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Nick Mason's Saucerful of Secrets

Nick Mason's Saucerful of Secrets are an English rock band formed in 2018 to perform the early music of Pink Floyd. The band comprises the Pink Floyd drummer and co-founder Nick Mason, the bassist Guy Pratt, the guitarists Gary Kemp and Lee Harris, and the keyboardist Dom Beken. As many fans had discovered Pink Floyd with their bestselling 1973 album The Dark Side of the Moon, Mason wanted to bring their earlier material to a wider audience.

Nick Mason's Saucerful of Secrets
Nick Mason's Saucerful of Secrets in 2022. Left to right: Lee Harris, Guy Pratt, Nick Mason, Gary Kemp, Dom Beken
Background information
OriginUnited Kingdom
Genres
Years active2018 (2018)–present
LabelsLegacy
Spinoff ofPink Floyd
Members
Websitethesaucerfulofsecrets.com

The band made their debut in May 2018 at Dingwalls, London, before embarking on a European tour in September 2018 and a North American tour in 2019. A 2020 European tour was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In September 2020, the band released a live album and film, Live at the Roundhouse.

Formation

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Pink Floyd, one of the most commercially successful and influential rock bands of all time,[1] were formed in London in 1965 by Syd Barrett (guitar, lead vocals), Nick Mason (drums), Roger Waters (bass guitar, vocals), and Richard Wright (keyboards, vocals). In 1968, Barrett was replaced by David Gilmour. Waters left in 1985 and Wright died in 2008.[2]

While Gilmour and Waters continue to perform Pink Floyd material in their solo shows, Mason worked on Pink Floyd reissues and compilations.[3] After assisting with Pink Floyd: Their Mortal Remains, a 2017 museum exhibition about Pink Floyd, Mason said: "You end up feeling like you belong to English Heritage. Everything you talk about and do is something that happened forty years ago. It was actually beginning to make me feel a bit old."[4]

In 2018, the guitarist Lee Harris, formerly of the Blockheads, approached the bassist and Pink Floyd collaborator Guy Pratt about Mason forming a band to perform Pink Floyd's early psychedelic material, recorded while Barrett was the bandleader.[3] The new band was joined by vocalist and guitarist Gary Kemp of Spandau Ballet and keyboardist Dom Beken,[3] a collaborator of Wright. Pratt and Beken previously worked together in the electronic band Transit Kings.[5] Mason stressed that Kemp was not "taking the place" of Barrett, but that "it was to do with who had the enthusiasm for it, and Gary did".[6] According to Mason, in early rehearsals, "The interesting thing was that it all sort of began to sound good straight away. That was mainly, I think, driven by their enthusiasm."[3]

As many fans had discovered Pink Floyd with their bestselling 1973 album The Dark Side of the Moon, Mason wanted to bring their earlier material to a wider audience.[5] He said he did not want to perform as a tribute act similar to the Australian Pink Floyd Show or perform shows similar to those by Waters and Gilmour;[4] the band wanted to "capture the spirit" of the music rather than recreate it.[6] They received the blessings of Gilmour and Waters.[7] The band takes its name from the second Pink Floyd album, A Saucerful of Secrets (1968).[5]

Performances

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On stage at Symphony Hall, Birmingham, England 22 April 2022

Nick Mason's Saucerful of Secrets made their debut at a sold-out test show at Dingwalls, a 500-seat club in London, in May 2018.[8] This was followed by three small shows at the Half Moon, Putney,[9] a European tour in September 2018,[10] and a North American tour in 2019.[11] On 18 April 2019, Waters surprised the audience at the New York Beacon Theatre by joining the band to sing "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun".[3] A 2020 European tour was postponed to April 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[12][13] A second North American tour was postponed from January 2022 to September.[14]

Releases

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In September 2020, the band released a live album and film, Live at the Roundhouse.[15] A single featuring "See Emily Play" and "Vegetable Man" was released for Record Store Day.[16]

Band members

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  • Nick Mason – drums, gong, bell, percussion
  • Guy Pratt – vocals, bass, guitars, percussion
  • Gary Kemp – vocals, guitars
  • Lee Harris – guitars, backing vocals, percussion
  • Dom Beken – keyboards, synthesisers, organ, piano, programming, harmonica, backing vocals

References

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  1. ^ "Rock & Roll Hall of Fame: Pink Floyd biography". Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on 17 May 2013. Retrieved 2 August 2012.
  2. ^ "Floyd founder Wright dies at 65". 16 September 2008. Retrieved 26 September 2020.
  3. ^ a b c d e Greene, Andy (13 June 2019). "Why Pink Floyd's Nick Mason Finally Went Solo at 75". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 26 September 2020.
  4. ^ a b Yates, Henry (July 2018). "Set the controls for 60s Floyd". Classic Rock. No. 250. p. 14.
  5. ^ a b c Kielty, Martin (17 April 2018). "Nick Mason Forms Supergroup to Play Early Pink Floyd Music". Ultimate Classic Rock. Retrieved 26 September 2020.
  6. ^ a b Richards, Sam (18 May 2018). "Why Nick Mason is rebooting Syd-era Pink Floyd". Uncut. Retrieved 30 May 2018.
  7. ^ Greene, Andy (10 December 2018). "Nick Mason on the State of Pink Floyd: 'It's Silly to Still Be Fighting'". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 26 September 2020.
  8. ^ McCormick, Neil (21 May 2018). "Nick Mason's Saucerful of Secrets review, Dingwalls: thrilling return to weirdness of Sixties Pink Floyd". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 26 September 2020.
  9. ^ Hunt, El (17 April 2018). "Nick Mason to perform early Pink Floyd material with supergroup". NME. Retrieved 30 May 2018.
  10. ^ Kielty, Martin. "Nick Mason's Pink Floyd Supergroup Announces Debut Tour". Ultimate Classic Rock. Retrieved 30 May 2018.
  11. ^ Greene, Andy. "Pink Floyd's Nick Mason to Play Pre-'Dark Side of the Moon' Songs on U.S. Tour". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 1 June 2019.
  12. ^ Munro, Scott (11 May 2020). "Nick Mason's Saucerful Of Secrets announce rescheduled European tour". Prog Magazine. Retrieved 26 September 2020.
  13. ^ Bailie, Geoff (19 April 2022). "Concert Review: Nick Mason's Saucerful Of Secrets – Ulster Hall, Belfast – April 14th, 2022". The Prog Report. Retrieved 24 April 2022.
  14. ^ Greene, Andy (21 March 2022). "Nick Mason's Saucerful of Secrets announces rescheduled Echoes tour dates". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 19 April 2022.
  15. ^ Pincombe, Sean (26 March 2020). "Nick Mason's Saucerful of Secrets 'Live at the Roundhouse' release delayed until September 2020". Retrieved 7 July 2020. Further to the postponement of their 2020 tour, Nick Mason's Saucerful of Secrets 'Live at the Roundhouse' concert video and audio releases have also been delayed. Owing to the worldwide Coronavirus pandemic, the release has been pushed from April, and will now hit store shelves on September 18th 2020.
  16. ^ "RSD '20 Special Release: Nick Mason's Saucerful of Secrets – "See Emily Play"/"Vegetable Man"". Record Store Day. Retrieved 26 January 2021.
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