A conversation with Dave Kilminster

Dark Side of the Moon Tour – final leg
Landgraaf/Megaland - May 11, 2008

By Rita Bayer

From June 2006 to June 2008 [119 shows / 7 legs] Guitar Virtuoso Dave Kilminster was on the road with Roger Waters as lead guitarist and vocalist in the global staging of Dark Side of the Moon.

The performance in Holland was again divided into two sets: a) a collection of Pink Floyd material and songs from Roger Waters solo career b) The Dark Side of the Moon in its entirety, plus encores. A small line up change was made for this final leg due to two of the band members unavailability. Chester Kamen replaced Andy Fairweather-Low on guitars. Sylvia Mason-James replaced Katie Kissoon on backing vocals. As far as I know, this was the first time Roger Waters toured without Andy Fairweather-Low since 1984 before he replaced Tim Renwick and the first ever that he toured without Katie Kissoon.

As some of you might remember, I met up with Dave during the 5th leg in Cologne (April 16, 2007) & on this final leg in Landgraaf / Megaland on May 11, 2008 right before the show began. Time was short, we couldn't finish the interview so we continued our conversation online – with a delay though due to computer crashes & Dave's busy schedule. Finally here it is – Dave Kilminster speaks about the LIVE EARTH concert in July 2007, the maga event that was lying ahead when we met up in Cologne, the final leg of the Dark Side of the Moon Live tour itself, the remixing of his solo album Scarlet, his new equipment as well as his participation in Wetton/Downes Icon project, other projects he is currently involved in & the upcoming iCon tour of course. [The interview-part about him returning to collaborate with John Wetton with the Wetton-Downes' iCon Project has been published seperately here]

Rita: When we met in 2007 you said: “I’m feeling fantastic – I’m having the time of my life” – you feel equally enthusiastic these days?

Dave: YES!

R: Really? [both laughing]

Dave: I didn't look very comfortable, did I? [still laughing] It’s been tiring few days. We played in Spain. [Grandaa Spain at the Atarfe Football Stadium on May 9th] Everyone thought it’s going to be really hot – 28 °C whatever – and it was SO cold. You just feel so sorry for the audience because you stood up on stage playing and you could see 20 000 people and the rain was pouring down on everyone.…. a lot people have traveled – this one guy from Tenerife - he just had a shirt on – that’s all he brought because he thought Spain in May – it’s going to be sweltering – and it was awful, it was SO cold! So I’m looking forward to tonight to play better. But no - I’m still having a great time.

LIVE EARTH CONCERT
R: Let's go on where we finished last year, please – a mega event was lying ahead - the LIVE EARTH concert [Roger Waters played in the New York leg of Live Earth]. How did you experience this day – sum your impressions up.

Dave: Well, we’re used to playing for 2 ½ hours and you get used to the pace of an 2 ½ hours set – you exactly know how much energy to put in what sections – all that was condensed into 20 minutes which felt like about 40 seconds. You go on there and you’re playing and then you’re off. [both laughing] It was so quick! There was such a lot of adrenalin before you go on – probably because of the TV cameras – remember, I told you it was going out to over 2 billion people – it was absolutely scary - you know, the adrenalin kicks in and the brain kind of goes faster - although you should feel like things slow down - it was all a bit of a blur – I was just happy to go on stage to play and to not trip over, to not break a string or have my amp blow up or anything, you know. We got on and we did ok. I wasn’t completely happy with our playing.

R: So LIVE EARTH does not belong to your ‘magical moments’….

Dave: No. It was too much pressure and too short. Very condensed time.

R: what a shame!

Dave: There was another thing – there were technical problems on stage as well. There were loads of tires - you know car tires? – hundreds and hundreds of car tires - all surrounded by lights – so it looked spectacular but it created this effect which meant all the equipment was buzzing. I went into a solo in Another Brick Of The Wall [Dave singing his guitar parts] and then Bsssssss – this stirring buzz - because of all the lights. Well, it is a shame – yes - I’d love it to be a very special, magical time. In the end it was ok. The thing is – it’s more about the course then about how I feel anyway. Obviously we’re doing it for a reason to raise awareness in – wherever you’re raising awareness in [both laughing] That’s the main thing. From that point of view it was successful.

R: When the tour was finally over….did you fall in a black hole? What did you do the upcoming weeks?

Dave: I listened to my album again.

R: Scarlet?

Dave: Yes – because I wasn’t very happy with it.

