David Gilmour has said there is “no possible way” that he would ever work with his former Pink Floyd bandmate Roger Waters again.
The two creative forces behind the legendary rock band have been publicly feuding for much of the time since Waters’ departure in 1985, with the dispute becoming political in recent years. Last year, Gilmour stated that he would rather “steer clear of people who actively support genocidal and autocratic dictators like Putin and Maduro” than reunite with Waters.
It appears that he has not softened his stance over the past 12 months. In a new interview with The Telegraph, he was asked what it would take for him to join forces with Waters again. “Nothing,” he replied. “There is no possible way that I would do that.”
Going into further detail in the 2024 interview, Gilmour explained: “Nothing would make me share a stage with someone who thinks such treatment of women and the LGBT community is OK. On the other hand, I’d love to be back on stage with [Pink Floyd keyboardist] Rick Wright, who was one of the gentlest and most musically gifted people I’ve ever known.”
Gilmour’s wife Olly Samson has also been vocally outspoken against Waters’ politics, accusing him in 2023 of being “anti-Semitic to [his] rotten core” and “a Putin apologist and a lying, thieving, hypocritical, tax-avoiding, lip-synching, misogynistic, sick-with-envy, megalomaniac”. Gilmour re-shared Samson’s post, adding that “every word [is] demonstrably true”.
Waters himself issued a statement in response, in which he described Samson’s comments as “incendiary and wildly inaccurate”, adding that he “refutes [them] entirely”. He also said that he was “taking advice as to his position” regarding the claims.
Gilmour has also said he finds it “wearisome” to have to talk about Waters. “Do you know what decade of my life I was in when Roger left our pop group? My thirties. I am now 78. Where’s the relevance?” he told Mojo in 2024. In a Rolling Stone interview, however, he also stated that “one day there are things I will talk about”.
Elsewhere, Pink Floyd sold their back catalogue for $400million in a deal with Sony last year. Gilmour said it was a move driven primarily by his desire to “get out of the mud bath that it has been for quite a while”, rather than a financially-motivated decision.
Gilmour released the live concert film of his ‘David Gilmour Live At The Circus Maximus, Rome’ on Blu-ray on Friday (October 17), while a 50th anniversary edition of Pink Floyd’s ‘Wish You Were Here’ is coming on December 12 as a deluxe box set.
Earlier this year, Pink Floyd achieved their seventh UK Number One album with their live record ‘Pink Floyd At Pompeii – MCMLXXII’.
