Pink Floyd music coming to Opera House

HEY YOU TRIBUTE BAND: Concert in Clayton features '70s rockers' songs

By CHRIS BROCK - TIMES STAFF WRITER THURSDAY, JULY 23, 2009

CLAYTON — George N. Root said he was tired of hitting a wall when he performed in a rock band that played original music. It met limited success in its five-years. But one wall met another when he developed an idea for a tribute band.

"After banging my head against the wall, I decided I'd rather play something I love and to which people would respond to," Mr. Root said.

Hey You, a tribute band to the English progressive/psychedelic rock group Pink Floyd, was created by Mr. Root in late 2006.

"The reaction has been pretty phenomenal," Mr. Root said from his hometown of Buffalo.

Hey You will perform Aug. 1 at the Clayton Opera House.

Pink Floyd is known by such classic albums as "Dark Side of the Moon," "Wish You Were Here" and "The Wall." The band was co-founded by Syd (Roger) Barrett, who died at age 60 in 2006. The band's other members were David Gilmour, Nick Mason, Roger Waters and Richard Wright. Mr. Waters left the band, now defunct, in the mid-1980s.

Besides Mr. Root on vocals and lead guitar, Hey You consists of Bill Pfeiffer on bass guitar and vocals; John Patrick Filutze on drums, and Matthew Johnson on keyboards and vocals. Two female vocalists also currently tour with the band.

Mr. Root said Hey You also tries to recreate the experimental feel of Pink Floyd through its stage show.

"The light show is constantly evolving and changing," Mr. Root said.

The band, according to a description on its Web site, "continually tries to find that delicate balance between what an audience expects and what an audience never saw coming."

Mr. Root said Hey You focuses on Pink Floyd's music from when Roger Waters was in the band. Its first album was 1967's "Piper at the Gates of Dawn." Its most famous is the 1979 album "The Wall." Mr. Root said Hey You doesn't perform music from Mr. Waters's last album with the group, 1983's "The Final Cut," because of its autobiographical theme.

Mr. Root largely attributes Pink Floyd's legacy to Roger Waters's lyrics. He became the group's primary song writer.

"For example, in the 'Dark Side of the Moon,' it's the struggle between the haves and the have-nots," Mr. Root said. "The music will ring for generations to come."

Mr. Root said Hey You is a regional New York band but lately it has been expanding its touring territory. He said the band recently packed about 300 people into a non-air-conditioned club in Winchester, Va., and the band has received offers from Minnesota to Ohio.

"If people want us, we will go," Mr. Root said.