DAVID GILMOUR: «David Gilmour - The Dark Side of Pink Floyd», Muzik Express, April 1984
Interviewer: «About Face seems much more mature than your solo debut in 1978. It doesn't just sound like the by-product of a band member»
David Gilmour: «I certainly approached it differently. This time it's a step towards a completely different career. I can't rely on the members of the group I normally play with wanting to work when I want to. So I need another field of activity»
Interviewer: «Has the lack of opportunities to work frustrated you over the years?»
David Gilmour: «No, not really. But right now, Pink Floyd were actually working pretty hard until - when? - a year ago, they worked pretty hard. But I don't see us working again any time soon»
Interviewer: «Why? Because of the solo projects coming up?»
David Gilmour: «Simply because it's very hard to convince everyone to do the same thing at the same time. The older we get, the less agreement there is, so I just need something of my own»
Interviewer: «The basic tenor of the album - especially the lyrics - is very pessimistic, with one exception: Blue Light »
David Gilmour: «Hmmm. It makes your feet twitch, doesn't it?»
Interviewer: «… but the music doesn't seem so melancholy…»
David Gilmour: «No, right, I think you can still talk about melancholic or sad topics with positive music. That's what I'm trying to do anyway»
Interviewer: «Floyd have done the same in recent years - with both albums: « The Wall » and « The Final Cut » »
David Gilmour: «Yeah, maybe Roger's gloom has rubbed off on me over the years. I don't endeavour to write pessimistic songs. I just find it really hard to write happy ones. They always sound like John Denver»
Interviewer: «But what Pete Townshend wrote for two songs on the LP (the lyrics to Love On The Air and All Lovers Are Deranged) also sound pretty grim. Did he have a brief, did you tell him to write dark lyrics?»
David Gilmour: «No, we didn't agree on anything. I just sent him the tapes and asked him for suggestions. He has piles of lyrics lying around that he's never used before. He then looks through them, finds a few that fit the mood of a song. He rebuilds them and tailors them to the song. On the lyrics he sent me for Love On The Air, he had written a date: « August '82 - Cornwall » was written on the note... And he hardly had to change anything. He did a vocal demo to my tape so I knew what he had in mind»
Interviewer: «You employ very different people on your record, ranging from Pino Palladino and Jeff Porcaro to Jon Lord and Steve Winwood - it goes right across a whole range of different musical genres»
David Gilmour: «In the beginning there was a fixed band that recorded the basic tracks: It was Pino, Jeff, lan Kewley (organ, piano) and me. In my opinion, Pino is a great bass player and Jeff is a great drummer. I didn't know if they could work together, but I could imagine that it would work, so I just gave it a try.»
Interviewer: «I categorised Pink as very isolated from the rest of the musical scene. With other musicians you can easily imagine them exchanging ideas and techniques, jamming together and so on, but Pink Floyd's music has always gone its own way. That's why I was quite surprised by both the album line-up and your new live band (with ex-Mott The Hoople, ex-Bad Company guitarist Mick Ralph; saxophonist Raphael Ravenscroft, famous for his solo on Gerry Rafferty's Baker Street; bassist Mickey Feat, backing vocalist on ABOUT FACE; and drummer Chris Slade, most recently with Manfred Mann and numerous other groups). Did (co-producer) Bob Ezrin bring some of these musicians with him?»
David Gilmour: «No, only Steve Winwood came through Bob, because he knows him - and Steve is sometimes hard to catch. As for the others, I just took the people who I thought were good at a particular thing. No matter how they feel about what they do and what I do»
Interviewer: «Have you managed to stay open to the changes that were going on with the music in the 70s and 80s? I have the impression that Pink Floyd more or less demonstrated their point of view with the first two albums and have been on the same course ever since»
David Gilmour: «Oh, I think that's unfair. I think if you found someone who didn't know anything about Pink Floyd and played them «Saucerful of Secrets» and then «The Wall», they wouldn't make much of a connection. I would say that they are quite radically different. No, I think I'm quite open to musical developments... but everyone thinks that of themselves, don't they? For me, The song is still the crucial thing; I don't care so much about the trappings and the fashionable embellishments»
Interviewer: «I can't imagine that punk said much to you»
David Gilmour: «Oh, I liked it. That movement produced a lot of crap, a lot of people just jumped on the bandwagon and are now called new wave, even though I can't see much new wave in them, but I certainly liked a lot of it. I thought it was fun»
Interviewer: «And what is the current state of affairs with Pink Floyd at the moment?»
