{"id":9186,"date":"2026-03-05T14:07:55","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T14:07:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/interview-david-gilmour-99501\/"},"modified":"2026-03-05T14:07:55","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T14:07:55","slug":"interview-david-gilmour-99501","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/interview-david-gilmour-99501\/","title":{"rendered":"David Gilmour: \u201cI think about mortality a lot\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Originally published in Uncut Take 220 [September 2015 issue], we meet David Gilmour not long after The Endless River has brought the tale of Pink Floyd to a satisfying conclusion and a new phase of his career begins…<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Originally published in Uncut Take 220 [September 2015 issue], we meet David Gilmour not long after The Endless River has brought the tale of Pink Floyd to a satisfying conclusion and a new phase of his career begins\u2026<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t try and do anything differently\u201d<\/h2>\n

Not for the first time, David Gilmour<\/strong> is considering his future. For almost 50 years now, his decisions as a musician have been directly linked to Pink Floyd. But today Gilmour is readying his new solo album Rattle That Lock<\/em>; the first record he\u2019s made since calling time on his old band last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt what point one decides one is or isn\u2019t in a band \u2013 and exactly what the meaning of the word \u2018band\u2019 is \u2013 feels a bit daft when you gets to our age,\u201d he says. \u201cI don\u2019t think of it like that anyway. It\u2019s part of a continuum. I don\u2019t try and do anything differently. Things just come out different when I\u2019m doing solo records than when I\u2019m doing Pink Floyd. You just accept what comes along, really.\u201d<\/p>\n

As if to highlight the intertwined relationship between Gilmour\u2019s work as a solo artist and his career in Pink Floyd, we meet on Astoria, the houseboat-recording studio moored along the Thames that Gilmour has owned since 1986. We are in the studio where the Gilmour-led Pink Floyd convened to work on A Momentary Lapse Of Reason<\/em> and The Division Bell<\/em> \u2013 but also where Gilmour recorded much of last solo album, On An Island<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u201cGod, that was great fun\u201d<\/h2>\n

A quick glance round the studio identifies a number of items with explicit connections to his past. Behind him, for instance, sits the Martin D-35 acoustic guitar that he first used on \u201cWish You Were Here\u201d, while grouped in a corner along with his peddle board and a small beige amp rests his fabled black Stratocaster. Even Gilmour\u2019s smartphone, it seems, recently chose to remind him of his celebrated history.<\/p>\n

\u201cFunnily enough, \u2018the iPod angel\u2019 as I call it played \u2018Echoes\u2019 from Live In Gdansk the other day,\u201d he reveals. \u201cThat\u2019s the first time I\u2019ve listened to it since it came out, I think. You\u2019re going along and your iPod \u2013 or now it\u2019s in my iPhone, of course \u2013 plays a song at random. It played \u2018Echoes\u2019 and I thought, \u2018God, that was great fun.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cDo I miss that way of working? I do. But you can\u2019t get back to that sort of equality that one has when one starts out as a young chap in a band. Gradually, over years, the balance of power changes. Your life changes and you become \u2013 how does one put it without sounding ridiculous? \u2013 bigger and more powerful and some of the people that you work with are too respectful. When you\u2019re young, you can argue and fight and it\u2019s all forgotten the next day. You call people all the names under the sun. \u2018No, that\u2019s shite.\u2019 But somehow that equality is really hard to recreate later in life.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a sigh of relief\u201d<\/h2>\n

Gilmour\u2019s old friend Robert Wyatt considers the connection between the music Gilmour was making then \u2013 during Floyd\u2019s heyday \u2013 and the music he\u2019s making now. \u201cThe Floyd was more overtly dramatic,\u201d he offers. \u201cThe climaxes were more climactic. The wait-for-it bits were more wait-for-it. There\u2019s almost a kind of folk music flow to what David does now. It\u2019s more undulated landscape that mountains and valleys.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s a sigh of relief,\u201d adds Aubrey \u2018Po\u2019 Powell, Gilmour and Pink Floyd\u2019s creative director. \u201cYou create something larger than life and you\u2019ve got to deal with it on a day to day basis, and that\u2019s what Pink Floyd had become. Doing On An Island was a way for David to get away from that and do something for himself. Rattle That Lock<\/em> also is an extension of that. But it is a celebration, almost, of everything David\u2019s ever learned musically.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Rattle That Lock arrives in a post-Floyd world, it is instructive to look back and consider the reaction Gilmour\u2019s then-bandmates had to his very first solo album \u2013 David Gilmour<\/em>, released in 1978. \u201cOh, you know,\u201d Gilmour says dryly. \u201cThe usual Pink Floyd reaction. Absolute silence.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe had a patrician air\u201d<\/h2>\n

