We tried to speak to Richard Wright<\/a> too, but were told the now late-keyboard player was \u201csomewhere in France\u201d. Given that Wright was famously sacked by Waters during the making of the album, yet still toured with the band on the resultant shows as a hired hand, his views seemed integral. Others it appears, thought not so.<\/p>\n You may like<\/p>\n Within days of publication I received a phone call from Wright\u2019s office. \u201cRick wants to talk to you,\u201d I was told and promptly summoned to his Kensington Mews flat. Initially angry, Wright vented on issues in which he felt he\u2019d been misrepresented and set out his take on the situation. It made for fascinating listening and highlighted what a dysfunctional unit Pink Floyd could be, despite the fact they\u2019d made some of the most ground-breakingly astounding music the rock world has ever heard.<\/p>\n Since then, of course, the foursome of Waters, Gilmour, Mason and Wright finally buried the hatchet and appeared in Hyde Park for 2005\u2019s Live 8<\/a>, and the sentiments that flowed back in 1999 might no longer represent how band members feel today. Wright\u2019s sad death from cancer in September 2008 has put paid to any faint hopes the quartet would reunite once more.<\/p>\n In the end, space dictated we only run a small news story from the interview. Now you can read all of Wright\u2019s fascinating words\u2026<\/p>\n (Image credit: Michael Ochs Archives\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n You say you want to talk to us to put forward your side of the story. What in particular were you unhappy with?<\/p>\n Various issues come up. Namely saying that I sat in the studio not really doing anything, but because I wanted to get producer\u2019s points. In the beginning \u2013 how it worked right up until Animals<\/a> \u2013 an album was co-produced by the band. But when Bob Ezrin was brought in for The Wall, I did have reservations about bringing in an outside producer. Not because of a financial thing of losing production points, because I felt that the band was losing one of its strengths, which was that Pink Floyd would fight each other sometimes \u2013 not physically, but all hands together, as a group. I think our best work came that way. It was a difficult issue, because by this time I wasn\u2019t getting along with Roger, and with The Wall, Roger had come in with two completed pieces of work. It\u2019s very difficult when you look back, and I think the decision to have an outside producer was the right one, but at the time I felt pretty sure that the Floyd was losing how it used to work. But that was in the beginning. Once I got to know Bob, I thought it was very good that we had him there. If he hadn\u2019t been there, The Wall wouldn\u2019t have been made, as there was much friction going on with the band. All credit to Roger, he came in with a very rough demo, but I do remember sitting there in Britannia Row with David and Bob and Roger and wondering how we could make it better. Now how much input I or Dave put in to improve Roger\u2019s original concept, I don\u2019t know, but the band was there. There was friction between Roger and I. And there had been friction between us during Animals.<\/p>\n When did the friction that would result in your sacking start, do you think?<\/p>\n There was this friction even during The Dark Side Of The Moo<\/a>n, where we the three of us \u2013 Dave, Roger and me \u2013 were writers. A lot of the concept came from Roger. But we had discussions, arguments, over who should get the share of the credits for songwriting. There was friction with Wish You Were Here<\/a>. But sometimes it was very good and helped make good records. There has always been friction between me and Roger, right from the beginning. Personality-wise, we just didn\u2019t get on. I can remember the friction when we were still students at Regent Street Polytechnic before the band turned professional. There was this thing between us. But it was a healthy thing. We would not choose to be friends, even at this time, Roger and I. But I could work with him because I could recognise the qualities in the band.<\/p>\n But it was essentially the friction between you and Roger that caused the problems?