That's a great photo! Nick certainly had a great influence on progressive rock, although I don't remember him being known for playing double bass. More finesse and jazz influenced than hard rock DB style I'd say.
OK cool. So he did utilize them. I was just never sure. I always see pictures of his kits with two bass drums but I don't think there's anything on record where you actually hear them being played together.
It's definitely one of the things which did it for me, too. For a few reasons, I actually went 15 years without listening to virtually anything I'd listened to in high school or college—I mean, I literally didn't listen to an entire Who or Stones or Zeppelin or, yes, Floyd song for a decade and a half. And when you take a break that long, hokey smokes does "Free Bird" or "Stairway to Heaven" or "Sympathy for the Devil" or "Won't Get Fooled Again" or pretty much the entire Pink Floyd oeuvre hit like a ton of bricks.
I’m young enough that Pink Floyd had always been classic rock from my perception. I was well aware of their radio hits, general body of work and influence, but didn’t really dig in until the early 2000s. But seeing that performance where he was playing out helped my younger self realize that the album performances weren’t the result of a limit of ability, but an intentional decision, and I could accordingly understand the why. I’d agree that he didn’t have the chops of the mentioned peers, but they were still pretty good, and his composition and phrasing was great.
And that’s cool. Even Louie Bellson didn’t shred double bass drums, but used them really tastefully. That’s where my heads at, to slip in the occasional double bass bit. And I’m reconfiguring my double bass kit where the second purpose of it is to eliminate all the floor cymbal and tom stands too.
That’s pretty good foot facility! I think it’s hard to keep some kind of medium speed pattern rather than just blasting 16th notes as fast as possible. It’s like his feet are another set of hands.
