Back in 1987 I was (and still am) working with an Australian artist called James Reyne. He was pretty huge then having just severed himself from his now iconic band, Australian Crawl, and gone out solo. We played huge venues and were managed by Roger Davies who also had Tina Turner, Cher, David Bowie and a few others on his books. Things were good for a young guitarist like me. I lapped up all of the trappings as one does and got pretty comfortable (and lost) in the euphoria of business class, 5 star hotels, mega-famous courtesans and sheer abandonment. Somehow I still managed to play OK night after night. We used to have extended stays at a hotel in Sydney called The Sebel (now a shitty apartment block). It was the first call for international touring acts and it was always rocking very hard. It was dangerous because its notorious and famous bar ...and anything else you wanted... were all available 24hrs from the bar. Ouch. I digress. Pink Floyd, AC/DC and ourselves were all staying there one night in '87. Floyd were on the Division Bell run, AC/DC something else... (can't remember!) and we were pushing our fearless leader's new album which was a local No.1 hit at the time. So the bar was going nuts. Having spent some of my teenage youth admiring bits and pieces of David Gilmour's work on a couple of Floyd albums - The Wall and DSOTM mostly - I wondered if he'd front the famous Sebel bar. He did! I said hello, that I admired his work greatly and that people said I played a bit like him (like he'd care..!) and he was the total gentleman. He won't remember, of course, but I do - how could you forget? Only a couple of minutes, but I won't forget. We went to see them the night after as their guests. Mental show. Crazy. Guy Pratt was playing with them as well. He and I would meet again later. I remembered David's tones. Big and pure, unforced, lush in parts, considered, melodic, mostly pentatonic blues based but with plenty of Alice In Wonderland influence. Comfortably Numb was a standout, predictably, as was the Shine On... suite. Those tones weren't far from the ones I had in my own head - or maybe Mr Gilmour put them there. I'm not sure because I started with Slade, T-Rex, David Bowie (especially Mick Ronson) and the glam stuff before I was a teen. That's why I find it easy to do today, I guess. I remember thinking. "He's up there standing pretty still, just digging the power from that HIWATT rig and letting it rip and flow... really relaxed. I don't think he really cares much about the huge spectacle and flying stuff around him and the 16,000 people watching and freaking out. Ha!" I liked him even more for that. Such a cool cat.