Nick Mason knows Pink Floyd better than most people. As a founding member of the band, he was there throughout it all, and accordingly, should be treated as perhaps the most trusted source on the matter, given that the other living founding member, Roger Waters, has a somewhat skewed version of events due to the schism that occurred during his tenure as band leader.
What’s interesting about the living members of the quartet is that since Waters left in 1985 and Pink Floyd officially split up after the release of their final album The Endless River in 2014, Waters, David Gilmour and Mason have all been playing their material live, just separately. Famously, after he left the group, Waters tried to sue them over the use of the band’s name, and as well as embarking on a solo career, has played classic cuts by Floyd live, reworking The Wall and The Dark Side of the Moon.
Although fans would much rather the group get back together for one last lap, given that the last time they all played together was for Live 8 in 2005, it’s certainly fascinating watching all three musicians put their own twists on some of their best-loved output.
Arguably, the most exciting of all three is drummer Mason’s Saucerful of Secrets, a group he founded in 2018 with the intention of bringing the group’s early work to a new, and wider audience. It’s also a supergroup, boasting bassist Guy Pratt, guitarists Gary Kemp and Lee Harris, and the keyboardist Dom Beken.
While a concentration on Pink Floyd’s earlier work certainly sets Mason’s project apart from those of Waters and Gilmour, so does the fact that he’s been open about eschewing one of the group’s most revered songs: ‘Comfortably Numb’.
He’s explained his reasons for staying clear of the song that is most famous for Gilmour’s searing solos, and objectively, you have to say fair enough. Speaking to Prog in 2020, the rhythmic maestro said: “I wanted to avoid being judged on how good a version of ‘Comfortably Numb’ we did. I didn’t want to go there. I think as soon as you get into all that stuff, then you start thinking, ‘Well, we’ll need some film and this, that and the other.’”
“What I really like is going back to the idea of actually improvising,” added Mason. “I still have that rather pathetic notion that rock music is a sort of opportunity to express yourself. It’s this liberating thing, a bit loose and a bit wild, an opportunity for lots of new ideas, so in many ways I’m more comfortable when people take something and rework it.”
