Right now, I have no plans to extend the tour, says David Gilmour to TT and clarifies:
Touring has its negative sides, traveling, hotels. If I could fly on a magic carpet and just be set down on stage, it would be a different story.
He explains, however, that "no plans right now" clearly has to do with how "Luck and strange" is received. That it takes as long as nine years between his albums seems to have become a habit, but Gilmour says it will come to an end now.
When the tour is over, I'll sit down and start working on a new album. When it will be released, I don't know, maybe just in a few years.
Recorded in the houseboat
"Luck and strange" was recorded in the rebuilt houseboat where Gilmour has his studio and where he sits during our Zoom meeting. As usual, his wife Polly Sampson has written most of the lyrics, and on the song "Between two points", it's their daughter Romany who sings.
It wasn't written by me, I've had it on my playlist for a long time. I usually don't do covers, but we listened to it and thought "why not". It didn't fit my voice, so I asked Romany, who was a bit hesitant, said yes. She was stressed, had to catch a train, managed to do one attempt, and it worked so well that I could use it with a few small changes.
"Same pride now"
David Gilmour says that the satisfaction after the new album is just as great as he felt when Pink Floyd first listened through the entire "Dark side of the moon".
The joy, satisfaction, pride I felt then, it almost made me start crying. And I feel the same pride now. It's an album where everything hangs together.
He doesn't want to compare the new album to his previous ones or to Pink Floyd, however.
I'm not trying to surpass anything, I'm not competing with myself or others. I'm happy if I'm satisfied and proud of what I do.
The finiteness of life is a theme that runs through many of the songs.
It's a subject that has often been in my lyrics. And Polly is younger than me, so my mortality affects her, notes David Gilmour.
But stop writing and playing, no, he never thinks that.
What would I do then? The most fun I know is to sit and work here in the studio. So after the tour, it's directly back here again, he says.
Age: 78 years.
Family: Wife Polly, eight children.
Lives: In Wisborough Green, Sussex.
Occupation: Guitarist, singer, composer.
Previous: Member of Pink Floyd, solo albums "About face", "On an island", "Rattle that lock".
Current: With the new album "Luck and strange".