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Reunion-Auftritt?
Pink Floyd: Wiedervereinigung für Syd Barrett?
Vor gut einem Jahr standen Pink Floyd bei „Live 8“ erstmals seit 24 Jahren wieder mit Roger Waters auf der Bühne. Nun könnte es zum Gedenken an den am 7. Juli verstorbenen Syd Barrett einen weiteren Auftritt mit der einst so zerstrittenen Kernbesetzung geben. Für
Syd nochmals gemeinsam auf der Bühne?
MUSIKEXPRESS.de präsentiert ein ausführliches Interview.
In den letzten Tagen gaben Mitglieder von Pink Floyd bekannt, dass es möglicherweise einen gemeinsamen Auftritt für Syd Barrett geben wird. Sollte das Konzert mit David Gilmour, Nick Mason, Richard Wright und Roger Waters stattfinden, wird es aber bei einem Auftritt bleiben: David Gilmour (Foto) "zeigt kein Interesse daran, die Band wiederzubeleben", stellte Nick Mason in diesem Zusammenhang klar. Englische Medien berichten, dass der plötzliche Tod von Gründungsmitglied Syd Barrett aber die Beziehung der Bandmitglieder untereinander verbessert hat.
Syd Barrett war im Alter von 60 Jahren in Cambridge an den Folgen von Diabetes gestorben. Auf der aktuellen Solotour spielte Gilmour fast jeden Abend mehrere Songs von Barrett, dessen erstes Soloalbum er 1970 produziert hatte.
Vor gut einem Monat wohnte MUSIKEXPRESS einer Pressekonferenz in London bei, bei der David Gilmour, Nick Mason und Richard Wright Fragen zu Pink Floyd und der DVD PULSE beantworteten.
Hier ist das Transkript:
Montag, 3. Juli 2006, Vue Cinema, Leicester Square London.
Richard Wright, David Gilmour, Nick Mason
How do you feel today about your performance at Live 8 and also the results of your involvement in that project?
DAVID GILMOUR: The performance was great and we had a wonderful time. One can only hope that it did some good but the jury's still out I think, but I'm sure it was better to have done it that to have not done it.
NICK MASON: I think that is certainly true in terms of the jury still being out. It achieved certain elements of what was required and I think as far as I'm concerned the most useful thing was that it moved the dialogue on from this idea that that charity rock concerts are there simply to send food parcels and a lot of people after that at least people started asking questions about the politics of world trade and I think that is enormously worthwhile and I also think we haven’t finished and Bob Geldof is particularly exorcised at the moment about ensuring that promises or undertakings that were made, if they haven’t been met then a fuss should be made. I suspect we'll all have to turn up in Hyde Park again in a few months time if they don't do something.
Watching the concert and seeing how much fun you were having, does it make you want to do it again?
RICK WRIGHT: Yes!
DAVID GILMOUR: All four of the old group of the 'classic line up' have been out plying our trade this year so we are all doing exactly that and it has been great fun for myself and for Richard.
NICK MASON: It’s terrific and looking at again it does remind you it’s great fun and I don't think there is a better job in the world.
What did you think of the Scissors Sisters cover version of 'Comfortably Numb'?
DAVID GILMOUR: I thought it was jolly entertaining. It's different. I am not at all averse to having our songs covered by all sorts of people. That one did have some wit and some spirit to it so I did really enjoy it. Obviously it is nothing like our version - I can't sing quite that high!
NICK MASON: I absolutely agree with David. Two others that come to mind are Luther Right and The Wrongs who have done an entire version of THE WALL as a country and western epic - I thoroughly recommend that album and DUB SIDE OF THE MOON.
My view is I'd far rather hear people interpret the music and do something of their own than actually form a tribute band and try and play every mistake we ever made perfectly.
Watching the PULSE DVD shows what a momentous occasion these concerts were. When you are in the middle of that, what does it feel like?
DAVID GILMOUR: It's fantastic to watch it like this. It is a privilege we never, ever get. It is extraordinary to see how much is going on behind us. At the time it is concentration for us and hard work and really trying to hit it perfectly every second.
RW: Ever since I've played in Floyd I've wanted to see what we look like and what we sound like. It's amazing to see how the light shows work ...
Are you so concentrating in the moment of what is coming next that you can't afford to enjoy the experience?
DAVID GILMOUR: No, you enjoy the experience. It is a very enjoyable doing it at the time and there are lots of moments when you can not exactly drift off but get into the zone that you are going for and enjoy it but there are an awful lot of cues and words in my case that you have to remember.
NICK MASON: You just don't see the colour and light changes that are overhead. You don't get to see the fantastic light swirls on screen - I really enjoyed it.
RICK WRIGHT: It is the first time that I've seen us how the audience sees us.
Why now, what's taken so long for the DVD release?
