David Kilminster, who’s been a guitar player for the former Pink Floyd legend Roger Waters, recalled a moment when he got the chance to meet David Gilmour. The two Davids got the chance to meet back in the 2000s when Kilminster was just starting out with Waters. As he recalled in an interview with Phil Aston for the “Now Spinning Magazine,” this was during the rehearsals for one of Rogers’ tours and Gilmour simply appeared and hung around.
“I met him when we started rehearsing rehearsals for ‘The Dark Side [of the Moon Live]’ tour,” recalled Kilminster (transcribed by Killer Guitar Rigs). “Actually, and he was lovely. He came up to me, introduced himself, and said, ‘Hi, I’m David.’ And I said, ‘Hi, I’m your stunt double.’ And he said — I can’t remember exactly — something like, ‘Oh, it’s pretty easy, isn’t it?’ I said, ‘Um…’ [Laughs]”
Kilminster also added:
“But he was lovely. He was very, very friendly. And obviously, that day, at the O2 [arena in London, England], I think I was probably the only one feeling this.”
Going further into the conversation, Kilminster also recalled how Gilmour came in to perform “Comfortably Numb” for one show during the tour. However, what’s interesting here is that Gilmour did this for Roger Waters’ next tour, “The Wall Live,” in May 2011. So Kilminster either fast-forwarded to that year or simply mixed things up and initially wanted to say it was “The Wall Live” and not “The Dark Side of the Moon Live.” Either way, you can check out the video below.
“But what happened at the beginning of the world tour,” continued Kilminster, “was that it was mentioned that David would get up and play ‘Comfortably Numb’ at some point.”
“So for the first year or so, all I saw was reviews saying, ‘Oh my god, this is the best. This is one of the best shows I’ve ever seen in my life.'”
Kilminster admitted, with a laugh, that there’s a bit of an ego thing here. Although he most absolutely admires Gilmour’s work, as well as this guest spot during the tour back in May 2011, there’s a part of him that would really like getting some praise and credit for his work with Waters. Which is, without any doubts, pretty impressive as well.
“It’s difficult,” he explained. “It’s an ego thing, you can’t help it. So I was very happy that he finally got up once and did that at the O2.”
“I actually went into the audience and watched,” Dave continued. “Because normally I would just be on — me and Robbie [Wyckoff], the singer. And we were on either side of these cherry pickers, so we decided just to go out front — we went and stood by the disabled section, I think — and we’re just like, ‘Yeah, let’s just watch this because this is a moment a lot of people have been waiting for a long time.'”
Needless to say, Kilminster was impressed. But again, he admits there’s the whole ego thing involved in the mix.
“And yeah, even I got goosebumps. But for me also, it was really nice that ‘Okay, he’s done that now, so now I’m not going to see that in reviews.’ It’s as I said, it’s just a sad ego thing, but I couldn’t help it at the time.”
During the chat, Kilminster also addressed Roger Water’s way of work. The Pink Floyd bassist insists on doing all of his works as close as possible to the original.
“Roger likes to think of the albums almost like classical pieces,” said Dave. “So I am essentially a classical musician — I haven’t got the sheets in front of me, but I know exactly what notes, in what order, and I try and play the solo as close to the original as possible, with all the little subtle nuances or the little slides and bends and stuff just so it sounds similar.”
Reflecting on how he plays David Gilmour’s parts, Kilminster admitted that he doesn’t sound like the Pink Floyd guitarist at all. However, he still manages to perform this music in a way that serves each individual piece:
“I mean, I don’t sound anything like him. My guitar sound isn’t like David’s, but I found that if I played the right notes in the right order with the right emotion and energy, then it makes people happy.”
“So the important thing is to keep your ego out of it, I was told. In fact, when I joined the band, Snowy White told me two things and one of them was ‘Leave your ego at the door.’ That’s one of the rules, really — ‘Walk into the rehearsal room, walk into the arena, whatever, you leave the ego at the door.'”
“So I’m not thinking, ‘Oh, how would I play this?’ I’m thinking, ‘I’m trying to play it as close to the original as possible, but also with my own passion and energy and emotion, whatever.'”
Photos: Eddie Berman (Dave Kilminster, May 11 2007), Jimmy Baikovicius (David Gilmour Argentina 2015 (cropped))
.jpg){kind=link}