Hot Press talks to The Australian Pink Floyd Show

We caught up with Jason Sawford, keyboardist for the 10-piece group, about the upcoming shows and the hype surrounding them.

“People keep asking when we’re coming back so there’s a lot of happy people now that we are coming back to play! We’re looking forward to it.”

The group originally planned only two shows but they added a third due to the overwhelming demand for tickets.

“We haven’t played there for awhile so I think people are itching to see it, so I’m not totally surprised it happened,” Sawford said of the addition. “Very often we have sold out every time we’ve played there.”

TAPFS is currently on their “Welcome to the Machine Tour,” celebrating the album that that iconic song originally appeared on, Wish You Were Here. The album celebrates its fortieth birthday later this year, warranting special recognition from the band, which will be playing it in its entirety at these shows.

“I think we just like to call it something a bit different, but it’s focused on that album. Because it’s 2015 and everyone’s using machinery we thought about something literally that we’ve produced especially for this particular show, but it’s basically about the album.”

The album consists of just a handful of tracks but they are some of Pink Floyd’s most beloved, including ‘Wish You Were Here’ and the sprawling suite that is ‘Shine On You Crazy Diamond.’

“For myself, yeah, I really like it,” Sawford said of the 1975 album. “It’s got a lot of keyboard stuff in it so it’s a great album from that point of view. I do think it’s one of their more interesting albums. You’ve got Dark Side of the Moon, which is the all-time classic, but it is one of their more famous albums along with Animals and The Wall. I think Wish You Were Here is up there with those sort of albums.”

Asked how the band reconciles improvisation with faithfulness to the material they draw from, Sawford revealed that there are different approaches for different songs.

“Some of the early songs of Pink Floyd, there’s a bit more variation because there are so many different versions out and they used to improvise a lot in some of them, and that can reflect in some early songs we might choose to play. But with this one we tried to get it sounding like the album as much as we could.”

Although the show is based on that album, the set draws from all periods of Pink Floyd’s long and storied career.

“We start off with a Syd Barrett number, then we do the album, then we do stuff from Dark Side and The Wall and then we do some of the later stuff from the Momentary Lapse and Division Bell period, so it’s a very well balanced set.”

Sawford also revealed in our talk that the band is already thinking about integrating material from Pink Floyd’s 2014 album, The Endless River, into their shows, but we may not see it for some time.

“It does take awhile to get all the songs together. So it was kind of sprung on us that there’s this new album out after we’d already decided what we were going to do, so we’re going to have to sort of figure it all out but I’m sure we’ll be able to do something with it soon.”

“Yesterday during sound check we actually started jamming on ‘Louder Than Words’ and then we were told to shut up, we still had other work to do!” Sawford added.

In addition to the music, the band has a few more tricks up its sleeve to keep this round of shows fresh.

“We’ve got a new lighting design, we’ve got new color lasers in this one, we’ve got new projections, which have been specially made up just for this tour so it’s the first time we’ll be featuring them. The show has moved on since we last played in Ireland so I think people will see it like an improved show.”

It’s especially invigorating to hear about improvement in a band that, almost 20 years ago, was renowned enough to be hand-picked by original Pink Floyd singer and guitarist David Gilmour to play his 50th birthday.

“That was a great experience, but we were very nervous when we did it,” Sawford recalled. “We did a set list that David Gilmour specifically requested … and the first thing I saw in the audience was Rick Wright and Guy Pratt dancing along to the music! At the end of the show they all got on stage themselves and played instruments, so we got to hear them play at a party.”

The group has encountered icons like Gilmour and Wright a few times in the years since, but for now the focus is on their upcoming shows.

As excited as Ireland is to host The Australian Pink Floyd Show once again, the band seems just as excited to be coming back.

“The people really love the music and they’re very demonstrative of their appreciation of it, they’re singing loudly and they really get into it. It’s a lot of fun to do. We get a good response everywhere but some audiences are quieter than others, some are more reserved. The Irish audiences tend to be quite noisy!”

We wouldn’t have it any other way.

The Australian Pink Floyd Show comes to The Waterfront Hall February 15 and The Olympia Theatre February 16 and 17.