Roger Waters has slammed David Gilmour, claiming the guitarist has refused him access to Pink Floyd's website and the band’s social media channels.
Earlier this week, Waters uploaded a lockdown video of The Wall classic Mother, which has led him to ask why he’s not allowed to share or promote his work through the official Pink Floyd channels.
In a video message on Twitter, Waters says: “One and half million of you have viewed our new version of Mother, which is lovely – it really warms my heart. But it does bring up the question: Why is this video not available on a website that calls itself The Pink Floyd website?
“Well, the answer to that is because nothing from me is on the website – I am banned by David Gilmour from the website.
“About a year ago, I convened a sort of Camp David for the surviving members of Pink Floyd at a hotel at an airport in London, where I proposed all kinds of measures to get past this awful impasse that we have and predicament we find ourself in.
“It bore no fruit, I’m sorry to say, but one of the things I asked for, I suggested that because whoever the 30 million of you are who subscribe to the web page, you do so because of the body of work the five of us created: That’s Syd, me, Rick, Nick and David over a number of years.
“And in consequence, it seems to me that it would be fair and correct if we should have equal access to you all and share our projects.”
It seems to me that it would be fair and correct if we should have equal access to you all and share our projects
Roger Waters
Waters continues: “David thinks he owns it. I think he thinks that because I left the band in 1985, that he owns Pink Floyd, that he is Pink Floyd and I’m irrelevant and I should just keep my mouth shut.”
Waters also questions why Pink Floyd’s social media channels have promoted Gilmour’s wife Polly Samson’s Von Trapped Family livestreams.
Waters says: “We’re all welcome to our opinions, but there have been rumblings and grumblings in the ranks. I’m told by friends of mine that some of the questions being asked are: ‘Why do we have to sit and watch Polly Samson, year after year, month after month, day after day – and the Von Trapps reading us excerpts from their novels to get us to go to sleep at night?'
“It’s a very good question, and yet we don’t get to hear anything about what Roger’s doing, about This Is Not A Drill, or when he makes a piece of work. None of his work is publicised, or his film with Sean Evans US + Them, which has just gone out is not mentioned.
“We’re not allowed to even mention such a fact on the official Pink Floyd website. This is wrong. We should rise up… or, just change the name of the band to Spinal Tap and them everything will be hunky dory.”
Last month, Waters spoke with Rolling Stone about the meeting he had in London with Gilmour and Nick Mason, saying he wanted to work out a “peace plan” to discuss the possibility of a remastered vinyl release of Animals.
However, a discussion about a possible reunion was never on the cards, with Waters saying: “It wouldn’t be nice. It would be fucking awful."
He added: “Obviously if you’re a fan of those days of Pink Floyd, well then you have a different point of view. But I had to live through it. That was my life.
“I know in the wake of it I’ve been cast as something of a villain by whoever… so be it! I can live with that. But would I trade my liberty for those chains? No fucking way.”
An announcement from me. And when I mention the @pinkfloyd website, I also mean the Facebook page and all the rest. pic.twitter.com/x9T8CIAAMpMay 19, 2020
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