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Noble's sister Sheilagh. Fellow student Richard Wright joined later, and the band became a sextet, taking the name Sigma 6. Waters initially played rhythm guitar before switching to bass, and Wright's girlfriend was a regular guest artist. The band performed initially during private functions, rehearsing in a tearoom in the basement of Regent Street Polytechnic. They played songs by The Searchers, and also material written by fellow student Ken Chapman, who became their manager and songwriter.

In September 1963 Mason and Waters moved into the lower flat of Stanhope Gardens, owned by Mike Leonard, a part-time tutor at the Regent Street Polytechnic. Leonard was a designer of light machines (perforated discs spun by electric motors to cast patterns of lights on the walls) and for a time played keyboard alongside them, using the front room of the flat for rehearsals. Mason later moved out of the flat, while accomplished guitar player Bob Klose moved in. Sigma 6 changed their name on several occasions, from the Megadeaths, to the Architectural Abdabs, and then to The Tea Set.

Metcalfe and Noble left to form their own band, but in 1964 Klose and Waters were joined at Stanhope Gardens by Syd Barrett. Then aged 17, Barrett had arrived in London in late 1963, to study at Camberwell College of Art. Waters and Barrett were childhood friends; the bassist had often visited Barrett as he played guitar at his mother's house.

With the Tea Set lacking Noble and Metcalfe's vocals, Klose introduced the

band to Chris Dennis, a technician with the Royal Air Force. It was during Dennis's tenure that the band was first referred to as The Pink Floyd Sound, created by Barrett on the spur of the moment when he discovered that another band, also named the Tea Set, were to perform at one of their gigs. The name is derived from the given names of two blues musicians whose records Barrett had in his collection, Pink Anderson and Floyd Council. Dennis was posted to Bahrain, thrusting Barrett into the spotlight as frontman. They first performed in a recording studio in December 1964, minus the presence of Wright, who was taking a break from his studies. Through one of his friends, who let them use some "down time" for free, they managed to secure recording time at a studio in West Hampstead. This four-song session became the Tea Set's first demo tape,