Phil Manzanera:Wow! That was fantastic!
What a great band you've got. [Laughs]
David Gilmour: Thank you, Phil. Good evening,
everyone in Brixton and everyone in the United States
and Canada. I hope you enjoyed that. [Audience cheers]
PM:I did. It's nice to watch it out there,
isn't it?
DG: Yeah, it is. It's great.
PM:Do you think the DVD captures the magic
of the concerts, particularly this one?
DG: I think so, I think it's fantastic. [There's]
a real sort of sense of excitement about it, isn't
there?
PM:Yeah, I mean I certainly enjoyed it
from back there. Right, now, let's take some questions.
How this is going to work, is that we're going to
start with the questions from across the Atlantic,
and then we're going to open it up to the floor in
Brixton here.
So, the first question is from Joe Ferrerio of
Niagara, New York. I think we're going to see him
on the screen, I think.
Joe Ferrerio:David, with all the wonderful
talent that joined you along your North American and
European tour and playing at some very unique venues,
which particular show was your favourite and why?
PM: [Repeats the question]
DG: There were so many great shows, so many
great places we played at, it's very hard to pick
one out. I don't know... We played in Venice: that
was spectacular. In Gdańsk.
We played New York City; we played at Radio City Music
Hall, which is an old favourite, it's a fantastic
place. There's a great old steam curtain that we used
in a midnight show with Pink Floyd back in '73 or
something, that we managed to use again this time.
That was also the first show that we had David Crosby
and Graham Nash come along to, so that was a really
special moment for me; they were great.
We rehearsed in a room, that there's a picture of
somewhere, which is all tiled and it was the 'Elephant
Room'. It was where they had these shows – they
had an elephant coming on stage at Radio City Music
Hall, and this was called the 'Elephant Room', where
they kept the elephant. God knows what it smelled
like in those days.
PM:That's that picture that looks
like it's in the loo [The Men's Room]?
DG: Yeah, with me and Nash and Cros, rehearsing.
PM:Great! OK, well the next question is
from George Gipe of Baltimore, Maryland, and we're
going to see him on the VT now.
George Gipe:Kastellorizo was a big inspiration
for 'On An Island'. Have you been anywhere recently
that may have inspired any new music?
PM:OK, so, Castellorizon – do you
pronounce it like that?
DG: Castellorizon, yes.
PM:I've always wondered how it was pronounced.
DG: It's from the Italian, Castello Rosso –
Red Castle.
PM:Of course, yes. How many years have
we been doing it? Well, that was a big inspiration for 'On An Island'.
'Have you been anywhere recently that may have inspired
any new music', he asks?
DG: Well, it's hard. I must say that the moment
that's described in that song, you know, in the song
'On An Island', which was on that [island of] Kastellorizo,
[also the title of] the opening piece with the guitar...
we had a fantastic time there with some friends of
ours. [It was] in '93 in fact, and those friends,
two of them are now dead, unfortunately, and it was
a really magical sort of time we had together, that,
thinking back on, was something really special. And
sometimes you can be in a very special place and it
can take a while to filter through to you exactly
how special that place or that moment was.
But I have to say it's actually more about the people
than it is about the place; although it is a fantastic
place.
PM:OK, well the next one is...
DG: Did I avoid that question sufficiently?
PM:Yes... Right, the next one is from Rudders,
Mark Rudkin of Burlington, Ontario. Rudders.
DG: We've heard of him.
Mark Rudkin:Greetings from Ontario, Canada,
David. My question is: excluding past and present
band-mates, if you could invite one musician to a
dinner party, who would it be and, briefly, why?
PM: [Repeats the question]
DG: Excluding band-mates? I couldn't do that.
PM:It would be a bit sad, wouldn't it?
Just one musician.
DG: Yeah, yeah, it would be terribly sad. I
mean, I don't think I could do it. I would definitely
want to have these band-mates; some old band-mates
too, maybe. We just...we did it last week, in fact,
Phil, didn't we?
PM:Round the old...
DG: ...sat round a campfire. Cooking burnt
meat on a fire and talking and carousing a little
bit, into the wee hours. That'll do it for me. Sorry.
PM:That's a good answer, yeah. That's the
right answer. [Audience laughs] Right, next one
is from Susan Neighbors of Carson City, Nevada.
Susan Neighbors:Hi David. I would like
to know what music do you listen to? For instance,
what CD is in your car stereo right now?
DG: What CD is in the car stereo right now?
You want the truth?
PM:No.
DG: It's Joan Jett singing 'I Love Rock 'n'
Roll'. You won't believe that. [Audience cheers]
My daughter loves it; she has a CD of rock'n'roll
tracks and she sings that one – she's five. She
sings that one out. That's fantastic.
Also, I'm listening to Amy Winehouse a bit at the
moment, and something... a strange record, called
the 'Mexican Institute Of Sound'.
PM:Oh, fantastic. Must be good if it's
Mexican.
DG: Sort of Latin, poppy...
PM:Great. And no Sex Pistols, then?
DG: We do sometimes, but not at the moment.
These things are on rotation...
PM:Was that because he had, you know, that
T-Shirt, with the...
DG: No...
PM:...'I hate Pink Floyd' or something?
DG: No, I listen to him because he had that
T-Shirt on...
PM: [Laughs] He's clever, that lad.
DG: He said he didn't mean it...
PM:No, of course he didn't. He liked Roxy
[Music]. He's a pussycat really. Right, next one, from
Kimberley Carr, of Ottawa, Ontario.
Kimberley Carr:Hi, David. My name's Kim
Carr, and I'm a thirteen-year old, and an aspiring
musician and my question for you is: What do you believe
comes first when you are inspired – the lyrics, or
the musical composition?
DG: Hmm. I would say that, for me, 90% of the
time, it is the music that comes first. But hopefully,
within that music, there is something that inspires
a lyric, and sometimes it can be very obvious and
bound up intrinsically with it.
For instance, 'The Blue', it just... I didn't spot
it, Polly [Samson] spotted it (my wife, who is my
lyricist) and she spotted it first, and I just had
to say, 'Well that... nailed it. That is exactly what
that one is about; it's about the deep blue sea and
various other aspects of the...'
But for me the music does actually come first.
PM:Great, OK. Next question is from Ayako
Hasegawa, of West Palm Beach, Florida.
Ayako Hasegawa:Hi, David. On 'On An Island'
you play many different instruments, from the saxophone
to the cumbus. In your opinion, and of course aside
from the guitar, which instrument is the most fun
to play, and which one was the hardest to learn? Thank
you!
PM:A very polite lady. And she could pronounce
'cumbus'. Incredible.
DG: In saying that it's hard, I don't know
that any of it was so hard. It's fun to learn these
instruments. I'm still learning the guitar, after
more years than I care to remember, and you never
quite finish; you never finish. You keep going.
And they are all an enormous amount of fun.
But in saying which one is hardest, I'm a real amateur
on everything else, I have to say, so I guess the
guitar.
PM:And the cumbus looks pretty difficult
to play?
DG: Well the cumbus is an interesting thing.
It's a 12-string, Turkish, fretless banjo.
PM:Looks like a frying pan...
DG: Yeah...
PM:...with rubber bands on it.
DG: It is. That's what we called it –
the frying pan.
