Theoretically, one shouldn’t meet Roger Waters. After all, in all his years as Pink Floyd’s dark star, Waters was THE MAN BEHIND THE WALL, never doing interviews, and delivering fewer and fewer albums— all of which presented him as some battle-scarred soldier of the psyche, a veritable prince of paranoia. It’s an approach that helped Waters and Floyd burrow deeply into the hearts, minds (and pocketbooks) of teenaged out-patients everywhere.

But now Waters is living in the postFloyd era—a solo artist with his second album out, Radio K.A.O.S. (a Get Smart reference?). It’s finally time to stop pressing the meat and start meeting the press.

Of course, Waters in person is nothing like the nutcase he seems on vinyl. In fact, as he sits in his plush New York hotel suite, the 43-year-old, with streaks of grey in his hair, seems together and straightforward. Also honest about why he’s here. “Since I’m no longer operating under the golden goose of Pink Floyd,” he says, “I need all the help I can get:”