It is early afternoon on one of the hottest days of the year. Charlie, Astoria\u2019s resident spaniel, lolls in a patch of shade near the conservatory at the top of the riverside lawn. At 12.59pm on June 30, 2015, Gilmour arrives in Astoria\u2019s grounds accompanied by his wife, Polly Samson. He is wearing a panama hat, with a white linen jacket is slung over his shoulder, giving him the air of a diplomat returning from a swish colonial posting.<\/p>\n

The image isn\u2019t that different from Robert Wyatt\u2019s first impressions of meeting Gilmour 40 years ago at a party at Nick Mason\u2019s home in Highgate\u2019s Stanhope Gardens.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe had a patrician air that I find very unusual in rock music,\u201d he says. \u201cHe was dignified, witty. Grown up. I like him, but I\u2019ve always been a little awestruck by him. Not because he\u2019s intimidating, but you feel that he\u2019s listening and watching. His bullshit detector is on \u2018alert\u2019 a lot of the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cLife just changes\u201d<\/h2>\n

Currently, Gilmour sits in a worn leather office chair in the Astoria studio, his bare feet resting on a sofa that runs underneath the length of the studio\u2019s aft window. He is wearing a black t-shirt and matching loose-fitting trousers while his shoes \u2013 a pair of black slip-ons \u2013 are neatly arranged by the door. At one point, Gilmour temporarily dons a pair of glasses with bright blue frames to answer his mobile phone. But presently, Gilmour is pre-occupied trying to identify when his solo career truly began.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn An Island<\/em> was the start of something,\u201d he eventually decides. \u201cHaving at that point no real intention of ever doing Pink Floyd again. But life is just changes; you are in particular moods in particular moments. Now I\u2019m living in Brighton, it\u2019s a little more active. I don\u2019t know if one ties those things together, or it\u2019s just luck that these pieces of music chuck themselves at you, and you get on with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Attempting to unravel the history of Rattle That Lock<\/em> \u2013 and establish its place in Gilmour\u2019s singular body of work \u2013 proves to be a complicated business, not least because of the record\u2019s intricate timeline; but also because of its more personal and private moments.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe sat here for months, slogging away\u201d<\/h2>\n

Phil Manzanera, co-producer of On An Island<\/em> and Rattle That Lock<\/em>, estimates that Gilmour has been writing material for this new album over the last five years. But then, Manzanera also confirms that one piano part was recorded 18 years ago in Gilmour\u2019s living room; recently, he recalls, he rang up one delighted musician to inform him that a four-note passage he recorded a decade ago appears on this album.<\/p>\n

What is clear, however, is that Rattle That Lock<\/em> was temporarily set aside so that Gilmour and Nick Mason could work on The Endless River<\/em>, their tribute to Rick Wright.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt took a lot of time and an enormous amount of effort,\u201d admits Gilmour. \u201cWe sat here for months, slogging away, trying to get it into shape. I love it, but it was a bit of a tear to drag myself away from it. Then a month after, getting to grips with going back into this.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Pink Floyd\u2019s The Endless River sleeve<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Was it important to close the door on Pink Floyd before releasing Rattle That Lock<\/em>?<\/p>\n

\u201cBest-laid plans\u201d<\/h2>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just one of those timing things,\u201d he insists. \u201cGoing back and listening to the material made me think, \u2018There are some really nice mementos of Rick\u2019s playing.\u2019 I felt we owed it to the fans to put them together and release it. I thought I could do it in a simpler way \u2013 but you know, best-laid plans, eh? Something comes along and you have to deal with it properly. Each thing takes maximum energy and thought.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although Gilmour is adamant that he works all the time \u2013 principally in his own Medina studio in Hove, East Sussex \u2013 he admits, \u201cI\u2019ve got a lot going on. Children. Normal stuff to get on with. So when I can, and when I feel like it, I go and work, track down the little bits and improve them, try to see where they\u2019re going.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gilmour\u2019s modest, self-deprecating way might make this sound more casual than it actually is. But Youth \u2013 who worked with Gilmour on The Orb\u2019s Metallic Spheres<\/em> album and co-produced The Endless River<\/em> \u2013 recalls witnessing Gilmour\u2019s fastidiousness in the studio. \u201cHis attention to the minutiae is extreme. He\u2019d be twiddling on his own and we\u2019d do lots of takes and we\u2019d spend a lot of time editing, sifting, and then redo again. That process of distillation went really far.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s totally hands on\u201d<\/h2>\n

