Stan Gratkowski
Lead Vocals, Acoustic Guitar
Stan is a founding member of the Pink Floyd Experience and has probably done more gigs in his lifetime than most people would have had hot dinners. A great vocalist, drummer and all round top guy without the slightest hint of an ego. Not really a prankster or a mischief maker, Stan tends to watch from the sidelines with a bourbon in hand as the madness starts to descend upon the tour.
A very staunch meditator both on and off tour, Stan will often be found meditating in a chair, on a couch, on the grass outside the venue and even (occasionally) in a bed! This enables him to perform at his best for three whole hours before helping to load the truck, packing up the gear and sweeping the stage without complaining.
Glen Ahearn
Keyboard
Glen plays keyboards and looks after all the high tech stuff like programming and sound effects. He also takes care of all the mundane stuff like marketing, book keeping and all that other crap that no one else would dare take on!
Armed with the best ears in the band, due to 20 odd years of working with some of the best hi-fi equipment available, Glen can hear audio details and little things that most people would never hear on an album in a lifetime. He can even hear things that aren’t actually there!
A proud father and a great mate to all who know him, he is a founding member of the Pink Floyd Experience and continues to inspire us all to raise the bar even higher every time we tour.
Darren (Daz) Whittaker
Guitar/Lap Steel Guitar
With nearly 35 years experience in the industry, Darren is the third founding member of The Pink Floyd Experience. To say he’s passionate about music is a serious understatement. If not busy working on his own bands and projects he will be found encouraging and supporting others to advance their musical talents. Facilitating regular jam nights and supporting local open mics, he loves to get behind other musicians and artists and create the space to make music.
Described as warm and humble, Daz’s positive enthusiasm has a way of rubbing off on others, keeping the team positive and upbeat. He says Pink Floyd has been a huge part of his life, so it’s fitting for him to have ended up playing in a band that is purely a tribute to Floyd.
Jacob Whittaker
Guitar
Jacob Whittaker joins The Pink Floyd Experience as our new rhythm guitarist, marking a special full-circle moment. As the son of founding member Darren, the band has been woven into Jacob’s life from the very beginning, making this next step onstage beside his dad truly remarkable. Jacob has honed his craft playing in local bands including Rain, HiViz and Something Like That, bringing a fresh energy shaped by years of performing. After working as a ‘bricklayer’ on the Experience’s production of The Wall in 2019 and 2021, he’s now stepping into something bigger and better. We can’t wait to have him on tour with us again.
Ken ‘Rumble Foot’ Te Tau
(Bass)
Ngāti Kahungunu, Rangitāne, Ngāi Tahu, Ngāti Porou.
‘Rumble Foot’ is one third of the Pink Floyd Experience’s solid rhythm section. The stage rumbling under foot as he plays his beloved 5 String Musicman Stingray Bass reveals the Rumble One’s earth-shaking origins.
Being Māori, Ken has an inherited ability to play acoustic guitar and also a natural ear for great harmonies at the after gig sing-along song sessions. A man full of wisdom, he is often the one person who can talk other members out of doing something really stupid and is able to bring calm and sensibility to any inappropriate childish situations that all too often unfold on tour.
Lucien Johnson
Saxophone
Lucien Johnson has been described as “a saxophonist and composer of rare excellence and mettle.” Involved in a diverse range of artistic projects, his music always succeeds in maintaining a distinctive sound, with a chameleonic emotional range that can shift from warm and intimate through to radical and rebellious.
Lucien has composed music for the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, the New Zealand Dance Company, for short film and documentaries and for his own projects. He was musical director of Shogun Orchestra which released two albums on German label Jakarta Records. He was the winner of the 2021 APRA New Zealand Jazz composition of the year and has been twice nominated for Jazz Artist of the Year. Johnson and Marinkovich were co-recipients of the 2018 Harriet Friedlander New York Residency, administered by the Arts Foundation of New Zealand.
Lynley Christoffersen
Vocals
Growing up with a fairly nomadic lifestyle, with roots in the Salvation Army Brass bands, tambourines, singing; with music and travel in the blood, Lynley seemed destined for the life of a touring, working musician.
She spent time as a teen in school bands, and cut her teeth performing/gigging in Dunedin in the 80’s, when she fell in love with Rock n Roll.
