we’ve been telling ourselves for the last six years.”

My personal view is that it just doesn’t make any sense at all, and there’s a huge amount of people who don’t think he did. I mean, why would he do that? Isn’t it our responsibility to find out what happened, and then decide what we want to do about it and what that might be?

But Trump doesn’t look at it, or think about it. And there is nobody in that administration who would be faintly interested in asking the question. So, they just send over a bunch of cruise missiles, which apparently didn’t do any damage, and the media just rolled over and said, “At least he’s being presidential.” It’s just dumb.

“Broken Bones” deals with the dichotomy of capitalism versus human rights and civil liberties. Is there a way to have it both ways?
Yes, of course! A lot of the countries in Northern Europe like Scandinavia, Denmark, Holland, Sweden and Norway are capitalistic economies run on socialistic principles.

They all have free health services, they all look after their citizens, they all have safety nets and they all allocate their tax resources. It’s funny, when I sing “Mother, should I trust the government,” in most places in the world, everyone responds, “Noooooo!”

In Norway, however, they all go, “Well, yeah. Of course, we trust the government. They are good to us. We are the government. The government represents the people.” [laughs] And I go, “Fuck me! That’s what it’s supposed to be like!” So yes, there are a bunch of societies that have it more right.

What is your relationship with social media? Is it a force for good or evil?
The problem with the internet these days is that is subsists on advertising, so it’s just part of the marketplace. We all believed at one point that it was going to be a place where you could really exchange ideas, and a way to really communicate with one another. You always have to deal with some sort of commercial before you get your information.

It’s very bizarre, especially in our business—the music business. Music now is only about selling soap. It’s not about the music. When we released the first track from the album on YouTube, Spotify and all that, Nigel was going berserk because it sounded like shit because those services compress it and fuck with it until it turns into digital rubbish. You can just barely hear how it really sounds. You can’t hear what we made, because it’s been crunched. Nobody really cares about the music. It’s just being used to sell something. That’s how Spotify make their money—it’s not from subscription. They make their money from selling stuff to people.

Hasn’t that always been true? Radio has always had commercials.
Yeah, but at least on FM radio you had a decent signal and a certain amount of commercial-free programming. But those days are gone. I mean, the good thing is that for people who care, you can go out and buy a vinyl record and hear it properly.

It seems like the best way for you to get your music across these days is by simply getting out on the road and playing it. Your tours are enormously successful.
Yes, that will be a relief. I’m looking forward to the purity of being with a bunch of musicians and going, “Let’s try it this way.” The joy of just going out and doing the work. Then we’ll go out on the road and do the big show and people will shout at us, and some will throw things at us because we’re attacking Trump or whatever. But I’d like to think my show is an act of resistance as well as a way of making a living and something I like doing and all the rest of it.

But you’re right. People will be able to hear it properly by coming to the show. P.A. systems are so much better now than they were 20 years ago. With our sound system and engineers, it’ll sound good even in a crappy basketball arena.

You are a bass player…
Yes, I am!

Photo: Sean Evans

I think sometimes people forget about that. Do you enjoy playing bass or is it just a means to an end for you?
I love it. It’s only quite recently that I sort of accepted that about myself. Nigel kept telling me during the recording, “You gotta play the bass, man, because you’re really good at it.” I’d always be a little skeptical, but while I was working on the album I started embracing what I had to offer.

While there are people that are much better players than I am, nevertheless, my choices of notes and where I put them are different from anyone else. And I like that. It’s fun. I don’t play all the bass on the album. A lot of it is Gus Seyffert, so you can really hear when it’s me.

It has taken you close to two decades to write a new album. Is it hard for you to put pen to paper or find the motivation to write music? You seem full of ideas.
It’s not that hard, but I’m not the kind of writer that feels compelled to work on it all the time, either. I’ll think about going into the studio and then go play a few racks of pool instead! [laughs] I have to wait until something moves me or I have a feeling about something.

Funnily enough, I can write prose. I’m working on a memoir and I’ll sit down and write and really enjoy myself. I’m thinking of devoting some real time to writing a book when this tour is over. I’ve written quite a lot already, and I think I have a voice and a style. And I’d like to get my story out, because there is a lot that people don’t know.

Tell me a memory from the book that relates to your new album.
I’ll tell you a story. There are three short stories that I’ve written about a time I visited Beirut, the capital city of Lebanon, back in 1962 when I was 19 years old. Here’s one. I was there with my friend Willa, and sort of living on beach. I decided to go for a swim, so I left all my important bits in the sand while I went into the water.

I was on the lookout, because I had left my passport and money out, when suddenly I saw a kid steal my shoes. I tried to get out of the water as fast as I could, but, vrooom, he very quickly disappeared into the crowd. So, I ran after him with no shoes, when I spotted this cop. Back in those days, they had special police whose job was basically to look out for tourists. I told him what happened, and we started looking around and by some miracle, I spotted the kid.

You could see by the look in his eye that he was thinking of running, but he didn’t because he probably knew the cop and the cop knew him. So, we got him and he was already wearing my shoes! The cop and kid began to jabber at each other in Arabic, until the kid rather reluctantly took off my rather beaten-up loafers and, as I say in the story, “placed them on the neutral ground between us.” They jabbered a little more and then the cop let him go.

I was completely indignant, in my snotty, middle class, Cambridge way. I was looking for jurisprudence! I was looking for retribution! The kid stole my shoes! Then, for the first time, the cop spoke to me in English. With pity, he looked me in the eyes, and simply said softly, “He is poor.”

I finish the story by saying, “If we’re all really lucky, when we’re young, we’ll run into our cop. And maybe, for the first time in our lives, we’ll begin to learn about love.”

I can remember that moment as if it were yesterday. Not because I can remember it, but because I know I internalized that feeling. And that was such an amazing lesson, because I had come from somewhere where they threatened you with being sent to borstal [British reform school] if you stole anything. Instead this particular policeman had compassion and some understanding for his people.

Recently I interviewed Chuck D. of Public Enemy, and asked him to tell me something I should know, but probably don’t. He said he thought many of the problems in the world would be solved if people traveled more and met folks outside of their communities. What is something you think I should know?
I don’t know if I can top that. That is so real, so right and good. I’ve learned about hospitality from traveling abroad. It’s no surprise that in Greece, for instance, that the word for “stranger” and “guest” are the same. Knowing how the other half lives is so fundamental. It’s hard to bomb the shit out of people after you’ve met them.

Last night, Roger Waters invited Chicago native and Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder onstage to sing the chorus of the Pink Floyd classic, "Comfortably Numb."

It wasn't the first time the two legends have teamed up for a live performance of the song, as they previously played the song together at the 12-12-12 concert for victims of Hurricane Sandy.

You can watch the emotional performance below.

In June, Roger Waters released Is This the Life We Really Want?, his first solo album in 25 years.

Today, Waters has unveiled the harrowing video for "Wait for Her," one of the album's centerpieces.

The video features actress/dancer Azzura, who also starred in the video for the politically charged "The Last Refugee," another of the album's singles. You can check it out below.

On this date in 1984, Pink Floyd's Roger Waters released his first solo album, The Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking.

The album abounded with something that Eric Clapton’s early Eighties albums sorely lacked: screaming guitar solos—played by Eric Clapton!

The title track—"5:01 AM (The Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking)"—features a mini masterpiece of a solo, a composition within a composition, much like his work on Cream's “Badge,” another blues-driven pop gem.

For the album’s most generous serving of Clapton, check out “4:41 AM (Sexual Revolution),” which finds the guitarist dishing out a nonstop array of blues riffs in E minor using a compressed, crystal-clear Strat tone. You can check out videos of both songs below.

Clapton’s contributions to Pros and Cons and George Harrison’s Cloud Nine stand out as highlights of his bountiful Eighties session work. Enjoy!

West Virginia rockers Bobaflex have a new album on the way this summer.

And while you'll have to wait just a bit longer for more details on that disc—their eighth full-length release—we're happy to present the exclusive premiere of the album's first single and music video, a stirring cover of Pink Floyd's "Hey You."

The track is available for download today, exclusively via iTunes.

"Pink Floyd is a favorite band of me and [drummer] Tommy [Johnson]," says Bobaflex guitarist/singer Marty McCoy. "They've been a huge inspiration in our songwriting and one of the main reasons we have multiple lead singers. I put them in my top five greatest bands of all time.

