![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/interstellar_echoes.jpg\")
<\/p>\nWhile the music world is filled with singer-songwriters \u2013 artists who write their own material and record and perform it for audiences \u2013 there\u2019s a long and proud tradition of interpreting the work of others. Cover bands are a regular fixture at intimate and large music venues alike; they bring the music of popular artists to audiences who might not otherwise have an opportunity to experience those songs played live. And operating at the highest level within that musical idiom are tribute bands: groups that put extra effort and care into authentic, faithful recreations of the music made by legendary groups.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s the approach taken by Atlanta-based Interstellar Echoes. Launched nearly seven years ago, the band brings the sound and visual experience of a Pink Floyd concert to modern-day audiences. Taking their name from two classic Pink Floyd songs \u2013 the 1967 psychedelic classic \u201cInterstellar Overdrive\u201d and the epic-length \u201cEchoes\u201d from Pink Floyd\u2019s 1971 LP Meddle<\/i> \u2013 the group puts a great deal of care into conjuring the sweeping space-rock vibe of the celebrated British group.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The seven-piece Interstellar Echoes came together when two longtime friends and musical associates \u2013 guitarist Chris Hinson and bassist\/vocalist Jim Gorman \u2013 decided to pay tribute to one of their favorite groups. \u201cWe had always been huge Pink Floyd [fans],\u201d Hinson says. At rehearsals for the other bands in which they played together, they\u2019d often muse about the prospect of putting together a tribute group.<\/p>\n
The two musicians began efforts toward that goal in 2010, but found it challenging. \u201cIt was really difficult to find all the pieces of the puzzle,\u201d Hinson admits. He says that it was especially hard to find a keyboard player with the ability to re-create all of Pink Floyd keyboardist Richard Wright\u2019s parts, not to mention finding one with all of the necessary equipment (electric pianos, synthesizers etc.) to pull it off.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe auditioned at least six guys,\u201d Hinson recalls with a chuckle, \u201cand nothing was a good fit. We were about to give up.\u201d Luckily for all involved, the seventh keyboardist, Eric Johansen, had the gear, the skill and the enthusiasm needed. Rounded out by guitarist David Shore, drummer Mike Altis, saxophonist Martin Anderson and singer Meg Scalise, Interstellar Echoes was complete and ready to take on the imposing catalog of Pink Floyd.<\/p>\n
The music of Pink Floyd has attracted the attention of many tribute bands around the world, but some of those groups focus on a particular era. Pink Floyd\u2019s most commercially successful run began in 1973 with the landmark album The Dark Side of the Moon<\/i>, and the band scored major hit singles with songs from 1979\u2019s double album The Wall<\/i>. Many tribute acts concentrate on that era; Interstellar Echoes is different.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe try to cover the whole thing,\u201d says Hinson. He and Gorman are aficionados of Pink Floyd\u2019s entire body of work, from the 1967 debut Piper at the Gates of Dawn<\/i> through the band\u2019s final new album, 1994\u2019s The<\/i> Division Bell<\/i> and beyond. \u201cWe\u2019re huge fans of the entire catalog and the whole mythology and lore around the band,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
Pink Floyd\u2019s popularity as a live band was always about more than the music, and Interstellar Echoes taps into that as well. Hinson emphasizes that his band makes a point of putting on a show that looks<\/i> like Pink Floyd. \u201cYou\u2019ve got to have the lights, and you\u2019ve got to have the lasers,\u201d he says. \u201cWe\u2019re constantly putting money [from performances] back into the band to improve that [component] of the show.\u201d<\/p>\n
Unlike bands paying tribute to other bands and artists like Led Zeppelin, The Doors and Michael Jackson, Hinson\u2019s band doesn\u2019t have to worry about costuming, or looking like the individual band members. The members of Pink Floyd were \u2013 by design \u2013 rather anonymous figures on and offstage, rarely photographed. Onstage, the visual focus was on the technological and audiovisual extravaganza. Like the band to which his group pays tribute, Hinson explains that \u201cwe want to exist within the spectacle of lights and the atmosphere that’s going on around us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hinson believes he knows why audiences still treasure the music of a band that stopped making music nearly 20 years ago. \u201cPink Floyd\u2019s music \u2013 especially the lyrics of Roger Waters \u2013 is timeless,\u201d he explains. \u201cThe music touches people deeply.\u201d He notes that whenever Interstellar Echoes performs the title track from Pink Floyd\u2019s 1975 album Wish You Were Here<\/i>, he witnesses a similar reaction from the audience. \u201cI look out into the crowd and I see people crying,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd they\u2019re singing along with every word.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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