syd barrett interview

I wanted to do a job. Occurring outside of Syds mother Winifred Barretts house in Cambridge what followed would be the last formal interview Pink Floyds original creative visionary would ever give. Syd is married. Then had to come up to London, he said, I didnt mean to play for ever; it was painting that brought me here to art school. It was here that the band began to develop a serious following. I never admitted it because Im a person who doesnt admit it. documentInitOneSignal(); When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Syd: Well, of course, living in Cambridge I have to find something to do. A:No, no thats okay. Playing. And Im not anything that you think I am anyway.. LONDONIf you tend to believe what you hear, rather than what is, Syd Barrett is either dead, behind bars, or a vegetable. What we were doing was a microcosm of the whole sort of philosophy and it tended to be a little bit cheap. If you would like to visit Cambridge this summer, it is too late to book an I Spy Syd In Cambridge tour. Syds early songs (starts singing) Im alone, on my own, I get stoned were plaintive. But I cant find anybody. Bye. Early Pink Floyd worked harder than most as a touring band. Artwork was provided by long time Pink Floyd associate and friend of Syd, Storm Thorgerson and his Hipgnosis studio. Mostly, I just waste my time. He walks a lot. It should be 12 singles, and jolly good singles. David Gilmour, Richard Wright and Nick Mason performed Arnold Layne. If you tend to believe what you hear, rather than what is, Syd Barrett is either dead, behind bars, or a vegetable. Devastated by the LSD consumption indulged by many with joyful abandon but which proved excessive to his own constitution, Syd was an artistic genius, gifted in so many mays he couldnt separate one from another in his beleaguered, swirling brain. Sometimes simple linear pieces. Its bound to show. Editors picks We dont know what destroyed that, whether it was the drugs or that something was stopping him creating because he didnt want to join the circus., He could see what he was doing musically in an artistic way because he came from an arts background, says Pete Brown, who recalls talking with Gilmour once about him writing some lyrics for Floyd. Other musicians paying tribute included Roger Waters, Damon Albarn, Kevin Ayers, Captain Sensible, Mike Heron, Robyn Hitchcock, Chrissie Hynde, John Paul Jones, Kate McGarrigle, and Martha Wainwright. Perhaps you could see it as something went to ones head, but I dont know that it was relevant. The band attempted to go into Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun, but Syd could. But in a sense, Syd never really left. Its always been too slow for me. David Gilmour was approached in early December and they had hoped to call on Syds compositional abilities for studio work, similar to Brian Wilsons role in the Beach Boys, while Gilmour would bolster the band in live shows. Brian Freddy Foskett, formerly a jazz drummer with the Riverside Seven, took Roger to the YMCA in Alexandra Street to hear the band play and Roger decided to put the y into his nickname to avoid confusion with the bass player. They were playing on Madcap, except for Kevin Ayers. [The interview ends. In 1982, Syd had spent well over a decade almost fully retired from public life and had moved away from the bright lights of London to his mothers house in Cambridge four years earlier. window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; Heres how it works. One of the reasons. Theres a train strike at the moment.. Syd Barrett came up to London last week and talked in the office of his music publisher, his first press interview for about a year. The Madcap Laughs, his second, he says, was pretty good: Like a painting as big as the cellar. Before the Floyd got off the ground, Barrett attended art school. We were playing Stones numbers. At the end of that April, Pink Floyd was the closing act at the 14 Hour Technicolor Dream festival at Alexandra Palace, and left an ever-lasting impression on those in attendance, as the sun rose and streamed in through the windows, casting reflections on Syds mirrored guitar. And I knew I couldnt write. He looked terrible., Floyd famously elected not to pick him up one day, and already had Gilmour in the band. I couldnt have made my mind up to go and get themTo get the train and all thatBut thenI didnt even write to themMum said shed get in touch with the officeThanks, anyway. S:No. Syd was pleasantly surprised that the LP had sold well, especially as there was no great hype involved. But Id be very surprised if it did anything if I were to drop dead. The server responded with {{status_text}} (code {{status_code}}). Even if me and the rest of the band had been grieving for him for over 30 years." EMIs new Harvest label committed to a Barrett solo project, and over the course of a year Syd recorded The Madcap Laughs. The mirror disc guitar was probably premiered at the All Saints Church Hall concert on 14 October a POP DANCE featuring Londons farthest out group. On 24 February 1970, he appeared on John Peels BBC radio programme Top Gear playing five songs, only one of which had been previously released. My uncle Ive been getting used to a family existence, generally. Syd Barrett came up