Why two drummers?

[ali tait]

Why has there been two drummers on stage with Floyd since the A Momentary Lapse Of Reason tour? Why can't Nick play all the parts by himself? It seems a bit wierd to me! Anybody able to shed light on it?

Cheers,
Ali Tait

[Tower Of Faith]

Hey ali tait.

As far as I know, there were not two drummers on the MLOR and TDB tours. Nick Mason played the drum set, while Gary Wallis played additional percussion. I have not seen the DSOT or Pulse videos so I do not know what this "additional percussion" entails, but I do not believe he is playing a kit.

However, Nick was backed by another drummer during the Wall tour. Willie Wilson (also from Gilmour's band before Floyd, and on Gilmour's first solo album) was brought in as part of the surrogate band. Presumably this was done because Mason had trouble playing along with the tick track (metronome backing track to help guide the tempo).

[terminalfrost]

I saw both AMLOR and TDB tours, and Wallis mostly played additional percussion. But there were a couple of songs on both tours that he sat down at his kit and played along with Nick. But I can't for the life of me remember which songs they were...sorry.

[Neshabur]

It sounded strange with two drummers. Nick's HUGE kit was unexploited most the time, he had more cymbals there than dollars per one day on tour.

[Melkor]

Originally posted by ali tait
Why has there been two drummers on stage with Floyd since the A Momentary Lapse Of Reason tour? Why can't Nick play all the parts by himself? It seems a bit wierd to me! Anybody able to shed light on it?

Cheers,
Ali Tait

If you watch the credits at the start of the PULSE video Garry Wallis is the second drummer as you put it. He is, in fact, playing percussion, there are drums involved. If you watch (Learning To Fly for instance) you'll see that it would be quite hard to that on your own.

[Ablaze]

Originally posted by Neshabur
It sounded strange with two drummers. Nick's HUGE kit was unexploited most the time, he had more cymbals there than dollars per one day on tour.

Eh, you just dont hear it. Because he uses them all you know. Not all the time, but some times.

[tore]

i think it has something with the measure to do....nick didnt play on mother and two suns in the sunset....because it's in a 5/4 measure or something and roger said that "nick's brain just dont work that way"

[Botley]

Nick's brain works very well in the 7/4 section of Money!

[AnimalInTheWall]

I was reading the 'Is There Anybody Out There?' credits, and there was an extra guitarist, as well as an extra bassist. I suppose this would be to emphasize the sound, or play multiple parts at the same time. I remember hearing that there were close to 100 people working on 'The Wall' tour.

[Botley]

There was also an extra keyboard player, Peter Wood, who plays at Roger's Wall concert in Berlin too.

[AnimalInTheWall]

My favorite would have to be the guy plaing the cowbell through some of the songs<--------Hilarious!! It reminds me of the SNL episode where Christopher Walken is sayng "I got a fever, and the only cure is more cowbell!"

Anyway, do you think the guy banging away on the cowbell is a percussionist also doing other things. Or do you think Floyd hired someone to JUST play the cowbell?

I know I enjoy it, it adds a new element to Floyd's music.Yeah

[Botley]

Where is that, in Berlin? Probably one of the Hooters...

[Badger]

Originally posted by AnimalInTheWall
I was reading the 'Is There Anybody Out There?' credits, and there was an extra guitarist, as well as an extra bassist. I suppose this would be to emphasize the sound, or play multiple parts at the same time. I remember hearing that there were close to 100 people working on 'The Wall' tour.

I was reading this book called "Echoes- The stories behind Every Pink Floyd Song" (don't know how credible it is, but it looks fairly well-researched). Anyway, it says that the second guitarist was a session musician brought in for ITABOT, because Dave had some trouble playing the guitar part at the end of the track during double-tracking. So one guitar layer is Dave, and the other is the other guy. It was quite amusing to hear that Dave actually had trouble with a guitar part! something about a leather pick or something.

[Botley]

You mean Willie Wilson. He's a classically-trained guitarist... but strangely enough, he was the one helping Nick on drums during the Wall shows.

[5thHorizon]

Do you really hire a guy to play cowbell? i mean I'd do it to be on stage with those guys without another thought. And what qualifies you to be a good cowbell player too? it can't be too hard...