\u201cWhen he puts the beam on a track, he\u2019s totally hands on,\u201d says Nick Laird-Clowes, a collaborator since the 1980s. \u201cThat EQing, that knowledge of sound, that science brain mixed with his art brain, is crucial to understanding who he is. It\u2019s too much of a simplification, but his father was scientific and his mother was artistic. All the delays you get on the Floyd records, they\u2019re all things he\u2019s worked out scientifically but not at the sacrifice of the artistic and melodic content.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s very, very meticulous in the studio,\u201d agrees Robert Wyatt. \u201cHe was very specific about how everything was laid out and the timing of things and very, very exact about detail. I know actors who\u2019ve been in films. They\u2019re filming a scene and they don\u2019t necessarily know what the whole picture is, what the context is, or even what it might be about sometimes. But David is like a very careful film director.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Rattle That Lock<\/em>, Manzanera maintains he went through \u201c200 of these little bits and pieces of scraps and things\u2026 on [Gilmour\u2019s] MiniDiscs and MeMO Pads, and little devices. Then we sat down and listened to 30 in the end. This was all going on until January. Then I said, \u2018Let\u2019s just work on 10 and see where it gets us. If we need anything else let\u2019s pick from our pool of stuff, but let\u2019s look at these 10.\u2019 This whole process \u2013 especially working on the Floyd album too \u2013 got him stuck in. There\u2019s an energy that wasn\u2019t there when we started doing On An Island<\/em>. It\u2019s strange isn\u2019t it? We\u2019re 10 years on, and it\u2019s a lot more energetic.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think I\u2019ve found my feet\u201d<\/h2>\n

\u201cIn some ways, I think I\u2019ve found my feet,\u201d says Gilmour. \u201cIt\u2019s quite late in life to start finding one\u2019s feet, I must admit. Or at least, to find them again.Admittedly, it is hard to listen to Rattle That Lock<\/em> and not make associations with Gilmour\u2019s other albums. The title song, for instance, with the chorus line of \u201cRattle that lock and lose those chains\u201d evokes a sense of liberation.<\/p>\n

Aubrey Powell speculates as to whether it represents \u201cthe essence of David\u2019s creativity escaping from the entrapment of Pink Floyd, or whatever had been on his mind for the past few years.\u201d But Gilmour quickly dismisses any suggestion that this \u2013 or any other song on the album \u2013 concerns his former band.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wouldn\u2019t connect any of the lyrics on this record to anything connected to Pink Floyd in any way,\u201d he insists. \u201cI\u2019m not trying to make statements about Pink Floyd being finished or not being finished, or any other sagas that have gone on. Those lyrics are more to do shaking off the things that oppresses us in life. Politically, socially, whatever. Don\u2019t put up with it, basically.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not a connection\u201d<\/h2>\n

All the same, another song \u2013 \u201cA Boat Lies Waiting\u201d, a hymnal piano piece featuring harmonies from David Crosby and Graham Nash \u2013 has a direct link back to Floyd. While The Endless River<\/em> was Pink Floyd paying tribute to Rick Wright, this song feels more like Gilmour\u2019s personal tribute.<\/p>\n

Gilmour even admits, \u201cThere\u2019s a bit of Rick speaking I pinched. Rick loved sailing. I miss his ability and out common intuition, or telepathy, which is pretty obvious on The Endless River album. It\u2019s a great shame Rick wasn\u2019t around to help out on this one.\u201d With its lyrical references to \u201ca boat lies waiting \/ Still your clouds all flaming<\/em>\u201d and \u201cwhat I lost was an ocean<\/em>\u201d it\u2019s hard not to tie the song directly to the sleeve of The Endless River \u2013 which pictured a man rowing on clouds into a sunset. Gilmour seems surprised when I ask whether the reference is deliberate.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo. How do you mean?\u201d<\/p>\n

The mentions of the boat, ocean, clouds; those are the things you see on the sleeve. \u201cNo. It\u2019s not a connection, no,\u201d he says. Gilmour concedes, though, that by using a sample of Wright\u2019s voice, technically it means that his fallen comrade appears on the album.<\/p>\n

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\u201cShe\u2019s an integral part of what I do\u201d<\/h2>\n

