With Nick Mason's Saucerful Of Secrets getting ready to entertain again in the UK and Europe this summer, starting on June 11th in Stoke, England, Nick has taken time out of early preparations to appear on the Fuelling Around podcast.

The 45-minute episode of the automotive show where he talked about music, motors and his epic car collection, is typically entertaining.

"I thought I'd retired about 20 years ago. I think my doctor said: 'If you haven't grown out of showing off by the time you're 70, you're probably incurable'. It’s really terrific when you do get a younger fanbase. Sometimes they bring their old granny along - the clatter of zimmer-frames in the mosh pit is something to watch out for."

In the podcast, he noted that "we play Floyd songs because first of all it was a repertoire which I could just about remember, which helped. The other thing was that feeling that we wanted to capture the atmosphere of the early music. That meant it actually freed us up a bit because we didn't have to play Comfortably Numb exactly as it was played on the record. We were playing the earlier songs where it was much more about the atmosphere that went with it rather than the accuracy.

"It wasn’t me who formed the band. It was initially Lee's suggestion and the rest of the band sort of formed itself around us. We certainly didn't do anything as crude as hold any sort of tests or auditions. It was actually, in a way, exactly how bands always used to be put together, which was a few like-minded people getting together and saying 'well let's give it a go'. And that's exactly what we did."

You can enjoy the entire episode here:

Some great news for those who haven't yet seen the excellent documentary film, Have You Got It Yet? The Story of Syd Barrett and Pink Floyd - it is getting a UK television broadcast on the Sky Arts channel next Saturday (April 27th). They also note that there will be an Italian TV screening at some point soon.

In their post about it, those behind the documentary reveal that Blu-ray and DVD masters have been approved, and the discs are in the process of being pressed up now. Hopefully there will be an announcement of the physical release of this unmissable look at Syd and the Floyd, soon.

Here's a quick taster of the film:

Some of the more notable concert venues are the more unusual ones, and sometimes this is due to an unusual event. A perfect example of that is the Casino in Montreux, Switzerland. For those unaware, the Deep Purple song Smoke On The Water is about a fire that struck the venue while Frank Zappa and the Mothers Of Invention were there performing, in December 1971.

The Montreux Jazz Festival was founded in 1967 and the Casino has always been a key venue for the event. In the 1970s, it broadened its scope from jazz to bring on various other musical genres (with Pink Floyd playing in 1970 at the Festival), and this year will see Nick Mason's Saucerful Of Secrets join the list of musicians who have been fortunate enough to play the Festival!

The band will be playing Montreux on July 13th, and tickets go on sale tomorrow (Friday, April 19th) at 12pm (11am BST) through Tickets.MontreuxJazz.com.

It is the final date to be added to the European tour this year, and nicely fills the gap between the Portoroz and Graz gigs.

As part of the 50th anniversary celebrations for Pink Floyd's The Dark Side Of The Moon, there was a competition running for any interested animators to come up with new videos for each of the tracks on the album. With judges including Nick Mason and Aubrey 'Po' Powell, Monty Python's Terry Gilliam, Anton Corbijn, and Gerald Scarfe, the winning videos can be seen below. Other interpretations can also be seen on the Official Pink Floyd YouTube channel.

The following playlist shows each song, accompanied by a "Behind The Scenes" video, and all preceded by Nick Mason:

With apologies for the short notice, the legendary Roundhouse are running an auction which concludes TODAY, and which includes two incredible Nick Mason auction items.

Firstly, a pair of limited-edition, hand finished Pharaoh Drum Head prints, donated by Nick himself. These drum heads prints are direct copies of the famous painted drum heads used during Pink Floyd's early tours. The original 'Pharaoh' pair were used during the Floyd's concert at the Royal Festival Hall, London, in 1969. Only 10 copies were ever made - by winning this lot you'll own a piece of music history.

Nick: "A couple of years ago we were moving all the drum kits and accessories to a new storage facility. Amongst the cymbal cases we found one that contained all the custom painted drum fronts that were painted for me by an artist, or artists, in the early seventies - usually to coincide with American tours. I have pictures of these in place at a number of shows..."

Secondly, there's a meet & greet with Nick's Saucerful Of Secrets and double pass to their show at London's Royal Albert Hall on June 29th. The show will be the band's final UK concert of their upcoming Set The Controls 2024 tour.

Both lots are available for bidding until the end of today, Wednesday March 20th.

These are part of a larger silent auction full of top prizes from the music world, for their biannual Gala. They are fundraising for their work with young people aged 11-30, through which they provide life-changing experiences through the expressive arts.

Coming on May 17th, on Blu-ray and compatible digital platforms (Apple Music, Tidal, and Amazon Music), is the Dolby Atmos version of Pink Floyd's Animals 2018 Remix. It is the first time the album will have been available in Dolby Atmos.

The Blu-ray includes High Resolution Stereo and 5.1 mixes alongside the 1977 Original Stereo Mix. For those who have compatible equipment to hear it in its full glory, the Dolby Atmos mix goes beyond ordinary listening by immersing the listener in the music, revealing details with unparalleled clarity and depth. Listeners will feel like they are inside the song as music moves around and above them.

The album artwork has been reimagined especially for this release and presented in a digipak with a 16-page booklet, a sticker and a postcard. The front cover image still includes the iconic pig floating between two chimneys of the Battersea Power Station, conceived by Roger Waters. However, for this new release, the artwork has been re-created for the modern era by Storm Thorgerson's Hipgnosis partner Aubrey 'Po' Powell and Peter Curzon from StormStudios, and shows the historic building as it looks now, complete with light projections, variations of which feature in the accompanying booklet. The projections and graphics were mapped and designed by Peter Curzon for the launch of the 2018 Remix and the photography is by Rupert Truman and Benny Trickett with Aubrey Powell.

The Animals 2018 Remix is also available on CD, LP (with gatefold artwork), SACD and Deluxe Gatefold formats. The Deluxe Gatefold version includes LP, CD, audio Blu-ray, audio DVD and a 32-page book. You can use the following links to order the new Dolby Atmos Blu-ray, or indeed any of the other Animals 2018 Remix editions. Using our links will help this site with its ongoing running costs, at no additional cost to you, as we participate in the Amazon affiliate programme. You can order through Amazon.com, Amazon UK, Canada, Germany, France, Italy and Spain. You can also order from HMV.com.