Regarding Broken China, September 1996

Rick Wright releases his third solo album, BROKEN CHINA, on 7th October 1996.

The album was recorded at Rick's home studio in France and was produced and engineered by Rick with Anthony Moore who also wrote the lyrics. It was mixed by James Guthrie.

Musicians on the album include guitarists Tim Renwick, Dominic Miller and Steve Bolton, drummer Manu Katche and bassist Pino Palladino. Sinead O'Connor sings on two tracks, Reaching For the Rail and Breakthrough.

Q: You've handled virtually all the vocals on this album for the first time. Were you encouraged by your vocals on Wearing the Inside Out?

Rick Wright: I've never really liked the sound of my own voice although I was pleased with the way it turned out on Wearing the Inside Out. I used to be nervous of going into the studio with the producer and all the musicians behind the glass screen. But in my own studio, I was able to try out all these different voice sounds until I found a style I felt comfortable with. I was pleased at how much I enjoyed singing after that.

Q: Sinead O'Connor sings on a couple tracks. How did she get involved?

Rick Wright: I always intended that two of the songs should be sung by a girl. And Sinead's was the first voice to come into my head because I felt she could express the songs emotionally. One of the songs turned out quite differently from how I had envisaged it, but it was all the better for it.

Q: What about the rest of the musicians on the album?

Rick Wright: Guitarist Tim Renwick was the only member of the Pink Floyd band that I used. He was an obvious choice because he has a great range of styles and is great at giving you what you want. Later on, when I was looking for some additional sounds, the overdub engineer Laurie Latham suggested Dominic Miller who took time off from rehearsing with Sting and was wonderful to work with. I picked Manu Katche as my drummer after seeing him on Peter Gabriel's world tour in 1994. I decided there and then that if I ever did a solo album he would be on it. So I was delighted when he agreed. He wanted to work with Pino Palladino on bass - who was also one of my choices - because they knew each other's styles. And it worked superbly well. They put down all the rhythm tracks in five days.

Q: Have you any plans to perform the album live?

Rick Wright: Not at present.

Q: What's happening back at your day job with Pink Floyd?

Rick Wright: Not a lot. It's fairly quiet at the moment. The band has tended to record and tour in seven year cycles so you can make your own projections.