Why Pink Floyd Can’t Agree on an ‘Animals’ Reissue
Roger Waters has revealed a failed attempt at civility with his former Pink Floyd bandmates.
He discussed the attempted peace meeting during a conversation with Rolling Stone. “I wrote out sort of a plan,” Waters explained, adding that both David Gilmour and Nick Mason were in the room for this conversation. “But my plan didn’t bear fruit.”
Pressed on whether his peace plan was part of a bigger Pink Floyd reunion discussion, Waters was defiant. “No, [a reunion] wouldn’t be nice," he said. "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. I had to live through it. That was my life. And I know in the wake of it, I’ve been cast as something of a villain by whoever, whatever. So be it. I can live with that. But would I trade my liberty for those chains? No fucking way.”
Waters also revealed that the discussion with Gilmour and Mason was focused on reissues. “[The conversation] was just can we release the remastered vinyl of Animals without it turning into the third World War?” he explained, referring to the 5.1 surround sound mix of Pink Floyd’s 1977 album, which has been in the works for more than two years now.
“I actually suggested going democratic,” Waters noted. “I said, ‘Why don’t we just have a vote? There’s only three of us. And then we can decide all those like that.’ And at least we can just get on. But they wouldn’t have that. They didn’t want it.”
Waters was recently forced to postpone his 2020 This is Not a Drill tour as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. That hasn’t stopped the musician from continuing to plan and create. “I’m working on the tour every day,” he confessed, adding that he’s been writing a new song to fit in with the This is Not a Drill set list.