"The video is a tribute to Pink Floyd's Live at Pompeii. We went for the 'old film' look. It was a lot of fun to shoot, and I think it turned out awesome. We hope you enjoy it as much as we did." The video was directed by Paul Cunningham of Cool World Photography.

Floyd's version of "Hey You," which was composed by Roger Waters, kicks off the second disc of 1979's The Wall.

Bobaflex is Marty McCoy (guitar/vocals), Shaun McCoy (guitar/vocals), Dave Tipple (guitar/vocals), Jymmy Tolland (bass) and Tommy Johnson (drums). They're on tour this spring, and you can check out all their current dates below the video.

For more about the band, visit their website and follow along on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

Bobaflex: Upcoming Tour Dates
04-18-17 in Knoxville, TN at Open Chord
04-19-17 in Hendersonville, TN at Revelry
04-20-17 in Louisville, KY at Trixies
04-21-17 in Pekin, IL at Twisted Spoike
04-22-17 in Quincy, IL at State Room
04-23-17 in Joplin, MO at Guitars Rock & Country Bar
04-25-17 in OKC, OK at Thunder Alley
04-26-17 in Wichita, KS at Elbo Room
04-27-17 in Denver, CO at Herman's Hideaway
04-28-17 in Grand Junction, CO at Mesa Theatre
04-29-17 in SLC at The Royal
04-30-17 in Las Vegas, NV at M Resort Spa Casino (Rock Into Spring)
05-02-17 in Scottsdale, AZ at Rockbar
05-04-17 in Abilene, TX at Amnesia
05-05-17 in Ft Worth, TX at Ridglea Theater
05-06-17 in Fort Smith, AR at Steel Horse Rally 3 (festival)
05-10-17 in Savannah, GA at Barrel House
05-11-17 in Charlotte, NC at Uptown Live
05-12-17 in Waynesboro, PA at Dawg House (with Flaw)
05-13-17 in St Mary's PA at The Wildwoods
05-26-17 in Madison, WI at Bratfest 2017 (festival)
05-27-17 in Waterloo, IA at Cornfest 2017 (festival)
06-23-17 in Keokuk, IA at L'Treyns
06-24-17 in Praire du Chien, WI at Music Fights Back 2017 (festival)
07-12-17 in Cadott, WI at Rock Fest WVII (festival)
07-13-17 in Oshkosh, WI at Rock USA (festival)
07-14-17 in Tremont, IL at Diesel Dick's
07-15-17 in Nelson, IL at 46th Annual Pig Roast (festival)
07-16-17 in Mansfield, OH at Ink In The Clink (festival)
07-21-17 in Lima, OH at Loud N Lima (festival)

Photo: Courtesy of Cool World Photography

On Wednesday, January 11, former Pink Floyd bassist Roger Waters turned to Instagram to give the world a brief sampling of his latest musical effort.

The clip, embedded below, gives a taste of what’s to come from the new album, Waters’ first studio record since 1992’s Amused to Death, released 25 years ago. Waters is shown in the studio jamming on bass guitar with producer Nigel Godrich.

The Pink Floyd cofounder talked about the project last October, telling Rolling Stone it’s a story about a grandfather whose granddaughter wakes from a dream of children being killed.

“He says, ‘No, they’re not,’ ” Waters said. “ ‘They haven’t killed any children since the Troubles [in Northern Ireland].’ And the kid says, ‘Not here, Grandpa. Over there.’ The grandfather promises they will go on a quest to find the answer to this question: Why are they killing all the children? It is a fundamentally important question.

“So I wrote this whole thing—part magic carpet ride, part political rant, part anguish. I played this to Nigel, and he goes, ‘Oh, I like that little bit’—about two minutes long—‘and that bit.’ And so we've been working. I've also been falling in love, deeply in love.

“So the record is really about love—which is what all of my records have been about, in fact. It’s pondering not just why we are killing the children. It’s also the question of how do we take these moments of love—if we are granted any in our lives—and allow that love to shine on the rest of existence, on others.”.....

yeah! @deadskinboy

A video posted by Roger Waters (@rogerwaters) on Jan 11, 2017 at 4:45pm PST

Pink Floyd have released a new video for their 1969 cut “Green Is the Colour.” The video is one of many works included in the band’s upcoming box set, The Early Years 1965–1972, which features rare tracks and video from the group’s first eight years.

“Green Is the Colour” comes from the band’s third album, More, which was the soundtrack for a 1969 movie of the same namely director Barbet Schroeder. It was Pink Floyd’s first album without founder Syd Barrett, whose mental illness led to his departure from the group.

Pink Floyd bassist Roger Waters recalled that Schroeder wanted the music for More to relate to what was occurring within its scenes. “So if the radio was switched on in the car for example, he wanted something to come out of the car,” Waters said. “I was sitting at the side of the studio writing lyrics while we were putting down the backing tracks. It was just a question of writing eight or nine instrumentals.”

Schroeder recalled that the Waters and the group created the music for his film in a hectic two-week period. “Roger was the big creative force,” he said. “The sound engineer couldn't believe the speed and creativity of the enterprise.”

The live footage included in the “Green Is the Colour” video comes from Pink Floyd’s performance at the Pop Deux Festival in Saint-Tropez, France, on August 8, 1970. The box set features other video from the performance as well. Pink Floyd previously released a video for “Grantchester Meadows,” from their 1969 album Ummagumma.

The Early Years 1967–1972 comes out November 11 and features 27 discs altogether, including CDs, DVDs, Blu-rays and seven-inch vinyl records. A two-disc overview, The Early Years 1967–1972: Cre/ation, will be offered as well.

Pink Floyd have released a video from their upcoming 27-disc box set, The Early Years: 1965–1972. The clip is a version of the song “Grantchester Meadows,” originally recorded for the group’s 1969 album, Ummagumma, and filmed for the BBC that same year.

It features Roger Waters, the song’s writer, on vocals and acoustic guitar, accompanied by David Gilmour, also on acoustic guitar and backing vocals. Keyboardist Richard Wright contributes piano.

The Early Years: 1965–1972 comes out November 11 and features a wealth of material from prior to the group’s breakout success in 1973 with The Dark Side of the Moon. The set includes singles, outtakes, live recordings and radio sessions, plus several hours of video.

On Novermber 11, Pink Floyd will release a deluxe new 27-disc box set, The Early Years: 1965-1972.

The box set—which will be released by Pink Floyd Records via Sony Legacy—will contain TV recordings, BBC sessions, unreleased tracks, outtakes and demos that span 12 hours, 33 minutess of audio (consisting of 130 tracks), plus more than 15 hours of video.

The set will feature more than 20 unreleased songs including seven hours of previously unreleased live audio, plus seven hours of rare concert footage, along with meticulously produced 7-inch singles in replica sleeves, collectable memorabilia, feature films and new sound mixes.

Previously unreleased tracks include 1967’s "Vegetable Man" and "In the Beechwoods," which have been newly mixed for the release. The set includes:

• Unreleased demos, TV appearances and live footage from the Pink Floyd archives
• Six volumes plus a bonus exclusive ‘Extras’ package across 27 discs
• More than 20 unreleased songs including 1967’s "Vegetable Man" and "In the Beechwoods"
• Remixed and updated versions of the music from Zabriskie Point
• Seven hours of previously unreleased live audio
• Fifteen hours 35 minutes of video including rare concert performances, interviews and three feature films

The Early Years" 1965-1972 will give collectors the opportunity to hear the evolution of the band and witness their part in cultural revolutions from their earliest recordings and studio sessions to the years prior to the release of The Dark Side of the Moon, one of the biggest selling albums of all time. From the single "Arnold Layne" to the 20-minute epic "Echoes," fans will see the invention of psychedelic progressive rock via an insightful collection that explores the Pink Floyd story from the time Roger Waters, Richard Wright, Nick Mason and Syd Barrett met at London’s Regent Street Polytechnic through to Syd’s departure and David Gilmour joining to form the iconic lineup.In addition to the deluxe set, a 2-CD highlights album, The Early Years: CRE/ATION, also will be available November 11 through Pink Floyd Records via Sony Legacy. Each individual book-style package will be released separately early in 2017, except BONUS CONTINU/ATION. which is exclusive to this box set.