to London last week and talked in the office of his music publisher, his first press interview for about a year. At a job at London's Saturday Club, Barrett showed up and was unusually (even for him) uncommunicative. Im treading the backward path, he smiles. I work in a cellar, down in a cellar. He was a pretty child. Syd: Im afraid I think Id have to get on with them. He had glandular fever for a second time in 1965. Symbolic? Pink Floyd played at the launch party for the International Times and became the first house band at the UFO club. David Bowie once called Syd a poet in a rock band, and songs like Chapter 24 and The Scarecrow encapsulated his lyrical world of child-like wonder derived from classic literature. But it didnt transcend the feeling of playing at UFO and those sort of places with the lights and that, the fact that the group was getting bigger and bigger. We listened to some jazz; Charlie Parker and Miles Davis, and things like Dave Van Ronk, Jesse Fuller and Bo Diddley. The Guardian: Excuse me! After Syd then talked about the clothes some more and said how it would have been difficult for him to get them because of having to get the train, the journalist then asked if he could take a photo. Have you seen the roses? BA1 1UA. The electronic noises were probably necessary. One thinks of it all as a dream. Pink Floyds Matilda Mother also received a fresh 2010 mix with its original lyrics restored. In 1966-67, Barrett was playing lead guitar with Pink Floyd. The Pink Floyd (alternatively known as The Tea Set) was still a part-time band, allowing Syd to take off to France in August 1965 with David Gilmour, visiting the home of Pablo Picasso, whose son was a student in Cambridge. I never felt so close to a guitar as that silver one with mirrors that I used on stage all the time. A particular mention must be made of the residency they enjoyed at the All Saints Church Hall as part of a series of concerts organized by the budding London Free School in the autumn of 1966. Music has always been part of my life, helped me through tough moments and was with me to celebrate the good ones. I mean, Ive got an idea that there must be someone to play with. Do you play guitar? They also went into a studio that same day and recorded a first version of Interstellar Overdrive, used as music for the experimental film San Francisco by Anthony Stern. Sessions in April and July followed, and the album was released in November 1970, the last official Syd Barrett album, bar compilations. In March 2011, a new book entitled Barrett, The Definitive Visual Companion, was published by Essential Works, authors Russell Beecher and Will Shutes drawing on their extensive research to show Syds work and life, resulting in a comprehensive study of Syd the artist. It was like this. The whole thing at the time was playing on stage. He loved art and DIY, his sister Rosemary tells his biographer Tim Willis in her first interview for 30 years When the death of 60-year-old Roger "Syd" Barrett was announced on Tuesday, the media raised an astonishing last hurrah for the founder of Pink Floyd, the "crazy diamond" who had shunned the public gaze for decades. And the influence of avant-garde art world was apparent in the Floyds stage act, the first to make stroboscopes and oil-slide projections standard equipment for an evenings music. I\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'m glad you gonna rock with us again! They were very exciting. He is very aware of what is going on around him, but his conversation is often obscure; it doesnt always progress in linear fashion. Syd Barrett interview (Jan 1970) Terrapin #17, 1975 Syd Barrett has returned. oneSignal_options['promptOptions']['siteName'] = "www.rockandrollgarage.com"; "; All that time youve just reminded me of it. He was better than people really knew. 'jetpack-lazy-images-js-enabled' His hair is short now, uncombed, the wavy locks gone. These three later became the main creative leaders of Pink Floyd, each of them rising to the front during their own era, connected in origin and friendship from the Cambridge days. Six songs were recorded by this first version of Pink Floyd, and after 50 years they finally received their proper release in November 2015. Syd Barrett was the definition of a tortured genius, one who sadly succumbed to a drug addiction that made him increasingly more erratic during the late 1960s. I suppose it was really just a matter of being a little offhand about things. Im trying to go back down there, but Ive got to wait. Hes taking things easily, as he has been doing for the last two years, composing, writing and painting as inspiration comes, and making some plans for the future. "; This story is from the December 23rd, 1971 issue of Rolling Stone. Syds letter about recording with Pink Floyd. That he was thrown out of The Pink Floyd. In his later years, Barrett battled diabetes. ); The doomed poet. Imagine my voice through all this money! He didnt think he could sing. I feel, perhaps, I could be claimed as being redundant almost. Its probably because I dont do much work. Is he one of them rappers?, Leave me alone. None of us advocated doing anything more eccentric. You can play guitar in your canteen, you know, your hair might be longer, but theres a lot more to playing than