Pink Floyd’s chance encounter which formed band came from Nick Mason’s ability to drive

The founding of legendary rock band Pink Floyd is partly because drummer Nick Mason could drive.

Roger Waters, Syd Barrett, Mason, and Richard Wright would form the group in 1965 and create some of the all-time great progressive rock albums. But it was not a shared interest which brought the four together, but the fact Mason could drive. Waters asked Mason if he could loan the car, and received a flat “no” from his soon-to-be bandmate. A similar response from keyboard player Wright came when he requested a cigarette. Those early moments, Mason says, shaped the future for the band, and it stemmed from his ability to drive. He suggested the three would never have met had he not been able to drive.

Speaking in an episode of Brian Johnson’s Life on the Road documentary series, Mason shared his driving of an Austin 7 Chummy is what led to the band becoming friends. He shared: “Regent Street Polytechnic—that’s where I met Roger Waters and Rick Wright. We were all training to be architects. It was architecture’s loss when the music took off… or not.

“We sort of met because Roger knew that I had a car—I’m not sure he knew what the car was because actually it was an Austin 7 Chummy with a top speed of 20mph and had no brakes.

“But when he asked if I might lend it to him, I said, ‘No,’ but he also tried to get a cigarette off Rick and famously Rick went, ‘No,’ which sort of set the pattern really for the next 50 years. It was an important moment because if it hadn’t been for that, we might not be sitting here now.”

What would follow is thirty years of Mason, Waters, Wright working together, with guitarist David Gilmour joining just two years later. Despite the musical achievements in the band, the relationship between the four has been constantly strained. The four were allegedly offered $250million to tour after their twenty-minute reunion at Live 8, but this was turned down for unknown reasons.

Speaking to Word Magazine, Waters shared he was open to reuniting with the band, though this stance may have changed since Live 8. He said: “Oh it was terrific. I really loved it. I hope we do it again. It was more than good.

“If some other opportunity arose, I could even imagine us doing The Dark Side of the Moon again – you know, if there was a special occasion. It would be good to hear it again. Live 8 was so great.” No such plan came to be and the band has yet to perform since their twenty-minute set at Live 8.

But Waters says it would need to be another “good reason” to get back together if they were to take to the stage. He added: “A good reason. I don’t know. Something with a political or charitable connection. 

“The day they announced the Pink Floyd were to play Live 8, I went out to dinner with a friend and an offer arrived – literally bang on the dinner table – for the four of us, the Pink Floyd, to tour again. An offer of $250 million. Guaranteed.”