Aubrey Powell sees other resonances in Rattle That Lock<\/em>: if not with Floyd per se, but with earlier parts of Gilmour\u2019s life. He cites the jazz-inflected \u201cThe Girl With The Yellow Dress\u201d. \u201cI said to David, \u2018Does this remind you of when you were in Paris with [pre-Floyd band] Flowers, supporting Johnny Hallyday and Sylvie Vartan?\u2019 He said, \u2018Not really, but obviously my experiences of living and working in Paris are in my psyche somewhere.\u2019 We\u2019re making a little film for this, set in 1961, about the time David was there. So there are a lot of nuances coming through in this new album. It is riven with experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are further ties with Gilmour\u2019s past among the album\u2019s contributors. It features bassist Guy Pratt and guitarist Jon Carin, mainstays of the Gilmour-era Floyd; Rado Klose, Gilmour\u2019s old school friend and, briefly, a member of Pink Floyd, plays guitar. All the musicians credited have, at one time or another, worked with either Floyd or accompanied Gilmour on his solo projects. <\/p>\n

But Gilmour\u2019s key collaborator on Rattle That Lock<\/em> is his wife of 21 years, the author Polly Samson. Their creative partnership began on The Division Bell<\/em> and has continued ever since. \u201cShe\u2019s an integral part of what I do,\u201d confirms Gilmour. \u201cI play her a few of the backing tracks with me singing over them \u2013 scatting words \u2013 and she chooses ones that appeal to her. She goes off and works on that for a while. In the past, she has tried to get inside my brain and think what I would be want to write about; but she\u2019s releasing herself a little bit from that pressure now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI always want to write my own songs\u201d<\/h2>\n

Manzanera credits Samson with devising the album\u2019s narrative \u2013 a \u2018day in the life\u2019 of Gilmour. \u201cIt says on the tin it\u2019s a David Gilmour album, but it\u2019s so much more than that. It\u2019s what\u2019s on their minds. They not only live together, but also work together creatively; the kinds of things they talk about are in the album. She should be credited as a producer, frankly.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI always want to write my own songs, my own lyrics and everything,\u201d reflects Gilmour.\u201d It just doesn\u2019t happen very quickly. The idea that many people adhere to, the Nick Cave way \u2013 work, get in there, concentrate, focus \u2013 I\u2019m told it would work for me, but I\u2019ve never had that discipline. So far I find these things arrive as little moments. There\u2019s a lot of slog to get there from there. I\u2019m not enormously confident writing lyrics.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are two songs, however, for which Gilmour is credited as lyricist: \u201cDancing Right In Front Of Me\u201d and \u201cFaces Of Stone\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cHumble, slightly reserved, articulate, highly intelligent\u201d<\/h2>\n

\u201c\u2018Dancing Right In Front Of Me\u2019, that\u2019s about the children, my children. My wishes for them,\u201d he explains. \u201c\u2018Faces Of Stone\u2019 was about when my mother had the beginnings of dementia. We had a day together and we walked in the park. She died about nine months after my youngest daughter was born, so there was a period of time when they were both alive. It\u2019s a reflection on beginnings and endings.\u201d<\/p>\n

Such personal revelations seem strangely out of keeping for Gilmour. Aubrey Powell \u2013 a friend of Gilmour\u2019s since 1962 \u2013 describes Gilmour as \u201chumble, slightly reserved, articulate, highly intelligent. He was like that in Cambridge and he\u2019s like that now.\u201d Po remembers his formative meetings with Gilmour, and his Pink Floyd bandmates. As a tantalizing glimpse into pre-Floyd history, Po reveals he recently found the \u201cbeating manual\u201d for the Cambridgeshire High School for Boys: alma mater of Roger Waters, Syd Barrett and Storm Thorgerson.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a record of all the boys that were ever beaten in the school and the cane that was used to beat them with. Roger\u2019s in there for throwing water, Syd\u2019s in there for being argumentative and Storm was in there for truancy. They all had six of the best. Because of everybody\u2019s background, Pink Floyd had that post-war middle class English bravado about them. It gave them that edge. They were all bright and intelligent and all knew what was expected of them and knew how to get there and how to attain it. That comes with education and they were fortunate.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Pink Floyd<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cHe was unbelievably good looking\u201d<\/h2>\n

Powell, meanwhile, has fond memories of the young Gilmour. \u201cHe was unbelievably good looking. It was great to be with because he would always attract a bevy of girls. But at the same time he had a slight shyness to him, which girls found even more endearing. But when he played guitar and sang he had confidence that was above anybody else\u2019s in that Cambridge set. David was really good at learning to play songs \u2013 and instantly. I remember when \u2018Hey Joe\u2019 came out. I saw David a few days later and said, \u2018Have you heard that amazing track \u201cHey Joe\u201d?\u2019 He said, \u2018Yeah, it goes like this.\u2019 He just played it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you start out, you copy,\u201d says Gilmour. \u201cTrying to be too original when you\u2019re too young is possibly not the best thing. But I learned copying Pete Seeger, Lead Belly, Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix. All sorts of people.\u201d<\/p>\n

