Last month, we told you about some new music from respected guitarist Chester Kamen. Amongst many other artists, Chester has toured with Roger Waters, joining his band in 2002 and playing on subsequent tours, and with David Gilmour on his 2016 Rattle That Lock tour. He first played with David back in 1985 during the Live Aid show - David and Chester were both part of Bryan Ferry's band for that show (as was Jon Carin!).
Chester has, like many musicians, kept himself busy whilst lockdowns and restrictions due to Covid-19 have called a halt to many things - in particular, live performance. Last month, he shared his recently finished new piece of music called Take This, that runs for over 23 minutes. Chester told us that Take This is the first side of an album he is currently working on - following, or inspired by, the old Floyd blueprint of one long piece and several songs on the flip side.
The first of the songs on the second side of the album is now here - Brand New Day - which has a nice, optimistic feel to it (something we need in current times) and seems to have a bit of a Beatles-ish vibe to it. We'll update you as he progresses with the rest of the album:
Many of you will be fully aware of the literary skills of Glenn Povey. Founder of Brain Damage magazine (the forerunner of this website) and author of a string of essential books about Pink Floyd (in particular In The Flesh, revised as Echoes, and most recently in its fullest iteration, The Complete Pink Floyd listing every concert, appearance and song in their history).
Glenn has now turned to a slightly more specialised, or focused, history. High Hopes: David Gilmour, The Origins of the Voice and Guitar of Pink Floyd has just been announced and published in a limited, numbered edition of 500 hardback books, signed by Glenn along with his co-author Warren Dosanjh. The 124 page book is the most detailed biography of David Gilmour's early history in print, with Glenn, along with Warren - a lifelong Cambridge resident and also the manager of Syd Barrett's pre-Pink Floyd band Those Without - tracing Gilmour's career from the very beginning.
The book tells the story of Gilmour's upbringing, childhood and influences as well as the bands he performed in and sets into context the relationships developed in his hometown of Cambridge.
A wealth of previously unpublished photographs, anecdotes from school friends,
former band mates and family are brought together to tell the definitive story of a shy yet determined teenager who went on to become the voice and guitar of Pink Floyd. Many of the recollections and earliest photos are from David's younger brother Peter Gilmour, along with David's various early bandmates.
We've now seen a copy; the amount of detail and information within the book is quite breathtaking at times, and there are many incredible pictures of David in his youth, both in family/childhood contexts, and in his early bands. We urge you to act fast if you want to secure a copy with it being so limited in nature.
You can order High Hopes: David Gilmour - The Origins of the Voice and Guitar of Pink Floyd directly from the publisher's website, which is MindHeadPublishing.co.uk.
With the release of the 2020 version (Restored. Re-Edited. Remixed.) of Delicate Sound of Thunder just under two weeks away, on November 20th, the band's YouTube and social media channels have posted an unboxing video showing off the various editions.
Those of you fortunate enough to have the Floyd's Later Years box set will already know just how good the 2020 version is. This was a result of going directly to the more than 100 cans of original 35mm negatives, painstakingly restoring and transferring the footage to 4K. It was then completely re-edited by Benny Trickett under the creative direction of Aubrey Powell/Hipgnosis. Similarly, the sound was completely remixed from the original multitrack tapes by longtime Floyd engineer Andy Jackson with David Gilmour, assisted by Damon Iddins. Suffice it to say that in the home setting, the quality is quite incredible and the new edit is great! The visual softness of the original VHS release is long gone, thank goodness, and this is as sharp and detailed as you could ever want, with vibrant colours, really showing off the visual aspect of the presentation. The video below initially has some comparison of the old and the new to show some of the differences, although the Blu-ray version is even starker in the difference in quality.
You'll be able to get hold of this release on Blu-ray, DVD, 2CD, 3-disc 180-gram heavyweight vinyl and as a deluxe 4-disc edition with bonus tracks. All editions feature 24-page photo booklets, with the 4-disc box edition including a 40-page photo booklet, tour poster and postcards. The 3LP 180-gram vinyl set includes 9 songs not included on the 1988 release of the album, while the 2CD includes 8 tracks more than its original release.
It is bound to be a popular release for many, and pre-orders are now open for the various editions. You can order them through the following links, taking advantage of Amazon's free pre-order price guarantee - should their asking price drop at any point between you ordering it, and release, they will automatically charge you the lowest price during that period! Ordering through our links also helps with BD's ongoing running costs, and we really appreciate it:
Happy Halloween! Regulars to Brain Damage over the years will know that our good friend Joe Ringus is a hugely talented pumpkin artist, and each year crafts a Pink Floyd themed pumpkin for Halloween (a celebration which is embraced by many, principally tonight, but in a number of places it covers a number of days).
Those regulars will no doubt be as keen as we have been to see if Joe would be continuing the tradition this year, and if so, what design would be picked. The great news is that Joe has been hard at work yet again, and has done another phenomenal job! We're delighted to share his incredible carving with you, which is of course a representation of the cover of the Floyd's Delicate Sound of Thunder.
Joe said: "Each year it becomes increasingly harder to come up with a Pink Floyd pumpkin design. However, with this year being the 25th anniversary of Delicate Sound, this design seemed very fitting! Hope you enjoy!"
Thanks Joe - we think you've done another excellent job! It's a great tradition and we know many of our visitors love to see them. If there are any other pumpkin artists out there who have created Floyd designs, we'd love to see them. Also, if you have any suggestions for other images Joe could tackle in future years, please contact us at the normal email address of
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and we'll pass on your ideas to him.
For those who have missed some of Joe's previous designs, you can catch up with those from years gone via the other thumbnail (click it to see the designs in greater detail), so you can see what a steady hand, great ideas, and carving talent, results in!
Our best wishes, and many happy returns to Jon Carin, who today celebrates his birthday (Wednesday, October 21st).
The talented multi-instrumentalist has been a key part of the Pink Floyd
operation for many years, first working with David back in 1985 at the London Live Aid show, with both of them in Bryan Ferry's band, and more recently toured with David Gilmour on his On An Island and Rattle That Lock tours, and Roger Waters on his Dark Side Of The Moon, The Wall Live, and Us And Them tours. These all saw Jon singing, playing keyboards, guitar and more during the shows.
As many of you will be aware, recently Jon released two new songs on Spotify which have been extremely popular, based on the feedback that we have received so far.
Recently, the world marked what would have been John Lennon's 80th birthday, and Jon recorded his version of Gimme Some Truth, a protest song Lennon released in 1971 on his Imagine album. Jon did all the instrumentation on his version of this song. You can hear Jon's version on Spotify now, and here's Jon's Spotify Artist's page. For a thirty second taster of the track, click the play button below:
For those who might have missed it, or want another chance to read it, check out our extensive and exclusive interview with Jon from August 2007. It's full of fascinating insights into his life and work with various top musicians, including (of course) David, Roger, and Pink Floyd.
Older News Archive 
With the release of the 2020 version (Restored. Re-Edited. Remixed.) of Delicate Sound of Thunder just under two weeks away, on November 20th, the band's YouTube and social media channels have posted an unboxing video showing off the various editions.
