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12.
July 2006
ChartAttack
Exclusive: Pink Floyd's Nick Mason Speaks About Syd Barrett
by Dan "The Mouth" Lovranski
While the rest of us can only imagine what Syd Barrett was like, both at his peak as the leader of Pink Floyd and later as the tragic figure who completely alienated himself from the band and the music industry, there's one man who knew Barrett from the very beginning. Indeed, hes the only man to have been in Floyd since its very creation: drummer Nick Mason.
"When I first met him, he was absolutely terrific," Mason says of his former bandmate, who died on July 7 of symptoms related to diabetes.
"He was really easygoing.
"He was charming and he was a really great songwriter. He was knocking out songs at a time when we were looking for new material. It was just extraordinary."
But at the same time, Mason recognizes that Barrett changed drastically while in the band, and even today he seems to regret how things played out and the group's part in the way it did.
"I think, looking back on it now, what we should have probably done was just let him go much, much earlier instead of desperately trying to keep the thing going and to keep Syd on side, which did him no good at
all."
While Mason had very little contact with Barrett over the past three decades (at Barrett's own request), he still understands the amazingly valuable contribution he made to Floyd's legacy.
"We're still very conscious of the debt we owe to him. This is not a Stalin-esque regime where we're trying to write him out of history and start striking him out of the band photographs. Pink Floyd wouldn't exist without Syd. If ever there was a record that marks a period of music history, Piper At The Gates Of Dawn, with Syd's songs, is absolutely part of it. It's something that we never discovered again, not with Rick's or Roger's or David's writing, that sort of whimsical English vein."
As for the continuing history of Pink Floyd, it doesn't seem like it will happen anytime soon, with David Gilmour still touring his new record and Roger Waters doing both a European and North American tour this summer. But Mason would still like to see the guys get together one more time.
"At this stage, it's impossible to tell," he says. "There's certainly nothing in the pipeline, but I live in hope.
"I suppose that's the best way of putting it. I think, at the moment, David is really happy doing his tour. It's certainly more the way he'd like to do the music, with a little less attention on staging and films and all the rest of it. Until Dave works through that, which may take one year or 15 years, it's really hard to see much of a chance for the rest of us to reform. As I say, there are no plans, but I live in hope. I think it would be a great thing to do before we all pitch over and go to the great band room in the sky."
If it's any comfort at all, Mr. Mason, at least Syd Barrett will be waiting for you with his guitar in hand when you get to that great gig in the
sky.
Info:
Vicky 7, A Fleeting Glimpse
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