In December, 1967, David Gilmour joined Pink Floyd; essentially, as an additional guitarist to support the ailing Syd Barrett.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt that point, Roger had to take the leading role because otherwise Pink Floyd would collapse,\u201d says Po. \u201cRoger was always the strongest in Pink Floyd, but they relied on Syd for his writing skills. Roger hadn\u2019t really written any songs up to that point. But because of David\u2019s singing and guitar playing abilities, he thought he\u2019d be able to write with him.<\/p>\n

\u201cDavid was absolutely crucial next stage\u201d<\/h2>\n

\u201cThe first song they wrote was \u2018Point Me At The Sky\u2019, which was not a success but nevertheless it was the start of them working together. When it came out, they asked Storm and I to make a film. We went to Biggin Hill and rented a couple of Tiger Moths. Everybody took turns to fly in them while we were shooting with a couple of old Bolexes and an Arriflex 16mm camera. It was all Biggles and jolly hockey sticks. That\u2019s a very middle class, public schoolboys fun day out. Five Go Mad At Biggin Hill.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDavid was absolutely crucial next stage,\u201d adds Robert Wyatt. \u201cHe contributed to something they had latently, from their background in architecture. David has a sense of form and pace, in a way that makes almost all other groups look a bit ramshackle. So there\u2019s a breathing space in Floyd. It\u2019s like you\u2019re entering a place.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a terrific blues player, measured, making everything count. I can\u2019t think of anybody else he could have done it with. Rick was important in creating an aurora borealis around the music \u2013 a shimmering atmosphere. Roger and Nick, as a rhythm section, were very clear about where the beat is and where it\u2019s going and what the notes are. Instead of speed they go for strength, a solidity that\u2019s the perfect environment for David. It worked very well as a band. Better than very well.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat wild, free psychedelic sound Pink Floyd\u201d<\/h2>\n

\u201cIt was hard for David at first,\u201d remembers Po. \u201cHe was being asked to emulate a psychedelic sound which wasn\u2019t him at all. But when you look at Live At Pompeii and you see David with that Strat, smashing the stage with it and bashing it about and creating extraordinary sound, it\u2019s amazing how in a few short years he picked up on that wild, free psychedelic sound Pink Floyd were known for.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Back on Astoria, Gilmour pauses briefly to look out of the window at a family of ducks foraging upstream along the riverbank. He is thinking back to one of his earliest songwriting efforts in Pink Floyd, Atom Heart Mother<\/em>\u2019s \u201cFat Old Sun\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s one of those songs where the whole thing fell together very easily,\u201d he explains. \u201cI remember thinking at the time, \u2018What have I ripped this off? I\u2019m sure it\u2019s by the Kinks or someone\u2026\u2019 But since whenever it was \u2013 1968, \u201969 \u2013 no one has ever yet said, \u2018It\u2019s exactly like this.\u2019 it\u2019s a nice lyric, I\u2019m very happy with that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou start focussing on things\u201d<\/h2>\n

Was there a breakthrough moment for Gilmour as a performer?<\/p>\n

\u201cGradually, you start focussing the things you do towards something. But there\u2019s a flash moment when you think, \u2018God, I rather like my own playing now.\u2019 That happened with singing, too. Before it\u2019s that old thing where most people listen to their voice on a recording for the first time, or people who haven\u2019t done it very often, and they think it sounds horrible. I was like that. When did it change? Around \u2018Fat Old Sun\u2019. It didn\u2019t take too long.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cChildhood\u2019s End\u201d, from Obscured By Clouds<\/em>, was the last Floyd song composed entirely by Gilmour until A Momentary Lapse In Reason<\/em>, 15 years later. Does he regret not writing more songs for Floyd?<\/p>\n

\u201cNo,\u201d he says. \u201cRoger wanted to be the guy writing the lyrics. I was very happy for him to be the guy writing the lyrics. He was very good at it. I didn\u2019t feel I was. So I wasn\u2019t frustrated, saying, \u2018Read these lyrics, I want to put this song on!\u2019 The way it happened made sense.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was like a door opening into a slightly different world\u201d<\/h2>\n