NICK MASON: There are a number of reasons - one is that I don't think the DVD had been invented properly when we did the thing originally. A lot of it originally came out on VHS and then it took a very long time to do, there were a lot changes in the way we thought it should be done, there were a lot of technical problems and a certain amount of changing of the mind!
DAVID GILMOUR: It was shot on video originally whereas most things today are shot on high def(inition) and the inherent quality of the actual video … we were hunting for ways to improve that, to find new digital programmes that you could run that through and we spent a lot of time and a lot of money to get the colour and resolution as perfect as we could do and the mixing of the sound took an awful long time. The actual process of all that authoring was interminable. It's here now which is the positive thing.
NICK MASON: James Guthrie did the bulk of the technical remastering work and he did a fantastic job and I think the 5.1 stereo does work.
RICK WRIGHT: I was very overwhelmed by the sound.
Does the new technology afford you, as a band, new creative opportunities? Does it give you a chance to reassess or rework your music? Is it an attractive thing?
DAVID GILMOUR: One has to be very careful mucking about with old stuff that has it's sound and quality and people love it pretty much the way it is and this has all been done and mixed to try and make it sound as close as possible to how it would originally have done. There’s an awful lot of other stuff that one can and is tempted to do with the type of technology that is available to us but one can take it too far. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
That takes us to DARK SIDE OF THE MOON, where did the idea come from to perform it in its entirety? Did you think it was impossible to do it otherwise, does it have to be performed in its entirety or can you take chunks out of it?
DAVID GILMOUR: We had been doing chunks of it and through the late 80s and on our tour in 1994 we had done quite a few songs from DSOM and at some point it occurred to us that we might as well give the whole thing a go. We started doing it during our American tour and we had to gather together all bits of film and all the quad tapes for all bits that we hadn't actually been performing so far. The first rehearsal of DSOM and the first performances we did were really emotional experiences, fantastic.
RICK WRIGHT: I remember that day because when we came up with the idea to do DS the whole band got together without any rehearsals we actually almost got through the whole thing. It was amazing. Then of course we had to rehearse it even more, but it was there, in the DNA.
It has been voted in polls 'the record that had changed more people's lives than any other'. It is a life changing record. Does that ring true?
DAVID GILMOUR: I think it is, yes, the subjects that are under discussion in DARK SIDE OF THE MOON are universal and eternal, so they are the same for people today as it was when it came out and new people and young people are discovering it all the time.
NICK MASON: Yes, I think that is true. The lyrics are written almost for a much older audience than our age at the time and they are as relevant to a 50/60 year old perhaps more so almost than to a 20/30 year old.
RICK WRIGHT: It probably means more today than it did in 1973 with what it is saying.
Do you look at the DVD with affection as the memories come flooding back or how?
NICK MASON: I certainly enjoyed the tour and nearly always enjoyed playing, the memories are always good. We do try and forget the first night and the trouble with the seating.
RICK WRIGHT: Actually for me the being on stage for those 2 or 3 hours, the pleasure that is what it is all about for me. Making the albums, recording it, writing the songs that can be pleasure but it is work, but being on stage is wonderful.
Was there ever a song on that tour that you wanted to do but really felt you could not?
DAVID GILMOUR: Not on that tour. In 1987 on 'A Momentary Lapse Of Reason' tour we did try 'Echoes' and for some reason it just did not gel so we dropped it again.
NICK MASON: I think that is the best example, it's really to do with what seems to fit in the period that we are playing and with 'Echoes' at the time the lyrics just felt out of place.
How much involvement did you have at the time with the creation of the films?
NICK MASON: We should give credit to Storm Thorgerson.
DAVID GILMOUR: All sorts of stuff done by various different people, but most of the more recent stuff that appears on the DVD was made by Storm Thorgerson.
Do you want to control peoples interpretations of them are you happy for people to have their own head?
NICK MASON: Oh yes, I have no idea what half of it means anyway and I've tried asking Storm and he's not much help!
How did 'Comfortably Numb' always manage to be the finale of each Pink Floyd show?
DAVID GILMOUR: It just seems to work. We enjoy playing it, it's easy to play, it's great.
RICK WRIGHT: It's a great song! When we play it live the audience seem to relate to this song, to the lyrics, the music or both.
NICK MASON: It feels like the right ending.
How were the many DVD extras selected?
DAVID GILMOUR: It was just lots of people coming up with ideas for what should be on there. There are all sorts of fun things … there is something called 'bootlegging the bootleggers' which has got several songs that we weren't doing in this particular version of the concert because we were doing the DSOM show here. We called various fan sites looking for bootleg material and we had some that our security people had confiscated during the tour. So we could edit between several different cameras on the same night. We used the sound from those microphones and we synched it up to the desk mixes that come off our PA on most nights … they are pretty good actually and worth seeing. There is a documentary made up from footage that various people shot - mostly one of our road crew, it's great fun. All the concert films that are shown during the concert, you can switch to them and see those films if you want to. |
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