Nick Mason To Be Named Prog God At 2019 Progressive Music Awards

Nick Mason will be honoured with the prestigious Prog God title at the 2019 Progressive Music Awards. The Pink Floyd drummer has lately been celebrating the band’s early recorded achievements in the live band Nick Mason’s Saucerful Of Secrets.

The awards will take place on 12 September at the Underglobe Theatre in London. Previous winners of Prog God have included Steve Howe, Carl Palmer, Jon Anderson and Peter Gabriel. Mason, now 75, was the only member of Floyd to play on all their studio albums, and produced records for such fellow progressive notables as Robert Wyatt, Gong and Steve Hillage.

“I’m all in favour of recognition for drummers — particularly when it’s me — so I’m really delighted to be recognised as Prog God,” Mason tells Prog, the magazine that curates the awards. “It’s hard to believe that it was over 50 years ago that the music we know as prog rock was born, and it’s still being celebrated, played and developed in the 21st century. Long may it continue!”

Nick Mason’s Saucerful Of Secrets have toured in the UK and Europe this year, with a line-up featuring Gary Kemp of Spandau Ballet, Floyd colleague Guy Pratt, Lee Harris and Dom Beken. They played a short British itinerary in April and May, including a London show at the Roundhouse on 4 May, and were out in Europe throughout July.

Mason says that he doesn’t intend to take the live project into the studio. “[These songs have] been recorded perfectly well by Pink Floyd some years ago,” he says. “I think the fun of it is to try to be true to the music but actually not slavishly copy every detail of it,” he said at the time. “What I like is the idea of playing live and I’m really enjoying [revisiting the old material]. There are enough tribute bands to cover most of it, but this is very much a labour of love for me.”

Format: UK English