R: Yes I remember. You wanted to remix it…

Dave: Yes. So I decided to remix it with a friend of mine. Before I did that I took a holiday.

R: Where did you go?

Dave: To the Maldives - you know the Maldives?

R: I never spent my holidays there, unfortunately! - but it’s a beautiful place, I think.

Dave: Yes it is. I just wanted to go away for a few weeks and stay in one place you know – rather than traveling. [laughing]

RE-MIXING OF DAVE'S SOLO ALBUM SCARLET
R: I understand, yes! - You’re done with the remixing of Scarlet?

Dave: It’s almost finished.

R: What did you change?

Dave: Everything and nothing.

R: [laughing] …...whatever that means....

Dave: Well, it’s difficult to explain - from the technical point of view - for something like the drums - I loved the sound of natural real drums and after we finished recording the drums I took it to another studio to start adding overdubs and we couldn’t make the drums sound good on their own. So we ended up using the original drums to trigger samples.
When I started remixing it the guy looked to the computer screening ‘what’s the use of these samples?’ so we deleted all that and he went back to the original drums and he made them sound wonderful. It’s still the same drums but now it’s the real drums, you know.

This kind of mistake I also made with the guitars - instead of using one or two I used four mics on each track. So what we did we took out three of these mics. We were taking things off but it’s actually sounding better, it’s sounding bigger.
There’re some delays with the remixing because the guy I’m remixing with plays with the Australian Pink Floyd - and I got him the job. Because I got him the job he’s now really busy and he can’t remix my album [both laughing] it’s a bit stupid – I shot myself in the foot [ still laughing] When I get back we’ve maybe 2 months to finish it before he goes away on tour again.

There’s going to be some extra things with the CD....a DVD of me playing to the tracks …..

R: Sounds great to me!

Dave: yeah, just me in the studio singing and playing to the tracks. I might change some of the artwork – I might add some extra photos – just making it a bit more of a package, I guess. I’m looking forward to that.

R: Me too!

FINAL LEG
R: This tour is quite short - 11 shows - you expect more dates to be announced soon?

Dave: No. Roger has a lot of other things he wants to do. He’s a very, very busy guy with loads of interests. I know he was been working for a while on a Broadway production of The Wall – to have in New York, an actual play. But because he’s Roger, he wants input in everything – the script, lighting things – so I guess, this is going to take his time this year.
So I don’t think we’ll be doing anything for another two years.

R: But you think it will go on – with you aboard…

Dave: [laughing] Hopefully!

R: you still love to play this stuff?

Dave: It won’t be Dark Side Of The Moon again. We’ve done that. We may do The Wall. But that’s a guess! Based on absolutely nothing other than what seems to make sense. [laughs] So maybe in 2 years we’ll be sitting here again talking about that. [both laughing]

R: Would be great, indeed. Since when did you know that Roger wanted to tour again – did you have to postpone or cancel any projects/appointments because of Roger’s call?

Dave: Oh, just remixing my album – again. He’s always constant in getting me away of my album. [both laughing]

R: Since when did you know about this leg?

Dave: This year – I think it was this year. [me laughing] It was supposed to be a big concert in Argentina and everything else was going to build round that. So they booked the Argentina gig and booked the other concerts and then the organizer decided not to do it for what ever reason. [The Buenos Aires show would have been a concert for charity, but an agreement could not be reached with the promotors]

When it’s a big production like this – we rehearse for 2 weeks before we go out on tour – you’ve to pay everyone´s expenses for rehearsals for 2 weeks, you’ve to pay for the hotel, you’ve to ship all the equipment from all over the world into this one place – so to do one concert – it doesn’t make sense –It´s not cost effective - so generally, instead of doing one you’ll do five or six – just to cover the costs. So in the end it turned out to be ten - eleven respectively.

R: What did you pack in your bags apart from clothes, tooth-brush etc …..name a few things you just need to feel comfortable.

Dave: Nothing very interesting.....no teddy-bear.... [laughter] A practice guitar and my i-Pod. I spend so much time with buying music when I’m at home and I never have time to listen to all.

R: I guess it was a big hello when you met all guys again – did Roger throw a big party for the first evening or did you have to start with rehearsals in no time?

Dave: The whole tour is a party!!! We're always having band dinners and stuff... Roger's a GREAT boss!!!! :O)

R: The tour started in the USA, you played in Spain, Holland, UK... but also in Russia – Between the second London show and the gig in Russia there was a break of 2 ½ weeks – how did you spend this time?

