INSPIRATION: David Gilmour says, “Visiting your child in jail and seeing him in a prison grey tracksuit is not an experience I would ever recommend for any parent.”

By Geoffery Rowlands


Good things sometimes emerge from bad. Just ask David Gilmour. Renown primarily as Pink Floyd’s lead guitarist and singer, David is currently sitting at number one on the UK chart with his fourth solo album, “Rattle That Lock.”
A choir features on the album title-track. But this is no ordinary choir. Half of the assembled voices belong to former inmates of Her Majesty’s Prison Wandsworth. Known as The Liberty Choir, David and his writer wife Polly Samson were introduced to the singers by their son Charlie, himself a former prisoner at Wandsworth.
Charlie received a 16-month jail sentence for violent disorder during protests against university tuition fees. He swung on a union flag hanging from the war memorial Cenotaph in Whitehall, kicked in a shop window and jumped on to the bonnet of a car carrying Royal protection officers escorting the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall.
Although Charlie spent just four months behind bars, his imprisonment had a profound effect on David.
“Visiting your child in jail and seeing him in a prison grey tracksuit is not an experience I would ever recommend for any parent. I can only describe it as deeply depressing.”
David insists Rattle That Lock was “nothing really to do with what happened to Charlie.” But one wonders if David and lyricist Polly would have written such a song had their Cambridge University-educated son remained in college rather than join the rioting in London.
Indeed, the staunch left-winger and Labour Party-supporting David has recently spoken out about what he considers to be the criminalisation of protest in Britain. He insists the present Conservative government “has stamped down on normal protest in a way that is heinous.” David did not elaborate on whether he considered his son’s actions as normal protest.
Charlie did not sing in The Liberty Choir but was friendly with one of the members. Created by vocal coach MJ Paranzino and her partner, the writer Ginny Dougary, prisoners nearing the end of their sentence perform with community singers. The idea is to offer a period of transition with the prisoners then being welcomed back into society by their friends from the choir.
The concept has proved so successful that there are now four different Liberty Choirs. Many of the prisoners continue singing with the choirs after their release.
“Polly and I are so enthusiastic that we’ve become Liberty Choir patrons,” David smiled. “We’ve also sung with them. Singing is such an uplifting and joyful experience. It’s an enormously positive thing for all concerned.”
It was his wife’s idea to have The Liberty Choir perform on “Rattle That Lock.”
“The lyrics were inspired by John Milton’s great poem, ‘Paradise Lost.’ Polly loves Milton’s work and this particular poem is one of her obsessions. She thought using the massed voices of a choir on the chorus would blend perfectly with her lyrics and we could think of no better group of singers than The Liberty Choir.”
The title-track is also the lead single from “Rattle That Lock.” But the song is not typical of David’s album as a whole. The ten tracks offer a mixture of musical styles with one, “The Girl in the Yellow Dress,” being a pure jazz piece which features Jools Holland on piano.
“I enjoy a wide variety of music and this is reflected on the album. The only concept I had was that the songs are about events which happen in a single day. The first track is an instrumental called 5 A.M. and everything follows from there.”
David now regards Pink Floyd as part of his past. The death of keyboardist Rick Wright ended any possibility of future reunion concerts.
“We released ‘The Endless River’ last year as a kind of finale for the band. It was basically jam sessions from 1993 which we turned into some finished songs. The fans wanted it so the album was really for them but I have no plans for anything more from Pink Floyd.”
A Boat Lies Waiting is one of the songs on his new album. It is a poignant tribute to Rick Wright.
“Polly also wrote the lyrics on that song. She was very fond of Rick. We miss him every day. I’ve worked with some incredible keyboard players and got on really well with them. But just being around other keyboardists is a constant reminder of what we’ve lost both in Rick’s musical ability and his wonderful friendship.”
Despite being just five months short of his 70th birthday, fans will be pleased to learn David has no thoughts of retirement.
“I feel I’m creating some of the best songs of my career. I’ve got about 35 which are in various stages of development and the important thing is I thoroughly enjoy working on my music. I think you’ll be hearing a good few more albums from me in the future.”

IN BRIEF
Big Grams

Pop ups on the Internet are something most of us could certainly do without. But one such pop up led to the musical combination of OutKast rapper/producer Big Boi and indie-pop duo Phantogram.
“Their song, Mouthful of Diamonds, started playing one day while I was surfing the web,” Big Boi explained. “I loved the song but didn’t know the artist. I used Shazam to identify the track and contacted Sarah (Barthel) and Josh (Carter). We met up and eventually recorded three songs together for my ‘Vicious Lies and Dangerous Rumors’ album.
“We enjoyed working together so much that we decided to write and record more songs. The end result is ‘Big Grams,’ our self-titled album.”
Spotify users can hear the entire album but lyric videos for three of the seven tracks have now been posted on YouTube. Goldmine Junkie, Lights On and Fell In The Sun can all be heard via www.youtube.com/user/BigGramsVEVO

Sara Bareilles

Sara Bareilles has been a very busy lady. The 35-year-old singer, songwriter and actress can now add author and stage musical writer to the list of her achievements.
Her first book, Sounds Like Me: My Life (So Far) In Song, is published today. It is a collection of personal essays not just about her music but readers do have the opportunity to learn the inside stories behind Sara’s songs.
Her Broadway musical, “Waitress,” enjoyed a successful preview run at Harvard University’s American Repertory Theater earlier this year. It will open at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre next April. Sara wrote every song in the show.
Fans should know the music long before opening night. Her forthcoming album, “What’s Inside: Songs from ‘Waitress,’” is a collection of material from the musical but reworked in Sara’s own style. A lyric video for the lead single, She Used To Be Mine, can be seen at www.youtube.com/watch?v=DToejUka-XU

Kimie Miner

Hawaii is not exactly regarded as a hotbed of pop music. Hawaiian guitars and the voice of Don Ho are the musical symbols of The Aloha State.
In recent times though, Jack Johnson has proved there is rather more to the Hawaiian music scene. To a lesser degree, singer/songwriter Kimie Miner has also played her part.
She releases her self-titled second full-length studio album later this week. It follows 2009’s “Distant Traveler” and her fan-funded 2013 seven-song EP, “To The Sea.”
Two tracks, Throwback Love and Bottom Of A Rainbow, have recently been issued as promotional songs for her new album. Lyric videos for both can be accessed at www.youtube.com/user/playkimie/videos
Numerous other song and behind-the-scenes videos are also posted here.
Many more of her songs, including most of the tracks on “Distant Traveler” and all of “To The Sea,” are available to hear at (no www.) soundcloud.com/playkimie