Here's a handy product overview:

1965-1967: CAMBRIDGE ST/ATION
Covering Syd Barrett’s time with the band, from the pre-EMI demos, through the non-album hit singles and related tracks, the first volume also features previously unreleased tracks like Vegetable Man and In The Beechwoods (newly mixed), plus BBC session recordings. Pink Floyd have also acquired the tapes of an unreleased 1967 concert in Stockholm. The DVD/Blu-ray includes historic TV performances plus some of Pink Floyd’s own film material.

1968: GERMIN/ATION
This volume explores the time immediately after Syd Barrett’s departure, when Pink Floyd were still writing singles and at the same time developing their own unique, more instrumentally-based style. There are non-album single releases, plus a recently discovered session at Capitol Records studios in Los Angeles, additional BBC sessions and other tracks. The DVD/Blu-ray includes the recently restored promo clip of Point Me At The Sky, some international TV performances and a selection of song material from other television shows.

1970: DEVI/ATION
At the end of 1969 and in the early part of 1970, Pink Floyd recorded and mixed their contribution to Michelangelo Antonioni’s alternative view of US society, ‘Zabriskie Point’. Three songs were released on the soundtrack album, and an additional four tracks were added in the expanded CD edition in 1997. Never released on one Pink Floyd disc, this volume compiles remixed and updated versions of the ‘Zabriskie Point’ audio material. In the same year, Pink Floyd scored their first UK Number One album with ‘Atom Heart Mother’, a collaboration with Ron Geesin. The audio includes the first performance for the BBC, featuring an orchestra and choir, as well as, on DVD, the original Quad mix. The video material includes a full hour of Pink Floyd performing live at San Francisco cable TV station KQED plus extracts from historic performances of ‘Atom Heart Mother’, and material from French TV coverage of the St. Tropez festival in Southern France.

1971: REVERBER/ATION
In 1971 Pink Floyd recorded the ‘Meddle’ album, containing the track ‘Echoes, which took up the entire side of the LP and is regarded by many as laying the groundwork for ‘The Dark Side Of The Moon’, and, as such, is an important part of the Pink Floyd canon. This package includes part of the original demos, when the project gestated from ‘Nothing’ to ‘Return Of The Son Of Nothing’, as well as a contemporary BBC session recording. Audio-visual material includes the original unreleased Quad mix of ‘Echoes’ as well as material of live band performances in 1971, including songs performed with Roland Petit and his Marseille ballet company.

1972: OBFUSC/ATION
In 1972 Pink Floyd travelled to Hérouville, north of Paris, to record at Strawberry Studios which is based in the town’s Chateau. In a remarkable two weeks, they wrote and recorded one of their most cohesive albums, ‘Obscured By Clouds’, the soundtrack to Barbet Schroeder’s ‘La Vallée’. 1972 saw the release of ‘Pink Floyd Live at Pompeii’, a film of the band performing without an audience in the historic Roman amphitheatre of Pompeii, directed by Adrian Maben. The video material includes the performances from the ‘Live At Pompeii’ film, edited to new 5.1 audio mixes, plus material from contemporary French TV as well as performances from Brighton Dome in June, 1972 and further performances with the Roland Petit ballet company.

ALSO INCLUDED:
7” VINYL SINGLES IN REPRODUCTION SLEEVES :
— Arnold Layne C/W Candy And A Currant Bun
— See Emily Play C/W The Scarecrow
— Apples And Oranges C/W Paintbox
— It Would Be So Nice C/W Julia Dream
— Point Me At The Sky C/W Careful With That Axe, Eugene

BONUS: CONTINU/ATION (Exclusive to The Early Years: 1965-1972 box set)
A bonus CD/DVD/Blu-ray disc package includes a CD of early BBC radio sessions, the audio tracks from the film ‘The Committee,' Pink Floyd’s live soundtrack to the 1969 NASA moon landings, and more.
Audio-visual material includes three feature films: ‘The Committee,’ ‘More’ and ‘La Vallée’ (Obscured By Clouds), plus more live footage and festival performances by the band.

Here are two musical titans teaming up for a moving rendition of this Pink Floyd standard. It’s Roger Waters with Eric Clapton performing “Wish You Were Here.”

The clip was originally broadcasted during an NBC fundraising program to benefit those effected by the December 26, 2004, tsunami that struck the Indian Ocean region.

The tsunami killed more than 230,000 people and is regarded as one of the deadliest natural disasters in recorded history. In the days and weeks following the disaster, many musicians came forth to encourage donations to the Red Cross.

This performance is especially special, as it offers the chance to see Clapton soloing over this classic Floyd progression. Thumbs up for the backup singers too!

“Wish You Were Here” appears on Pink Floyd’s 1975 release of the same name.

As we reported last week, Roger Waters is set to release a remastered version of Amused to Death, his critically acclaimed 1992 album.

One of the album's noteworthy guest musicians was guitar great Jeff Beck, whose brilliant playing is a true highlight of several tracks, including “What God Wants, Part I”—and seven other songs.

Beck (and his Fender Strat) even play a major role in the new version of Waters' “What God Wants, Part 1” music video, which you can check out below.

"I still don't know how he does it," Waters says of Beck in the bottom video below. "He's incredibly technically gifted in ways the rest of us can't even begin to think about. He also has incredible pitch. When you play a harmonic and then play a melody on the whammy bar, it's quite extraordinary to listen to."

Amused to Death sounded the alarm about a society increasingly in thrall to its TV screens. Twenty-three years later, the album speaks to our present in ways that could scarcely have been anticipated two decades ago.

“I’m remembering the record from [more than] 20 years ago, that most of what I had to say then sadly still pertains today and is maybe even more relevant to our predicament as people in 2015 even than it was in 1992,” Waters says.

The 2015 editions of Amused to Death feature a new 5.1 surround remix of the album on high-definition Blu-ray audio and a new remastered stereo mix completed by Waters/Pink Floyd collaborator and co-producer James Guthrie. The cover and gatefold art has been updated by Sean Evans, the creative director of Waters’ 2010-2013 “The Wall Live” tour and movie.

Besides Beck, the album features guest vocalists include Don Henley (“It’s a Miracle”), Rita Coolidge (“Amused to Death”) and P.P. Arnold (“Perfect Sense” Parts I and II). Also contributing were Waters’ longtime collaborators, guitarist Andy Fairweather Low and drummer Graham Broad; percussionist Luis Conte and Pat Leonard, who played keyboards on several tracks. The album reunited Waters with Michael Kamen, who supervised orchestral arrangements for Pink Floyd's The Wall.

The 2015 editions of Amused to Death will be available on CD, CD/Blu-ray, SACD, hi-res digital download, 2LP 200-gram vinyl (pressed at Quality Record Pressings) and limited edition, numbered 2LP picture disc vinyl.

Amused to Death will return July 24—better than ever—courtesy of a new remaster from Columbia Records/Legacy Recordings. It is available for pre-order at RogerWaters.com.

Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters — who graces the cover the new issue of Guitar World — has announced that he's working on his first new rock record since 1992's Amused to Death.

"I finished a demo of it last night," Waters told Rolling Stone. "It's 55 minutes long. It's songs and theater as well. I don't want to give too much away, but it's couched as a radio play.

"It has characters who speak to each other, and it's a quest. It's about an old man and a young child trying to figure out why they are killing the children."

In the new issue of Guitar World, Waters discusses the massive The Wall Live tour, which just wrapped up in September. The trek, which visited 219 venues over three years, grossed more than $458 million.

"It's sort of a relief to not have to go out and do that every night, but they're such a great team," Waters said. "There were 180 of us together every day. That piece was very moving every night.

"I can't top that tour. First of all, you have to accept the fact that I'm not going to live forever. I'm 70 years old. You just have to accept that when you do something as enormous as that tour. The hardest thing in the world is thinking of something to do, so going and doing it is a reward in itself."

For two excerpts from our Waters cover story, visit:

• Roger Waters on Veterans, Patriotism and 9/11

• Roger Waters Explains the Imagery and Symbolism Behind The Wall Live, His Update of the Pink Floyd Classic

By the way, Waters' Amused to Death album features some stellar guitar work by Jeff Beck. One track from the album made our list of the 10 best Jeff Beck guest appearances, which you can read here.

To read more about the Roger Waters issue, which features interviews with the four guitarists behind The Wall Live) and more — including Black Oak Arkansas, the Winery Dogs, Marty Friedman, a guide to the most incredible concerts and roadshows in rock history, a holiday gift guide and John Petrucci's monthly column — check out the Holiday 2013 issue at the Guitar World Online Store.