David Gilmour: «Well, the group is treading water. Whether it's temporary or permanent, I don't know yet. Nobody has said « I’m leaving », « That's it » or anything like that. On the other hand, nobody seems particularly keen to do anything about it. I certainly don't and neither does Roger, I know that... We're both getting more and more stubborn as time goes on»
Interviewer: «After the last Pink Floyd records, one had the impression that Roger Waters had completely taken over the leadership of the band. Is that assessment correct?»
David Gilmour: « Yes. He is the driving force behind our endeavours. He has the ideas, which we then turn into whole albums, but he has never made decisions alone about how we do something and how it sounds. The records are created in collaboration. With one exception: « The Final Cut » is really a Roger Waters solo album. I had very little to do with it, and I don't like it either, that's for sure. It didn't satisfy me at all »
Interviewer: «Because of the lyrical statements, the political bluntness? »
David Gilmour: «No, no. Purely musically. The music is just weak. I always like to have a certain minimum of good music on a Pink Floyd record, but there are only three good songs on «The Final Cut », the rest are just filler»
Interviewer: « Rick Wright's departure from the group has been played down by Pink Floyd. I haven't found any news about it in the music press. Is that all, is that a fait accompli ? »
David Gilmour: «Yes, above all fait accompli(Laughs) Rick had basically quit before « The Wall » came out »
Interviewer: «The famous « musical differences »? »
David Gilmour: «Yes, you could say that (laughs again). Musical and personal differences. Rick wasn't really doing anything anymore and hadn't done anything for a while»
Interviewer: «How far have you set the direction for the new band? Will this group stay together? Or just for a tour?»
David Gilmour: «My plans go as far as July, no further. I'll see how touring works out first. If I enjoy it and everything works out with the mix of personalities, we might go on tour again at the end of the year. And maybe make another record. But at the moment I'm only thinking about July - and then it's over for me for now»
Interviewer: « Sounds like a pretty unequal guitar duo in every respect. How does that work? »
David Gilmour: «Me and Mick? We haven't really tried it yet. We're friends; we live close by (in Henley-on-Thames) and he's very, very good at keeping everything going and keeping the band on track. And he's an excellent rhythm guitarist. I think it's going to be great. It's going to be fun. And it's another step into the unknown»
Interviewer: «For a while another guitarist, Snowy White, played with Pink Floyd, how do you feel about the solo success he just had with the Bird Of Paradise single?»
David Gilmour: « Surprised and delighted. I find it encouraging that he can make such an unfashionable record in '84. Just right for Snowy, because that's his music. He didn't have to compromise at all, whereas he never really identified with Pink Floyd music and couldn't stand playing with Thin Lizzy. I'm still in good contact with him, we're friends»
Interviewer: «Will you be bringing all the trappings of a Pink Floyd show to your solo gigs: the lights, the lasers, all the trimmings?»
David Gilmour: «No, no. I try to leave all that out. Trying to take on Pink Floyd can be a big pitfall that you stumble into very quickly. Apart from that, I can't afford it»
Interviewer: «You can't be serious. Pink Floyd is standing still. Whether temporarily or forever, I don't know yet»
David Gilmour: «Oh yes. I'd lose a fortune if I tried. Pink Floyd can sell out just about anything they do, guaranteed. You can calculate a tour quite well - and if we say we want to do this-and-that and it costs so-and-so much1, then Steve (O'Rourke), our manager, can work out exactly how many shows we have to do to recoup the costs.I can't work that out for myself. It doesn't look like we'll make a profit if we just do a normal tour for three months. That's why it's very difficult. But I don't want a big, spectacular show either. I just want to get out, make some music and have fun. Right now. But expectations change with every thing you tackle »
Interviewer: «You've already made a lot of disparaging remarks about Pink Floyd's attitude towards "psychedelic" improvisation. Will the new band "expand" anything at all or just play the pure songs? »
David Gilmour: «I don't know. I want every single musician to be able to let off steam. Most of them are good soloists. I hope that they will come together as a cohesive band. The thought of just getting a bunch of session musicians playing the 'dots on the is' makes me nervous. Even Bowie's last tour suffered from the fact that no interesting personalities were involved. In '78 Bowie had Adrian Belew, and that meant he could go off stage for a while and let the guitarist freak out. Then when he came back, people were interested in him again. And because I'm not the most - er - charismatic musician myself, I thought it would be good to have people you can rely on who can take you out of the centre of attention for a while»
Interviewer: «Is it really important to you whether « About Face » is a success? »
David Gilmour: «Quite simply: yes. It's very important to me»
Interviewer: «Not just a record, like other people have a hobby, as a pastime? »
David Gilmour: «No. My first record was a bit like that. Having a bit of fun, killing a bit of time. Look, I honestly don't know if Pink Floyd are ever going to do anything again, so I've got to get my own career together. I'm serious about it. About Face is the best album I could make, with the best people I could find. And I come here to promote it so that it has the best chance of getting off the ground. I don't know what the point is in making an album first and then getting half-hearted and not fully behind it. I look at this game as my source of income »
Interviewer: «I’m surprised by your openness. You always had the reputation of being a difficult interview partner. Was that because you thought promotional activities with Pink Floyd were irrelevant - because how you treated journalists didn't affect sales anyway?»
