NICK MASON

Buying a Ferrari is like buying Château Pétrus if you like fine wines. It's the safe choice.

Part of the gestation of 'The Wall' was this business of alienation from the audience, and so the interesting thing was, what 'The Wall' eventually became was something that absolutely engaged the audience.

Learning an instrument isn't about becoming a star anymore than learning to swim means you want to become a haddock

Ever since the Beatles, the concept of lovable mop tops, it's a bit of a fantasy, but it's a lovely idea that people make wonderful music and live a wonderful life being friends together. Sadly, life isn't quite like that.

But I also enjoy music outside the band. I've been doing production for other people, including Robert Wyatt. Check him out. The album we did together, 'Rock Bottom,' I think it's really lasted well. It's a 35-year-old album, but it worked.

I've always liked a very dry snare and, like everyone else, a very dry bass drum.

I have about 40 cars, of which 25 to 30 are what you might call serious.

One tends to look back at the mistakes as the same thing - relinquishing control of something at some point in your career.

The problem now with changes in the music industry is that there's almost no point in making records anymore. The only thing really is to tour, and then you're revisiting history. Maybe it's better to leave it, if you see what I mean.

I never collected cars as a financial thing; I wanted to go racing, so I chose the cars I wanted to go racing with. Like the Ferrari 250 GTO. I bought it because it absolutely fulfilled everything I wanted from a car.

The fact of the matter is that 40 years ago, unless you bought the record, you couldn't hear the music. It was such a narrow track in comparison to today.

There are so many ingredients that are contained in 'The Wall' that were not necessarily contained in other Pink Floyd records, particularly following on from 'Animals,' which was very spare and sparse. Production on it was much more massive, the complexity of the recording was much more intense.

I've always liked a very dry snare and, like everyone else, a very dry bass drum.

I started racing myself and once you get bitten by that bug you really are hooked.

Of course, with the people you really know, no one changes that much.

There were a lot of gifted amateurs in my day. Most of the kids now play fantastically well. I think there are so many bands around now who might get there, but it's a tougher journey.

People simply don't have room, physical room, to keep, for instance, 2-inch tape in the sort of quantities that are required to hold a full archive. It's not just a matter of having three or four boxes, it's 40, 90 boxes of 2-inch tape, and very few people have the resources that sort of stuff properly.

I was brought up in a car family, my dad loved cars and I was taught the art of making an Austin 7 operate.

When you're in the car, how well you do is down to you and you alone-no band, no management, no marketing.

The GTO is such an important car because it's a racing car and a touring car and that's pretty unusual.

I went to watch my father at Silverstone in the early 1950s, and I've still got the car he was in.

Ever since the Beatles, the concept of lovable mop tops, it's a bit of a fantasy, but it's a lovely idea that people make wonderful music and live a wonderful life being friends together. Sadly, life isn't quite like that.

The reality is, like any band, you can never quite quantify who does what.

But I also enjoy music outside the band. I've been doing production for other people, including Robert Wyatt. Check him out. The album we did together, 'Rock Bottom,' I think it's really lasted well. It's a 35-year-old album, but it worked.

The last thing we would want is for our fans to feel that we're trying to find the 17th opportunity to sell them the same song.

Watching something being constructed, whether you're passing a building site or whether you're watching an artist at work, is fascinating, and I think that's the enjoyment.

I have about 40 cars, of which 25 to 30 are what you might call serious.

One tends to look back at the mistakes as the same thing - relinquishing control of something at some point in your career.

I do have electric guitars, because I've always believed, especially when I'm working in the studio with other bands as producer, that there should be a really nice Strat around.

Part of the gestation of 'The Wall' was this business of alienation from the audience, and so the interesting thing was, what 'The Wall' eventually became was something that absolutely engaged the audience.

The problem now with changes in the music industry is that there's almost no point in making records anymore. The only thing really is to tour, and then you're revisiting history. Maybe it's better to leave it, if you see what I mean.

I now believe when I'm dead and buried my tombstone will read, "I'm not entirely sure the band's over."

I never collected cars as a financial thing; I wanted to go racing, so I chose the cars I wanted to go racing with. Like the Ferrari 250 GTO. I bought it because it absolutely fulfilled everything I wanted from a car.

Learning an instrument isn't about becoming a star anymore than learning to swim means you want to become a haddock

Buying a Ferrari is like buying Château Pétrus if you like fine wines. It's the safe choice.