Nick's darker side is fast cars

Chris Herbert finds out what Pink Floyd's drummer gets up to when he's not behind the drums.

WHEN Pink Floyd's drummer tells you that he can still remember a lot of his band's excess-filled early days, you know there is hope for the current bunch of clubbers.

As one of the founder members of the legendary 1970s psychedelia group, Nick Mason could be considered to be a forefather of club hedonism, but his memory of the 1960s and 1970s is, thankfully, still intact.

Nick, who is coming to High Wycombe on Saturday to sign copies of his new car racing book Into the Red, remained fairly tight-lipped about the band's early days and the now ex-members Roger Waters and Syd Barrett.

Bassist Waters acrimoniously left the band in the mid-1980s, while former singer Barrett left the band in the late 1960s and is rumoured to be living with his mother in Cambridge.

Nick says: "Considering it was about 30 years ago, I have quite a good memory of what happened. I don't see much of either Roger or Syd -- even if we had all left on good terms, we have all moved on to other things.

"We don't really have plans for any tours with the group at the moment -- there are other things that we are all doing."

If you ever wondered what a mega-rich ex-drummer does with his time, Nick collects fancy racing cars and goes flying.

He says: "Being in the band doesn't take up every waking moment of my life -- it's not something I do all the time.

"I learnt to fly at Wycombe Air Park, but apart from that, I have a collection of old cars and I go racing in them. I have raced at Silverstone, Le Mans and Brands Hatch.

"The book is really about testing various cars and what they are like to drive -- the noise they make and talking about them generally."

As for modern music, Nick's favourites include country rock singer Sheryl Crow, although he admits to a sneaking admiration for Oasis.

He adds: "I do listen to some modern music, but what I really listen to is jazz-fusion stuff. Some of the modern music is great -- Oasis have regenerated music and given the industry a big boost.

"My kids listen to dance music, but as for liking it myself I couldn't really begin to. I never listen to any Pink Floyd -- I'm far too critical of my own music to do that, I always find mistakes in it.

"I think it was popular for the way we put it all together, it wasn't the rough edges to it that made it attractive."

Nick Mason will signing books at Ottaker's Bookstore, White Hart Street, High Wycombe on November 28 at 11.30am

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