The UMass Lowell Pink Floyd Ensemble has won our 10th Annual Surrogate Bands Pink Floyd Cover Contest.
The group took the prize with its recording of “Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts I-V).”
Under the direction of Dr. Alan Williams, the ensemble ran for the 2020-21 academic year and premiered its start-to-finish cover of Pink Floyd’s entire “Wish You Were Here” album in April ’21. It’d been recorded March 26-28 at The Aviary in North Chelmsford, Mass.
An earlier incarnation of the group recorded “The Dark Side of the Moon” the previous academic year. Williams, along with Joel Ruben-Meyer, one of the guitarists; and vocalist Kaitlin Whiteman, were guests on “Floydian Slip” in January ’21. (Read the transcript/listen to the interview)
This past week, the ensemble had its winning entry played on “Floydian Slip” episode #1368 — a special episode of our weekly Floyd radio show that was devoted entirely to other bands’ recordings of Floyd music.
The group also receives $200 in merchandise from the official webstore of Pink Floyd, shop.pinkfloyd.com.
Thanks to everyone who submitted entries to this year’s contest. We had an impressive and diverse collection of tracks to choose from.
Watch for details on our 11th annual contest, announcing in Spring 2023.