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Lee’s interview with Pink Floyd Italian fanzine Flaming Cow
Read original here

English translation follows

After more than six years and over 200 concerts with Nick Mason’s Saucerful of Secrets, Lee Harris returns to explore the music of Pink Floyd with a new project. It’s called A Surrogate Band and brings together four musicians with a direct connection to the history of the Floyd: Harris himself, Dom Beken, Yaron Stavi, and Ged Lynch.
The idea, however, isn’t to create yet another tribute band. A Surrogate Band aims to allow for freedom and improvisation, also reviving lesser-known songs and allowing the music to evolve on stage, just as Pink Floyd did during their concerts.
The debut is scheduled for March 2027 at the Half Moon in Putney, with “Meddle” performed in its entirety along with other songs from the same period. We spoke with Lee Harris about the birth of the project, his relationships with Dom Beken, Yaron Stavi, and Ged Lynch, his experience with the Saucers, and the special connection he’s had with Pink Floyd’s music since he was a child.
And, of course, we couldn’t avoid the most important question of all: who will play Seamus ?

A Surrogate Band was born with a very specific idea: not to be a traditional tribute band, but to explore the Pink Floyd repertoire through four musicians who had a direct connection with their music and some of their members. When did you realize it was time to create this project and that this was the direction you wanted to take?

The decision to start A Surrogate Band simply came from the fact that I still love playing Pink Floyd music. Dom and I have been invited to play with various tribute bands, which we’ve always loved, but in those situations we generally tried to reproduce the records as faithfully as possible. And almost always, you want to play the exact same songs. Nick once said that tribute bands are great at replicating all his mistakes 😂.
Personally, both as a musician and when I go to see a band, I prefer live music to have a little more freedom. Of course, the verses, choruses, and the essential character of the songs remain, but I like the “decoration” around those elements to be born on the spot and slightly different from night to night.
So, rather than trying to adapt to someone else’s approach, Dom and I thought it would be more interesting to create our own band and explore this music in a way that felt natural to us. Natural to the way we worked in the Saucers.

I read that you want to allow the music to “evolve live, just like Pink Floyd did on stage.” After your experience with the Saucers, how much has the way you approach Pink Floyd’s music changed today? And what do you hope to be able to do with A Surrogate Band that you couldn’t do with the Saucers?

My approach to music hasn’t changed much. I’ll continue to spend a lot of time finding the right combination of sounds, so that what comes out of my amp is as close as possible to the sound David used in a given song. I’ll also take inspiration from the many official and unofficial live versions available. From there, it’s about using intuition to understand which parts the audience expects to hear and where there’s room to deviate from the original and take the music somewhere else.
That’s exactly how I approached music with the Saucers, and actually, something we all did. Judging by the audience’s reaction, it worked very well.
With A Surrogate Band, I’d like to push this freedom even further with some of the arrangements, especially with the older material. Pink Floyd themselves could be incredibly adventurous live: songs like “Interstellar Overdrive” and “Fat Old Sun” could sound very different from night to night. I’d like to get to the point where we have that same confidence and freedom as a band, where we know the material well enough to let it develop naturally on stage and see where it takes us.

Dom Beken shared his experience with the Saucers, while Yaron Stavi and Ged Lynch have both collaborated with David Gilmour and many other great artists. How did you choose this lineup, and what do you think each of them can bring to the band’s sound? And most importantly, who will be the lead singer of A Surrogate Band?

Yaron and I are very good friends and have known each other for about twenty years. In fact, both Yaron and Guy played bass in the band at my wedding, so we’ve known each other for a long time!
Yaron has played a wide variety of musical genres and also has a solid jazz background; I think this will bring an interesting element to the songs we want to take in a different direction.
Ged is a phenomenal drummer. You only have to look at the artists he’s collaborated with, especially Peter Gabriel, to understand the caliber of a musician he is. He has an exceptional sense of groove and touch, and I’m really excited to hear him play with Yaron.
And I won’t lie: the fact that they both played with David was an interesting connection and certainly didn’t go unnoticed!
As for the vocals, Dom and I will handle those.

