'RS Interview: Special Edition' With Roger Waters

Who better to speak to in these times than , who wrote about living in “perfect isolation/here behind my wall” back in 1979? The co-founder and stadium-filling solo artist, who had to postpone his This Is Not a Drill Tour — which was supposed to kick off in July — until 2021, joins senior writer Brian Hiatt for a wide-ranging conversation on the latest episode of the Rolling Stone Interview: Special Edition video series.

In the interview, Waters offers a preview of his tour (which he’s still working on while continuing to pay his employees), explains the full truth behind a recent failed Pink Floyd “peace summit” with David Gilmour and Nick Mason, and discusses his relationship with the late John Prine. He also makes it clear that he would never reunite with his former bandmates. “No, it wouldn’t be nice,” he says. “It would be fucking awful. Obviously if you’re a fan of those days of Pink Floyd, you would have a different point of view. But I had to live through it. That was my life … would I trade my liberty for those chains? No fucking way.”

Water offers his unvarnished thoughts on politics and the current crisis, including his dismissal of Donald Trump as a “distraction,” why he believes Americans are “gullible,” his hesitancy to endorse Joe Biden for president, his fervent support for Julian Assange, and much more.

This is the fourth installment of Rolling Stone’s latest new video series, RS Interview: Special Edition, featuring in-depth conversations with notable figures in music, entertainment, and politics. New episodes premiere every Thursday afternoon on Rolling Stone’s YouTube channel.