A fascinating interview with David Gilmour, from 1993 Guitar World, can be found here (others available here).
I'm a big Gilmour fan though not a big Floyd fan. I do not like Roger Waters much; he basically IS Pink Floyd, so it's rather a limiting factor for me. Musically, I like the things they do, but lyrically, well, much of it is just self-important psycho-babble trash. "Dark Side", "The Wall", etc. Life is just hell, isn't it Roger?
Gilmour, though, kicks serious ass as a guitar player. I'm sure this isn't really news to anybody.
One may note, throughout the interview, constant references to what a prick Roger Waters was.
GUITAR WORLD: There's a famous story about Syd Barrett being phased out of the band in 1968. You were all in a van, on your way to a gig in Southampton...
DAVID GILMOUR: Not in a van, no. In a Bentley.
GW: Right. And someone said, "Oh, let's just not pick up Syd tonight." Can you recall who said that?
GILMOUR: Probably Roger. Certainly not me-I was the new boy. I was in the back. Someone probably said, "Shall we go and pick up Syd?" And Roger probably said [in conspiratorial tones] "Oh no, let's not!" And off we went down to Southampton.
On Dark Side production issues:
GW: What was [producer/engineer] Chris Thomas' role on Dark Side of the Moon?
GILMOUR: Chris Thomas came in for the mixes, and his role was essentially to stop the arguments between me and Roger about how it should be mixed. I wanted Dark Side to be big and swampy and wet, with reverbs and things like that. And Roger was very keen on it being a very dry album. I think he was influenced a lot by John Lennon's first solo album [Plastic Ono Band], which was very dry. We argued so much that it was suggested we get a third opinion. We were going to leave Chris to mix it on his own, with Alan Parsons engineering. And of course on the first day I found out that Roger sneaked in there. So the second day I sneaked in there. And from then on, we both sat right at Chris' shoulder, interfering. Luckily, Chris was more sympathetic to my point of view than he was to Roger's. GW: Was that the first album where tension emerged between you and Roger? GILMOUR: Ah, there's always been tension. But it was all quite controllable until after The Wall album.Continued on the next page Page 1 — Page 2
Article comments
1 - Tom Johnson
I'm seemingly one of the few people who actually likes the Gilmour-led Pink Floyd. I think they're beautifully produced and played albums, and doesn't involve the exhausting emotional depths of many of the Water-era Floyd albums. That said, my favorite Floyd album by far is Animals. Man, what a great album - I could probably live on that Floyd album alone, but I also really enjoy the psychedelic freakouts of the first couple albums, too. Syd was a genius - cracked or not, the guy had a great musical mind.
2 - Mark Saleski
it's kinda funny, for as popular as The Wall was...i got tired of it. and that's not something that usually happens to me. what ended up doing to was Waters solo material...which to me ends up sounding like retreads of The Wall.
i love Gilmour's first solo record.
3 - Piddle
This 'I like this guy better than that guy' thing gets to be a real bore after awhile. Whats worse is these schoolyard tantrums and taunts will be revisiting us on the internets for an eternity. Jeff Brokaw's comments aren't really criticism but a teen magazine stuff with gravitas. Whats far more interesting is what the creative tension and ultimately conflict produced.
4 - Priscilla Handzo
I also for some reason got tired of the Wall. Mother and Comfortably Numb I still love. Dark Side IMHO is better. Gilmour's playing I don't tire of. To each their own but I would go to a concert by David anytime. Still it's a shame that after all these years the 2 of them can't bury the axe once and for all.
5 - XII
I find you're all pretty sad really. Who gives a flying F what you think? Write some music, then we can all tell you what we think of you. The worst thing about so called Progressive Rock is it's anal retentive fans. Both Roger and David are excellent musicians and composers who have left the world with some truly inspirational music. What's it got to do with any of you whether they get on or not? Get a life of your own, and stop trying to live other people's lives.