With an ingrained love of music Lynley has carved out a career spanning 40 years as a vocalist and performer in the NZ Music Scene (The Beat Girls, The Wee Folk ), gigging regularly, gracing many stages, at many venues around the Motu over the years. She has earned a strong rep as a versatile singer. She currently tours around NZ with 80’s superband Love Shack!
She has worked as a session vocalist on a wide range of recording projects, radio, television, and has been spotted at festivals such as Womad, CubaDupa, and various regional Jazz and Blues festivals.
Her love of arranging and singing harmony has provided opportunity for niche work as a backing vocalist, touring nationally and Internationally with a wide range of different artists, (Hollie Smith, Darren Watson and Chicago Smoke Shop, Pip Payne’s Gospel Project, Wayne Mason, The Fleetwood Mac Experience, and many others).
Through this backing work she met her vocal partner, Jade Eru, and for the last 15 years have crafted their magic blend, lending their unique sound to many performing artists.
Together they front their band The Tempests, who released their debut EP in 2025.
Lynley has a longstanding relationship with the Pink Floyd Experience. She joined as a backing vocalist in 2004 (??)– 2012, touring through NZ, Australia and South Africa, and most recently our NZ 2021 season of the wall.
She is over the moon to be joining her soul sisters, Jade and Fiona, to be part of the Pink Floyd Experience again.
Jade Eru
Vocals
Of Ngāti Raukawa ki te Tonga descent, Jade is a Wellington-based vocalist who has been at home on stage since childhood. Classically trained, she moves effortlessly across a wide range of musical styles. Highlights of her 30-year career include performing the New Zealand National Anthem at All Blacks Test matches and releasing the album The Māori Heart on the Naxos World label.
In recent years, Jade continues to perform solo for special occasions and has spent nearly 20 years providing backing vocals alongside her soul sister Lynley Christoffersen. Together they have performed with Pip Payne’s The Gospel Project, Darren Waton’s Chicago Smokeshop, and most recently toured the South Island with The Fleetwood Mac Experience.
Jade also tours original soul work with The Tempests, alongside Lynley Christoffersen and fellow musicians and friends Chris Armour, Richard Te One, Miklin Halstead, and Rob Matthews. The band released their debut EP last year and is currently in the studio recording new material for release later this year.
Fiona Buchet (FiBu)
Vocals
Fi Buchet keeps herself entertained through a mixture of live performance, music production as recording artist FiBu, and building her musical muscles in freestyle jams at HiViz Jamz. Joining The Experience means she also gets to indulge her love of singing with others to create the lush backing vocal sounds so iconic to Pink Floyd.
Fi’s vocal is husky, bluesy and soulful, her natural style influenced by neo-Soul artists such as Erykah Badu, Joss Stone and Alice Russell, her aesthetic by 80’s/90’s trip-hop, and her taking of creative risks inspired by Prince.
Her vocal versatility spans the genres, and she cut her teeth in pop/R&B band Mocha Choco Latte singing harmonies with two other ladies, and then as lead vocalist in rock band iO.
Her kids grew up thinking they were hearing their mum on the radio 🙂
Jeremy Fitzsimons
Percussion | Keyboards | Sound effects
Jeremy has been freelancing as a percussionist in Wellington for the last 25 years. Now principal percussionist for Orchestra Wellington. Jeremy joined us in 2011 when we first performed the Pulse show. Jeremy is a founding member of an international touring percussion troupe called Strike and also a member of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. A great addition to the Experience’s sound and a very dependable guy to have on the road. Quite a sensible chap, Jeremy manages to stay below the radar most of the time, avoiding any mischief and shenanigans and going home at the end of a tour with his dignity reasonably intact. Lucky bugger we say!!
Rob Ju
Drums
Drummer, singer, rhythm guitar exponent and mimic extraordinaire, Rob was born with more talent than you can shake a stick at! An accomplished boat-builder and woodworker, he even manufactures his own line of high-quality snare drums from both native and exotic timbers. With the ability to live off the land Rob is equally at home in the bush hunting or in a workshop knocking something together. Rumour has it that his diet at times has consisted of such fine delicacies as Weta, Huhu Grubs and the odd Bush Worm.
Considered a freak on the golf course after winning the Pink Floyd Experience Cup while playing his first-ever game of golf, forcing a couple of band members and crew into early retirement.
