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- Outside The Wall exclusive interview with Guy Pratt -

G.P: I do indeed have a book deal, apparently you can pre-order it on Amazon, which is a bit of a shock as I haven't even settled on a title!

A fan who recently seen one of your shows had said you mentioned that Rogers band and Davids band have been rehearsing in the same studios. Is this true and if so what has that been like?

G.P: It's true and there's not much to say about it without sounding Tabloid…

Pink Floyd management has released info to fan sites claiming Your father in law Rick is going into the studio after this tour to start on another solo album. Can you confirm this and have you been asked to do any work on it with him?

G.P: First I've heard of it..

Being a American myself and seeing the show in New York, I want to apologise on behalf of the true fans for what happened at the airport. There have been conflicting reports on what actually happened. Can you elaborate?

G.P: It's no big deal, there were a lot of "fans" (I use inverted commas because everything we signed ended up on ebay) and our vans were late so we were stuck on the sidewalk being hassled. Some big guy who was trying to get his album under David's nose to sign accidentally hit my son who was sitting on David's trolley. He was very apologetic, but still carried on! What upset me was that someone on David's blog suggested that I was a bad parent for having my child so close to someone famous and should have expected  something like that to happen!!! We were traveling together for god's sake! That's why I got a bit heated on David's blog about it, although it turned out the blogger in question (Bleeding Heart Artist) just has it in for me anyway because I'm not Roger. We had a wonderful time in NY, it was beyond brilliant having my son see this ludicrous world that I get to dip into every 12 years or so, but of course having his Granddad there made him feel it was completely normal. There's been a lot of people from NY wanting to apologise, and I'd just like to say there's no need, and your embarrassment just reinforces the fact that New Yorkers are good people. I love that town, and I know it's given my son some lifelong memories, so thanks, but don't take it on yourself, we know it was a few people, it could have been anywhere, and it has no influence on how I or any of us feel about NY.

David has mentioned he had lots of material and picked a select amount of it for On an Island. Do you expect him to do more work in the future, or do you think this tour will mark the end?

G.P: It would be speculative and discourteous for me to say anything about that. (We agree Guy, but had to ask)

The tour has been widely acclaimed by fans and critics alike. It seems this band have really clicked on all cylinders since the beginning. It does seem such a shame the tour was so short. Any chance you guys might decide to give it another go next year? Whats it like to work with Phil M and Steve D in Davids band?

G.P: Phil I know well as I play with him in Roxy Music. He's never been a sideman before, he is after all a guitar hero in his own right, and his humility and teamsmanship has been a real credit to him, I should also point out that he is the Nicest Man In Rock ™ Stevie has been amazing, as he's the new boy, none of us really thought about the fact that we've worked together for 20 or 35 years, and it could be pretty intimidating coming into that setup. The beauty of Steve is that he has no agenda, he's (rightly) thrilled to be here, and has the same "fan" thing that Jon and I had when we started playing with Floyd, and just wants to get it right, rather than putting his own stamp on everything. I love that guy!!

Are there any songs from the past Floyd tours you have been on that you miss playing and would like to add to the tour?

G.P: "Sorrow" of course!!

David has said in the past that he did not enjoy playing echoes without Roger as much, but it has become a staple and fan favorite on the tour. Any idea what changed his mind, and do you enjoy playing it as much as we enjoy hearing it?

G.P: I still can't believe we play it!! I LOVE IT!!! YOU HEAR ME!!!! We tried Echoes on the 87 tour, but some of the younger players (mentioning no names) couldn't get their heads around the free form nature of it, so we had to give it up, I don't really think it was lack of Roger that put David off. I would like to go on record as saying I think this band plays the best live Echoes that's ever been.

Since Live 8 there has been much talk about David and Roger, but there are no reports on Ricks thoughts about the one off. Can you let us in on any of his thoughts on the day and on Roger?

G.P: Good question. When the Live 8 thing came up it was all about David and Roger, no-one seemed to take Rick's side into account, and he was kicked out of the band by Rog remember. Rick basically has a fantastically strong musical relationship with David and his thoughts were basically if David says do it then let's do it.

