As mentioned last week, Friday night (October 15th) "Musikprogrammet" on Danish TV station DR2 showed the Classic Albums documentary about Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon, and had Kasper Eistrup from Danish rock group Kashmir in the studio.

Eistrup's views on Roger Waters and Pink Floyd consisted of some interesting and honest remarks - which might surprise people who have seen the sequence in the "Rocket Brothers" movie.

"Musikprgrammet" is a programme which every week has a new "special" on something in the world of music. This week (October 15th) it was Pink Floyd. The show is hosted by the very charming Anja Pill Overby who opened with the words: "Like The Beatles' Abbey Road this is a big cover in the history of music (holding Dark Side of the Moon)." After a short Pink Floyd biography she turned to Kasper Eistrup to hear about his relationship with Pink Floyd and Dark Side. Slowly the interview moved towards questions about Kasper's audition for Roger Waters.

Our friends over at the great www.UsAndThem.dk site, Mark Skiffard and Anders Schunk, have painstakingly translated the transcript of the interview and have shared their report of the show with us. Thanks, guys!

Eistrup interview by Anja Pil Overby:

Anja: So how was it to audition at Roger Waters - your mentor?

Kasper: It was a very mysterious experience. Er, it's hard to describe. I kind of had Roger Waters' music close to me for many years through Pink Floyd, played and listened to his music and lyrics - and I have been inspired by it all, er, and then suddenly to be standing face to face with the man to show what I was capable of...

- Clip from Kasper's audition at Roger Waters from the film Rocket Brothers:

      ROGER WATERS: Okay, hold it. Kasper, let's do that solo again.
      KASPER: Yeah
      ROGER WATERS: See if you can play it straighter without all that quick whip, you know, that you are playing at the end of the notes. Play it maybe a couple of times just that solo, a couple of times.

Kasper continues: In the situation where I'm standing face to face with him, I witness a person who is very, ehm, who seems to be very powerful to his surroundings, his musicians and the technical crew he has surrounded himself with - er, not a particularly pleasant person in fact.

So in a way my picture of him cracked a little there, er, in the situation. Ehm, and that was also at a time where I haven't had Pink Floyd in my everyday for some time. I have not listened to their music that much the last years - that's something in the past. It was maybe really the end for me - a very strange ending after many years with a close relationship to their music.

Anja: So you didn't get the job?

Kasper: No.

Anja: He goes touring with another guitar player, but when the show hits Copenhagen, you see it in Forum, how was that?

Kasper: Well, I'll guess it's actually there it all gets finished, when I'm standing in Forum and watching the concert. 'Cause the whole concept for the show, for the whole tour, which was called In The Flesh, was The Wall - you know it was to some extent primarily The Wall material he was playing - and I had some difficulties taking it all serious. Ehm, cause here you see this sixty-year-old Roger Waters jumping around acting like he did in the late seventies. In a way I missed seeing something else - err, a distance to the material. It was almost like he got caught up in the spirit of it all too much - and another thing was that the concert wasn't particularly good, in my opinion. Actually it was a relief to see. It would have been a shame if I saw the concert thinking, fuck I should have been on that stage - luckily I didn't. I was glad I didn't get the job.

Anja: Is this a guitarist who was rejected at an audition, or is it a disappointed fan who talks right now?

Kasper: Ehm, neither I would say - maybe a disappointed fan, but not disappointed guitarist. You know at that time I was 29, I have had my own band (Kashmir) for years, where the important thing for me had been writing songs and developing my own universe and focus at all that.

Actually, that's what I always have done. It would have been strange for me if I suddenly had to go on tour with Roger Waters and be a - ehm - substitute for David Gilmour, er, for half a year, where I should act him in all kinds of halls and stadiums all around the southern hemisphere.

That would have been very strange, but also it would have been very hard for me to say no to such an opportunity. So, actually I was quite relieved. 'Cause I could not go in and say no, I wouldn't do that, I kind of had to reach the point where I was told that I didn't get the job - and then I could return and focus on my music, my band, and all that really was at the top of my list.

Anja Pil Overby ends the interview by asking Kasper what Pink Floyd means for him today. He answers that Pink Floyd is some of the music which has educated him lyrically, musically and with all the experiments in music that they have done - the borders they have moved in modern rock music. He does not listen to their music anymore but it has been a great part in making him the musician he is today.

As a little passing remark we are happy to announce that Kasper Torsting´s "Rocket Brothers" has won the prestigious "Nordisk Panorama" award for best documentary. Nordisk Panorama is the largest annual short and documentary film festival in Scandinavia.

Our thanks to Mark Skiffard and Anders Schunk for their report.