Roger Waters' son Harry reveals he was fired from his father's touring band, after playing keyboards with the group for 14 years.
Harry, who was fired in 2016 ahead of the Us + Them tour, now plans to continue playing his father's music as part of Brit Floyd, a Pink Floyd tribute act which occasionally recruits guest musicians from the band's studio and road line-ups.
Reflecting on the career change while in conversation with Rolling Stone, Harry reveals he was hurt by his father's decision.
“I was fired, it was pretty miserable,” he explains. “I think he just wanted a change of blood, something new, something fresh. I’m not sure of his exact reasoning, but everyone except two people got fired. But the other guys that got the sack weren’t his son, so it was doubly hurtful for me.”
Since being dropped from Roger Waters' touring party, Harry has been playing Floyd material with Les Claypool’s Fearless Flying Frog Brigade.
Speaking of his upcoming work with Brit Floyd, which will see him play three live shows with the group, he continues, “I’ve never met any of them, but I’ll just turn up and play. I’ve been playing this music for 30 years or so. I think we’ll be OK without rehearsal. I think we all know the material pretty well.”
Elsewhere, the musician touched upon the political controversy surrounding his father. Most notably, Roger Waters has been accused of being an "anti-semite" by various religious groups, and was even banned from performing at his booked show in Frankfurt over these claims, up until he successfully disputed the ruling in court.
Frankfurt’s administrative court labelled Roger Water's use of "symbolism manifestly based on that of the National Socialist regime" tasteless, but cited artistic freedom among the reasons for the decision to allow the show to take place, confirming that the performance should be "viewed as a work of art." The court also ruled that Waters' show “did not glorify or relativise the crimes of the Nazis or identify with Nazi racist ideology."
Addressing his father's recent backlash, Harry says: "It’s just not true at all that he’s an antisemite. People say, ‘Oh, he dresses up in an SS uniform, and he has a Star of David on the [inflatable] pig. And I just want to say, ‘You fuckin’ idiots. He’s been doing that for 40 years. It’s satire.’ There’s also a Mercedes sign, a hammer and sickle, and a dollar sign on the pig...He’s bringing to light all the evils of the world. But people confuse that and think he’s an antisemite, which is really stupid.”
The ex-Pink Floyd musician's alleged anti-semitic behaviour was recently explored in the documentary, The Dark Side Of Roger Waters, which was produced by the UK-based advocacy group Campaign Against Antisemitism. The Dark Side of Roger Waters features interviews with the musician's former saxophone player Norbert Stachel and The Wall producer Bob Ezrin. Both men are Jewish and say Waters used derogatory language when referring to Jews.
In response to the programme, Roger Waters dubbed it “a flimsy, unapologetic piece of propaganda” in a post on his website, adding: “All my life I have used the platform my career has given me to support causes I believe in.
"I passionately believe in Universal Human Rights. I have always worked to make the world a better, more just and more equitable place for all my brothers and sisters, all over the world, irrespective of their ethnicity, religion or nationality, from indigenous peoples threatened by the US oil industry to Iranian women protesting for their rights.”