Nevertheless by the late Seventies, Gilmour saw an opportunity to strike out on his own. Six months after the Animals<\/em> tour, he began work on his self-titled solo debut. \u201cWe didn\u2019t work that hard, so there was time,\u201d he explains.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think it was to counteract some sort of frustration I was feeling within Floyd. If anything, I thought it would be nice to have a bunch of guys in a room, play some tunes, knock \u2018em down and put out a record. Maybe there was some yearning for a simpler way of being as a musician. That\u2019s not what I want. I\u2019m very happy with more complex and time-consuming methods. It was a little door opening for me into a slightly different world which, I guess, would happen again at occasional points in my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

As it transpired, Gilmour returned to his solo career six years later, in 1984, for About Face<\/em>, which coincided with Roger Waters departure from Pink Floyd. Did Gilmour ever seriously consider a full-time solo career at that point?<\/p>\n

<\/h2>\n

\u201cI always thought that you could have two parts of your career running at the same time,\u201d he says. \u201cAt that moment \u2013 1984 \u2013 Roger had decided that enough was enough for him, but I hadn\u2019t decided that enough was enough for me. So I imagine I thought, \u2018Yes, we\u2019ll go back to doing Floyd.\u2019 But Roger hadn\u2019t officially left at that point. It just looked impossible that we would ever get back together. It was good moment to be doing something. Whether that meant looking towards a new career or a stop-gap until Roger made up his mind as to should he stay or should he go.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aubrey Powell is reflecting on Pink Floyd\u2019s imperial phase: the enormous successes of Dark Side Of The Moon<\/em>, Wish You Were Here<\/em> and The Wall<\/em>. Specifically, he is considering the impact these achievements had on his old friend, David Gilmour.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen he first made money with Pink Floyd, he bought a little old farm. He had two shire horses on it. It was beautiful. Humble. You could go round any time of the day and there\u2019d be somebody like Steve Marriott or Jerry Shirley around: a lot of interesting people. That\u2019s where he discovered Kate Bush. But he\u2019s never been the rock star, never.\u201d<\/p>\n

Presumably such a becalmed environment provided a welcome retreat from the demands of Floyd; particularly, the increasing psychodramas dominating Roger Waters\u2019 final years with the band.<\/p>\n

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\u201cDavid is stubborn, by his own admission\u201d<\/h2>\n

\u201cDavid appears to be laid back but he\u2019s a very determined person,\u201d notes Phil Manzanera. \u201cHe\u2019s like a dog with a bone when he wants to do something. He\u2019s no push over and its not surprising that Roger maybe found him tricky, he\u2019s got his opinions. Even though he won\u2019t necessarily shout them out, he\u2019ll quietly assert them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDavid is stubborn, by his own admission,\u201d adds Po. \u201cWhen Roger decided to fold the band, David and Nick said, \u2018Hang on a second. This belongs to us all of us.\u2019 So David decided to fight for it. There was a lot of soul searching. It was a very painful time.\u201d<\/p>\n

From a distance of 30 years, Gilmour himself can now afford to be relaxed about the battle for ownership of Pink Floyd. But tellingly, his responses to questions about that period are delivered with a certain formal, lawyerly tone. \u201cFrom the moment Roger sent his letter, in December, 1985, to the record company saying that he forthwith was no longer a part of Pink Floyd, we felt we were released and we could start to look forward to making an album.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019d have to be a bit mad\u201d<\/h2>\n

What were the pros and cons of assuming creative control of the Floyd?<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019d have to be a bit mad when you know the difficulties,\u201d he reflects. \u201cWe were down to a two-piece for a while, Rick having gone his own merry way for reasons that have been explained in great length and tedium before. So getting Rick and Nick back in were important. It was a tricky old period of time. There\u2019s a myth that at some point we decided to turn a David Gilmour solo album into a Pink Floyd album. That\u2019s not strictly correct. There were a few pieces of music that I had that helped us to get started. It\u2019s a good album, it\u2019s got some really good moments to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDavid was extremely anxious when they made Momentary Lapse Of Reason<\/em>,\u201d says Po. \u201cThat first tour they did, David was extremely concerned they\u2019d be able to crack it, especially in America, without Roger. Of course, it was phenomenally successful for them. Then they went on with Division Bell<\/em>, which was Pink Floyd back to where it had been in the Dark Side Of The Moon<\/em> days, but without Roger.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe night before we recorded the orchestra\u201d<\/h2>\n