This is an excerpt from the Holiday 2013 issue of Guitar World. For the rest of this story (plus interviews with the four guitarists behind The Wall Live) and more — including Black Oak Arkansas, the Winery Dogs, Marty Friedman, a guide to the most incredible concerts and roadshows in rock and metal history, a holiday gift guide and John Petrucci's monthly column — check out the Holiday 2013 issue at the Guitar World Online Store.

“Benvenuto, bambini!” Roger Waters exclaims through his microphone to the line of children excitedly walking toward the stage inside Rome’s massive Stadio Olimpico.

On this blistering afternoon in late July, the former Pink Floyd leader and his band are in the middle of the soundcheck for tonight’s show, at which they’ll perform Floyd’s classic 1979 double-album,

The Wall

, for 50,000 Italian fans. Waters stops the rehearsal to welcome the children, who will appear with him onstage later tonight during the famous “We don’t need no education” refrain from “Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2).” As with every performance of The Wall Live, the kids have been recruited from local youth organizations. They receive their stage instructions and soon begin yelling, “Hey! Teacher! Leave them kids alone!” at the huge, menacing inflatable schoolmaster puppet that descends from the rigging above the stage.

Waters smiles and dances in sync with the kids. Even in this casual pre-show setting, his vocals are strong, possessing much of the same vulnerability and theatrical range that they had when

The Wall

was first released. Wielding his legendary black Fender P-Bass, Waters embellishes the song’s funky bassline with the assuredness and finesse reserved for only the most seasoned musicians.

Although tonight’s show arrives three years and nearly 200 dates into The Wall Live world tour, Waters’ excitement is palpable. In fact, his commitment to this larger-than-life production is so singular that he still soundchecks every concert to make sure the sonics and stage show—like tonight’s giddy children—are performance ready. Waters has a longstanding reputation for being a hyper-attentive, if downright controlling, musical director, factors that contributed to the myriad inter-band tensions that led him to leave Pink Floyd in 1985.

But a fierce creative drive isn’t the only force fueling his passion for this new production. For Waters,

The Wall

has become a vehicle to convey what he sees as vital messages about a host of modern societal plagues, from greed and corruption to nationalism and religious supremacy. In its original conception,

The Wall

was a way for him to exorcise personal demons: his feelings surrounding the loss of his father in World War II, the severity of the English school system and the isolation and dysfunction of rock stardom, among others. But Waters, now approaching his seventies, has come to terms with his past, and the current, contemporized production of The Wall Live demonstrates his concerns with how the forces behind these ills infiltrate society to the detriment of many.

“It took me a long time to get over my fears,” he wrote in a letter to fans in 2010 explaining why he was resurrecting

The Wall

tour. “It has occurred to me that maybe the story of my fear and loss with its concomitant inevitable residue of ridicule, shame and punishment, provides an allegory for broader concerns: nationalism, racism, sexism, religion, whatever! All these issues and ’isms are driven by the same fears that drove my young life.”

It was around the 30th anniversary of

The Wall

that Waters decided to update the show’s themes to address these global issues. He assembled a world-class team of musicians, video artists, set designers and projectionists to help him expand the project’s scope as well as deliver the live show that Pink Floyd failed to realize when they first attempted to perform the record in 1980 [see sidebar]. In addition to presenting the classic music—brought to life by his band of all-star musicians, including guitarists Dave Kilminster, G.E. Smith, Snowy White and Jon Carin [see sidebar]—the updated show delivered a high-tech multimedia narrative unrivaled by any rock show ever staged.

Musically, The Wall Live follows the arc of the original 1979 album. But for the new production, Waters has added two more songs that didn’t make the original release: “What Shall We Do Now?” and “The Last Few Bricks.” The show also features a newly written acoustic coda, “The Ballad of Jean Charles de Menezes,” which honors a Brazilian man shot to death in 2005 by London police after being misidentified as a terrorist. In context with the 26 tracks of the original album, the new tunes contribute to the dramatic exposition while infusing the familiar ensemble of songs with freshness.

A few hours after the soundcheck at Stadio Olimpico, the full scope of Waters’ vision is revealed when the show kicks off in a blast of pyro explosions and the aggressive opening lines of “In the Flesh?” wash across the stadium of screaming fans. Like the original album, The Wall Live tells the story of Pink, who loses his father in World War II and becomes the target of abuse, smothering and neglect from his teachers, mother and wife, leading him to build a metaphorical wall around himself. And as in the original staged production, a massive wall—mirroring Pink’s isolation—is constructed across the stage during the first half of the show, until it completely obscures Waters and his band from the audience’s view. Animations are projected onto the wall, and characters are presented as giant inflatables that soar above the stage.

But Waters has replaced the original images—specific to Pink’s psychological issues—with updated visuals that reflect broader messages against war, poverty, greed, religion and governmental abuse of power. For the track “Mother,” the music remains true to the original tune, but the projections of an elaborate “Big Brother Is Watching You” surveillance system take the place of the overbearing maternal figure. In “Goodbye Blue Sky,” animator Gerald Scarfe’s original airplane animations for the 1982 movie

Pink Floyd—The Wall

are given a timely update: Scarfe’s planes turned into crosses, signifying death, but in The Wall Live, they are replaced by B-52 bombers that drop religious, corporate and dollar signs onto the blood-covered ground below. Elsewhere, the touching ballad “Vera” features footage of young children during surprise reunions with their parents who had been deployed in Afghanistan and Iraq, while “Bring the Boys Back Home” presents quotes from former U.S. president Dwight D. Eisenhower about the unseen costs of war for humanity. One particularly sobering moment comes during “Run Like Hell,” which includes WikiLeaks video footage of a 2007 airstrike in Baghdad in which two Reuters journalists were killed when they were mistaken for enemy combatants.

“I just didn’t want it to sound like it was empty polemic,” says Waters when asked what guided the selection process for the updated narrative. “I wanted every point that was made to be moving, clever and truthful. So for instance, you have the B-52 image dropping all the symbols, and the brilliant animation [creative director] Sean [Evans] did. I’d say to Sean, ‘You remember in the old movie how Scarfe’s got planes that turn into crosses in the sky? I don’t want that. I want to mix up national and commercial symbols and drop them.’ So we’re dropping ideas and commerce onto the land below, which is actually Kabul. We’re dropping these on the unsuspecting land below, which then becomes a sea of blood. The intention was to create something completely up to date.”

The show reaches its climax during “The Trial,” which culminates with Waters and, in turn, the entire arena of fans chanting, “Tear down the wall!” After the gigantic construction literally crumbles onto the stage, Waters and his band reconvene amid the rubble for the acoustic finale “Outside the Wall.” They take a few bows, jump into transport vans and disappear into the swarming Roman traffic, flanked by a police escort.

Near midnight, about an hour after Waters has stepped offstage, he has retreated to the outdoor patio bar in his secluded hotel, a posh affair tucked beneath the shadows of the beautiful Borghese gardens. The vibe is subdued, yet Waters is anything but. Over a few glasses of wine, he explains his views on how radical atheism is the first step to avoiding becoming entrenched in unwinnable arguments, intractable positions and endless wars between people asserting that their god is the only true deity.

“Radical atheism is the only hope for the world!” he announces between bites of pasta.

Seething with the ferocity that enthralled the fans at tonight’s show, Waters asserts that once people untether themselves from religious dogma, it will allow them to focus their energy on unseating the true puppet masters: the corporate giants and super-elite who hold 99 percent of the world’s wealth and power. That he is one of the most successful musicians in history—and certainly a member in good standing of rock’s elite one percent—is not lost on him. But as The Wall Live demonstrates, neither does he let his position lull him into indifference or numb him to his responsibilities as an artist. “Sure we’re sitting in this nice hotel, eating this beautiful meal,” he acknowledges. “But you can’t let yourself be fooled.”

In the following interview, Roger Waters decodes the imagery and symbolism behind The Wall Live and gives new insights into this landmark work.

GUITAR WORLD: You’ve updated the current staging of The Wall by adding new contemporary social and political issues into the imagery projected on the wall. One early somber moment occurs during “The Thin Ice,” which begins by showing a photo of your father, followed by photos of hundreds of fallen veterans that were submitted by fans. I understand that you also take time to meet vets during each show.