Dave: I really don't remember!!! So I guess I had a good time?!! :O)

R: What were the best & worst moments on & off stage on this final leg?

Dave: For me the only bad moments are if I'm cold on stage...some of the outdoor shows we played in Europe (that really should have been warm at that time of year) were absolutely FREEZING!!! And I find it really tough to play with cold hands...
Actually on one particularly cold gig, I remember it was also raining very heavily... I looked down at my pedal board and it was absolutely drenched!!! All the leads, pedals, power supply... totally covered in water... And the stupid thing is, my first thoughts were 'I hope that this pedal board carries on working for the rest of the show'... Whereas what I should have been thinking is 'gee, I hope I don't get electrocuted'!!!!!!! Which was actually a very real possibility...

And as for the best moments of the tour, they happened pretty much every day when I awoke and realised that I'm on tour with an absolutely incredible band, performing in one of the most amazing stage shows ever, and making thousands of people very happy!!!
I love making people happy... :O)

NEW EQUIPMENT
R: You played with new equipment - why did you decide to ex-change your entire gear?

Dave: I think a lot of musicians spend their entire life on this eternal quest for the perfect tone... to try and achieve the sound that they hear in their heads...And experimenting with different equipment is all part of growing and developing as a musician... It's your 'voice' after all... Although saying that, it's possible to change and experiment so much that you end up not sounding as good as you used to!!!
Some of my favourite players seem to have done that, although I'm not naming any names!!!

  R: For the gear heads …a few words about your new equipment please.

Dave: Well amp wise for the tour I used the new Cornford MK50 MKII's, which are very cool... through Cornford 1 x 12 cabinets. I was also using Suhr guitars, which just sound fab... :O) And I changed over to Martin acoustics too, which are wonderful!! And I've also got a couple of fun new pedals...
There are pictures and comments about all my gear on my website too...

R: Since you've been playing with the new equipment for some time now - are you 100% pleased with your choices?

Dave: Actually no, not at all!!! I've changed a couple of things since then... I realised pretty early on that I didn't like the 1x12 cabs as much, and so I've recently gone over to using the Cornford 2x12s... The sound I have at the moment is definitely my favourite sound so far... :O)   

R: What did you do with your old gear? You sold it on e-Bay?

Dave: Well, the amps are just borrowed... so they just go back to the Warehouse and get used by other people!!! The same with the Takamine acoustics that I used to use... even though they were toured and pretty beaten up, they still asked for them back... even after all the free advertising they got!!!
I thought it was a bit odd... especially as they're probably languishing unplayed in the back of a warehouse somewhere...

R: I've to admit that I'm not a gear-head at all :0))) - nevertheless with one of your new guitars I felt in love at first sight – it's really & truly an eye-catcher, the *Rose-guitar* -  I guess, it's a unicum - what's the story behind this beautifully designed guitar?

Dave: I'm not sure what you mean by 'unicum', but I think you mean unique? In which case, yes it is!!! Anne-Marie Helder sketched it out, and did an AMAZING job of burning the design into the body... I really love it... :O))

FILMING
R: In 2007 Dark Side Of The Moon shows were filmed  -  what about the final leg and do you know if Roger plans to release a DVD  at all?

Dave: Roger plays his cards very close to his chest, and so i don't know whether there will be a DVD released... All I can say is that Roger has everything he needs to put a tour DVD together if he fancies!!

R: The Dark Side of The Moon Tour is finally over  -  it turned out into a  2 years stint - your résumé please.

Dave: It was actually over two years!!! And I do miss it... Such a totally magical time... and I really hope we get to do it again sometime...  

R: On a sad matter:
Shortly before this final leg Brian Davison the drummer of THE NICE passed away  - you were playing along with him  – your thoughts on Brian, what memories are coming up when you think of him?

Dave: I must confess that we didn't keep in contact after the Nice tour... but it was obviously very sad to hear of his passing though...

Former interviews with Dave Kilminster:
January 2005
July 2005 - 5 Quick Ones
April 2006
June 2006
April 2007 - Part 1- Dave on tour with Roger Waters
July 2007 - Part 2 – All about Dave's solo album Scarlet
July 2008 – Interview with Dave Kilminster & Murray Hockridge
Jan. 2009 - Wetton/Downes iCon 3 & the upcoming iCon-tour

Note: copyright: Rita Bayer