Australian Pink Floyd Show

The Australian Pink Floyd Show (aka TAPFS) are a tribute band of Pink Floyd. Formed in 1988 in Adelaide, South Australia, their performances are styled after Pink Floyd shows and they perform international arena tours. [* [http://music.guardian.co.uk/rock/story/0,,2081786,00.html] Guardian Article on the tribute scene including interview with keyboardist of The Australian Pink Floyd Show.]

Band Members

The band consists of:

* Paul Bonney - Drums
* Ian Cattell - Bass guitar (outside Europe), Vocals
* Damian Darlington - Guitar, vocals
* Steve Mac - Guitar, vocals
* Jason Sawford - Keyboards
* Colin Wilson - Bass guitar, vocals (Europe)

* Mike Kidson - Saxophones
* Ola Bienkowska - Backing vocals
* Emily Gervers - Backing vocals
* Amy Smith - Backing vocals
* Jacquie Williams - Backing vocals

Additional Touring Members:

* Jamie Humphries - Guitar, North America 2006, 2007
* Carl Brunsdon - Saxophones
* Bianca Antoinette - Backing Vocals North America 2005,2007

History

In 1993, the band flew from Australia to perform at the First International Pink Floyd Fan Convention at the Wembley Conference Centre, an event organised in conjunction with the Pink Floyd fanzine Brain Damage. The lineup consisted of 5 Adelaide musicians: Lee Smith, Grant Ross, Jason Sawford, Steve Mac and Colin Wilson. In January 1994 guitarist Lee Smith retired from the band and was replaced by Damian Darlington. In 1998 drummer Grant Ross also retired from the group and was replaced by Paul Bonney. Since 2002 the band has expanded to include female backing singers and a saxophone player. Additional musicians have also been recruited to enable the band to fulfil its demanding and ever-increasing worldwide tour schedule.

In 1994, David Gilmour attended an Australian Pink Floyd Show performance at The Fairfield Halls in Croydon. [ [http://www.pink-floyd.org/artint/gilmourdotch.htm David Gilmour / Pink Floyd interview dotmusic January 2002 ] ] He subsequently invited the band to attend the end-of-tour, after-show party for The Division Bell tour at Earls Court Exhibition Centre in London. [ [http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2006140003-2007170069,00.html Tribute to the masters | The Sun |HomePage|Showbiz|Something For The Weekend ] ]

They are the only Pink Floyd tribute act to play for any Pink Floyd member. In 1996, TAPFS performed at David Gilmour's 50th birthday. [ [http://www.cmpentertainment.com/index.php?action=display_artist_biog&artist_id=274&archive=0 CMP Main Page ] ] They are the only Pink Floyd tribute act to have performed at the Royal Albert Hall,first performing there on November 26, 2001 and being joined with the choir from Islington Green School for a rendition of Another Brick in the Wall pt. 2, and again sold out the Royal Albert Hall in May 2007. Roger Waters is reported to have attended this performance.

In 1994, the band appeared on Irish national television performing Young Lust on the chat show Kenny Live [The broadcast is featured on the 'TAPFS-Live at Liverpool' DVD which was recorded at the Liverpool Pops in 2004.]

In 1998, the band played at the Glastonbury Festival on the acoustic stage. [ [http://www.efestivals.co.uk/festivals/glastonbury/1998/alpha.shtml Glastonbury Festival 1998 - Bands - alphabetical listing ] ]

In 2004, the band performed The Dark Side of the Moon at the King's Dock, Liverpool, which was recorded and released as a DVD the same year. This was released as a 2-DVD set with the full concert on disc one and bonuses on disc two.

Also In 2004, the band commenced a major tour of The United States, Canada, Germany and Italy, including a show in Switzerland. The Liverpool Pops DVD and more recently the performance at the Royal Albert Hall have been aired on public television in several of the United States on a number of occasions [ [http://tpt.blogs.com/newsletter/2007/08/august-6---augu.html TPT e-newsletter ] ]

In 2005, the band released a CD of live recordings of "Animals" and "Wish You Were Here," again at the Liverpool Pops. In the same year the band undertook a two-week tour of South America consisting of dates in Mexico City,Buenos Aires and shows in Brazil.