We invite 20 vets to every show we do, wherever we are in the world. For instance, on the last leg of the tour we were playing São Paulo, and the vets were coming out, and these men seemed like they were in their Nineties.

I asked, “What are they vets of?” I was told the Second World War. They were Brazilians that volunteered to fight for the Allies against the Axis powers in the Second War, because Brazil had no official involvement. But it’s always very moving to meet these vets. We don’t have much time, only about 20 minutes, because I do it at halftime in the show. I say hello to everyone, sign anything, and we chat a bit.

Are there any particular stories from those meetings that stand out in your mind?

I just dealt with one guy who had post-traumatic-stress-syndrome anger. He was dismissive and shouting at me. All I can do is put my hand on the guy’s shoulder and say, “Listen, brother, I’m glad you came.” But then there was another guy at one recent show in the States. He was in a wheelchair, and he looked older. He must have been in Vietnam rather than Afghanistan or Iraq.

He was quiet and didn’t say much, but he managed to shake my hand. He was there with his wife. As I’m going back out onstage, she grabs my arm and says, “This is the first time he’s been out of the house in three years.” I’m tearing up a little now just thinking about it. It knocks the stuffing out of you when you see what’s been done to these guys. It’s such an enormous tragedy.

When you speak to all these veterans around the world, do you find there’s any continuity in their post-war stories or experiences?

I think they may go in with an allegiance to the flag, and my suspicion is that most of them pretty well believed all the propaganda that has been fed to them since they were very small. And 9/11 was obviously a huge factor.

It calls to mind the very heroic football player who went out there to fight and got shot by his own side. [

Ex-NFL football player and U.S. Army Ranger Pat Tillman was killed by friendly fire in Afghanistan on April 22, 2004.

] It’s such a weird story.

People now, just now, are starting to be able to say—only very occasionally— that 9/11 was sort of a wakeup call, and speak about what the insane person bin Laden was actually saying. There is a rationale in his position that was completely dismissed. I’m sure you remember at the time, [

ABC network

] fired Bill Maher [

and cancelled his show,

Politically Incorrect] because he said the men [

that committed the attacks on 9/11

] were not cowards.

He said, “You can call them anything you want, but you cannot say that it was an act of cowardice to go on an airplane with a box cutter and then kill everybody. It’s not cowardice.” I cannot imagine what it takes out of you to do something like that.

But I think the fact is that the climate is just beginning to change a little bit. And I don’t mean to preach. I realize that if one wants to start a conversation with people that might be interested in different points of view that are not

USA Today

or network news, then one has to be reasonably diplomatic in expressing the view, otherwise you’re just turning people off.

I think on a basic level most people can agree that when horrific events happen, there’s a danger of having an emotion-based knee-jerk reaction. Which is why things like investigation and due process are so important.

Two years after 9/11, in March 2003, my wife Laurie [Durning] and I went to a dinner organized by a man called Andrew Stein. It was at Four Seasons restaurant just off of Park Avenue in New York. It was sort of a gathering of the great and the good, with many from the field of journalism. There was the businessman Howard Stringer, who was the head of Sony at the time, and [Vanity Fair editor] Graydon Carter and [talk show host] Charlie Rose with ladies attached to them, and [the late 60 Minutes correspondent] Mike Wallace. It was four days before the Shock and Awe [campaign in the Iraq War], and Laurie and I were the only dissenting voices at the table. Nobody else was even asking a question. They were like, But [Saddam Hussein’s] a monster, and he’s killed his own people. He’s got weapons of mass destruction! He’s building a nuclear this or that, and he could strike against Cyprus. We have to invade!

There wasn’t a single dissenting moment around that table, and I’ve never forgotten that. And obviously there were no weapons of mass destruction found. Interestingly enough, that’s exactly what the head of United Nations’ inspectors Hans Blix was saying. He was desperately trying to get them to give him more time. He said, “Listen, I found nothing and I’m pretty sure there’s nothing there. I can prove it if you just give me a couple more weeks.” They went, Fuck you. We’re gonna throw our grunts in there and kill people. And they did.

Another example of contemporizing the visual narrative of The Wall occurs during “Goodbye Blue Sky,” where bombers are dropping crosses, dollar signs and the logos for Shell Oil and McDonalds. To me, that evokes the notion that we’re moving past purely territorial conflicts and into corporate- and religious-sponsored wars.

It’s funny you should say this. I keep trying to make another album. I’ve kept failing because I couldn’t quite find a way to put something together that was thematically or conceptually coherent enough. Then in the middle of the last tour, I wrote a song. The song’s working title has always been called “If I Had Been God,” but it might be called “Lay Down Jerusalem.” Can you imagine telling people in the Bible Belt that title! It’s heresy! [laughs] I thought I hit pay dirt, so I started thinking about how can I make it work with other things. Then I wrote another song called “Broken Bones,” which is about turning our backs on Mistress Liberty after the Second World War—how governments, specifically the United States and the United Kingdom, made the decision to completely turn their backs on the idea of liberty in favor of commerce.

So liberty is absolutely sacrificed on the altar of commerce. That is what we’re living through. We’re living through the aftermath of 60 or 70 years of that, and we’re paying a heavy price. And part of that price is that we feel the need to be constantly killing brown people because…why? What’s the reason? For cash. It’s all done for cash, in my view. There’s no other reason. I saw a really interesting guy on one of the left-wing talking things, maybe MSNBC. And he was talking about how Obama is talking about pouring weapons into Syria, and what a brilliant idea that is.

What?

It’s insane! Another proxy war with [Russian president Vladimir] Putin? What do we gain from that? To prove that we’re just as fucking stupid and appalling as he is? Who gains? It’s just more dead people on the ground and more profits for the armament industry in Russia and here. [Defense contractors] Lockheed Martin and McDonnell Douglas are dancing around their offices going,

“Whoopee!”

because they

need

the United States to spend one trillion dollars a year to kill anything that moves.

But there are people beginning to fight against it. Like [journalists] Chris Hedges and Noam Chomsky, and others, who are suing Obama over the amendment to 1021, or what used to be called the Patriot Act. They’re trying to push this through to law on the grounds that the United States is still at war. They’ve somehow managed to convince themselves that the United States is at war with terrorism, this nebulous group that’s evil and trying to destroy this country. In consequence, that means the Bill of Rights can be suspended, as it was in the Civil War with [President] Lincoln, who would willy-nilly arrest any newspaper editor in the North that printed anything that was anti his government. Suddenly you discover you can do that with anybody. There is no recourse to the law. You suspend the Bill of Rights, habeas corpus and the rule of law. And you do it all in absolute secrecy, because you have to protect the people. I mean,

what?

Speaking of absolute secrecy, did you happen to notice the logo for the NSA PRISM surveillance program? It kind of resembles the cover of Dark Side of the Moon.

It does! It’s amazing that’s the logo that appends to the program for gathering information. It actually looks like the Australian Pink Floyd logo, because it’s not exactly the pyramid. It’s some weird shape. With the Australians, it’s a stream of light going into a kangaroo and coming out the other side. [laughs] And actually there’s a very nice connection between those two ideas. The idea of a kangaroo would actually suit the PRISM program much better, because what they are all about is kangaroo courts. [laughs] Military courts to try anybody they like! They will arrest you in secret, hold you in secret and try you in secret by military.

Another striking moment in the show comes during “Run Like Hell,” where you project the infamous WikiLeaks footage of the Reuters photographers who were mistakenly killed by the U.S. military.

Yeah. We used the famous murder of Saeed [Chmagh] and Namir [Noor-Eldeen], the two Reuters cameramen. They’ve got the guy in the helicopter going, “Yep, that guy’s carrying an RPG [Rocket-Propelled Grenade].” But really he’s holding a movie camera. You can see it so obviously. There were a few people in that video. And if you watch it carefully from beginning to end, you do see two people with AK-47s at one point, but it’s nowhere near when everyone gets killed. The guys with the AK-47s are obviously not dumb enough to be standing around in the street when there’s some Black Hawk hovering over them about to shred them. Which is why all the people in the street were civilians and cameramen.

Throughout the past couple of years, the tour has arrived in some European cities during times of political upheaval. Specifically, you were in Athens last year right around the time of the riots.