<\/p>\n I have to say Roger, to his credit, would come up with \u2018The Big Idea\u2019. That was his role in the band \u2013 sometimes very extreme ideas. And Dave and I provided the music to his ideas. That was how the band worked. Some of his ideas \u2013 he wanted sound effects blasting out to cover the music, and Dave and I would refuse. He annoyed me, and I annoyed him, just being the way I am. I\u2019m a more reticent person and so I wouldn\u2019t voice my opinions as strongly as he did. And sometimes that can be interpreted as not having an opinion. But when it came to The Wall, it was no longer a band anyway. But I feel I formed this band for God\u2019s sake! And I helped Roger a hell of a lot because he wasn\u2019t a musician when we started. And so did Dave. As Dave said, he feels it was wrong for me to be thrown out, and the way it should have been sorted out was to sit down and talk it out. From Animals on, maybe even earlier, Roger felt he was the band and that all of us were useful to his idea. It wasn\u2019t like that, but he got that feeling. But I can understand why he got that feeling, because he was the one that pushed us all. Dave and I were more laid-back, sometimes maybe lazy… His was a very important role but it only works with Dave and me working with him. And you can use the success of his solo albums as proof that there was a chemistry between the four. By the time of Animals I had not written anything.<\/p>\n (Image credit: Getty Images)<\/p>\n Why was that?<\/p>\n That\u2019s purely a personal thing but I hadn\u2019t come up with anything and I had very little to offer. Dave had little to offer. But I think my keyboard playing is very good. When you get to The Wall and Roger came up with the idea for another album, and at this point I still hadn\u2019t written anything. It always used to be a joke that you saved your best stuff for your solo album and I know that isn\u2019t the case with me!<\/p>\n How do you view your solo album<\/a>s these days? Roger was rather scathing in the interview [Waters refers to \u201chis awful solo albums\u201d in the original article].<\/p>\n This is Roger. After 18 years maybe he\u2019s changed. Clearly in interviews this anger towards the band carries on after he left, and this belief of how important he was to the band and no one else was is still there. It amazes me that he still has this and that he can\u2019t look back and see that some of his best work was when we were together. Same old Roger. Why did he say that? I think my first solo album [1978\u2019s Wet Dream] considering the circumstances I was in wasn\u2019t great, it was OK. The Zee one (1984\u2019s Identity, recorded with Dee Harris from Fashion, pictured left) was a disaster and he has every right to say so. That was a period in my life when I was lost. But my last one [1996\u2019s Broken China] I am extremely proud of. It wasn\u2019t a commercial success, When I look back, I think my solo album was about depression and my personal experience of someone else having depression. At the time of The Wall I think I was depressed. For what reasons, possibly divorce, a terrible relationship with my first wife, and I think now I wasn\u2019t offering everything I had because I wasn\u2019t feeling very good within myself. I didn\u2019t know I was in that state, but I\u2019m pretty sure that the others interpreted it as he doesn\u2019t care, he\u2019s not interested \u2013 particularly Roger. He made it extremely difficult for me to work. And you can ask Bob Ezrin, I think he had planned to get rid of me for personal reasons rather than musical, so tried to make it as hard as possible. Funnily enough, talking to [Pink Floyd engineer] James Guthrie, who\u2019s very reliable, he said, \u201cYour playing is great\u201d. So what\u2019s going on here?<\/p>\n Somewhere it\u2019s mentioned that I lived in the studio, while they had their families. But actually I was living in the studio and missing my family, my children desperately, because they had to go to school. Whereas theirs were young enough to be with them. I stayed in the studio, and they\u2019d say \u201cWhy do you go in to work at night?\u201d. And it was because there were no engineers there, the whole album had been mapped out, and I could go in and do a piano part \u2013 and it was very hard if Roger or Bob were there.<\/p>\n But this idea that I was sitting around, wasting my time, is not really fair. But on other hand, I was slightly depressed, maybe really depressed. Since I\u2019ve been talking to a therapist later in my life, I realised I probably was and I didn\u2019t contribute as much as I should.<\/p>\n Everything seems to have come to a head when you all went on holiday, mid-recording, in August 1979 [Waters claims Wright\u2019s reaction to being called back to the studio a week early was \u201cTell Roger to fuck off\u201d].