{"id":30172,"date":"2025-11-05T05:30:02","date_gmt":"2025-11-05T10:30:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=30172"},"modified":"2025-10-18T09:57:48","modified_gmt":"2025-10-18T13:57:48","slug":"the-new-mastersounds-goodbye-but-not-farewell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/05\/the-new-mastersounds-goodbye-but-not-farewell\/","title":{"rendered":"The New Mastersounds: Goodbye But Not Farewell"},"content":{"rendered":"

This feature originally ran in <\/em>Good Times<\/span> ahead of the band’s October 23 date in Santa Cruz, CA<\/span>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

When guitarist Eddie Roberts and drummer Simon Allen launched the New Mastersounds in Leeds, England in 1999, it never occurred to them that the band would thrive for more than a quarter decade. Growing out of an earlier band called the Mastersounds, their soul\/funk\/jazz hybrid was an immediate hit in clubs throughout the UK. And thanks to the group\u2019s winning, signature sound \u2013 rounded out by bassist Pete Shand and organist Joe Tatton \u2013 the New Mastersounds gained a loyal following thrilled by dynamic live shows and top-notch studio releases.<\/p>\n

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In the group\u2019s early years, the New Mastersounds collaborated with a number of big names; Corinne Bailey Rae sang on 2003\u2019s \u201cYour Love is Mine,\u201d and the group cut a live album with soul jazz legend Lou Donaldson in 2004. But the band remained primarily a UK phenomenon. \u201cWe never thought we\u2019d play in America,\u201d says Roberts, \u201clet alone play in America for 21 years.\u201d But they did, starting in \u201804, becoming a hit with jazz and jam band fans alike.<\/p>\n

These days, Roberts is based in Denver, while the other members of the group are at home across the Atlantic. Shand lives on Menorca, one of the Balearic Islands off Spain\u2019s south coast. Tatton is based in Manchester, England. \u201cAnd Simon is still in Leeds, where the band started,\u201d Roberts says.\u201d<\/p>\n

That spread-out quality means that it\u2019s a logistical challenge to assemble the group for recording dates and live shows, much less multi-city tours. And so after 25 years, the New Mastersounds are \u2013 after a fashion \u2013 calling it quits. \u201cWe\u2019ve decided that it\u2019s better to retire gracefully than continue to slog ourselves on the road,\u201d Roberts explains. \u201cPete is 64. I\u2019m 54, and the others are shortly behind me,\u201d he says. \u201cAfter 26 years on the road, we\u2019ve paid our dues.\u201d<\/p>\n

But the band\u2019s current tour \u2013 dubbed \u201cTa Ta for Now\u201d \u2013 doesn\u2019t quite spell the end for the popular foursome. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t mean that we\u2019re not going to play anymore,\u201d Roberts says. It\u2019s simply that the infrastructure required to make touring a going concern for the band requires at least 200 live dates annually. \u201cAnd that\u2019s not something that we can do at this point in our lives and career,\u201d Roberts says. \u201cIt\u2019s not like we hate each other,\u201d he says with a chuckle. \u201cIt\u2019s really that we\u2019re retiring from touring<\/i>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Roberts clarifies that the New Mastersounds aren\u2019t quitting as a band. \u201cWe\u2019ll probably play some shows in Menorca every summer, because Pete\u2019s there; we can go hang out with him,\u201d Roberts says with a smile. \u201cAnd we may do the odd show here and there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Recording and album releases will continue, Roberts promises. In fact, immediately before the band\u2019s date at Moe\u2019s Alley, they\u2019ll be cutting a new album at the newly-reopened Record Plant in Sausalito. \u201cWe\u2019re going to rehearse a bit, cut some new tunes and get some new material to play,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd we\u2019ll get a couple of guests to sing with us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Future albums from the group are likely to be released by Color Red Records, the label Roberts founded in 2018. In addition to his role as the band\u2019s guitarist, he also runs the label and manages other artists. Color Red has released titles from the Polyrhythmics, Breakestra, WRD, Freekbass, Electric Beethoven, Omar Coleman, The Rare Sounds, Geoff Mann and many others; in less than a decade the label has put out about 70 albums, plus a bevy of singles. \u201cWe released a single a week for the first three years,\u201d Roberts says.<\/p>\n

The label\u2019s Vinyl Club program has served as a successful launching pad for many acts. \u201cWe put out a brand new original album every month,\u201d Roberts explains. \u201cThat really gives us strength in numbers; we know we\u2019re going to sell a certain amount on the first day, which makes it an attractive proposal for independent artists. It\u2019s a really good platform for making new music.\u201d<\/p>\n

Building on the Color Red Vinyl Club\u2019s stateside success, Robert has his eye on expansion. \u201cWe want to launch it in Europe,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd my grand scheme is to get it going in Japan as well. It\u2019s a tricky market, but I think it could work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even with the New Mastersounds winding down their touring schedule, Roberts is busier than ever. Beyond Color Red and management duties, he\u2019s active with his other band, the Lucky Strokes. He\u2019s also scheduled to cut an album in New Orleans with Robert Walter and Stanton Moore. And in between all that, Roberts \u2013 a licensed sea captain \u2013 leads musical cruises in the Mediterranean, joined by musical co-hosts like Walter and New Mastersounds band mate Joe Tatton. \u201cWe charter a 50-foot catamaran and take people out from Croatia; we do six or eight trips a year,\u201d Roberts says.<\/p>\n

But right now Eddie Roberts is focused squarely on the upcoming recording session and the Moe\u2019s Alley show that immediately follows it. The October 23 show is the very first night of a 24-city tour. \u201cWe may even go into the studio that morning,\u201d Roberts says. \u201cSo we\u2019re going to be fresh, and we\u2019re going to be on<\/i>.\u201d Leavening the bittersweet news of his band closing its touring years, Roberts shares some tantalizing news: \u201cI expect that Santa Cruz will be the first audience to hear a bunch of brand-new material.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This feature originally ran in Good Times ahead of the band’s October 23 date in Santa Cruz, CA.\u00a0 When guitarist Eddie Roberts and drummer Simon Allen launched the New Mastersounds […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":30173,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[31,41,42],"tags":[1574,2171],"class_list":["post-30172","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-funk","category-interview","category-jazz","tag-new-mastersounds","tag-the-new-mastersounds","cat-31-id","cat-41-id","cat-42-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30172","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30172"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30172\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30174,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30172\/revisions\/30174"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30173"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30172"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30172"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30172"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}