Wallis is perhaps best known as the percussionist for
Pink Floyd in the post-
Waters era for both their live and recorded performances. Pink Floyd's drummer
Nick Mason described the first time that he and
David Gilmour saw Wallis play: "Wallis was spotted playing percussion with
Nick Kershaw at a charity show where Gilmour was also appearing. Neither of us had ever seen anything like it. Instead of sitting down to play Gary was working in a kind of cage stuffed full of percussion, some pieces of which were mounted so high that a three-foot leap was needed to strike the required object. With his obvious musical skills this additional showmanship seemed an ideal bonus for a stage that looked initially as though it might be occupied by the living dead." Wallis was invited to join Pink Floyd, playing on their
A Momentary Lapse of Reason Tour (which was released as
Delicate Sound of Thunder in 1988). Blake (2008, p. 328) describes Wallis's playing as a "highly visual performing style – attacking an array of gongs, drums and cymbals mounted around him in a cage – was the perfect contrast to Mason's considerably more restrained approach." He continued to perform with Pink Floyd until they took a break after their final tour concert at the Knebworth Festival in August 1990. Wallis has stated that performing live at Knebworth with Pink Floyd (1990) was one of the most memorable moments of his career. From 1990 to 1992, Gary Wallis performed alongside various members of Pink Floyd in different bands, including
Blue Pearl (1990),
The Dream Academy with Gilmour and Guy Pratt (1991) and
Jimmy Nail with Gilmour (1992). In December 1991, Wallis performed at the Amnesty International 30th Anniversary Concert, as part of a band directed by Gilmour. At the performance, the band backed
Tom Jones and
Spinal Tap, the "fictional" heavy metal band. Spinal Tap is known for its succession of drummers who "they claim died under odd circumstances", and Wallis was shown "exploding" at the end of the performance. The following year, he performed alongside Gilmour and other Pink Floyd band members at the Chelsea Arts Ball. In 1993–94 Wallis played percussion during sessions for Pink Floyd's then-upcoming album,
The Division Bell (1994). He went on to perform with them on
The Division Bell world tour, during the European leg of which Pink Floyd recorded the
Pulse live album and
video, with Wallis playing percussion. In the same year, Wallis and Gilmour attended a concert in Croydon by the tribute band the Australian Pink Floyd, afterwards inviting the band to attend
The Division Bell end of tour party. The drum sets used by Wallis and Mason on
The Division Bell tour and Pulse DVD were from the Drum Workshop (DW). Mason states, "Gary Wallis and I ended up with thirty-odd drums, twenty pads, forty-odd cymbals and innumerable other bits of junk bolted to the drum risers, an installation that should have qualified us for the
Turner Prize." Wallis's playing with Pink Floyd can also be seen and heard in the box set,
The Later Years 1987–2019. ==10cc (1993–1995)==