Nick Laird-Clowes is just back from a holiday in France. He has been staying in Ramatuelle, on the southeast coast below Saint-Tropez, where Gilmour and Syd Barrett went camping when they were 16 years old. \u201cI texted David,\u201d explains Laird-Clowes, \u201csaying \u2018I\u2019m sitting outside your favourite pizza place.\u2019 It\u2019s where he and Syd would sit and look at girls. He wrote back, \u2018WIWT\u2019. \u2018Wish I Was There\u2019. So many things happened for so long, there\u2019s so much shared stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n

Laird-Clowes first met Gilmour in 1978; their initial collaboration came three years later, as Holly And The Ivys.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a Christmas record,\u201d reveals Laird-Clowes. \u201cWe were sitting in an airport one day and David was joking about these terrible Stars On 45 records. He started stamping his feet four on the floor going, \u2018Once in royal David\u2019s city\u2026\u2019 Then I started singing, \u2018La la la la lala\u2026\u2019 He said, \u2018Hang on! That\u2019s a great idea.\u2019 The night before we recorded the orchestra, he said, \u2018If you can write a song, you can have the B-side.\u2019 So I stayed up all night writing the B-side.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Gilmour continued his patronage of Laird-Clowes, inviting his band The Act (featuring Gilmour\u2019s younger brother Mark on guitar) to rehearse at his home while Pink Floyd recorded The Wall<\/em> in France.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe used this little old studio in the house he bought from Steve Marriott,\u201d says Laird-Clowes. \u201cIt was near Harlow in Essex. We used to take the Central line and then walk a few miles to the house. It was a lovely little Tudor-looking cottage and it had a building in the garden a bit like a garage \u2013 not big \u2013 and he had an eight track in there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe and I would drink a bottle or two of wine\u201d<\/h2>\n

Their collaborations continued with Laird-Clowes next band, The Dream Academy, when Gilmour played bass and programmed drums on their cover of The Smiths\u2019 \u201cPlease, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want\u201d. In 1993, Laird-Clowes contributed lyrics to two songs on The Division Bell<\/em>: \u201cPoles Apart\u201d and \u201cTake It Back\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cDavid would say, \u2018Come over next Monday and I\u2019ll play you what we\u2019ve done,\u2019\u201d recalls Laird-Clowes, who is currently working on a new album.<\/p>\n

\u201cPolly, he and I would drink a bottle or two of wine, listen and make notes. Then it was every Tuesday, then it was Tuesday and Wednesday. We were down to the last three songs and he didn\u2019t have any lyrics. We tried everything, we did cut-ups; we stayed up insanely let and got very merry doing it. If I wrote four consecutive lines, I got a co-write. For \u2018Poles Apart\u2019, I asked him about Syd and he said, \u2018I never thought he\u2019d lose that light in his eyes\u2019. That\u2019s where it started. He said, \u2018Great, you\u2019ve written your first song on a Pink Floyd record. What year were you born?\u2019 Then he went down to the cellar.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cA tremendous boost of morale\u201d<\/h2>\n

\u201cDivision Bell<\/em> was David having gone through hell in the dispute over Pink Floyd,\u201d says Po. \u201cThen coming out the other side saying, \u2018I can make a record as good as anything we did when we were with Roger.\u2019 It gave him a tremendous boost of morale.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Division Bell<\/em> tour \u2013 110 shows in 68 cities, taking a worldwide gross of \u00a3150 million \u2013 overshadowed even the band\u2019s enormous tours of the Seventies and Eighties. But at what point did the scale and extravagance begin to lose their appeal to Gilmour?<\/p>\n

\u201cPink Floyd is very, very big,\u201d he concurs. \u201cThere are an awful lot of people who want to go to those shows. I find it hard to quite imagine how many of them actually really love everything about it. I don\u2019t know. Maybe that\u2019s fatuous. But that huge scale is intoxicating. It fuels your ego and all that. But it\u2019s never quite ideal. I don\u2019t mind playing a few big \u2018uns, once in a while. But now I\u2019m very happy not to be quite as \u2013 what\u2019s the word \u2013 famous, I was going to say, but I don\u2019t know how to put that subtly.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t help myself\u201d<\/h2>\n

