The US public radio service NPR has just uploaded a new interview with Roger Waters. They asked Roger to play DJ, to play music by those he love and talk about what draws him to song. The conversation isn't about his time with Pink Floyd - over the course of this nearly hour-long interview, he doesn't mention the band once.

They ask him about his upcoming own solo work, including his upcoming "Us + Them" tour. As they note, "at the heart of everything, this creative force behind some of the 20th century's most iconic music is politics, money, greed and ultimately hope.

"Mention the music of Billie Holiday (who was addicted to heroin) and Waters launches into an assault on what he calls draconian drug laws that vilify addicts instead of treating them. That leads to a discussion of corruption and greed in politics and more knotty issues than we could reasonably keep track of: The U.S. presidential race, the conflict between Israel and Palestine, the state of the music industry, the futility of war, Guantanamo, civil rights and the Black Lives Matter movement, prison reform and how Waters, remarkably, remains hopeful and optimistic in the face of all the despair and suffering he sees plaguing the world.

You can hear the interview in full here:

With the upcoming release of the now 28-disc Pink Floyd: The Early Years 1965-1972 box set (and the associated 2CD Cre/Ation highlights/sampler set) there are (unsurprisingly) a number of magazines available in various countries, all focusing their attentions and energies toward features on the band and their music.

There are three new magazine issues that have appeared in mainland Europe, and available now in selected stores and newsstands.

In France, the new issue of Music Icons (number 2) is focused on Pink Floyd. As with the other two magazines we mention in this news item, we've not seen the publication itself but in the publicity for it, they note that it contains: exclusive graphic work of Pink Floyd by Storm Thorgerson, a preview of the V&A exhibition in London in 2017 (with tickets to win), unpublished interviews with Roger Waters and David Gilmour, the true story of Animals, the complete discography, and a detailed look at the box set.

For those of you in The Netherlands, the November issue of Dutch magazine 'Oor' also has a cover story on the band - 'The early years of Pink Floyd'. Over 12 pages, there are nice colour photos, an overview of their early years (in The Netherlands), Syd, 'The Early Years' and the writer tries to find the tree they're leaning against in the '67 photoshoot in the Leidsjebosje (the one with Roger in the purple cape). The tree is gone… Our thanks to Liesbeth Bliek for the information on this particular magazine.

Finally, Michael Nickel kindly tells us about Germany's Eclipsed Magazine (issue dated November 2016) with a nice 1967-era shot of the Syd Barrett-era Floyd on the cover. The main article - Abende der Gegenkultur (Evenings of counterculture) includes Nick Mason talking about the "crazy early years: Syd, David, French girls and a treasure". In the magazine there is a special five page press interview with Nick, which took place in Hamburg in a conference room of Warner Records this year, and a special Peter Jenner interview about the early years of the band, conducted at the Haldern Pop Festival 2016. More info on the magazine can be found at Eclipsed.de.

Whilst Roger Waters is normally a good interviewee these days, with an open and expressive nature talking about life and music, a new interview has just appeared which leaps straight into the "must hear" category.

The WTF podcast hosted by Marc Maron has interviewed various people over the years including such diverse individuals as Keith Richards, Ben Stiller and President Barack Obama. The podcast is a free download through this link at wtfpod.com, and has Roger on superb form, talking a wide range of subjects from his own solo career, through to his Pink Floyd bandmates, John Lennon, Neil Young, Eric Clapton, and the state of the world.

The interview lasts around 90 minutes and feels like an indepth chat between friends over a pint, rather than any kind of rigid, structured discussion. The initial part of the podcast might seem a little odd, with chat about his cats, but once you get past this, to Roger's appearance, you'll find yourself absorbed from beginning to end.

Our thanks to everyone who emailed in with the info about this interview.

Due to demand for tickets, a second Us + Them show has been added to Roger Waters' 2017 North American tour. The concert, at the Centre Vidéotron in Quebec City, will take place on Saturday, October 7th 2017.

This second show to take place at this venue goes on American Express presale from tomorrow (Wednesday, November 2nd) at 10am, and there are radio station, Ticketmaster AEG and venue presales taking place from Thursday, November 3rd at 10am.

For the regular sale of tickets, which starts on FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 4th at noon, visit Ticketmaster.ca. Using our link also helps toward the ongoing running costs of this site, and is appreciated!

For details of all the currently announced concerts on Roger's 2017 tour, click here and select the show(s) of interest.