Nick Mason says Pink Floyd were originally ‘not interested’ in Pompeii film

By Casey Cooper-Fiske, PA Entertainment Reporter

Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason has said his band were initially “unspeakably not interested” in making their Pink Floyd Live At Pompeii film.

Speaking at a preview screening of Pink Floyd At Pompeii – MCMLXXII, a newly restored version of the 1972 film, which sees the band play in an amphitheatre in the ruins of the ancient city, the 81-year-old said he was “delighted” with the latest edition.

But the drummer, who still performs the group’s early material in his Saucerful Of Secrets band, said: “Someone that should be mentioned is Adrian Maben (the film’s director), who actually came up with this whole idea, we were unspeakably not interested.

“Adrian worked really hard to even persuade us to come out to Italy and actually make this movie.”

He continued: “The thing that worked about it, that we didn’t see, and he (Maben) did, was this thing of it being a live show, but with no audience, and the fact that this amphitheatre created such a sense of moment.

“Even without the audience, it had the feel of a full-on gig.”

The drummer joked that while filming, the band did not want to “go down the route of becoming The Monkees” as they “haven’t got the right personalities”.

Mason features heavily in the film as he moans about pie crust during clips showing the band eating together, while another humorous shot shows late keyboard player Richard Wright holding a microphone up to a dog to howl into during the song Mademoiselle Nobs.

Speaking about watching the film more than 50 years on, Mason said: “There is an innocence, and it’s extraordinary to sort of watch us just going at it and arguing, but in a constructive way.”

Clips of the band chatting are interspersed with performance footage shot during the period between early psychedelic albums The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn (1967) and A Saucerful Of Secrets (1968) with late frontman Syd Barrett, who left after the latter, and most famous album Dark Side Of The Moon (1973).

There is also footage of the band recording songs which would eventually feature on their 1973 album, with Mason saying they knew at the time of the film their next record would focus on “ideas of mortality” and said there was “very much a sense” there would be “no more 23-minute pieces”.

Speaking about the newly restored version, Mason said: “We’re delighted with the way it turned out, and I think it might be a moment just to recognise someone who really did the major part on the actual visuals, and that’s Lana Topham (the film’s head of restoration).

“Lana is someone who has actually lived with this movie for years and years and years, very occasionally getting some sort of response from us (the band), but not much, she did it very single-handed.”

Pink Floyd were formed by Barrett, Mason, guitarist and singer Roger Waters, and Wright in the mid-1960s, before the group were later joined by singer and guitarist David Gilmour.

Barrett, who was initially the group’s primary songwriter, left in 1968, going on to release two solo studio albums in The Madcap Laughs and Barrett, both coming in 1970, before the singer died in 2006.

The band are best known for the albums Dark Side Of The Moon, Wish You Were Here (1975), Animals (1977), and The Wall (1979), as well as songs such as Comfortably Numb, Another Brick In The Wall and Money.

The film, which has been digitally remastered in 4K from its original 35mm footage, with enhanced audio mixed by Porcupine Tree frontman Steven Wilson, is out in UK cinemas on April 24.

The film is due to be released on DVD and Blu-Ray on May 2, along with an album of its performances, which will be released in two CD and double vinyl LP editions.