With today's joint announcement from Pink Floyd that the band would be streaming archive gigs every Friday, it looks like the three surviving members are all getting along better. Well, according to founder Roger Waters, not quite.
At least when it comes to any kind of reunion, or a reissue of their Animals album on vinyl.
The vocalist and bassist was a guest on Rolling Stone's Special Edition video interview series when the subject of reconciliation for a reunion with his old bandmates came up in a wide-ranging and extensive chat.
“No, it wouldn’t be nice," said Waters succinctly. "It would be fucking awful. Obviously if you’re a fan of those days of Pink Floyd, well then you have a different point of view. But I had to live through it. That was my life.”
"I know in the wake of it I’ve been cast as something of a villain by whoever… so be it"
“And I know in the wake of it I’ve been cast as something of a villain by whoever… so be it, Waters added, "I can live with that. But would I trade my liberty for those chains? No fucking way.”
If the lack of any glimmer of a reunion isn't too surprising, what is more of a revelation is that Waters claims he had actually approached David Gilmour and drummer Nick Mason with a 'peace plan' for an album reissue rather than any reunion idea.
“It was nothing to do with that,” he told Rolling Stone's Brian Hiatt. “This was just, ‘Can we release a remastered vinyl version of Animals without it turning into the third world war. Wouldn’t that be nice?’
“I actually suggested going democratic. I said, ‘Why don’t we just have a vote? There’s only three of us and then we can decide all those things like that and at least we can just get on.’
“But they wouldn’t have that. God knows why. Not that there is a God, but you know what I mean.”
Waters goes on to talk about whether live shows will return this year and his admiration for late John Prine during the chat.
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