The project won’t be limited to the most famous songs, but aims to explore the entire Pink Floyd songbook, from early compositions to the band members’ solo material. How important will it be to rediscover lesser-known or rarely performed live songs? Do you already have any songs in mind that you’d love to play?

I’d say everything is at stake. Being a quartet inevitably entails some limitations, but I actually see this as a positive aspect, because it will force us to approach some things differently.
“A Pillow of Winds” will be interesting because there are so many overdubs on the original and Pink Floyd never performed it live. But ultimately, a good song is a good song and it should work even with just one guitar and one voice.
I’d really like to try “Embryo,” which we didn’t play with the Saucers. Maybe we’ll try to do it in the Half Moon style.

You chose to debut by performing Meddle in its entirety, along with other music from the same period. Why Meddle? What does this album mean to you, and what do you think it offers four musicians who want to reinterpret it live?

To be completely honest, I chose Meddle because Dom and I already know three of the songs well, so there are only two and a half left to learn!
That said, I think it’s a great starting point. It encompasses both Pink Floyd’s experimental side and the beginnings of what would become their imperial phase, with “One of These Days” and “Echoes.” I think it will be fascinating to tackle these songs in such a small venue, as well as “A Pillow of Winds,” which, as I mentioned before, the Floyd themselves have never performed live.

With the Saucers, you’ve played over 200 concerts worldwide in over six years. How much of that experience will you bring to the stage with A Surrogate Band? And is there anything you learned from working with Nick Mason that you feel is particularly important for this new project?

I think this question is probably best approached through a recollection of the Saucers’ early days.
On our second day of rehearsals ever with Nick, I played a Syd-era concert recorded in Stockholm. We were all in front of the speakers, listening intently, and Gary and I, in particular, were trying to figure out what the band was doing on “See Emily Play.” After about a minute, Nick walked over to the drum kit, sat down, banged his sticks to get our attention, and said, “I have an idea. Why don’t we stop listening to this record, pick up our instruments, and pretend we’re a band?”

Dom Beken has defined A Surrogate Band as a continuation of the “formula” that created that special connection between the Saucers and their audience. Do you agree with this definition, or do you feel that A Surrogate Band represents, for you, the beginning of something completely new?

It’s definitely something new, but the Saucers experience gives us the confidence to see if it can work.

Let’s go back to your personal history with Pink Floyd. You came into contact with their music thanks to your father and that famous commercial. Looking back today at the journey that took you from your first listening sessions to founding the Saucers and now A Surrogate Band, would you have ever imagined that Pink Floyd would become such an important part of your musical life?

To be honest, I didn’t come into contact with the band through my father; through him, I met Storm Thorgerson. My connection to the group began later, through my work with the Blockheads. That’s how I met Guy and, through him, David and Nick. Then, of course, Roger came to play with us in New York.
My first Pink Floyd concert was The Wall at Earls Court, when I was eight, but I remember listening to Animals when I was five, so this music has always been present in my life. I never tired of listening to it, and it influenced my musical journey in the same way as Robert Johnson or Howlin’ Wolf.
Pink Floyd’s music has always been important to me. I happened to have this unusual and extremely rare experience: something that was a fundamental part of my life became, over time, something that I too, in my own small way, was an integral part of. I never imagined it could happen. You never know what the future holds.

The Half Moon debut in Putney also has strong symbolic value, considering the history of this project and its connection to the Saucers. Can we expect A Surrogate Band to bring this repertoire outside the UK? And, of course, is there a chance we’ll see you play in Italy?

We’re definitely thinking about taking the band on tour. In fact, we’ve already marked September 2027 on our calendar. Fingers crossed that Italy will be included in the tour dates.
I’d just ask anyone interested in seeing us live to follow A Surrogate Band on social media.
( Facebook – Instagram )

And we’ve come to the inevitable question. After watching Meddle in its entirety, I can’t help but ask: who will play Seamus? 😊

In Putney, I’m hoping to find a friendly neighborhood cat who’s up for a free night out.