Drummer's delight at restored Floyd movie

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

- Casey Cooper-Fiske [e-mail]

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 lives in Corsham in Wiltshire and 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."