“I think we changed him as much as he changed us – he was loving the guitar solo thing by the end”: David Gilmour on how he won over Luck and Strange’s solo-sceptic producer
Gilmour has also addressed whether he feels pressured to deliver solos on the fly – and how he writes them
(Image credit: Elena Di Vincenzo/Archivio Elena di Vincenzo/Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Images)
When Alt-J and London Grammar music producer Charlie Andrew was announced as David Gilmour's collaborator for his first solo album in nearly a decade, the Pink Floyd icon hailed his “wonderful lack of knowledge or respect for this past of mine”.
“He’s very direct and not in any way overawed, and I love that. That is just so good for me because the last thing you want is people just deferring to you.”
But Gilmour solo stans could breathe a collective sigh of relief when Luck and Strange eventually dropped, as it features solos aplenty. Now Gilmour has detailed how he recorded his leads – and how he managed to win his producer over to Team Solos.
“Some of them were done just by me, without an engineer or anything, just in my barn room back at the farm. And some of them were done in Brighton with Charlie Andrew breathing down my neck,” he told the Rockonteurs with Gary Kemp and Guy Prattpodcast.
“I think we changed him as much as he changed us in terms of these things, loving the guitar solo thing by the end. 'So let's do another one.'”
Gilmour goes on to address whether his reputation for stellar solos means he feels pressured to deliver.
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David Gilmour talks 'Luck and Strange' & more with Gary Kemp and Guy Pratt |Rockonteurs - YouTube
“No, I think I just plug in and go and hope for the best. I'm hunting for melodies, but I'm hoping they will naturally flow out of me.”
He points to Between Two Points, his interpretation of the obscure Montgolfier Brothers song with Romany Gilmour, as an example of that rare moment when inspiration hits.
“On Between Two Points, I can remember just plugging a guitar and just playing along and feeling. I was more in that moment than usually happens, and it almost felt transcendent, like I was on drugs or something. How these things are done, I have no idea.”
David Gilmour - Between Two Points (with Romany Gilmour) - YouTube
Janelle is a staff writer at GuitarWorld.com. After a long stint in classical music, Janelle discovered the joys of playing guitar in dingy venues at the age of 13 and has never looked back. Janelle has written extensively about the intersection of music and technology, and how this is shaping the future of the music industry. She also had the pleasure of interviewing Dream Wife, K.Flay, Yīn Yīn, and Black Honey, among others. When she's not writing, you'll find her creating layers of delicious audio lasagna with her art-rock/psych-punk band ĠENN.