Covering Floyd from Beginning to End
Show takes fans to The Dark Side of the Moon.

To say that Pink Floyd Niagara (PFN) is a cover band is selling them far short of what they are. Sure, they do Pink Floyd music, but the experience is just so much more than a copy-band. This 11-piece band of local musicians are not covering but are actually recreating the entire Pink Floyd concert experience, and taking it to the highest degree possible. The result is a live reproduction of Pink Floyd's latest tour, the Pulse Tour, with stage lighting effects, video presentation, and quadraphonic sound.

The best part of it is that it's in Niagara every Thursday and Saturday evenings at the Niagara Centre for the Performing Arts. Pelham musician Mark Christopher is one of the musicians that keeps this band in the pink, playing lead guitar in the same style and with the same instruments as famed Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour. Christopher has been playing guitar since he was 7 yrs old, and has been in the music business most of his life either playing in bands or writing and playing his original music. He's also employed at Central Music in Welland.

Christopher hooked up with other PFN members in local '90s and 2000s bands The Fab Two, My Three Sons, Randy Pantz and Common Ground, but he was just about ready to give up the "band thing" when PFN producers Larry Swiercz, Greg Johns and Rob Wells came to him with the idea of recreating the Pink Floyd Pulse Tour, with a light and sound show to do it justice.

In a phone interview from his Pelham home, Christopher admitted that he was excited about the project from the moment he first heard of it. "I was ready to give up, and this kind of fell into my lap", he said of PFN. "But this is definitely the best project I've been in." Still, Christopher admitted that it was somewhat of a struggle to get his playing back into electric guitar shape. He explained that having worked primarily on acoustic guitar for the past 15 years, he was a bit rusty on electric and there were a few episodes of bleeding fingers to get him back into electric guitar playing shape. And trying to fill the Gilmour spot in the band was nerve-wracking at first, he admitted, but after hundreds of hours spent listening and working out the music, Christopher explained that it's worked out well.

"People say I've got it down, but Gilmour's a pretty incredible guitar player. I've always admired his style - he's a very melodic player - he's not a shredder, and I've always loved his style." Christopher not only studied Gilmour's style, he's also researched Gilmour's instruments to authenticate the exact sound. "I've investigated what (Gilmour_ used in certain eras of the band, and actually managed to pick up a lot of vintage pedals that he used. I've got a pedal board that's a good 2-feet long. It keeps me going onstage... dancing on the pedals. I've also got the same pick-up system that he uses; I've tried to get everything as close as I could to emulate his sound."

The show they replicate - The Pulse Tour - includes a wide range of songs from Pink Floyd's earliest to latest albums. It's a formidable undertaking for any band, but as Christopher said, it's what separates them from other Pink Floyd cover bands. "There are a lot of bands out there doing album recreations and we didn't want to be just one of those bands. We wanted to cover everything from the beginning to the end of the Pink Floyd era. The light show is incredible to see, and we've tried to get it as close as we can, with the big video screen, and the whole bit. But the Pulse Tour just seemed to be the "best of" and it's off the most recent album they've released (and what most folks will remember best."

"I hate to sound like a dinosaur, but classic rock like Pink Floyd is real music and everybody is still loving it today," he said, adding that audience members range in age from seniors to pre-teens. The band's home base is at the Niagara Centre for the Performing Arts in Niagara Falls at the old Kingston College theatre. Christopher said they chose this venue for their show because of the acoustics of the theatre space. "It's been there forever - since the '50s", he said of Niagara Centre - although most will reconize it as Kingston College. "The person who (designed) it was the same person who built the O'Keefe Centre (Hummingbird Centre). It's a beautiful, old theatre and the acoustics are incredible." Pink Floyd Niagara performs Pink Floyd's Pulse Tour every Thursday and Saturday evenings at the Niagara Centre for the Performing Arts. For more information, tickets, or directions visit their website at www.pinkfloydniagara.com, or call TicketPro at 1-866-908-9090.

Welland Tribune, Lynn Peppas
Date: August 25, 2007