Floydium bringing Pink Floyd to life at Orangeville Opera House

Written By CONSTANCE SCRAFIELD

Said Leon Dadoun, of Floydium, “This is an amazing lineup of musicians. I feel very privileged to be playing with them.”

“When they [Pink Floyd] were recording the Dark Side of the Moon, they were recording the Greatest Gig in the Sky. They had original song and decided they needed a female vocalist. They brought her in with no instruction, just “Go in there and think of death and what comes out, comes out.”

Mr. Dadoun told us, “A lot of times, when we open a show, we do the entire album [Dark Side of the Moon] non-stop. We do a number of other tunes from other albums too, from The Wall; some from Wish You Were Here as well. From the late 1960's, including See Emily Play. 

“We're really excited to do this show in Orangeville. We played a 1200-seat theatre in Chatham and we've ended with a tremendous standing ovation.”

His comment, “I have to say, as we developed along the way, one of the things we like is dedicated to them, the way we do Pink Floyd – it's not like when you go to a show you don't know what you're going to get. When people come to see us, they are fans and they really get into it.”

Floydium does not indulge a lot of make-up, wigs to “look” like the members of Pink Floyd, as Mr. Dadoun put it, “We work at looking like them from a production stand point. One thing is kind of unique – they have a lot of sounds that sound like their songs, for Money, there's money, coins; with Time, there's clocks.”

Elaborating, “Thankfully, they didn't really have a look – they had a style that extended beyond the instruments. We do replicate with video and lighting. We bring in laser. I think our job is to recreate the music and the feel with the same kind of emotion of the songs – the emotion behind then. The main creative force is a fellow, Roger Waters, and he's very acerbic as a personality type; an in-your-face sort of fellow who mostly carries with him a certain amount of anger. He lost his father in World War II when he was a little child. He carried anger about that. In the Wall, there's a whole lot of anger.”

He said, “When you're dealing with music like that, there are certain theatrics to deliver the emotions – and the feeling.” 

As for Pink Floyd, ”They're still touring. The last production of the Wall was kind of a concert and kind of a play. The Wall was turned into a movie. We and they tour [Dark Side of the Moon].”

Although political commentary is not usually part of the show, “One of their albums is called Animals, they have images – dogs, pigs and sheep and when Roger Waters did that in his show recently, he had Trump's head on a pig's body. 

“What endears a lot of people to it comes across with a lot of emotion. In the States, it still holds today with experimental. Dark Side was voted best album of all time.

“They started to kind-of get together in '65. They didn't target the same audience as the Beatles. Syd Barrett was very much into psychedelia, touring local clubs using water colour imagery. Their music was very psychedelic. Around '66, he took one too many LSD trips, he wound up being institutionalized. When I talk about emotion – then the leader was moving to David Gilmour. Roger Waters took over all the responsibility for song writing and the music.

“The whole Wish You Were Here album is dedicated to Syd Barrett. They were putting together the final touches on the Wish You Were Here and Syd actually showed up. He had put on 50 lbs and gone bald – quite an emotional scene.”

We paused to consider the moment, and Mr. Dadoun continued, “Our lead guitarist is 26 years old. an amazing guitarist, also lead vocalist Jacob Manishevitz. 

“Leon Dadoun plays guitar and lapsteel, I feel privileged in keeping myself surrounded by really good musicians. The truth is, I joined this band that was doing something, about five years ago. The reason I joined the band is – the others, they'd be playing bars and a random lot of basic rock and I wanted to make a show that people knew what they were going to get. they would play Eric Clapton and Blondie – just a mix.

“I wanted to get involved with a project where we dedicated to one of the top four bands – Floyd, Led Zeppelin, the Who and the Beatles. 

“Of all of them, Floyd seemed to be the best combination of emotional and theatrical. Every time we've brought somebody in, we focus on who is dedicated, who enjoys playing Pink Floyd.”

Only perfection will do. “No matter how many times we play, we continually go back and go over little things. We want every nuance to be right.”

From bars to theatre venues: “The other thing we found out pretty quickly, this is not dance music. We were playing bars and we stopped because the bars were the wrong demographic. In order to build our audience, we had to start playing regional theatres which is where we've evolved. Bars want you there until late, but the theatre is a two hour show; people are coming because they love this music.

“We're actually a collaborative effort. I do booking and promotions, lighting. We bring in some of our stuff.” 

He said, “I've been to Orangeville. My wife's in real estate and she and I go to various venues.” 

Later, Orangeville came back to his attention, “I was at a gathering of musicians and someone said there, ‘You really should play Orangeville – the crowds are really receptive, the demographic is great.'

“I have a business background. I've looked at songs that are successful and one thing I have kind of concluded, one of the things that make it, if a song can honestly deliver some longing. Those songs are the most – angst, yearning – that's the sort of thing that connects; you're yearning for something. Everyone wants to achieve something you haven't achieved, to explore, to be with someone.

“That's what I think about when I talk about emotion, the music of the '60's and '70's was more about our world and how we can make it better, use our music as a expression of how we ‘re feeling.”

As a side bar, “Roger Waters, who left Pink Floyd around 1995, is still touring. He's got a new album in 2019, Is this the Life We Really Want?

Of Pink Floyd's music that they play, “We (play their hits from the 60s) up to 1995.”

The band members are vocalist Jacob Manishevitz, guitar; keyboardist Joel Dalton Luis Figaroa on drums, bass Keiko Gutierrez, Russell Matthews on saxophone, and vocalists Lesley Roylance and Laura Tremblay.

Floydium is playing at the Opera House, on Saturday, September 27.

You won't want to miss it, Mr. Dadoun assures us, “because it brings you back in time to remind you what it was about Pink Floyd you love. The music transports people.”

He admitted, “It's a bit of a ride.” 

For tickets, go to the Box Office at 87 Broadway, call 519-942-3423 or online www.theatreorangeville.ca