The Reason Roger Waters Nearly Killed Nick Mason

Former Pink Floyd bassist and co-lead vocalist Roger Waters is known for his endless feud with former bandmates, especially with guitarist and co-lead vocalist David Gilmour. However, there was one time when all the band members got along and were somewhat close friends.

The controversial musician had a really good relationship with drummer Nick Mason, and the duo has several hilarious stories to prove that. Despite the on and off tension between the two, they once had such a close bond and pranked each other. Waters even endangered the drummer’s life once with one of the most British jokes ever.

Roger Waters And Nick Mason Have A Close Relationship

Roger Waters and Nick Mason co-founded Pink Floyd in 1964 alongside the three other original members. From then on, the duo remained bandmates until Waters’ departure in 1985 and worked on countless legendary albums such as ‘The Dark Side of the Moon,’ ‘Wish You Were Here,’ and ‘The Wall.’

Despite the personal tensions between the band members, especially between David Gilmour and Waters, Nick Mason and Roger Waters were actually good friends during their time as bandmates. To this date, they have managed to maintain a close relationship, and according to the bassist, they still see each other.

Roger Waters Almost Killed Nick Mason

Being close friends gave them the freedom to prank each other, and one of their deadly jokes was revealed by the Pink Floyd icon. During an interview about the band’s early days in 2015, Roger Waters opened up about his relationship with former bandmate Nick Mason when they were young and with Pink Floyd. The musician recalled nearly causing the passing of Mason.

While they were rehearsing for the band, the band members were served two cups of hot tea. Since Waters is a whimsical rocker, he ambushed his bandmate until he was about to take a sip from his hot tea. That’s when he said the word ‘yacht’ out of nowhere to make his fellow musician laugh.

His joke worked as the drummer burst into tears while laughing, yet his explosion caused the hot tea to come out of his nostrils, leaving Mason with incredible pain. While you would expect Waters to help his friend, he was actually too busy laughing. Fortunately, the musician quickly recovered from the unimaginable burning sensation in his nose and escaped death that day.

Explaining the story, Waters said:

I nearly killed him once when we were young. We were rehearsing so the band must have been already going. We used to try to create situations so dangerous for each other. So we were doing something, somebody just served us really hot cups of tea.

I waited until he’s halfway through the gulp of tea and I don’t know why this triggered him but I just said the word, ‘yacht’ in the middle of this big sip. It got him completely. He just exploded and these two rivers of scolding tea came out from his nose as he burst out.

Then he was writhing, he was in agony. I thought, ‘Oh my God! I’ve killed him.’ I couldn’t help him because I was laughing too much but he eventually recovered. If you ever meet him, you should ask him, ‘Roger says he nearly killed you one day.’ He would go ‘Yeah, he did.’ ‘Yacht’ was the keyword.”

You can watch the interview below.