When you first stepped into the role of Pink Floyd's bassist, did it make you nervous at all to think that most of people thought of you as Rogers replacement?

G.P: I'm a Bass Player. Roger's a Songwriter and conceptualist. All I had to do was play bass and sing, that I can do at least as well as Roger.

One of my personal favorites of your playing was the version of Money you guys did in Venice in 89. Do you remember anything about this jam and what do you think about the show that is rumoured to have helped sink the city itself?

G.P: There's a whole load of stuff about Venice but I'm afraid you'll have to wait for my book, it'll take too long to answer. I am mortified by the "Reggae" section of Money.

Other then the albums you have worked on, what is your Favorite Floyd album and why?

G.P: My Heart says WYWH but my head says The Wall, because that's the first time Roger's lyrics struck me as genius without having to make allowances for his sometimes clumsy school boyish prose, the fact that he was actually addressing everything that punk had set out to and it features quite simply the consistently finest guitar playing I've ever heard in my life ever. Period

Thank you very much Guy, that is all I have for you, but I gave fans the opportunity to ask you a question and have selected a few of them to ask you. The following are there questions

Is there any certain moment that sticks out in your mind of the PULSE tour in 1994? Joe Mondo - Buffalo, NY USA

G.P: Yes. Playing Earls Court and looking down at the fans and remembering being in the front row there (on acid) seeing Pink Floyd perform The Wall.

My question would be if their are any plans for a DVD of his "Guy Pratt - My Bass & Other Animals" shows. I have read rave reviews and would love to see it myself, but being across the pond makes it nearly impossible. Dan- Sudbury, Ontario Canada.

G.P: There may well be a DVD, personally I'd love to bring the show to Canada

I'd be interested in knowing how long it actually took for him to come full circle from his punk/new wave roots to settling into Floyd's style of music. It was surely a bit of culture shock for him, if nothing else. John- Florida USA

G.P: Not at all. I fell in love with Pink Floyd and The Who to begin with, but my generation needed something that was our own, hence Punk. All we wanted was intent and purpose and something more than a load of Millionaires 15 years older than us to relate to. One of my most profound musical experiences was going to see Sondheim's musical "Sweeney Todd" at around the same time I saw The Wall. It turned the original story on it's head, making Sweeney the innocent wronged man out for vengeance on the establishment that had
destroyed his life. It taught me that it's the piece, not the form, that needs to be radical and I had something of an epiphany realising that Sondheim, Waters and Joe Strummer were all on the same bus!

I would ask Guy what the difference is between playing stadiums like the AMLOR and Division Bell tour vs. The small theatres played with DG. Being an active musician, I know how different venues can effect the show, so I am just curious! Also, if Guy ever reads this thanks for an amazing show on the 12th in Chicago!!! Matt Decatur- Illinois USA.

G.P: It does feel a bit odd doing Comfortably Numb with people right there in front of you, although it's wonderful to see people having this amazing experience with just the music rather than all the bells and whistles. I loved Chicago….

Thanks to all the fans for the submissions, and to Guy for answering them! We look forward to talking to Guy again in the future, he is a class act and very down to earth.

- Barrett's 'extraordinary legacy' -

Joe Boyd - one of the pivotal figures of the 1960s rock scene - offers his memories of Pink Floyd founding member Syd Barrett, who has died at age 60.

I was in London in 1966, working for Elektra Records, and I was also involved in an organisation called the London Free School, a radical attempt to help revolutionise west London.

That organisation ended up kick-starting the Notting Hill Carnival in 1966. But the carnival didn't raise any money, so there was an attempt to do so by putting on concerts at a church hall in Palace Square. The key figure in the London Free School was Peter Jenner. He knew this group from Cambridge called Pink Floyd who were in London looking for work. He convinced them to do a gig as a benefit concert as it would be good publicity for them. It worked, it was great. They had this light show and they were really wonderful and original. I got really excited about them and tried to interest the record company I was working for in signing them.

