[Tainojim]

Drum Icon Interviews: Nick Mason

The Pink Floyd man talks drum lessons, moustaches and the forthcoming Pink Floyd Anthology
Chris Barnes, Tue 31 Aug 2010, 12:00 pm BST
How do you think the drum industry has changed?

"The most interesting thing is how drummers have clearly become more Neanderthal. When you look at an old drum kit the flimsiness of the whole thing is appalling. Most of us would feel uneasy even tapping the thing. What's interesting is the way the fittings have become so much stronger and more robust. I don't think people are playing harder than they did 25 years ago, but they are much more practical now. They last longer. There isn't that thing of every kit seems to have some bit of extra metalwork to hold something on or tape around the wingnut. I love the thing of custom drums, and the DW concepts. I started with Premier, then was immediately seduced by Ludwig after seeing Ginger Baker, had a brief flirtation with Fibes, then went back to Ludwig. Bill Ludwig's still a good friend of mine, I loved that whole drummer club thing that came with it. When Ludwig changed hands in the '80s I went to DW. They are the next development with the tuning of the shells and the sort of detail and experimentation that I like. They work within a very confined space. How many things can you do with a snare drum? There's a drum that I really like [the Edgevent model]. It's vented all the way round and you can open and close the vents, which I think is a great development.
"I also like the Richie ring. It's a much neater solution to damping a drum. How many kits have you seen where you see a perfectly good drum kit and then it's covered in gaffer tape and jelly! I really like them. There's something distressing about a beautiful kit with stuff hanging off it.
"Then there's the electronic drum kit. From the days of the Simmons, I had one of the original things, it was just as mind-boggling. The modern kits are fantastic. I'm surprised we haven't seen more of them out and about."
Who are some of your personal drum icons?

"Most of my icons are the people that were my heroes when I was kicking off. I wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for Ginger Baker. When the curtain opened at the Regent Street Polytechnic in 1966 and there was Ginger, Eric and Jack I thought, that's what I'd like to be, and that was it. In terms of style and rock drummers I like, it was Mitch Mitchell. Whether it's behind the beat or not, it's so lazy, but it worked perfectly under Jimi and that slightly jazzy thing. There's no one else like him. Keith Moon, of course. John Bonham was almost a fraction too late for me to be quite so influential. I love all the be-bop drummers too. People like Chico Hamilton."
What do you have in the pipeline for the coming year?

"There's two things. We've been developing the idea of a Pink Floyd anthology for a long time. I've spent quite a lot of time trying to find the material. I really enjoy that, but it's time consuming. We're talking about doing a big reissue of the Pink Floyd catalogue because there is the belief that there eventually will be the point that there simply won't be enough market to generate those sort of packages. That would be a tragedy, so it's a good time to do it. I've been working down at the Roundhouse. The whole basement is given over to studios for local kids to come in and hopefully develop their talents. EMI gave us a lot of the old equipment out of Abbey Road. There's a recording studio as well as rehearsal rooms. I think the music industry is difficult now. Although there are opportunities there are fewer and fewer opportunities to make any money at it. It would be very nice to give kids the opportunity to make a go of it."