All in all, Mike’s book covers it all for Pink Floyd
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ICONIC rock band Pink Floyd as they have never quite been seen before take centre stage in a new book by a Buckie ex-pat.
Mike Cormack, who works as the deputy headteacher of an international school in Shanghai, China, is eagerly awaiting the release of his book Everything Under the Sun: The Complete Guide to Pink Floyd this summer.
The work, he says, shines one of the most comprehensive lights on the band, its work and its history ever, something he thought that was lacking in the currently available literature.
Mr Cormack said: "No book I've ever read about Pink Floyd has ever really been satisfying.
"I felt the band hadn't been treated seriously, there was no proper vigour and many of the books simply perpetuate old myths and bring nothing new to the table.
"I thought 'I need to do this myself'.
"I've basically been a Pink Floyd fan since birth. My late dad was a big fan and so were my two uncles, who still live in Buckie, so I guess I'm a second generation fan. The book is dedicated to my dad and uncles"
So began a labour of love from when he got the initial idea while working offshore on rig for six months back in 2014 to the last three summer holidays spent writing the book.
Pinning down all the material on a band that was part of a cultural revolution in the UK is no small task, with years of research involved.
Mr Cormack continued: "The book is detailed and includes an analysis of all Pink Floyd's recorded songs plus interviews with some of the band's newer members like bassist Guy Pratt and also the leader of the main Pink Floyd tribute act in Australia.
"There's also a chronology of every concert, location and record release and also a chapter on bootlegs. There use to be a website which had every bootleg coverage of every concert they did and I spent six months downloading something like 600 in all, picking four or five songs from each tour.
"One of the things I really loved about doing the book was finding out new facts I hadn't been aware of before. I'd obviously done a lot of research beforehand but when I came across a new fact it really was a great joy."
While Mr Cormack has previously self-published a book and worked as the editor of an ex-pat paper in Beijing, his lack of a high profile on the wider writing stage proved to be an initial hurdle.
He explained: "Getting people to take me seriously as a writer was a big challenge.
"I'd no real track record as a writer and no connection to Pink Floyd so it was very difficult to get interviews.
"I'm very grateful to Guy Pratt for doing an interview with me, after that it became a bit easier.
"It was the same situation trying to get an agent and a publisher although once I did get them it was very rewarding."
For uber Pink Floyd fan Mr Cormack, Animals remains his favourite album by the group.
The book is set to launch on August 8
Everything Under the Sun is available to pre-order on Amazon priced at £25 hardback and £14.99 for Kindle.
Pink Floyd formed in London in 1965, signed with EMI in 1967 and recorded their first album, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, which was released to immediate acclaim, in the same year. Since then, the band has released 15 studio albums and sold over 250 million records. Their eighth album, Dark Side of the Moon, is the highest-selling British album in the world (and fourth overall) at over 40 million copies. Their last album, The Endless River (2014), has sold over 10 million copies and founder members Roger Waters and Nick Mason still (separately) tour the world.