I couldn't get the boss to bite, and this was one of many things that led to my leaving the employment of Electra and setting out as a freelance producer. I set about trying to get a deal for the Pink Floyd.

By February 1967, I went into the studio with them to record a single, which we then hoped to sell to a record company.

We recorded Arnold Layne, which was a song written by Syd - at that time, he wrote or co-wrote everything that the Floyd performed and he was definitely the focus and the centrepiece of the Floyd. The record was then contracted to EMI.

Summer of Love

Over the subsequent months, everything changed. The record was a hit on the charts, even though the BBC banned it. What had been underground became mainstream, and suddenly became the exciting scene of 1967 and the Summer of Love. I think Pink Floyd were really at the heart of it - the songs, the guitar-playing and the personality of Syd were, in a way, the spearhead of so much of what went on, the aesthetic of what happened in London in 1967. It was very, very sad for me that having not seen Syd for a couple of months, I met him in June and he had obviously been totally altered in those months. He was very lifeless. He'd always been very witty, kind of twinkly, very appealing to girls - a dark-eyed, handsome sort of guy.

He wrote a lot of songs, some which the Floyd didn't always do. I used to have a tape of these songs he'd given me as a demo to see if I could get somebody else interested in recording them. Much to my regret, I no longer have it. It's disappeared in the mists of time. By that summer, he would very often spend time on stage with the Floyd, standing with his arms at his side, not playing, not singing. Eventually Dave Gilmour was brought in to provide support for those times when Syd didn't feel like playing, and in the end he took over and replaced Syd, and Syd left the group.

Lasting influence

I think Syd leaves an extraordinary legacy because Floyd are famous all over the world. You can go to the farthest corner of Indonesia or Africa or Latin America and you can find a cassette of Dark Side of the Moon somewhere. Very few people own The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, which was the first LP. Everybody knows the Floyd from The Wall and Dark Side of the Moon. None of those records involved Syd but somehow Syd Barrett's name is forever associated with the Floyd. The fact that nobody's really heard his voice or his guitar-playing doesn't really stop the fact that people revere him, and I think it's quite correct that they should. The songs that he wrote and the way he played the guitar and his attitude and his approach to music in 1966 and '67 shaped the group.

When I heard that Syd had left the group, I thought they would disappear. But in fact they went from strength to strength. All the songs that Roger Waters and Dave Gilmour have written since then seem to me to have some kind of imprint of Syd on them. They somehow fit in to the style and the approach and the musical sensibility that Syd had in those early months with the Floyd. It still feels like Syd's group, 40 years after he was no longer involved.

Joe Boyd is the author of White Bicycles, a book about the music of the 1960s.

- Gdansk What a memory! -

The last show of the David Gilmour Summer Tour 2006 was everything it promised to be, and despite some rain throughout the day, the sky cleared for the concert itself. The huge stage with its six suspended screens was able to accommodate David's band with ease, plus the 40-piece orchestra conducted by Zbigniew Preisner, who occupied a position on Stage Right.

As usual, the first half of the show included all of the On An Island album, but the added textures of the orchestra made it a unique performance, thankfully caught on film by documentary director Gavin Elder and a small crew.

It was an evening of high spots, with the added impact of the six screens carrying images of the individual musicians, which added a close-up intimacy to Marc Brickman's visual sorcery. Special moments would include the authentic liquid oil psychedelic lightshow for Astronomy Domine, and the rock and orchestra rendition of High Hopes, but the surprise of the night was the hoped-for live debut on this tour of A Great Day For Freedom, in which the combination of orchestral accompaniment and the setting was especially poignant.

Just when anyone thought that Comfortably Numb couldn't possibly be any better, the closing song of the closing show, again with orchestral accompaniment, brought the concert to a thunderous, triumphant close.

It was a great day for music, but a sad day for music lovers, as the David Gilmour tour of 2006 came to a close.

- article taken from davidgilmour.com