Well, they weren’t really rioting yet. They were rather irritatingly staying up all night playing bongos outside of my hotel window in Constitution Square. [laughs] I think if I had a large enough detachment of storm troopers, I’d have gone down there and told them, “Shut the fuck up, I’m trying to sleep!” [laughs] All of that stuff was just beginning to happen then. Obviously it’s gotten a lot worse since. One of the saddest things, of course, about what’s going on is that, inevitably when you go through a period of depression and you have social unrest, then the extreme right raises its head and decides it’s all the fault of foreigners and gollywogs.

That sentiment is also reflected during “In the Flesh” when Pink begins to point out all the “riff-raff” in the room.

That’s the root of it. Like in Greece, since they’ve gotten rid of the colonels they’ve been a relatively humane quasi-socialist democratic society, even though obviously not a hugely economically efficient one. But now you’ve got these roving gangs of people that call themselves the Golden Dawn. They’re the young and disaffected and have become like the SA [Sturmabteilung, the paramilitary wing of the Nazi Party]. It’s very like Germany in 1932 and ’33. When there’s no work and things turn bleak, people tend to put on a black shirt and say, “Well, it’s all the fault of the Muslims, the Jews, the others. Let’s go beat them up. We must make Greece pure again.” It’s sad! These are the descendants of Aristotle, Socrates and Plato.

Basically the central figures that laid the foundation of civilized Western thought and process.

Yes, it was the

crucible

of civilized thought. Well, I know they also used to fight their neighbors with regular ferocity. [laughs] I’m not sure I’d want to ever run into a Spartan in a dark bar at night. [laughs] I think they were quite uncompromising in sorting out disagreements with people in bars that had wishy-washy ideas. And I’m not sure I would have wanted to be a baby back then and be left alone on the mountain to see if I could survive. Having said all that, they did do quite a lot of sitting around and thinking about how to organize society. They did invent

democratia

.

When you’re performing The Wall in cities that are beset by political or economic unrest, is there a particularly unique energy to the crowds or shows?

Not really. But when I was in Chile last year, President Piñera decided that it would be a good photo op to invite me over to the palace. I’d also met with that young women student leader, [Camila] Vallejo, but we couldn’t have a proper conversation because my Spanish is non-existent and her English was too. But on the other hand, the presidente could jabber away. And I spoke with him for about an hour and a half. And I kept asking him about the police violence, because they were putting down the student unrest with tons of tear gas, rubber bullets, water cannons…basically doing everything short of shooting them dead with live rounds. There were huge number of injuries. And, of course, we were doing the show in the famous stadium in the middle of Santiago [Estadio Nacional Julio Martínez Prádanos], which is where they took everybody and killed them after the Pinochet coup [which overthrew socialist President Salvador Allende in 1973]. So it was a pretty strange place to be.

Did you feel Piñera was simply trying to boost his reputation by meeting with you?

I had this meeting with the president and he showed me the room where [Salvador] Allende supposedly committed suicide, and the phone he used to make his last calls and all the bullet holes that were up the stairs. And then when I left there were thousands of protestors outside. I didn’t say anything to anybody. But then I thought it all through and I wrote a letter saying I thought he needed to listen to his people. I said it during the show as well. I also said it wasn’t gonna further his own particular ends selling porky pies to visiting pop stars. [laughs] Because he told me there had been only twelve hundred injuries in the last year and a half of social unrest, and of those, eleven hundred had been to the police. [laughs] It was like, You fucking moron! Why are you trying to tell me this shit?

“Another Brick in the Wall, Part 1” includes footage of Muslim kids playing soccer in the West Bank of Israel. It’s a subtle reference that hints to a larger, very divisive issue that you are passionate about. Have you had a chance to visit the Gaza Strip?

I’ve never been to the Gaza Strip. It’s very difficult to get in, and I’m fairly sure the Israelis wouldn’t allow me. They tend to stop people who have appeared on the Russell Tribunal [a private civilian investigative group that examines violations of international law of which the Palestinians are victims]. They hold them at the border for hours and hours, asking them questions and then telling them, “I’m sorry you can’t go in.” That’s not to say I wouldn’t like to visit, because I would. And when this touring comes to an end, I’m sure I shall, because I’m still deeply committed to the Russell Tribunal on Palestine, where I served as a juror in New York and Brussels. But I have traveled quite extensively through the occupied territories and Israel itself, seven years ago, a year after I did a gig in Israel.

How specifically did traveling to that region influence your position?

It was because of that gig in Israel that I was contacted by BDP [the Peace and Democracy Party in Turkey] and all kinds of other organizations all over the Middle East. They wrote me letters asking me not to go and to join the cultural boycott, which I did. And I don’t regret it for a moment. I’m sorry: what I should have said is if you haven’t been there [Gaza], it’s impossible to imagine how horrific it is. Impossible. Although there are three recent wonderful documentaries that are absolutely essential viewing if you’re trying to understand a different point of view that isn’t the point of view of the Israeli lobby in New York and Washington.

The first movie is

The Gatekeepers

, which is an Israeli documentary that’s based upon interviews with the last six heads of Shin Bet, which is the Israeli secret service, all of whom, without exception, at some point during their interviews say, We’ve got it completely wrong. Our entire history has been a strategic error. We thought tactically when we should have been thinking strategically. We’re a powerful military nation. We have won every battle, but we have lost the war.

The other one is called

5 Broken Cameras

, which is from Gaza. It’s a very moving documentary about life in Gaza from before and after Operation Cast Lead and Operation Pillar of Defense, which were the two most savage attacks by the Israeli Defense Force on Gaza. A young woman made this documentary, and it’s called

5 Broken Cameras

because she went through five video cameras before she got to the end of it. They weren’t quite shot out of her hands, but they were blown up or destroyed in one way or another. It’s really moving.

Then there’s one made by the sister of a friend of mine, called

Roadmap to Apartheid

. It’s paralleling the apartheid system in South Africa and what’s going on in Israel, and showing the similarities. The Israeli government—but not all Israelis, because I know a lot of them that are desperately trying to affect change in their country—reacts very strongly if anyone suggests they’re operating an apartheid system. But they are. It’s entirely apartheid. There’s a completely different set of rules whether you’re a Jew or not a Jew. And so it’s a very difficult and sad situation for everybody.

Switching directions a bit, one of the central themes in The Wall is dealing with the loss of your father, who died in World War II. You’ve been quoted as saying you’ve yet to visit his memorial gravesite in Monte Cassino, Italy. Has revisiting this material inspired you to make the journey?

Yep. We did it. I took young [Sean] Evans with me and a film crew and an old Bentley. I made the journey from Hampshire, England, and we filmed it all. First we went to a military cemetery, Maroeuil, which is near Arras in northern France to visit the grave of George Henry, my grandfather [who was a casualty of World War I]. On those two days I had my three kids fly in and join me to visit George Henry’s grave. And we all stood there. It was really good to take them. Then they went back to England, and we set off for southern Italy. We made a movie where various people appear in the car and we talk about various things. We eventually arrive at Casino and go to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission Memorial Garden where on plaque number five is my father’s name, Eric Fletcher Waters. So we film my visit. There’s a bit of trumpet playing, a few tears shed...

Will the footage you shot eventually be bundled for a deluxe release of The Wall Live tour?

My plan is that that is an integral part of The Wall film. It will be completely edited into the movie that is The Wall Live tour 2010–2013. I really felt it needed to somehow be part of the story. Because it sort of is.

Photo: Sean Evans

For the rest of this story, check out the Holiday 2013 issue of GW at the Guitar World Online Store.

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Dave “Killer” Kilminster is a British guitarist who used to write and transcribe music for publications like Guitarist and Guitar Techniques.

Kilminster has toured extensively with Keith Emerson, and was first recruited by Waters to cover original Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour’s lead parts on the 2006 Dark Side of the Moon tour.

Kilminster is also one of the four guitarists tapped by Roger Waters to perform on The Wall Live tour. We caught up with him on July 28, 2013, when the tour hit the Stadio Olimpico in Rome, Italy. In the following excerpt from our current cover story, Kilminster sheds some light on what it’s like to play in the greatest show on earth.

[[ Roger Waters Explains the Imagery and Symbolism Behind The Wall Live, His Update of the Pink Floyd Classic ]]

GUITAR WORLD: You’ve been touring The Wall Live for the last three years. How do you keep the performance fresh?