travelling around universities and things. When I went I felt the progress the group could have made. He didnt write any more but knew he had books of songs he hadnt used. Ive got some songs in the studio, still. I'd known he was ill for a long time. Is he one of them rappers? he retorted sarcastically. While Floyd commenced their rise to fame, Syd faltered through his last solo flight, leaving two albums before retiring. Thats why he had such a problem with the commercial side of the music business. In a Swedish interview from September 1967, Barrett explained that the name Pink Floyd comes from two blues singers from Georgia, USA Pink Anderson and Floyd Council. We listened to blues, Dylan, the Kinks and Animals. Instead, the sunnier single Apples and Oranges was released in November 1967, but did not chart. if (document.readyState === 'complete') { Syd still thinks he's . oneSignal_options['notifyButton'] = { }; He was outside himself, which is what happens when youre on acid. We want to hear it. Did they pay you?, No. Watts: Would you say, therefore, you were a difficult person to get on with? Cambridge is an hours train ride from London. The legacy continues to live on. Some 3-4 years later the spelling would change after seeing a bassist in the Riverside Seven, a traditional jazz band, named Sid Barrett. The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, mostly composed by Syd, is considered to be one of the greatest British psychedelic albums. He played at my 16th birthday party in summer 1965., One of Syds letters recounted how the band had sacked singer Chris Dennis and he was taking over vocals. Sometimes crazy jungles of thick blobs. Watts: Then why dont you get some musicians, go on the road and do some gigs? Whereas when Brian Jones left the Stones, they erased him then moved on, Syd became a spectral fifth member of the Floyd. I never get worried about my writing.. That was the last the public heard of him until 19 years later when a journalist from The Guardian, who was writing a profile on Barrett, managed to find him on the street. All Rights Reserved Stephen S. Thank you again for helping to keep The Syd Barrett Archives ad free, clicking the link below will take you to the donation screen. Syds behaviour became more erratic during a stretch of troublesome performances in the USA and the Jimi Hendrix UK package tour, to the point that the band decided to add a second guitarist. I remember at UFO one week one group, then another week another group, going in and out, making that set-up, and I didnt think it was as active as it couldve been. window._oneSignalInitOptions = oneSignal_options; The fact is I havent done anything this year, Ive probably been chattering, explaining that away like anything. Then they supported the MC5 and Hawkwind at the Corn Exchange, but Syd couldnt really face those large crowds. One man. Barrett obliged saying, Yes, sure. Theres a train strike at the moment., No, not really. [Syds mother calls him from inside her house. I have to say the acid did help. But it made none, none at all, except in the sense that it was continuing. They seemed an interesting variation on old blues, highly original., Syd started approaching his guitar like a canvas, as displayed on Interstellar Overdrive, one of the live improvisations the Floyd played as house band at UFO, the London countercultures seminal Tottenham Court Road space disco. I toured with him you know, Lindsay (an old girlfriend) and I used to sit on the back of the bus, with him up front; he would film us. }); Syd Barrett, one of the founders of Pink Floyd died at the age 60 after living in seclusion half his life. The light show hit the silver discs and a star was born.. This band of youngsters would play at our weekly gigs. Syd was really thrilled he was going to record, recalls Spires. I was living in Highgate with him, we shared a place there, and got a van and spent a lot of our grant on pubs and that sort of thing. But the reality was terribly sad. Free shipping for many products! The cover of Madcap has a picture of him crouching watchfully on the bare floorboards of a naked room. oneSignal_options['safari_web_id'] = "web.onesignal.auto.18c6dc90-7633-4ce6-8875-ae2763214094"; The general concept, I didnt feel so conscious of it as perhaps I should. A nude girl stretches her body on the background. Watts: Do you see the last two years as a process of getting yourself together again? Floyd on the UFO Clubs tiny stage, December 1966. Syd: No. I think you might be very successful. oneSignal_options['notifyButton']['text'] = {}; Watts: Were you not at all involved in acid, then, during its heyday among rock bands? A:What did you do in the apartment in London. Watts: Why dont you go out on your own playing acoustic? On July 7, 2006, he died of pancreatic cancer, though in a very real sense he had died long before that. Visiting him is like intruding into a very private world. A: what did you do in the apartment in London I Spy Syd in Cambridge.! Syds Mother calls him from inside her house sense, Syd faltered through his solo... Not chart a picture of him crouching watchfully on the bare floorboards of naked. Was continuing perhaps you could see it as something went to ones head, but got. 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