History
Formed in early 2007 In The Flesh was the brainchild of musicians Chris Thomas, Patrick Forbear, Jeff Glover and Steve Loar who until then had been enjoying a long career in a string of covers bands playing across the Torbay area of south Devon. The increasing popularity of the introduction of Pink Floyd songs to their sets eventually became too overwhelming to ignore and thoughts slowly turned to developing a Pink Floyd show as a full time prospect. As musical director of the band Chris set about the monumental challenge of producing an authentic excursion into Pink Floyd's most creative period, from the mid-sixties to the early eighties.
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So why the name? Aside from being the opening track on Pink Floyd's monumental rock-opera album, The Wall, the preceding tour in support of their 1977 album, Animals, was dubbed 'Pink Floyd: In The Flesh'. Disenchanted by stadium touring and the inherent lack of contact with the fans, Pink Floyd's chief lyricist and bass player, Roger Waters, believed the audience would be non-the-wiser if a surrogate band appeared on stage instead of them; thus forming the basis for the track. It seemed a very appropriate name to give to the show.
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The band originally chose not to perform anything from the post-Roger Waters line-up, which could be heard elsewhere, preferring to delve deeper into the band's back catalogue, but pressure from fans now sees the inclusion of tracks from Pink Floyd's most recent albums. A year later and the introduction of saxophonist Steve Wilshire and backing singers Polly Anna Davies and Audra Mitcheson, the overall sound became complete.
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2009 was a big year for In The Flesh having made a successful leap from the club circuit to theatres, made all the more possible by a welcoming audience and a rapidly growing fan base. The production improved on an almost daily basis as the band continued to invest in vintage instruments, old valve amps and more recently a Hammond organ (the exact model that Richard Wright used, no less), ensuring an accurate recreation of the original Pink Floyd sound.
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As the band performed through 2010/11 there were some extensive line-up changes: Ross Purves and Harriet Baker now alternate shows on saxophones; backing vocals are now sung by Fredi Wright and Meghan Callaghan and our newest recruit is bass player Mike Taylor.
In The Flesh continue to evolve the sound and light presentation along with their repertoire and with regular changes to the visuals and the set list, the show is kept fresh and interesting for the fans. In The Flesh are first and foremost fans of Pink Floyd's music which they enjoy playing to keep the spirit of Pink Floyd alive.
