NOBODY could deny Davey Lane's passion for Pink Floyd. The You Am I guitarist was 13 when he first heard the album Wish You Were Here and was overcome by the prog-rock legends' scope, dynamics and "cinematic kind of epicness".
Lane literally has skin in the game. Pink Floyd's tragic original frontman, Syd Barrett, is tattooed on his arm.
So naturally Lane bristles at criticism that ARC (Australian Rock Collective) - which also includes Kram (Spiderbait), Darren Middleton (Powderfinger) and Mark Wilson (Jet) - are merely doing their upcoming Dark Side Of The Moon tour for the money.
"I've seen comments from people online and what not saying, 'This is a cash grab and you're mining someone else's legacy for your own gain'," Lane says.
"For us there's a double-pronged answer to that. We are all actually massive fans of the music and we all make our own music and by performing these kind of songs it helps us fund our own creative endeavours."
ARC have previously performed The Beatles' Abbey Road and Let It Be and Neil Young's Harvest, but Pink Floyd's Dark Side Of The Moon offers a greater challenge in musicianship.
"With Floyd there is a precision to it, especially when it comes to Dave Gilmour's guitar playing," Lane says. "There's a precision there that's going to keep Darren and I on our toes."
In the annuals of rock history, not many albums are more revered or mythologised than Dark Side Of The Moon. The 1973 record famously spent 736 nonconsecutive weeks in the US Billboard 200 charts and still sells 250,000 copies annually.
It turned Pink Floyd into one of the most influential acts of all time and redefined the notion of the concept album as Roger Waters' lyrics dealt with mental health, anxiety, greed and war.
Songs like Money, Us and Them and Time became classic radio staples.
The album cover of light shining from a triangular prism is also one of rock's most seminal images.
For Lane, the album represents the dark reality the hippie generation awoke to following the end of the '60s flower-power movement.
"As the '60s gave way to the '70s I think people woke up from that fever dream with the hangover of realising that the world unfortunately doesn't work like that," he says.
"Wars still go on, racism is unfortunately still prevalent in society today and I think that record speaks to some very real themes like isolation and loneliness and corporate greed, but framed in this cosmic sonic soundscape that didn't sound like anything previous.
"It bought progressive rock into the mainstream for people who would usually find King Crimson or Genesis a bit terrifying."
ARC perform Dark Side Of The Moon and other Pink Floyd favourites at Ulumbarra Theatre, Bendigo (June 22); Llewellyn Hall, Canberra (June 25); Albury Entertainment Centre (June 27); Anita's Theatre, Wollongong (June 30) and the Civic Theatre, Newcastle (July 2).
Josh Leeson
Josh Leeson is an entertainment and features journalist, specialising in music, at the Newcastle Herald. He first joined the masthead in 2008 after stints at the Namoi Valley Independent and Port Stephens Examiner and has previously covered sport including the Asian Cup, A-League, Surfest, cricket and rugby league.
Josh Leeson is an entertainment and features journalist, specialising in music, at the Newcastle Herald. He first joined the masthead in 2008 after stints at the Namoi Valley Independent and Port Stephens Examiner and has previously covered sport including the Asian Cup, A-League, Surfest, cricket and rugby league.
