Back in late 2016, Roger Waters delivered some bad news to his firstborn son Harry: He was firing him from his touring band.
In a new interview with Rolling Stone, Harry recalled the day shortly before Christmas of that year when his father made a visit to his Santa Monica home to inform him that after 14 years of playing keyboards in the band, he would not be onboard for the impending “Us + Them” tour.
“I was fired,” Harry said. “It was pretty miserable.”
Roger was apparently cleaning house with his live lineup, axing everyone except keyboardist Jon Carin and guitarist Dave Kilminster. There were no exceptions for immediate family.
“I think he just wanted a change of blood, something new, something fresh,” said Harry, who still doesn’t know exactly why he was let go. “I’m not sure of his exact reasoning, but everyone except two people got fired. But the other guys that got the sack weren’t his son, so it was doubly hurtful for me.”
That hasn’t kept Harry from performing his dad’s music in other capacities. He recently wrapped up a tour with Les Claypool’s Fearless Flying Frog Brigade — covering Pink Floyd’s Animals in its entirety — and even accepted an offer to sit in on three shows with the Pink Floyd tribute act Brit Floyd alongside ex-Floyd background singer Durga McBroom and former Floyd saxophonist Scott Page. After all, Harry is quite familiar with the material.
“I’ve never met any of them, but I’ll just turn up and play,” said Harry, who has previously performed in tribute acts for Led Zeppelin and Grateful Dead. “I’ve been playing this music for 30 years or so. I think we’ll be OK without rehearsal. I think we all know the material pretty well.”
In many ways, the music of Pink Floyd has always been a part of Harry’s life, ever since his dad brought him into the studio when he was two years old to record the line “look mummy, there’s an aeroplane up in the sky” on “Goodbye Blue Sky” from The Wall.
As for his dad’s controversial political views, Harry implored that “it’s just not true at all that he’s an antisemite,” as Roger has been accused of by onetime Pink Floyd bandmate David Gilmour and others.
“People say, ‘Oh, he dresses up in an SS uniform, and he has a Star of David on the [inflatable] pig,” Harry continued. “And I just want to say, ‘You fuckin’ idiots. He’s been doing that for 40 years. It’s satire.’ There’s also a Mercedes sign, a hammer and sickle, and a dollar sign on the pig … He’s bringing to light all the evils of the world. But people confuse that and think he’s an antisemite, which is really stupid.”
Brit Floyd have North American dates scheduled from now through March, with tickets available here. Harry Waters played his first gig with Brit Floyd on Tuesday (November 28th) in Phoenix, and is only scheduled to play additional shows tonight (November 30th) in Los Angeles and Friday night (December 1st) in Ventura, California. However, he mentioned in the interview that he’d be interested in participating in more dates.
Watch footage of Harry Waters performing with Brit Floyd during the Phoenix show below.