After The Division Bell<\/em>, Gilmour withdrew into domestic life. He followed his old band\u2019s brief reunion at Live8 in July, 2005 with On An Island<\/em> in March, 2006. A meditative album, it shared many stylistic touches and textures with the later Pink Floyd releases. \u201cIt would be in the vein of a Pink Floyd record, because that\u2019s what I do,\u201d he says. \u201cI can\u2019t help myself, using the musical palette that I have been either gifted with or have learned over the years. I can\u2019t really separate the two things with any intent.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the Seventies, people started doing offshoot albums and called them solo albums,\u201d adds Phil Manzanera. \u201cBut this is a continuation of what David\u2019s always been doing, but in a different context. At a certain point, this happens in bands. You grow up, you have families and your life changes. It\u2019s the same with Bryan Ferry: he\u2019s just doing what he\u2019s always done, but it\u2019s in his own world. It\u2019s not like it used to be, where people did a solo album and then came back to the band. We all morphed out of that. We\u2019re not confined by the things that we started in our 20s.\u201d<\/p>\n

Next year, David Gilmour turns 70. From his seat in Astoria\u2019s studio, he admits he\u2019s not yet given much thought to how he\u2019ll mark the occasion \u2013 \u201cMaybe we\u2019ll have 20 or 30 people round for a bevy, I don\u2019t know,\u201d he shrugs. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve got another record on the go\u201d<\/h2>\n

\u201cMortality is something I think a lot about and always have,\u201d he continues. \u201cIt was frightening when I was young. At my age now, I\u2019m no longer fussed about it. It\u2019s lost its fear for me, pretty much.\u201d Of course, Gilmour has more immediate business to attend to. \u201cI finished this album yesterday,\u201d he says with a smile. \u201cAnd I\u2019ve got another record on the go. Rattle That Lock <\/em>came out of a font of stuff so I don\u2019t think it\u2019ll be that long before another one comes out. Maybe at the end of the tour I\u2019ll just want to collapse and feel like an old man again. But I\u2019ve got the best part of another album stewing away.\u201d<\/p>\n

Considering there were six years between Gilmour\u2019s first two solo albums, 22 between the second and third and nine between On An Island<\/em> and Rattle That Lock<\/em>, this feels like momentous news. \u201cThese songs have been on the go for the last few years,\u201d he explains.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are one or two really old ones. One is probably 20 years old. It\u2019s still trying to fight its way to the top of the pile. It will one day. We will see how good they get to be in a couple of years time. As for Rattle That Lock<\/em>, I don\u2019t want to overplay things, but I think it\u2019s the best thing I\u2019ve done. Probably ever. It\u2019s very easy to be deluded, but I think it\u2019s very good.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018Shine On You Crazy Diamond\u2019 is about Syd\u201d<\/h2>\n

For the time being, Gilmour admits his next assignment will be planning his September tour. He dusted down 1972\u2019s \u201cWot\u2019s\u2026 Uh The Deal\u201d for the On An Island<\/em> tour, so can we assume he\u2019ll go rummaging through the archives to see if there\u2019s any more rarities that he can dust down for this tour? \u201cI might completely rearrange one or two old songs,\u201d he admits. \u201cWe shall see.\u201d<\/p>\n

Is there a song that always reminds you of Syd?<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018Shine On You Crazy Diamond\u2019 is about Syd,\u201d he says. \u201cEvery time that I\u2019ve sung that song, I\u2019ve thought about Syd. You have to think about what you\u2019re singing, you can\u2019t just troll the words out. You have to work harder if someone else has written them \u2013 which I\u2019ve grown skilled at, having spent so much of my time singing Roger\u2019s words.\u201d<\/p>\n

Talking of Roger, is there a song that reminds you of him?<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were not exactly equals\u201d<\/h2>\n

\u201c\u2018Money\u2019. I\u2019m not talking about any connection to the lyric. Just the quirky 7\/8 time reminds me of Roger. It\u2019s not a song I would have written. It points itself at Roger, rather.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now Pink Floyd is officially over, what part of it do you miss the most?<\/p>\n

\u201cI was taking earlier to you about the early moments,\u201d he says quietly, running a hand through his tight crop of white hair. \u201cWe were not exactly equals, because things aren\u2019t ever quite equal. But in terms of the band dynamic during that era, there were moments where magic happened. I suppose you could say I miss those. But there\u2019s not much about it that I have disliked or haven\u2019t enjoyed. At the same time, there\u2019s not much of it that I miss. It was 99% a great experience, and we wouldn\u2019t want to talk about the other 1%. That\u2019s been done.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The post David Gilmour: \u201cI think about mortality a lot\u201d<\/a> appeared first on UNCUT<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Originally published in Uncut Take 220 [September 2015 issue], we meet David Gilmour not long after The Endless River has brought the tale of Pink Floyd to a satisfying conclusion…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2993,31,35,3090],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9186","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-david-gilmour","category-features","category-interviews","category-pink-floyd"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9186","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9186"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9186\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9186"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}