INTERVIEW: Australian Pink Floyd
- Posted on April 20, 2007 4:58 PM
- 0 comments
Getting Pinky With It
AUSTRALIAN PINK FLOYD – Interview with Colin Wilson
By Katie Spain
When you chat to the members of the Australian Pink Floyd, it’s easy to slip into the deadly ‘deja vu’ trap of repeated questions and tribute band stereotypes. This however, is a tribute band with a difference – they’re spine chillingly good. Just what do you say to guys who’ve cracked the UK market, played Glastonbury met and played with the original Pink Floyd guys? Fellow (former) Adelaide dweller Katie Spain chats to band member Colin Wilson about life on the latest tour:
Did you ever think this was what you'd end up doing for a living abroad?
No… like most young bands that start there, we just started to try getting ourselves out the in the Adelaide circuit first of all… I don’t know how old you are but in the late eighties there was a really good live music scene in Adelaide and our first goal was to get into the Adelaide venues and then have a go at heading interstate. To end up coming over here and doing what we’re doing now… well, we dreamt of it but never thought it was going to happen.
What did you want to be when you were a kid… did you have rock star dreams?
I guess like anyone that picks up a guitar or drums or whatever, the dream is to play on big stages in front of thousands of people. We all started off with different kind of day jobs and did music part time… we’re really fortunate that it’s turned into our full-time careers.
What do you miss most about Australia?
Well, obviously the weather (laughs). Personally, I think I’d have to say the space – when I go back to Adelaide now, it seems so much quieter; there aren’t the problems with traffic or the masses of people you get in the UK. I miss being able to go down to McLaren Vale or the Barossa and just being outside with the fresh air and that big blue sky – you don’t get that here.
How is the current tour going?
It’s great… it’s been really well received. We’ve upgraded the show and it’s a higher standard. The light show is even bigger and it’s really going down well. We’re really lucky in the UK – we’ve toured here for about fourteen years now and really have got a following. We get the die-hard Aussie Floyd fans coming every time to really support us but we also get new people every tour. I think a lot of people think that because we’re a tribute band, it’s going to be small and not so professional but it honestly is huge. For some of the venues we perform at, it’s the biggest show they’ve had. It is a top notch show and it’s going over brilliantly.
I've heard a lot about your show... especially the light show element - do you get a lot of say in what goes on visual-wise?
To be honest, we’ve got such a good team around us and we totally trust what they’re telling us. For the most part, we’re quite happy to concentrate on the music and the performance and let them worry about that. Because it’s a Pink Floyd tribute, we take a look at what they’ve done in the past and then do whatever we can to best create that.
This tour they really have captured the overall feel of a Pink Floyd gig. Earlier on in the tour I was standing out the front where the merchandising was and walked back through while they were running through some of the lights so I stopped to look. I don’t get to see that often so for the first time in years it struck me just how close it looks to the real thing.
You've been treated to the odd standing ovation... how does it feel to stand up on stage with a sea of faces looking up at you?
The standing ovations have actually happened every night on the tour and no matter how many people it is or where you are… well, at the end of the day that’s what it’s all about. It’s at that point of the night that we think “That’s why we do it”.
Do audiences vary much?
In some parts of England they’re very loud and in other parts they’re very reserved. In some places in America they’re out of there seats and cheering before we even start the first song!
I look at Australian bands who come over and try to make it and think that any of them that actually do come over and get anywhere… well, you have to take your hat off to them because it’s not an easy market to crack. Saying that, I remember some pretty hard Adelaide audiences too!
I think more Australian bands should come over here because I think they tend to be very good live – they have to be otherwise they’re not going to get anywhere.
How do you get around while you're touring? Is there an Aussie Floyd bus…or a ute?
There’s a crew bus and a band bus and two articulated trucks. We started off with a bit of a transit bus and a mini-van.
Does anyone in the band have any bad habits?
How long have you got? The thing with touring is that you’re going to be living in the pockets of a group of over twenty people (band and crew). You see them every day and spend a lot of your days off with them, so you’ve got to adopt the attitude that people are different and some people quirky. Some people will have bad days and you’ve just to survive you’ve got to put up with people and the way that they are.
We did a six and a half week tour of Europe a couple of years ago and we lived on a bus the whole time. There’s nothing that’s going to show up your habits more… I liken it to being in a submarine crew. It’s more time than you’ll ever spend with your family.
Are you looking forward to your return to the Royal Albert Hall?
It’s an amazing place – everyone should go and see a show there (well, they should come and see us!). The venue has an amazing atmosphere to it before you’ve even started playing. For us it’s always a highlight of the UK tour… it’s probably the most varied audience we have as far as nationalities go. It’s probably the one with the highest profile too. There’s probably a bit of extra pressure to be good there too… but generally the shows there have gone really well.
Do you have a lot of fun with the people behind the scenes?
Definitely – just recently we had two shows in Glasgow and it was one of the rare times we had back-to-back shows in a venue so the crew were able to walk out on the first night when we did. We were all staying in the same hotel and were in the bar for quite a few hours. Some of the closest friendships are between the band members and the people in the crew. It is like a big extended family.
Do you get the chance to see a lot of other cover bands... just to keep a tab on competition?
We don’t honestly see a lot of other tribute bands are up to. We keep informed though. When we started there weren’t really any others but now there are hundreds all over the world. Some of them do well for awhile and disappear and others come and go. There are some doing well in America and good on them. We try not to look at music as being competitive – there are a lot of people out there who want to be entertained so there’s room for all of us.
People tend to think that forming a tribute band is a way to make an easy buck and don’t put a lot of work into it so they don’t last long. We’ve got to where we are because of the work and money we’ve put into it and because of the people around us who make it as good as it is.
Do you guys have any solo/side projects?
One of the guitarists Damian has a side project called ‘Acoustic Unlimited’ which is a completely different style of acoustic guitar music. Paul Bonney, our drummer and I are forming a basic three piece Blues/Rock band with American guitarist Arlo West. It's called 'EL VATO' . It's like you’re typical Aussie pub Rock band really… as far away from your big Pink Floyd show as you can get. It’ll mostly be for fun and we’ll see how it goes. To be honest, the last few years we’ve been too busy for other things.
Judging by the reaction and comments they get from the fans, the guys are certainly doing something right. They perform on May 4th at Royal Albert Hall. Catch them on the final leg of their latest tour…
Official site:
http://www.aussiefloyd.com/
Have you seen the Australian Pink Floyd? What did you think? Post your comments and messages below.
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