David Gilmour released Luck and Strange, his first solo album in nearly a decade, this past September. If he has his way, fans won’t have to wait nearly as long for the next chapter.
“I’ll definitely be moving onto that in the new year,” he told UCR during a conversation prior to the start of the tour for Luck and Strange. You can listen to the full interview below.
As he shared, he’s often got musical thoughts that are taking shape in one way or another. “I work all of the time, a bit,” he explained. “I’m in my studio and out of my studio, collating things, but in a fairly haphazard sort of way. But there does come a point where you think, ‘We have enough in the can to make a decision.’ You can press a button and say ‘Right now is the go moment and we are going to now make a plan and get a team together.’
The legendary guitarist works from different points of inspiration, both old and new. For Luck and Strange, the title track emerged from a “Barn Jam” session that happened in January of 2007 as he was wrapping up touring for 2006’s On an Island. It was a productive period, one which ended up being the final time that he would record with his Pink Floyd bandmate, Richard Wright, prior to the keyboardist’s death in 2008. He says there are still “30 to 40 other bits” of music from those barn recordings.
READ MORE: David Gilmour, ‘Luck and Strange’: Album Review
Listen to David Gilmour’s ‘Barn Jam’ version of ‘Luck and Strange’
Similarly, he’s got an impressive archive overall that has no shortage of song ideas. But he cautions, the contents are of varying quality. “To be honest, I’ve got lots of pieces of music going back into the ‘80s. I’ve got some whole songs, I’ve got some newer ones that I’ve done and I’ve got my trusty iPhone,” he says. “I have recorded over a thousand tiny bits of something. I mean, it might just be a sound of a bird singing. I haven’t actually really been through those yet, but one of these days, I will — or I think I will — when I need something. [Laughs] It sounds like a hell of a lot, but to be honest, you play through them and 19 out of 20, you say, ‘That can go straight in the bin.'”
The conversation with Gilmour is the first entry in the newly launched UCR Podcast, which is available now wherever you get your podcasts. In the first episode, hosts Matt Wardlaw and Matthew Wilkening also look back at Gilmour’s recent tour dates for Luck and Strange and compare the set list and production with Roger Waters’ This is Not a Drill outing in 2022-23.
In the coming weeks, the podcast will feature other interviews, both new and from the archives — as well as topical discussions with members of the UCR staff.
READ MORE: David Gilmour Brings ‘Luck and Strange’ Tour to New York
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Gallery Credit: Nick DeRiso
