Pink Floyd To Release First New Song in 28 Years in Support of Ukraine

Pink Floyd will release their first new song since 1994’s “The Division Bell” in support of Ukraine, the band announced today.

The song–“Hey Hey rise Up” will be released tomorrow (April 8) with all proceeds going to Ukranian Humanitarian Relief. The track will spotlight vocals by Ukranian singer Andrily Khlyvnyuk of the rock/pop group Boombox from a clip uploaded to his Instagram page.

David Gilmour, 76, and Nick Mason, 78 joined longtime Pink Floyd bass player Guy Pratt and Nitin Sawhney on keyboards yesterday for what is reported to be a secret session on Wednesday.

“I hope (the song) will receive wide support and publicity,” Gilmour said of the track. “We want to raise funds for humanitarian charities, and raise morale.”

Gilmour was inspired to write the song after viewing the Instagram video of Khylyvnyuk singing solo in front of a church in a square in Kviv. The imagery of the vocalist singing a patriotic Ukranian protest song in a city silenced “with no traffic or background noise because of the war” inspired Gilmour to preserve the moment with music. Gilmour played the track to Khylyvnyuk while he was recovering in a hospital from a mortar shrapnel injury.

“I played him a little of the song from the phone line and he gave me his blessing,” he said.

The cause is close to Gilmour’s heart. He has a Ukranian daughter-in-law and grandchildren.

“We, like so many, have been feeling the fury and the frustration of this vile act of an independent, peaceful democratic country being invaded and having its people murdered by one of the world’s major powers,” he said.