<\/p>\n We all agreed to have a holiday. Roger had already gone to LA, Dave may have gone there as well, I can\u2019t remember. And then a week before I agreed, it was decided to come together again. And up until this point I had no knowledge this was going on. Now reading this, it was obvious he was planning all this way before I thought he was. Anyway, I had a plan from the manager to come back now and start recording. And my reaction was, \u201cNo, he\u2019s been sent to do this, he\u2019s testing me. We\u2019ve all agreed and I had specific time with my children, and there was no indication to me that we were that much behind schedule. Will you come now? No, I\u2019m coming on the agreed date\u201d. But I didn\u2019t tell Roger to fuck off. I wouldn\u2019t say that. And that was the last I heard of it, until I arrived in LA and [manager] Steve O\u2019Rourke said to me, \u201cRoger wants you out of the band”.<\/p>\n (Image credit: Jeremy Young and Harry Borden)<\/p>\n You\u2019ve since seen each other again though, of course?<\/p>\n Another thing I read in a magazine was that I went to see Roger play live and I came backstage and I\u2019d \u201chad a couple\u201d \u2013 which I hadn\u2019t. I felt very awkward, but Jon Carin was a keyboard player for us and Roger said, \u201cYou must come\u201d. I didn\u2019t want to. And then in this article, he said I was very friendly to his face but out front I was slagging him off. And this made me very angry. How did he know? Who told him? It\u2019s not true. I was sitting in the front, finding it quite difficult listening to him perform Pink Floyd songs, because I wanted to be up there. When they were playing Comfortably Numb and Wish You Were Here it just wasn\u2019t as good as when the four of us were performing and certainly not as good as the three of us, because Dave\u2019s vocals and guitar playing are so definite.<\/p>\n But when he got to his solo work I could relax. I was quite impressed. I was also quite impressed with him as a performer, because it\u2019s not easy. He had a very small light show. He couldn\u2019t hide behind the lights, like you can in a Pink Floyd show. But he was upfront on stage and I thought his performance was good for his solo stuff, and also his singing. I thought, \u201cMy God, he\u2019s really singing well\u201d and I know that Roger had a hell of a time tuning vocals. And I subsequently heard \u2013 and he can say whether it\u2019s true or not \u2013 that actually his vocals were taped. But at the time I thought, ‘These vocals are really in tune and wonderful’. Then I subsequently heard, actually they\u2019re taped and he\u2019s miming a lot of it. One person sitting next to me recognised me and said, \u201cGreat, you\u2019re here, are you getting up on stage?\u201d I said, \u201cI don\u2019t think so\u201d. He said, \u201cWhat do you think of the show?\u201d And I told him that I found it hard to listen to the Pink Floyd stuff but I\u2019m quite impressed with his performance. That\u2019s all I said. That is not slagging him off. I think Roger just made it up.<\/p>\n And I think, \u201cWhy do you have to say these things, Roger?\u201d It was difficult for both of us, backstage. I hadn\u2019t seen him for 18, 19 years. I didn\u2019t want to go, but Jon persuaded me, and my wife persuaded me \u2013 she didn\u2019t know what happened \u2013 and I thought, Why not, We\u2019re grown men now. So I went backstage, shook his hand and said, \u201cHow are you?\u201d And we both felt awkward. And that was it. There was no great meaningful conversation. I\u2019m at the point where all this bullshit should stop. I think it\u2019s kind of juvenile now to keep on fighting.<\/p>\n The very fact the pair of you met up suggests some thawing of the relationship?<\/p>\n He\u2019s a very good talker with a very bright mind. I asked Jon Carin, \u201cHow is it to work with Roger?\u201d He said, \u201cHe\u2019s sweet and kind and very nice to the band\u201d. I believe Eric Clapton<\/a> playing with him [Clapton featured on Water\u2019s 1984 The Pros And Cons Of Hitch Hiking] must have been a bad time in Eric\u2019s life to go out with Roger Waters. But the fact that half the crowd had come to see Eric Clapton \u2013 and Eric would do a solo and the crowd would applaud it, and Roger going backstage, \u201cWhat the fuck are you doing Eric, this is my show\u201d. That Roger I know about. The sweet, kind Roger that Jon told me about I don\u2019t know. He has a lot of bitterness and anger. I had a lot of bitterness and anger about how I was treated. It was simply this: either leave or I won\u2019t record The Wall. I was in a no-win situation. If he carried out his bluff, financially we were all terrified. Dave and Nick wouldn\u2019t support me. And to this day, I think \u201cWhat if I\u2019d called his bluff, what would have happened?