BY KORY GROW | October 2, 2014
"I have nothing to do with [new album] 'Endless River,' singer writes. "Phew! This is not rocket science, people. Get a grip"
Founding Pink Floyd bassist Roger Waters left the group bitterly in 1985 and famously sued his ex-bandmates at the time for wishing to carry on with the group's name, but some of his fans appear to have forgotten this. The singer-songwriter has issued a note on Facebook to remind his fans that, while Pink Floyd are indeed issuing their first record in 20 years – the instrumental record The Endless River – he had no role in making it.
"Some people have been asking Laurie, my wife, about a new album I have coming out in November," Waters wrote. "Errhh? I don't have an album coming out, they are probably confused. David Gilmour and Nick Mason have an album coming out. It's called Endless River. David and Nick constitute the group Pink Floyd. I on the other hand, am not part of Pink Floyd. I left Pink Floyd in 1985, that's 29 years ago. I had nothing to do with either of the Pink Floyd studio albums, Momentary Lapse of Reason and The Division Bell, nor the Pink Floyd tours of 1987 and 1994, and I have nothing to do with Endless River. Phew! This is not rocket science people, get a grip."
Waters lost his lawsuit over the band name in 1987, and that same year the band issued A Momentary Lapse of Reason. In recent years, Waters has revisited his Pink Floyd past. On July 2nd, 2005, Waters, Mason, Gilmour and keyboardist Rick Wright performed together as Pink Floyd for the first time in nearly a quarter century at the Live 8 concert at London's Hyde park. Waters has mounted solo tours in recent years, performing the Floyd albums Dark Side of the Moon and The Wall in their entirety, and reunited again with Gilmour and Mason in London at a tour stop for the latter in 2011.
"It was really nice to be part of it and to show support for Roger, not that he really needs it," Mason told Rolling Stone after their 2011 reunion. "I suppose it's nice to have Roger wanting to register David and myself as part of it, in a way. It was a mutual thing: it was nice to be recognized but also very nice to lend support to Roger and make it clear that we're not punching it out in these auditoriums. We're not critical of him doing it."
In 2013, Waters told the BBC he regretted his lawsuit over the band name. "I was wrong," he said. "Of course I was. Who cares?"
In the same Facebook note, Waters also criticized the role of some countries in the Israel-Palestine conflict. "On another subject, my recent trip to Bruxelles was very moving," he wrote. "To listen to the testimony of some of those present in Gaza during the euphemistically named Operation Protective Edge, July and August 2014 was deeply disturbing. I am still non plussed by the acquiescence of the governments of the USA, UK and EU to the policies of the current Israeli administration. Should we encourage our leaders to sue for a peaceful solution or not?"
The Endless River – which does not feature Waters – will come out on November 10th. The band decided to put out the record after discovering recordings they had made with Wright, who died in 2008, during the sessions for The Division Bell. "We listened to over 20 hours of the three of us playing together and selected the music we wanted to work on for the new album," Gilmour said in a statement. "Over the last year we've added new parts, re-recorded others and generally harnessed studio technology to make a 21st century Pink Floyd album. With Rick gone, and with him the chance of ever doing it again, it feels right that these revisited and reworked tracks should be made available as part of our repertoire."
From www.rollingstone.com
