Legendary Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason has formed a new supergroup to play Floyd’s early music, named Nick Mason’s Saucerful Of Secrets.
Named Nick Mason’s Saucerful of Secrets, after Pink Floyd’s second album which came out in 1968. the four-piece group, Saucerful Of Secrets will perform early Pink Floyd material at four intimate shows in London next month in May. The lineup includes Spandau Ballet’s Gary Kemp, Lee Harris of the Blockheads, bassist Guy Pratt, who took over from Roger Waters in Floyd, and composer Dom Beken, a collaborator with late Floyd keyboardist Rick Wright. Pratt and Beken worked together in the electronic band Transit Kings.
In 2016, ahead of the release of the box set Pink Floyd: The Early Years 1965-1972, Mason said, “There’s a whole swath of early tracks that are missed by an audience that we think started at Dark Side of the Moon. That’s the problem, because we actually changed from being a slightly underground band to – I won’t say overnight – but that one album pushed us suddenly into a whole new world. The interesting thing is that quite a lot of particularly younger people who discovered Dark Side don’t look backwards, they look ‘What did they do next?’ So I suppose I’d say the album that I’m particularly fond of is A Saucerful of Secrets, because I think you get a transition from Syd [Barrett] and you almost get a wonderful goodbye from Syd with ‘Jugband Blues.’”
The shows will mark the first time Mason has played live since the London Olympics closing ceremony in 2012. There, he performed Pink Floyd track ‘Wish You Were Here’ with Ed Sheeran, Genesis’ Mike Rutherford, and Richard Jones of The Feeling.
Nick Mason’s Saucerful Of Secrets tour dates 2018
Camden Dingwalls, London (May 20)
The Half Moon in Putney, London (May 21)
The Half Moon in Putney, London (May 23)
The Half Moon in Putney, London (May 24)
“This is a unique opportunity to experience Pink Floyd’s celebrated and significant early body of work played live including songs from albums The Piper at the Gates of Dawn and A Saucerful of Secrets,” the new group said in a statement. “Very few bands are as culturally important as Pink Floyd. They are one of the best selling music artists of all time and Nick Mason is a founder and the only constant member of the band performing on all of their albums as well as all of their live shows. This will be Nick Mason’s first live musical outing since Pink Floyd played at the 2005 Live 8 concert in London.”
In related news, for Record Store Day 2018 (Saturday, April 21st) Pink Floyd will release the band’s debut album remastered “The Piper At The Gates of Dawn” on vinyl.