David Gilmour: «I don't think I or any of us have ever been particularly rude to a journalist. We don't like dealing with numpties, but who has? You meet a lot of idiots, don't you? But if anyone had an interesting topic to talk about, I still sat there and talked about it. That's what makes good journalism for me. I've given a few interesting interviews over the years. And a lot of shitty ones. When you sit with someone for 20 minutes, all the time trying to distract them from a completely trivial line of questioning - and they go on and on and on with some trivia... well, at some point your good manners fail you! (laughs) Occasionally that happened»
Interviewer: «Do you still have much contact with the other members during the periods when the group is not working?»
David Gilmour: « No, none. We meet up for business every now and then »
Interviewer: « That all sounds pretty far removed from rock 'n' roll »
David Gilmour: « Indeed. That's another reason for me to do all this: Because I still like rock 'n' roll »
Interviewer: « I remember Pink Floyd playing much smaller venues about 10 years ago, like the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London. I liked it back then because you could hear the details of the sound - the music wasn't all grand gestures like later »
David Gilmour: « Sure, in the last decade we've got into the habit of making big gestures to go with our big gigs. So that they bring something to the people, you know; I think we've managed it quite well. But that's not me. Without the big show, I'd rather set a ceiling of 5000. But I'd also like to make a profit on my music, and if you can sell out the 10000-seaters, you can make a lot more money »
Interviewer: « But it can't just be a question of profit or loss. Aren't you also looking for a meaning behind everything you do? Don't you wonder what that person at the back of the stalls is getting from your music - how much your intentions with « The Final Cut » was a Roger Waters solo album. I had little to do with it and I don't like it." image that comes across? »
David Gilmour: « No. To be honest, I don't think about that. I'm concerned with how I can do it well from my point of view, and I hope that's good enough for a lot of people. I'm the only one judging me, and I think you almost certainly lose your inspiration if you try to guess what other people want you to do. That's the way it is with pop music, isn't it, trying to guess what other people will like... I'm not too good at that, and I don't necessarily want to master it »
Interviewer: « Are you interested in the judgement of posterity? »
David Gilmour: « No, not at all. I hope my children will think that Daddy was marvellous, but beyond that… »
Interviewer: «What's left of all the money and crowd applause? I don't want to blame you for Roger Waters' lyrics, but one of the main points of THE WALL was that there's something alienating about mass worship when you realise that the fanatical enthusiasm is just a reflection of something much uglier»
David Gilmour: « Roger feels this alienation from his audience far more than I do. It doesn't bother me. Our audience changed fundamentally when Dark Side of the Moon came out and "MONEY" was a big hit in America. Our previous audiences were, if anything, over-fearful and totally attentive. But when Dark Side of the Moon broke through to the mass audience, which we never had before, the image of the crowd changed - and suddenly there were all these pop fans screaming and shouting their wishes all evening.And they changed the music we play. We practically had to stop playing the quieter stuff because every time we turned the volume down you'd hear someone screaming, 'Play something I can move my arse to! Play 'Money'! On the Dark Side of the Moon tour in '73 we were all pretty confused because the loud, boisterous audience was completely new to us and we had to learn to live with it. Yes, I'm sure Roger has settled the score with that on THE WALL. Personally, I think some of these shouting people should be a bit less selfish - they often disturb the fun of the people around them - on the other hand, they've paid their money; and if they want to have a party, you can't really deny them the right to do so»
