Pink Floyd have announced a physical release of ‘Hey Hey Rise Up’.
The ‘Comfortably Numb’ hitmakers brought out the Ukraine benefit single – their first new song in 25 years – digitally in April but they have now announced it will be available on both a seven-inch vinyl and on CD on 15 July in the UK, Europe and other markets, followed by 3 August in Japan.
However, fans in North America, Canada, Australia and Mexico won’t be able to get their hands on a copy until 21 October.
The B-Side to the track will be a reworked version of ‘A Great Day For Freedom’, which first appeared on the group’s 1994 album ‘The Division Bell’ but has been reimagined by David Gilmour based on the original tapes for the song.
David – who has Ukrainian family – explained the band wanted to draw attention to Russia’s invasion with the song and raise money, with all proceeds going to Ukrainian Humanitarian Relief.
He said in a statement: “We want to express our support for Ukraine and in that way, show that most of the world thinks that it is totally wrong for a superpower to invade the independent democratic country that Ukraine has become.
“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.”
The song also features drummer Nick Mason, bassist Guy Pratt and keyboardist Nitin Sawhney, as well as a recording of Andriy Khlyvnyuk – the singer of Ukrainian band Boombox – who can be heard singing ‘The Red Virburnum’ in Kyiv.
In March, Pink Floyd and David removed their music from streaming services in Russia and Belarus in a show of support for Ukraine.
David said at the time: “Russian soldiers, stop killing your brothers. There will be no winners in this war.”