Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason has formed a new band with the specific intention of playing the band’s earliest material.
Named Nick Mason’s Saucerful Of Secrets, the drummer will be joined by regular Pink Floyd live and session bassist Guy Pratt, producer and soundtrack composer Dom Beken, former Blockhead Lee Harris and Spandau Ballet’s Gary Kemp.
Hold on – did we just say “Spandau Ballet’s Gary Kemp”? Yes. Yes, we did.
Anyway, be that as it may, Nick Mason’s Saucerful Of Secrets have announced four intimate dates in London and will take place in May at Dingwalls in Camden and the Half Moon in Putney.
Despite being one of the biggest bands in the world thanks to the planet-shagging success of multi-platinum album such as 1973’s Dark Side Of The Moon, its 1975 follow-up Wish You Were Here and 1979’s The Wall, the early days of Pink Floyd are usually overlooked by the casual observer, yet it’s here that that the heart of Pink Floyd is to be found.
Led by original singer, songwriter and guitarist Syd Barrett, the band’s first two albums, Piper At The Gates Of Dawn (1967) and Saucerful Of Secrets (1968), highlight the essential differences between the British and American variants of the psychedelia of the age. Whereas our transatlantic cousins were largely rooted in the blues, Pink Floyd dealt in a very English form of frazzled whimsy that evoked childhood and owed much to the pre-rock’n’roll music halls.
The Pink Floyd of the late 60s were also one of the first bands to incorporate customized light shows and soundsystems and the combination of sound and vision marked them from many of their contemporaries.
Syd Barrett was fired from the band in 1968 following a mental breakdown, most likely caused by his excessive use of LSD. He was replaced by David Gilmour but remained a cult figure until his death in 2006.
Nick Mason’s Saucerful Of Secrets play
MAY
20 – Dingwalls, Camden
21 – Half Moon, Putney
23 – Half Moon, Putney
24 – Half Moon, Putney