\u201d. After that I thought and thought. My conclusion was I didn\u2019t like the way the band was going, and the way he was operating, this band wasn\u2019t going to last much longer anyway. But my attitude was \u201cI\u2019m leaving, but I want to finish the recording and do the live shows\u201d. I couldn\u2019t just walk out the door. I know Dave and Nick felt bad about it \u2013 but Dave said he would never have asked me to leave.<\/p>\n How on earth did you cope on The Wall tour, as a member of the band, but not a member of the band?<\/p>\n I shut off the whole idea that I was leaving the band. I actually fooled myself that I\u2019d play as well as I could and maybe he\u2019ll admit he was wrong. So I put everything into it. The pictures look like we\u2019re all together. I was in limbo. \u201cI\u2019m going to try and enjoy this show\u201d, that was my feeling. Roger was saying somewhere that we had separate caravans and changing rooms \u2013 and we lost it because we were all in our separate places. He wanted it that way. Dave and Nick and I didn\u2019t want it that way. He\u2019d travel in his own car to the gig, different hotels from anyone else. He created the isolation. I can\u2019t say what happened on The Wall movie or The Final Cut<\/a>.<\/p>\n What do you think of The Final Cut?<\/p>\n I don\u2019t particularly like it. I look on it as a solo album and I think he does too.<\/p>\n What do you make of the allegations that Dave suggested if you were out, why not get rid of Nick Mason too?<\/p>\n I think the feeling is that what Roger really wanted was for him to become the leader with Dave Gilmour as his sidekick playing the guitar. They used other drummers on The Wall \u2013 so Roger might have thought he could use session players. I can\u2019t say… I don\u2019t know what Roger was planning. They used to be mates, Nick and Roger…<\/p>\n (Image credit: MJ Kim\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n How did the process of you rejoining Pink Floyd for the Momentary Lapse Of Reason tour work out?<\/p>\n I\u2019d heard Roger had left the band but that Dave and Nick were making a new Pink Floyd record, and I was in Greece. It says in your feature that my second wife went along to Dave. This is quite possible but I went to see Dave and said I would be very interested in getting involved again. I don\u2019t know if my wife went to Dave. I don\u2019t know if Dave and Nick were having a fight with Roger because I came into the middle or end of the recording of A Momentary Lapse Of Reason, but I think it\u2019s interesting \u2013 we hadn\u2019t seen each other in a long time. I remember having a meal with them and Steve in a restaurant in Hampstead and I think they wanted to see how I was. I passed the test and I was invited to play on the album and do the tour. That tour for me was probably one of the most enjoyable tours that we\u2019d ever done. I still had this anger about what had happened with Roger and that it would never work again if he was in the band. Everybody has these egos. Dave has said Nick and Rick couldn\u2019t play on that tour. He was pretty bad on the tour. He suggested that he was leading us through and helping us. It wasn\u2019t like that. He came and played on my solo album on one track \u2013 and he couldn\u2019t play properly. No criticism of Dave but it was because he hadn\u2019t been on the road. By the time we got through the rehearsals we were playing near to our capabilities. After five or six shows we improved. But we weren\u2019t that bad.<\/p>\n Typically Roger was very critical of A Momentary Lapse Of Reason.<\/p>\n Roger has criticisms of that album which I think are fair \u2013 because Dave did bring in a lot of people to help him make the album. It\u2019s not a band album at all.<\/p>\n![\"Pink](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/8sNiLdyPphpDKwPEuVWCJU.jpg\")
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but neither was his. He\u2019s saying his last solo album [at the time, 1992\u2019s Amused To Death] was the most brilliant thing on the planet \u2013 and that history will show it was a great, great piece of work. This idea that his solo work is great and everybody else\u2019s is terrible is something beyond all that. He needs to say that, I don\u2019t know for what reason. I wasn\u2019t upset by what he said. I expected it. That\u2019s the Roger I know. I thought some of Amused To Death was very, very good and in other parts I don\u2019t like this kind of stuff. And if he\u2019d been working with the Floyd, that was the kind of stuff that wouldn\u2019t have made it onto the album.<\/p>\n![\"Pink](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/iWogvs3Ftu3zdQMHNgXmFC.jpg\")
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