Well we’ve done this show almost 200 times now. And to keep it fresh, I just try to play it better every night. The improvements are obviously very subtle; it’s probably only me that would notice. It might be a particular vibrato on one note or a particular timing or phrasing thing. I think my amp sounded a little tired last night, so I talked to my tech, I said, “I wonder if we should re-valve this?” And he said, “Yeah well, we haven’t done it for a few years.” And I’m thinking, “How long?” We’ve been cranking these things for ages!

Let’s talk a bit about your history. You have some experience writing for guitar magazines…

Yeah, I used to write for Guitarist and Guitar Techniques. I did over 200 articles for them, transcribing and recording some of the scariest guitar pieces you can imagine. I ended up doing things like “Black Star” by Yngwie Malmsteen, [Van Halen’s] “Eruption” and “Spanish Fly,” and “For the Love of God” by Steve Vai.

How did you get hooked up with Roger Waters? I know you first played with him on his 2006 Dark Side of the Moon tour.

It was a life-changing thing. I was playing in Keith Emerson’s band at the time. One day my manager came into the studio where I was recording an album. He said, “I just had a phone call from [Waters touring guitarist] Snowy White, and he said Roger Waters is looking for a guitarist.” I was like, who is that? I had no idea, not a clue. [laughs] When he finally managed to calm himself he told me he was in Pink Floyd and he told me the dates that they wanted somebody for. And originally it was going to be something like 10 weeks. But I was already to tour with Keith during that time, so I couldn’t even think about it. And that was it. I didn’t think anything more of it for a day or so. And then I had an email from Keith’s manager, saying, “I’m really sorry, I have to pull our dates” And I thought, “That’s a sign!” That’s a really obvious sign that you need to go for this. I still didn’t think I’d get it because I thought it was sort of an impossible thing.

What was your audition like?

It was terrible, absolutely terrible. [laughs] I felt like I was prepared. But not being a fan, I was not really aware of what exactly I was supposed to do. For example, Roger said, “Let’s do ‘Money’. ” I said, “Great, which guitar part do you want me to do?” I’ve got them all worked out. There’s three rhythm guitar parts on the record, I know all the solos and I’m thinking it’s going to be great. Until Roger said, “Are you alright on the lyrics?” And I’m thinking, “Shit! I’m supposed to sing this as well?” It’s not difficult, but it’s slightly syncopated along with the rhythm. And I’m singing over that, reading the lyrics, thinking that I’m not entirely sure because I’d never even thought about doing this before. I was completely green.

It sounds like a nightmare audition.

Oh, and I seem to remember that I had two guitars as well…and I strapped on the wrong guitar for that piece! [laughs] The solo for “Money” goes up to the 22nd fret and I had my 21 fret guitar on at the time. And then we started doing “Wish You Were Here” and I plugged in the acoustic, and it wasn’t working. Then we got halfway through and it comes to the bottleneck solo and I think, Shit! Where’s the bottleneck? “It’s in my bag, sorry, can we just stop and…” [laughs] I drove away from that audition thinking, You’ve just blown the biggest gig of your life! I was kicking myself all the way home.

And then I had a friend call the next morning from management saying “Yeah!” And I’m like, “Have you got the right number?” [laughs] But the weirdest thing is, about a day after I heard that they wanted me for this 10-week tour, which actually turned out to be two years, I got another email from Keith’s manager, “Oh don’t worry, we’ve got the American dates back.” Fate just opened this tiny little door just for a few days and it changed my life completely. To think that I could have missed out on these last seven years.

As you’ve mentioned, you’ve tackled transcribing some crazy guitar music. Was part of the challenge of this material nailing the nuances?

Yeah. The vibrato is more important, the effects you’re using are important. I’d never really bothered with effects all that much. I think the first time I used delay on a solo was when we started on the Dark Side tour. I just never bothered. In fact, I heard Shawn Lane playing a delay once and I thought, “What is the point? There’s no room, you can’t hear anything!”

The tone on those classic Gilmour parts is so distinct. Did you change your setup for this gig?

Yes, I did. I think I was working toward that kind of sound anyway, where I just feel very comfortable with a Tele body but actually having three pickups and the tremolo so you kind of get all that Strat noise as well. The Suhr Rose guitar I used last night is my main one.

What amps are you using?

The main problem for me for this gig was trying to find an amp that would cover the clean parts and also the overdrive parts. And I didn’t actually think it was possible. I had this vision of going the way of Eric Johnson having different amp setups: solo amp, rhythm amp and clean amp. And then I came across Brunetti, which have amazing, clean sounds and amazing overdrive.

Photo: Sean Evans

For more from Dave Kilminster, plus our exclusive interview with Roger Waters and more — including Black Oak Arkansas, the Winery Dogs, Marty Friedman, a guide to the most incredible concerts and roadshows in rock and metal history, a holiday gift guide and John Petrucci's monthly column — check out the Holiday 2013 issue at the Guitar World Online Store.

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Pennsylvania-born G.E. Smith rose to fame as the lead guitarist for Hall & Oates during their Eighties heyday.

He was also the longtime musical director of Saturday Night Live and has performed with many acts including Bob Dylan, David Bowie and Mick Jagger. Most recently, Smith was one of the four guitarists tapped by Roger Waters to perform on The Wall Live tour.

We caught up with him on July 28, 2013, when the tour hit the Stadio Olimpico in Rome, Italy. In the following excerpt from our current cover story, G.E. sheds some light on what it’s like to play in the greatest live show on earth.

[[ Roger Waters Explains the Imagery and Symbolism Behind The Wall Live, His Update of the Pink Floyd Classic ]]

GUITAR WORLD: You play a lot of Roger’s original bass parts on The Wall Live. As someone coming in to express his vision, can you talk a little bit about how you approached his bass-playing style?

As far as Roger’s bass playing, when I first went to learn the record I learned it on acoustic, electric and bass. If you approach a song and learn it like that, you really get inside a song. One thing that became obvious to me as I was learning everything is that Roger is a bass player. He might have written some of the stuff, like “Mother,” on the guitar but some of the other stuff I think he wrote on the bass. I never asked him, but when you learn the bass line and you learn the other stuff, it all builds off of the bass line. It’s just well constructed.

Throughout this European tour you’ve travelled through some amazing locations, some of which were in the middle of political upheaval.

Yeah, we were in Greece when the turmoil was going on in Constitution Square [in Athens]. Our hotel was actually right on the square. So, at night we’d come back to the hotel after the show and go up on the roof to the bar and restaurant. We’d sit there and you could smell the tear gas. But at the same time, that week we were there, I’d go down at three or four in the morning and walk through the square and they’re sitting there drinking beer, playing guitars and singing songs. I saw things that had been burned, newspaper kiosks and stuff, but I got the sense that when CNN and the other news people showed up that they ramped up whatever they were doing. Not that it wasn’t real, because it was.

Outside of this tour, you’ve also accompanied Roger on some trips to work with veterans.

Roger and I went down to Walter Reed Hospital, the military hospital in DC. There were a bunch of vets of Iraq and Afghanistan, young guys that were double and triple amputees, who had figured out a way to play the guitar. There were also some singers, and we put together a band and did a show at the Beacon Theatre in New York. It was really fun and these guys were the greatest. These Marine and Army vets went in the service when they were 18 or 19 and now they're 23 and 24. They’ve been in the hospital for three years or four years. But they still got spirit and they still laugh.

Roger’s obviously passionate about a lot of political issues. As a gigging musician, have you ever turned down a gig because it doesn’t line up with your personal views?

I have an 11-year-old daughter and she’s going to be going to school for a long time. And it’s expensive, so I have to work. Last year I did the Republican National Convention. When they first asked me to do it, I turned it down. And they offered another really good offer, which I turned it down. They came back with one more and I said no. It wasn’t so much political but rather that I had just been away for two years and I wanted to go home. I’d just made a bunch of money so I didn’t feel the pressure. And then they came back with an insane final offer. And I thought, Well not only will this pay for several years of Josie’s school but I can hire six or seven of my friends, and give them a really good pay day too. So we went and played the Republican convention. We may not be Republicans, obviously, but it was really interesting. I got heavy flack from some people for doing it. If you remember, at that time, last August, a year ago, it wasn’t so sure. It was kinda looking like Romney was making a good run for it. So I got some heavy flack for it. But I’m a professional musician and this is what I’ve always done. I’ve been a professional musician since I was 11 years old. It’s what I do: work.

