The Fishermen

[Pink Lloyd]

I am trying to find out more about the impromptu gigs performed by various members of the touring band during the world tours of 1987 - 89. I have seen references to these in various places but the information is very scant and often contradictory, starting with what the ‘band’ was called. It is usually referred to as The Fishermen but in Nick Mason’s memoir he says it was The Fisherman’s (after the Fisherman’s Friend (a throat lozenge sold in the UK, and perhaps Australia, where these post-concert jam sessions began).

The only recording of such a session I’m aware of is from Copenhagen in 1988, which was issued as a bootleg CD and is also on YouTube. This is incorrectly labelled, with the female vocalists named as Rachel Fury and Durga McBroom, though Rachel was not even present and vocals on the opening song, Respect, which is attributed to ‘Rachel Fury and the Fishermen’ on another YouTube channel, are by Machan Taylor.

This is really the sum total of my knowledge, though according to the blog Oh, Beautiful Fury, through which I first heard about these performances, Rachel participated in some. I don’t know what the source of this information was and have ceased posting enquiries on the blog as for some reason, perhaps technical, they are no longer being moderated, or receiving responses when they do.

I would therefore appreciate input from anyone with reliable information, particularly with regard to how many such sessions occurred, in which cities, and, in particular, whether Rachel Fury did indeed participate in any, and, if so, whether she sang lead vocals on any songs. This is particularly interesting to me because, aside from her part on Great Gig in the Sky, I am unaware of any lead vocals she may have sung in her post-Weeny Bopper career. Part of the point of these gigs was to give the supporting performers an opportunity to take the lead role - as Machan Taylor, Durga McBroom and Jon Carin did in Copenhagen - so it seems scarcely credible that Rachel did not do so on some occasions. For sadly obvious reasons, I am unlikely to get the opportunity to ask her myself, and the window for discovering anything substantial is rapidly diminishing.

[Pink Lloyd]

At the time of posting this my previous post has not yet been approved. I hope it will soon appear. I have, however, uncovered some further information from the PF Archives, a section of which lists all of David Gilmour’s live and TV appearances outside of Pink Floyd. According to this, there were five performances by The Fishermen, the first being in New York in October 1987, the next two at a hotel bar in Richmond, Australia in February 1988, the Copenhagen gig in August of the same year, and finally one at a restaurant in Paris in June 1989. Personnel are listed for each show but some details are clearly incorrect (Margret Taylor, who is definitely on the recording from Copenhagen, is not shown as being present, and Rick Wright is listed only once, which seems wrong). No set lists are given, so my knowledge of the repertoire is limited to Unchain My Heart and I Shot the Sheriff, mentioned in Nick Mason’s book, and the full content of the Copenhagen performance.

A total of five such gigs in two years is rather less than I had expected from comments I’ve seen, but I must assume this at least to be correct. Rachel Fury is listed in the personnel for the first three gigs, though, for once, not at Copenhagen, for which the CD wrongly credits her with the vocals sung by Margret Taylor.

If anyone has other information on any of these performances, or knows of any others by The Fishermen/ Fisherman’s, or of any recordings other than Copenhagen, all such input would be appreciated.

Edit: Perhaps this should be on the Other Floyd Musicians section. If so, please move.

FWIW I’ve contacted both Durga McBroom and Machan Taylor about this Facebook. Only Durga has replied, pointing out, quite reasonably, that apart from being over 30 years ago, these gigs took place after the participants had done a lot of drinking after the Pink Floyd shows. As a result, she really does not remember the details.