Hal Waters gives Shawn from Rubbish Records a piano lesson!

We recently caught up with Harry Waters, the son of former Pink Floyd frontman Roger Waters, who is on tour at the moment with the Ozric Tentacles. They are touring to promote their latest album, Spirals In Hyperspace, which we've heard and found to be hugely enjoyable. Harry, who is now more commonly known as Hal, played keyboards on Roger's 2002 world tour.

Despite a hectic schedule, Hal was happy to answer a few questions we fired at him - thanks Hal!

Hal - what was it about the Ozrics that made you want to join them?

"I've always loved their music and the chance to play with them was more than I could resist."

You are now with the Ozrics, but who else would you like to perform with? And given either a time machine or unlimited opportunity, who, living OR dead, would you like to work with?

"If I had to hand pick a band it would be Paul Motian on drums, Scott Le Faro or maybe Ron Carter on bass and Coltrane on tenor sax.

"Hmm, now that I think about it, watching Beethoven or Bach at work would be something you don't see every day. As far as modern musicians go, I would have to pick Jerry Garcia as one of my all time favourite players.

"As far as bands go, either King Crimson or maybe The Allman Brothers. It's really hard, there are just too many good players out there."

What highlights do you have from the tour? Any low points?

"So far the best moment was playing at the Astoria, a lot of my friends and family were there and that made it really special. At one point I had to contain my laughter, I was apoplectic with happiness. It was almost too much, one of those moments like when a teacher shouts at you and all you want to do is crack up, but you can't. Well that was one of those moments, I knew if I'd started laughing I wouldn't have stopped and then I'd have been in trouble!"

Hal - what instruments do you play? Any you'd like to learn (and why)?

"I can bluff my way around a guitar and have a very rudimentary knowledge of the drums. I guess playing the drums really well would be a pretty good release. That's gotta be good fun I reckon!"

What sort of childhood did you have? Were you surrounded with music? Were you encouraged to experiment with various instruments or types of music?

"Hmm... childhood, interesting one that. I was definitely surrounded by music the whole time. I grew up listening to The Beach Boys and Little Richard. I was definitely encouraged to play by both my parents which is something I will certainly encourage my children to do."

Hal - what was your father [Roger Waters] like as a boss, on the In The Flesh tour?

"Contrary to what a lot of people may have heard he is actually great to work with. He is certainly a lot mellower than he used to be and this definitely translates into his work.

"He is very fair and treated me no differently than anyone else in the band which is exactly how I wanted it."

Did it take you long to learn the material? You seemed to know it very well - had you heard it at home from an early age?

"Do you mean Floyd or Ozrics? The Floyd stuff has been in my brain all my life; my earliest memory is a Wall show in 1980, I was four at the time. I just thought it was awesome.

"I've been a fan all my life really so learning the songs was not that hard, just a question of going over them and making sure all the changes were in the right place. I knew a handful of them already having played them at various different times over the years."

What are your feelings about doing such a long tour again?

"Bring it on!"

Our thanks to Hal for answering these questions, and to Shawn for arranging it. Please make sure you visit www.RubbishRecords.co.uk for the latest Ozrics album, Spirals In Hyperspace, their back catalogue, and many other goodies...