5 things Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason thinks you should know
Founding member and drummer of Pink Floyd, Nick Mason, turns 80 as we venture into 2024. Age will not slow Mason down, though, as he remains active with his touring tribute band to Pink Floyd, Nick Mason’s Saucerful of Secrets. The band are planning to hit Europe this summer with a tour.
Mason reunited with surviving Floyd members Roger Waters and David Gilmour is certainly not in the cards any time soon. For years band members simply could not get along, and currently, the rift between Waters and Gilmour seems too serious. But that wasn’t always the case. For instance...
On the recording session for Pink Floyd’s 1977 studio album Animals
Nick Mason: "Funnily enough, I think it was all a rather sort of cheerful period. We’re always seen as being at war with each other permanently, but actually, it was great. We were surrounded by friends and family, almost. Roger’s house was walking distance from it, and I’d have been a bike ride away from it if I rode a bike, but I don’t.
“A great atmosphere. It really was a situation where you could go off and play snooker. Roger had not spent that much time specifying the tape recorders, but he did spend time on getting a snooker table.”
On ‘70s punk’s answer to prog rock
Mason: “[Pink Floyd] probably would be affected by the punk issue, even though we never discussed it. I think that Carl [Palmer, drummer for ELP] had a special Indian rug made that was full of spells. (laughs) Everything had become more and more sort of pompous and extreme. Hopefully [punk] did have some effect from that point of view.”
On producing The Damned’s 1977 album Music for Pleasure
Mason: "I think what actually happened is [The Damned] went to our music publisher and said what they wanted was Syd Barrett! 'Well, honestly, Syd isn’t in a state to do it; what about one of the other guys?' And I have to say: I really enjoyed working with them. [But] it was a real split between Captain [Sensible] and Rat [Scabies] and the others. They were in the middle of having musical differences. So it was all a bit half-baked at the end of the day. I will always remember me saying to the Captain after a take, ‘Yeah, well, that was good, but let’s run it again.’ He just went, ‘Why!? No!!’ And I had to say, ‘No, you’re right. It’s fine.’”
On America’s general perception of Pink Floyd
Mason: “In the U.S., people seem to think we started with Dark Side of the Moon, and the early material is comparatively unfamiliar in America... although there are the fans who will sit on the forums and argue endlessly over which mix is superior.”
Pink Floyd physical product vs. digital
Mason: “For me, it’s not only some of the sound things, but it’s also the packaging. All the Storm (Thorgerson, Hipgnosis) work ... and there’s so many good ideas he’s had and so much good artwork. Storm was given an ever-increasingly free hand to not just come up with one idea but to be able to use a series of ideas.”
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