In 2007, the band performed at several major European Music Festivals, including the Sweden Rock Festival, Malta Jazz Festival [ [http://www.maltajazzfest.com/Lineup2007.html LineUP 2007: Malta Jazz Festival ] ] , Arrow Rock Festival, Rock Werchter and Festival do Sudoeste. A DVD of the band performing at the Royal Albert Hall in London in 2007 was released later that year.

In September 2007, the group commenced its longest-ever continuous tour of the Americas, performing for the first time in Panama, Venezuela and Chile. In the same month a performance of the show in Buenos Aires was aired on Argentinian national television as part of the Pepsi music festival [ [http://www.last.fm/event/278276 Pepsi Music 2007, Buenos Aires – Last.fm ] ]

February 2008 saw the group commence their "Best of The Wall" tour on a 5 week tour of Europe performing in Spain, [ [http://www.popmatters.com/pm/features/article/55733/pink-floyd-is-actually-australian/ Pink Floyd Is Actually Australian < Events | PopMatters ] ] Luxembourg, Poland, Norway and the Czech Republic for the first time and were later to play in Raanna, Israel in May of the same year.

The group performed at the Isle of Wight Festival for the first time in June 2008 [ [http://www.isleofwightfestival.com/lineup.aspx The Official Isle of Wight Festival 2008 Line-Up ] ] , were the headline act of the last night of Guilfest 2008 and in August of the same year made their first appearance at the LokereseFesteen [ [http://www.lokersefeesten.be/2008/ Lokerse Feesten: Home ] ] in Lokeren, Belgium.

TAPFS performed their first shows in Ukraine and Slovakia in September 2008.

A complete production of 'The Wall' is planned for the upcoming 2008 U.S and Canadian tour.

Concept and Character of the Show

Their recent shows include not only music originally written by Pink Floyd, but also a psychedelic lightshow modelled after the lightshows used by Pink Floyd during their 1987 and 1994 world tours. [ [http://news.etnow.com/etnews.nsf/0/e6c515c8e895b122802572c6002f089f?OpenDocument RADlite NG1 in Action with Australian Pink Floyd - www.etnow.com ] ] The show includes a round screen with intelligent lights arranged around the perimeter. During each 2½ hour concert, movies and animations are displayed on the screen while lights and lasers turn the stage and auditorium into a swirling mass of colour. Inflatables such as the pig used by Pink Floyd during the 1994 Division Bell tour and the band's own giant pink kangaroo are also used. [ [http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/entertainment/music/live_reviews/s/1005/1005322_the_australian_pink_floyd_show__men_arena.html The Australian Pink Floyd Show @ M.E.N. Arena - Live Reviews - Music - Entertainment - Manchester Evening News ] ]

The show employs much of its own imagery based on Floydian imagery but altered to include humorous Australianisms and the use of the band's own trademark pink kangaroo, which appears on many of its posters and T-shirts. [ [http://www.aussiefloyd.com/ The Australian Pink Floyd Show ] ] [ [http://www.lpcexpress.org/home/index.cfm?event=displayArticlePrinterFriendly&uStory_id=650eabfb-1852-4c49-bafa-68c272a8d899 Express - The Australian Pink Floyd Show breaks the "cover band" mould ] ]

The shows typically follow the format of one hour of music followed by a 20 minute intermission, resuming with another hour of music, often concluding with an encore of 'Comfortably Numb' and 'Run Like Hell'. Sometimes the band will play certain Pink Floyd albums in their entirety during a show, usually as a first set. To date they have performed in this format "Dark Side of the Moon", "Animals", "Wish You Were Here" and on the upcoming US tour, "The Wall". When not performing a specific album the band will perform songs from all periods of Pink Floyd's oeuvre including early material by Syd Barrett and longer songs such as Dogs and Echoes to later material from the albums The Wall, The Final Cut, Momentary Lapse of Reason and The Division Bell.

