Interview: Damian Darlington of Brit Floyd's THE MOON, THE WALL AND BEYOND TOUR at Palace Theatre

For 32 years, Damian Darlington, the guitarist and musical director for Pink Floyd tribute band Brit Floyd, has built a career recreating David Gilmour’s music as faithfully as anyone alive.

But he knows he will always be second best behind one fan he met backstage early in his career.

After playing a gig in South London, Darlington and his band were having a few post-gig beers in the dressing room when there was a knock on the door. Gilmour poked his head inside and asked, “Can I come in?”

“That was a jaw-dropping moment,” said Darlington, whose band visits the Palace Theatre on Feb. 21. “He genuinely had a good time watching the concert. He especially appreciated the performance of ‘Dogs’ and some of the earlier tracks he hadn’t played since the 1970s. It must have been a strange experience for him to hear his own music played for him that way.”

Asked if he wanted to know his idol was in the audience prior to performing, Darlington didn’t hesitate.

“No. Oh God, no,” he said. “I can’t imagine how that would have thrown me off.”

Darlington said that with the voice of experience. A few years later, he was invited to Gilmour’s 50th birthday party in 1996 and he was asked to join Pink Floyd keyboardist Richard Wright on stage and play in front of Gilmour, Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason, and, just for good measure, Beatle guitarist George Harrison.

“To play in front of those guys in that context was extremely nerve wracking,” he said. “I had to pinch myself to check whether this was really happening.”

Those who attend the Columbus stop of THE MOON, THE WALL AND BEYOND tour at the Palace Theatre might be checking to make sure this is Brit Floyd instead of the actual Pink Floyd, which last played together with singer Roger Waters July 2, 2005, at the Live 8 Concert.

“If they are wanting to have a Pink Floyd concert experience, they should come and see us,” Darlington said. “Maybe it will take (older fans) back to their youth. If the fans are too young to have seen Pink Floyd live, they get the opportunity to have that experience.

“We do our best to recreate all the aspects of a Pink Floyd concert. It’s not just the music being played to a high standard, but it’s also the production of the show.”

Darlington, who founded Brit Floyd in 2011 after leaving the Australian Pink Floyd Show tribute band, said his band offers something comparable to Pink Floyd’s final tour in 1994.

To recreate the sound, Darlington is joined by long-time bassist Ian Cattell, drummer Randy Cooke, backing vocalists Jesse Lee Houllier and Shannon Robinson, guitarist Edo Scordo, and multi-instrumentalist Ryan Saranich.

To recreate the experience, media director Bryan Kolupski offers fans video screens, inflatables, and a laser light show.

“We hear this time and time again,” Darlington said. “People who weren’t necessarily fans of Pink Floyd come along and are turned into fans because of this live music experience.”

For Darlington, that level of commitment didn’t happen overnight. His connection to Pink Floyd began as a childhood fascination, but over time it turned into a devotion to understanding the music—how it worked, how it felt, and how it was meant to be heard.

Darlington’s first exposure to Pink Floyd was hearing the rebellion in “We Don’t Need No Education” when he was 10. “It was the most unlikely Christmas song to top the charts,” he said with a laugh.

Three years later, he first picked up a guitar and really started looking at what Gilmour was doing with the instrument.

“A friend played the whole WALL album for me and I was captivated by that there was a narrative running through the whole album,” he said. “I loved the arts and imagery of it and all the sound effects linking it all together … and of course, David Gilmour’s wonderful guitar work.”

Darlington’s love for the prog rock band grew when he saw Gilmour, Mason, and Wright perform on the band’s THE MOMENTARY LAPSE OF REASON tour in 1988 at the Maine Road football grounds in Manchester.

Six years later, Darlington auditioned for the Australian Pink Floyd Show, which had relocated to England. The opening was created when the band’s guitarist had gotten homesick and returned to Australia.

“It was an opportunity that came my way and for whatever reason, it suited me as a musician,” he said. “Back in 1994, I didn’t have any ambition or expectation I’d be playing Pink Floyd music for over 30 years professionally.”

At this point, Darlington has toured playing Pink Floyd music longer than any member of the original band. With over 3,000 shows under his belt with the Australian Pink Floyd Show and Brit Floyd, Darlington has more than doubled the number of concerts Gilmour and company played.

Most impressive of all, Darlington has never missed a gig with his Aussie predecessor or with Brit Floyd. In the song, “In the Flesh?” Waters sings, “I’ve got some bad news for you sunshine. Pink isn’t well; he stayed back at the hotel.” That line has never applied to Darlington.

“That comes down to a little bit of luck and a lot of determination,” he said. “There have been times when I’ve been ill, but the show must go on and I still get up on that stage.

“That’s the way I am about this job,” he said. “I take it seriously.”  

Darlington knows he can’t afford to take a night off. He never knows when David Gilmour might decide to knock on his dressing-room door again. If that happens, he’ll be ready—just as he has been for more than three decades.