During a new conversation with Vulture, Tony Levin explained how he helped David Gilmour keep Pink Floyd going after Roger Waters.
“David Gilmour asked me to play bass on the album after Roger Waters famously left the band, thinking it was the end of them,” the musician said of his collaboration with Pink Floyd on the 1987 album ‘A Momentary Lapse of Reason.’
He added, “I wasn’t part of any of the band’s intrigue and was thrilled to enter into the world of trying to play appropriately for a Pink Floyd context but also be somewhat myself.”
Levin then noted that Pink Floyd’s style was a bit hard to adjust to. He explained, “I can remember one instance when I had a long vamp out and I played an extra few notes. I’m not talking about a fast bass riff here; I’m just talking about a couple notes.”
“After the take, when we got together to listen, David smiled and said, ‘Tony, in Pink Floyd you don’t do that extra couple notes until far later.’ I had the right idea, but I did it too quickly. He was silently saying, ‘You don’t know that, but the rest of us do,'” Levin shared Gilmour’s words.
In 2022, Mitch Lafon asked Levin if he approaches all his music projects the same way or if he prepares differently for each one. The rocker responded, “A good question. I don’t have that one thing you mentioned. ‘I’m Tony Levin.’ Probably you just don’t wake up and think, ‘Well, I’m me, and this is the way I got to be.’ Usually, I just want to go in and hear the music fresh. I think there have been a few times.”
He went on to say, “For instance, I didn’t listen to Genesis before I played Peter Gabriel’s music. I didn’t listen to King Crimson. I knew Robert Fripp and was recording on his exposure album. I still hadn’t heard King Crimson. Pink Floyd… I’m not an expert at Pink Floyd.”
“I had heard it some, but I actually listened to them a little bit before I went into that. But mostly for fun before I went into the session. So yeah, somehow a combination. No thinking about ‘I’m me, and I have to do this.’ But there are almost always demos you hear.” Levin stated.
Besides Pink Floyd, Levin has teamed up with David Bowie, John Lennon, Stevie Nicks, Tom Waits, and Chuck Mangione in his long career.
