Roger Waters Is Planning a 2016 Tour, Writing His Memoirs
A new solo album isn't the only project Roger Waters has in the works.
The Pink Floyd co-founder seems fairly far along with his first album of new material in more than 20 years — at least according to Haaretz correspondent Gideon Levy, who spent two days as a guest in Waters' home while listening to portions of the upcoming LP and discussing a wide range of subjects, from Waters' outspoken Middle Eastern politics to the prospect of another Floyd reunion. While the article's short on specific information regarding the next Waters record, Levy did share a few new details.
According to the article, Waters is "in the process of writing an autobiography," and — presumably in conjunction with the new album — he also "plans to go on another world tour next year." Noting that "everything Waters has written in the last few years has a political, mainly antiwar, aspect to it," Levy describes one song in particular that references the terrorist attack on French magazine Charlie Hebdo. This jibes with what Waters was saying as far back as 2012, when he suggested the LP might be titled Heartland and said it would contain at least one track touching on religious extremism.
Unsurprisingly, Waters remains intransigent on the subject of a reunion with his surviving Pink Floyd bandmates, saying "of course" the group is over.
"People grow apart, you know. We were four different people – well, after Syd went crazy and then David joined the group, and then there were four of us – and we’re very different people," he explained. "I made one friend in the group, who’s Nick Mason; I was never really that close to Rick Wright and David Gilmour, and we grew apart philosophically and politically – and even musically. And David and I started to really butt heads after Dark Side of the Moon. There was a lot of this going on all the way through Wish You Were Here, Animals, The Wall, and The Final Cut. So it became the only thing to do, for me to stop doing it."
Those conflicts don't color Waters' feelings regarding the band's best work, however, and before the new album, book, or tour come to pass, fans can look forward to the release of Roger Waters The Wall, a concert film due in theaters next month.
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