C Jill Furmanovsky-rockarchive.com

If Nick Mason had his way, he’d unpack his drums today and head back out on the road with his former surviving Pink Floyd bandmates, bassist/songwriter/vocalist Roger Waters and guitarist/vocalist David Gilmour. That’s not going to happen, but deep-pocketed Pink Floyd fans can console themselves instead with lavishly produced boxed editions of three of the band’s classic albums – The Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here and The Wall – which EMI Records, the band’s label since the beginning, recently released as the Immersion series. Each set includes not only the remastered original album, but also tons of rare and previously unreleased material, stunning video (on DVD and Blu-Ray) and printed material, assorted collectible knick-knacks and more.

Pink Floyd held out for years before releasing reissues and compilations. What changed?

Having it explained to us. We realized that perhaps because it had been such a long time, it actually might be interesting and the fans might like the details on how we did things. In the past, the theory had always been that you just released the album – as perfect as you can make it – in its final form. I have a big collection of jazz records with a lot of outtakes and it does increase the interest.

What was the best find?

That’s an easy one: It’s the Stéphane Grappelli violin part [on “Wish You Were Here” ]. It would have been great to have, say, seven other guitar solos that Dave put on “Comfortably Numb” before going with the one that we went with.

How involved were you and the others in the planning of this project?

We’re all involved. Nothing is ever passed by one person.

Who do you see as the audience for these – mostly baby boomers who grew up with the band?

Absolutely for the Immersion versions. It’s people who know the music already and would like to engage at another level, particularly with The Wall, where you can track one song from the original Roger demos through the band demos to the actual recording to the live playing. It’s not what I’d recommend to a beginner.

It’s almost radical to be putting out these enormous physical packages in this era of downloading and streaming.

It’s probably the last grasp at that sort of stuff. I think it’s important to do it now, rather than wait until no one wants it. The problem is [that] we’re all living in this different world where property becomes more expensive, particularly for the age group that music is important to. Storage becomes more of a problem. People my age have got huge collections of vinyl and CDs. My kids don’t have room for it, let alone interest in it.

Why did you choose these three albums for this special treatment? Is it strictly because these were the best-selling Pink Floyd records?

To put it bluntly, that’s exactly right. But having said that, the idea was always that if people liked it, we could continue. I would love to get started on an early Pink Floyd Immersion, although we’re very short on music. We do have some demos that we recorded before we had a record contract, and we have some tracks from around A Saucerful of Secrets that have been bootlegged but never put on records.

How much Syd Barrett era Floyd material is still out there and will you release whatever remains in the vault?

Those demos that I mentioned are original songs of Syd’s, plus a couple of covers. Syd Barrett [era] Pink Floyd is very special – it was the launch pad of everything else we ever did.

Was it important to you as a drummer to understand what Roger or Syd were writing about?

No. The lyric content is low on my list of things I need to work out. What I listen to initially is whether a song sounds good. I really like the lyrics for “Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun,” but they’re secondary to the actual feel of the music.

How do you feel about Roger touring with his own production of The Wall ?

I think it’s great. The show is fantastic. What he’s done with film and bringing a 30-year-old show up-to-date is sensational. He’s being incredibly faithful to the original music.

You’re also an avid auto racer. Do you get the same thrill from that as you do from drumming?

They complement each other. In auto racing, it’s all down to you. As a drummer, you have to have the other two or three to make it work. Auto racing is more frightening, and intrinsically more dangerous, as I understand it.