Recently, the band has begun to include minor theatrics in some performances which presently consist of Ian Cattell sitting in an armchair watching television whilst singing Nobody Home, the action making an allusion to a scene in the film of The Wall

Other Information

The guitar rig of Steve Mac closely recreates David Gilmour's guitar set up including custom made elements made by Pete Cornish [ [http://petecornish.co.uk/client.html PETE CORNISH Client List ] ]

The show has also had associated with it, people who have worked with Pink Floyd over the years, including Colin Norfield who has worked as a sound engineer for David Gilmour for both his solo work and on the Division Bell tour [ [http://www.entec-soundandlight.com/news36.htm Entec Sound And Light Production ] ] [ [http://72.30.186.56/search/cache?ei=UTF-8&p=Australian+Pink+Floyd+britannia+Row&fr=slv8-acer&u=www.davidgilmour.com/press/april06/TotalProduction_April06.pdf&w=australian+pink+floyd+britannia+row&d=KIlGo-dmPcTS&icp=1&.intl=uk david gilmour ] ] , and also the drummer Clive Brooks as a drum technician. Brooks was also a founder member of the English progressive rock band Egg and was the drummer for the British blues band The Groundhogs

The saxophone player Mike Kidson is a former member of the Liverpool based band The Muffin Men and has also played with Dream Theater in a performance of Dark Side of the Moon [ [http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/news/general_music_news/dream_theater_perform_pink_floyds_dark_side_of_the_moon.html Dream Theater Perform Pink Floyd's 'Dark Side Of The Moon' | News @ Ultimate-Guitar.Com ] ]

There is a mention of TAPFS in the Rough Guide Music Series paperbacks called 'The Rough Guide to Pink Floyd' by Tony Manning. Published 31 August 2006

There is a mention of TAPFS in the book 'Pink Floyd' by Patrick Humphries.Published by Andre Deutsch Ltd 23 September 1997

The book 'Echoes - a complete history of Pink Floyd' is written by Glenn Povey who managed the band in the early years of TAPFS in the UK (1993-1995)

The Australian Pink Floyd Show is mentioned in the book "Like a Rolling Stone" by Steven Kurutz. [ [http://www.amazon.com/Like-Rolling-Stone-Strange-Tribute/dp/0385518900/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1209921688&sr=1-1 Amazon.com: Like A Rolling Stone: The Strange Life of A Tribute Band: Steven Kurutz: Books ] ]

In 2005 a documentary about the group was shot at the Bell Center in Montreal,Quebec and broadcast in North America on the Discovery Channel in 2007. [ [http://www.exn.ca/onTv/episode.asp?episode=61809689&TZ=1 Discovery Channel CA] ]

TAPFS often use the image from the cover of Pink Floyd's Dark Side Of The Moon album as their logo, but rather than a triangular prism refracting light, they use a glass silhouette of Australia.

References

* [http://backstagepass.seatwaveblogs.com/2007/04/interview_australian_pink_floy.php] Interview with Colin Wilson, bass player of The Australian Pink Floyd show
* Mojo Magazine August 2007. Interview with Colin Wilson and pictures at Cardiff International Arena.

ee also

* List of Pink Floyd tribute bands
* Pete Cornish

External links

* [http://www.aussiefloyd.com/ Aussie Floyd.com] - the official Australian Pink Floyd Show website
* [http://www.notaussiefloyd.com/ Unofficial Australian Pink Floyd Show website, notaussiefloyd.com] Fan site and forum.
* [http://www.youtube.com/tapfs Link to YouTube clip of Royal Albert Hall Show in 2007]
* [http://www.petecornish.co.uk/client.html Pete Cornish Website]
* [http://www.myspace.com/aussiefloyd Official TAPFS MySpace]