As far as good gigs, you seemed to have hit the jackpot with The Wall Live.

This is a great gig. Not only does it pay great and we stay in wonderful hotels, but the people are great. At times there have been 170 of us out on the road, with the crew, bus drivers and truck drivers, and they’ve all been great people.

Photo: Sean Evans

For more from G.E. Smith, plus our exclusive interview with Roger Waters and more — including Black Oak Arkansas, the Winery Dogs, Marty Friedman, a guide to the most incredible concerts and roadshows in rock and metal history, a holiday gift guide and John Petrucci's monthly column — check out the Holiday 2013 issue at the Guitar World Online Store.

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This is an excerpt from the Holiday 2013 issue of Guitar World. For the rest of this story (plus interviews with the four guitarists behind The Wall Live) and more — including Black Oak Arkansas, the Winery Dogs, Marty Friedman, a guide to the most incredible concerts and roadshows in rock and metal history, a holiday gift guide and John Petrucci's monthly column — check out the Holiday 2013 issue at the Guitar World Online Store.

The Great Wall: The Wall Live is one of the biggest and most ambitious tours in the history of rock. In this exclusive interview, Roger Waters explains the imagery and symbolism behind his update of the Pink Floyd classic.

“Benvenuto, bambini!” Roger Waters exclaims through his microphone to the line of children excitedly walking toward the stage inside Rome’s massive Stadio Olimpico.

On this blistering afternoon in late July, the former Pink Floyd leader and his band are in the middle of the soundcheck for tonight’s show, at which they’ll perform Floyd’s classic 1979 double-album,

The Wall

, for 50,000 Italian fans.

Waters stops the rehearsal to welcome the children, who will appear with him onstage later tonight during the famous “We don’t need no education” refrain from “Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2).” As with every performance of The Wall Live, the kids have been recruited from local youth organizations.

They receive their stage instructions and soon begin yelling, “Hey! Teacher! Leave them kids alone!” at the huge, menacing inflatable schoolmaster puppet that descends from the rigging above the stage.

Waters smiles and dances in sync with the kids. Even in this casual pre-show setting, his vocals are strong, possessing much of the same vulnerability and theatrical range that they had when

The Wall

was first released. Wielding his legendary black Fender P-Bass, Waters embellishes the song’s funky bassline with the assuredness and finesse reserved for only the most seasoned musicians.

Although tonight’s show arrives three years and nearly 200 dates into The Wall Live world tour, Waters’ excitement is palpable. In fact, his commitment to this larger-than-life production is so singular that he still soundchecks every concert to make sure the sonics and stage show—like tonight’s giddy children—are performance ready. Waters has a longstanding reputation for being a hyper-attentive, if downright controlling, musical director, factors that contributed to the myriad inter-band tensions that led him to leave Pink Floyd in 1985.

But a fierce creative drive isn’t the only force fueling his passion for this new production. For Waters,

The Wall

has become a vehicle to convey what he sees as vital messages about a host of modern societal plagues, from greed and corruption to nationalism and religious supremacy. In its original conception,

The Wall

was a way for him to exorcise personal demons: his feelings surrounding the loss of his father in World War II, the severity of the English school system and the isolation and dysfunction of rock stardom, among others.

But Waters, now approaching his seventies, has come to terms with his past, and the current, contemporized production of The Wall Live demonstrates his concerns with how the forces behind these ills infiltrate society to the detriment of many.

“It took me a long time to get over my fears,” he wrote in a letter to fans in 2010 explaining why he was resurrecting The Wall tour. “It has occurred to me that maybe the story of my fear and loss with its concomitant inevitable residue of ridicule, shame and punishment, provides an allegory for broader concerns: nationalism, racism, sexism, religion, whatever! All these issues and ’isms are driven by the same fears that drove my young life.”

It was around the 30th anniversary of

The Wall

that Waters decided to update the show’s themes to address these global issues. He assembled a world-class team of musicians, video artists, set designers and projectionists to help him expand the project’s scope as well as deliver the live show that Pink Floyd failed to realize when they first attempted to perform the record in 1980. In addition to presenting the classic music—brought to life by his band of all-star musicians, including guitarists

Dave Kilminster

,

G.E. Smith

, Snowy White and Jon Carin—the updated show delivered a high-tech multimedia narrative unrivaled by any rock show ever staged.

Musically, The Wall Live follows the arc of the original 1979 album. But for the new production, Waters has added two more songs that didn’t make the original release: “What Shall We Do Now?” and “The Last Few Bricks.” The show also features a newly written acoustic coda, “The Ballad of Jean Charles de Menezes,” which honors a Brazilian man shot to death in 2005 by London police after being misidentified as a terrorist. In context with the 26 tracks of the original album, the new tunes contribute to the dramatic exposition while infusing the familiar ensemble of songs with freshness.

Photo: Sean Evans

For the rest of this story (plus interviews with the four guitarists behind The Wall Live) and more — including Black Oak Arkansas, the Winery Dogs, Marty Friedman, a guide to the most incredible concerts and roadshows in rock and metal history, a holiday gift guide and John Petrucci's monthly column — check out the Holiday 2013 issue at the Guitar World Online Store.

Brad Angle Google +

Music from last week's 12.12.12 Concert for Sandy Relief in New York City is now available on iTunes. A physical CD will be released in January via Columbia Records.

The album features select performances from the epic December 12 concert, which took place at Madison Square Garden. Some of the stand-out songs include Eric Clapton playing "Crossroads" and "Got to Get Better In a Little While," a Derek and the Dominos track from 1970.

Also included is The Rolling Stones' entire set — "You Got Me Rocking" and "Jumpin' Jack Flash" — and three songs by The Who. Three Roger Waters tracks are present, including "Comfortably Numb," which he performed with Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder. Although Paul McCartney played the longest set of the night, he is represented by only one song, "Helter Skelter."

Check out the entire track listing below — and the two videos featuring Clapton (top) and Waters/Vedder (bottom).

The Robin Hood Relief Fund will receive 100 percent of the net proceeds of digital retailers, Columbia Records and the artists from the sale of the album. The Robin Hood Relief Fund is providing money, material and know-how to local organizations that are serving families and individuals in the regions hardest hit by the storm.

Click here to donate.

The digital track listing is as follows:

• 01. Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band– "Land of Hope and Dreams"
• 02. Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band – "Wrecking Ball"
• 03. Roger Waters – "Another Brick In The Atlantic Wall"
• 04. Roger Waters – "Us and Them"
• 05. Roger Waters with Eddie Vedder – "Comfortably Numb"
• 06. Adam Sandler and Paul Shaffer – "Hallelujah (Sandy Relief Version)"
• 07. Bon Jovi – "It's My Life"
• 08. Bon Jovi – "Wanted Dead Or Alive"
• 09. Eric Clapton – "Got To Get Better In a Little While"
• 10. Eric Clapton – "Crossroads"
• 11. The Rolling Stones – "You Got Me Rocking"
• 12. The Rolling Stones – "Jumpin' Jack Flash"
• 13. Alicia Keys – "No One"
• 14. The Who – "Who Are You"
• 15. The Who – "Baba O'Reilly"
• 16. The Who – "Love, Reign O'er Me"
• 17. Billy Joel – "Miami 2017 (Seen The Lights Go Out On Broadway)"
• 18. Billy Joel – "Movin' Out (Anthony’s Song)"
• 19. Billy Joel – "You May Be Right"
• 20. Chris Martin – "Viva La Vida"
• 21. Chris Martin with Michael Stipe – "Losing My Religion"
• 22. Chris Martin – "Us Against The World"
• 23. Paul McCartney – "Helter Skelter"
• 24. Alicia Keys – "Empire State Of Mind"

The gang at Danelectro has listed two artist-autographed Danelectro guitars on eBay. One guitar is signed by Roger Waters of Pink Floyd, the other by Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys.

One hundred percent of the proceeds from the sale of the guitars will go to the SKJ Orphanage in Nairobi, Kenya. The orphanage is home to 135 children and includes a school that educates children from the orphanage and the local community.

Waters signed a new Danelectro Model 63; its normal (unsigned) retail value is about $400. Check out this auction on eBay here.

Wilson signed a new Danelectro Hodad; its normal (unsigned) retail value is about $800. Check out this auction on eBay here.

You can see photos of both guitars below.

For more about the SKJ Orphanage, check out this story by NPR. And be sure to head here for more about Danelectro.