{"id":6628,"date":"2014-11-05T05:30:20","date_gmt":"2014-11-05T10:30:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=6628"},"modified":"2016-05-10T12:11:37","modified_gmt":"2016-05-10T16:11:37","slug":"new-crest-on-an-old-wave-the-dave-mason-interview-part-one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2014\/11\/05\/new-crest-on-an-old-wave-the-dave-mason-interview-part-one\/","title":{"rendered":"New Crest on an Old Wave: The Dave Mason Interview (Part One)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Guitarist, singer and songwriter Dave Mason<\/strong> was born in Worcester England, halfway between London and Liverpool. A few years younger even than The Beatles<\/strong>‘ George Harrison<\/strong>, Mason came up in the sort of second wave of British rock acts, first gaining fame as a member of Traffic<\/strong>. Alongside Steve Winwood<\/strong>, Jim Capaldi<\/strong> and Chris Wood<\/strong>, Mason was a major force in the band, most notably on their second LP, 1968’s Traffic<\/em>, on which half of the ten tracks were Mason compositions or co-writes.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

But Mason’s relationship with his bandmates in Traffic was always problematic: he had appeared on their debut LP (writing several songs for it as well) but had left by the time of its release (the American LP used a photo of the band that didn’t include him). His on-again, off-again status in Traffic yielded some excellent tunes \u2013 \u201cHole in My Shoe\u201d (an early hit single), the original version of the now-standard \u201cFeelin’ Alright?\u201d and others \u2013 but ultimately he found himself on the outside of the group.<\/p>\n

By 1970 Mason began a solo career. He also collaborated with Cass Elliot<\/strong> on a well-received album, and thanks to both his skills as a player and his well-connectedness in the rock community, he picked up a lot of high profile session work. If you\u2019re a fan of rock from the late 60s though the mid 1970s, you’ve probably got a good bit of Dave Mason in your collection, whether you know it or not. He’s on albums by The Rolling Stones<\/strong>, Jimi Hendrix<\/strong> (that’s him on acoustic twelve-string on \u201cAll Along the Watchtower\u201d), Paul McCartney and Wings<\/strong>, Stephen Stills<\/strong>, Delaney and Bonnie<\/strong> and more. He was even \u2013 for a time in the mid 1990s \u2013 a member of Fleetwood Mac<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

As a solo artist, Mason enjoyed several hit singles, including \u201cOnly You Know and I Know\u201d (1970), 1977’s \u201cWe Just Disagree\u201d and several others. These days, Mason concentrates more on public performances than studio work \u2013 as we’ll see in a moment \u2013 but he’s touring now in support of a new album called Future’s Past<\/em>. Alongside new songs, the album \u2013 and its accompanying tour \u2013 takes an encompassing look at Mason’s musical career, most pointedly back to his earliest days in Traffic. In advance of his upcoming Asheville date (Saturday November 8 at The Orange Peel), we chatted about the new album, music old and new, and the state of what used to be called \u201cradio.\u201d The first thing I noticed was that \u2013 to my great surprise \u2013 having moved to the States decades ago, Mason has all but lost his British accent.<\/p>\n

Bill Kopp:<\/strong> On the early Traffic albums \u2013 especially the second, self-titled one \u2013 your songwriting was a key component of the band’s sound. Did you bring those songs to the band, or did they develop out of group jamming to which you eventually applied lyrics?<\/span><\/p>\n

Dave Mason:<\/strong> No, they were already written; that’s how I work. Which was sort of a conflict with the rest of them in the band, really. But I usually have a pretty good idea of what the song’s going to be, before I even walk into a studio. Other than how the other musicians might interpret it, the song itself is finished.<\/p>\n

BK:<\/strong> Judging by the versions of old Traffic-era songs on Future’s Past<\/em>, some of the arrangements are often quite different from the versions that Traffic recorded…<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

DM:<\/strong> Yeah, \u201cDear Mr. Fantasy\u201d \u2013 which is not my song anyway \u2013 the original is in a major key. I put it in a minor key, and added a few more chords. I didn’t change the melody, but I changed it musically, adapted it. I don’t see the point in trying to reproduce what was already done.<\/p>\n

BK:<\/strong> It seems that after your work with Traffic, Delaney and Bonnie, Cass Elliot, Derek and the Dominoes<\/strong> and a number of highly regarded guest spots on some of my favorite early to mid 1970s albums, you largely made a decision to work with your own bands. Is that an accurate characterization, or did it just sort of evolve that way?<\/span><\/p>\n

DM:<\/strong> Well, there really was no [laughs sardonically] \u2013 it’s hard to put it into the right terms \u2013 there was really no place for me in Traffic any more. That’s why I went on my own. And then at that point, rather than staying in England, I thought it was time to pack a bag and come to the land where it all originated.<\/p>\n

BK:<\/strong> Do you find fronting a band more appealing than, say, a more collaborative approach? <\/span><\/p>\n

DM:<\/strong> [Lengthy pause while he mulls the question] I never wanted to be a solo artist per se<\/em>. I always liked being part of a band; I thought that differences were what made things stronger. It sort of just turned out this way, I guess. And then I had to sort of [chuckles] learn to stand up there in front and \u201cbe the guy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Click here to continue<\/a>…<\/em><\/p>\n

Follow \u201cthe_musoscribe\u201d on \"\" Twitter<\/a> and get notified
\nwhen new features, reviews and essays are published.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Guitarist, singer and songwriter Dave Mason was born in Worcester England, halfway between London and Liverpool. A few years younger even than The Beatles‘ George Harrison, Mason came up in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10792,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41,44,49,62],"tags":[237,626,1625,2257],"class_list":["post-6628","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interview","category-live-shows","category-new-release","category-rawk","tag-asheville","tag-dave-mason","tag-orange-peel","tag-traffic","cat-41-id","cat-44-id","cat-49-id","cat-62-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6628","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6628"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6628\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10793,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6628\/revisions\/10793"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10792"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}