Keyboarder Chris Stainton über Roger Waters und David Gilmour

Auf der Website des Rolling Stone Magazin erschien im Rahmen der Unknown Legends Serie ein Interview mit dem Keyboarder Chris Stainton, der im Laufe seiner Karriere mit einer Vielzahl berühmter Musiker und Bands wie z.B. Joe Cocker, The Who und Eric Clapton zusammenspielte. Stainton tourte 1984 mit Roger Waters, als dieser sein Soloalbum The Pros And Cons Of Hitch Hiking vor Publikum präsentierte. David Gilmour engagierte Stainton für sein On an Island Album.

Am Telefon gab Stainton dem Rolling Stone Auskunft über seine facettenreich musikalische Karriere und kam dabei auch auf seine Erinnerungen an Waters und Gilmour zu sprechen.

Tell me about the Roger Waters tour in 1984 with you and Clapton.
CHRIS STAINTON: That came out of the blue. We were in Japan and Eric came to me and said, “I’m going to do a tour with Roger Waters. Do you want to do it?” I said, “OK.” It was him and he brought me. I think he said to Roger he didn’t want to do it without me on keyboards. We rehearsed with Roger. It was me, [guitarist] Tim Renwick, [keyboardist] Michael Kamen, another genius that disappeared from earth. And Andy Newmark on drums.

Was that a fun tour?
CHRIS STAINTON: It was great because I got to play a lot of sound effects. I had this synthesizer that did sound effects. I had to look at the screen and synchronize it with all the action on the screen. It was a lot of fun. I also got to play bass on a few songs.

Was Roger a good bandleader?
CHRIS STAINTON: Yeah. He was a good bandleader. He used to lose his temper sometimes when he got frustrated. We used to call him General Waters. He was a little military-like and quite demanding in his approach with the band. He liked things exactly the way he liked them. But that’s good. It got a good result.

Tell me about playing on the David Gilmour record On an Island.
CHRIS STAINTON: That was a surprise. What happened was we did a tribute to Scotty Moore and we had all guitarists. We had Ron Wood, Eric [Clapton], and Scotty Moore was on it and a few other guys. David Gilmour was one of them and that was when I met him. He must have liked my playing because after that gig, he asked me to play on his album. He had me over. It was at Abbey Road studios. It was Jools Holland on piano and I played Hammond. He’s great. I like Dave Gilmour.

Quelle: Rolling Stone – Keyboardist Chris Stainton on His Years With Eric Clapton, Joe Cocker, and the Who

Ich danke Oliver Thöne für den Hinweis.