Steve Mason is no stranger to these pages. We’ve loved his solo stuff in the past, and some of us have been following him since his days with the Beta Band. He has his fifth solo album out now, entitled Brothers And Sisters, and as Mark Perkins has been championing his music from the start, who better to send off to have a chat with him?
I’m loving the new album. I found it a really joyous, even at times uplifting, album, which is quite unusual for you. It’s your first album since 2019, so I’m guessing you started writing it during lockdown?
Yes, I started writing it in about June 2020, just as the lockdown started. Some people I know were pretty creative in that period, but I struggled massively. It made me realise that you need to have a stable life in order to be creative. After a time, you sort of get used to that bizarre way of living, but initially, for me, it was a struggle. I knew what I wanted to achieve, but it was difficult getting there. I was continually writing stuff, then deleting it and starting again; but eventually, I got to the point where I said to myself, you can’t just keep deleting everything you do, so I got to just deleting the bits I didn’t like. That way, I eventually ended up with some music. When I finally got in a rhythm, it got easier. I went down to Margate, with Susumu Mukai and Alexis Taylor, we worked on a couple of tracks that I had, and that set the tone for the whole record. Finally making music with other people was so good. You felt during lockdown that you’re never going to be able to do that again. Susumu did drum machines, or just played recorder – things that sat in the background, not stuff that was upfront, but stuff that set the overall mood. Then I spent perhaps a month in Brixton with Tev’n, who produced the album, developing material. Tev’n is younger than me, he’d never really heard my stuff, and had certainly never heard of the Beta Band, so it was refreshing to approach the music with no baggage whatsoever. He wasn’t trying to make me make the album he thought I should be making at that point in my career. He took everything on face value.
One of my favourite tracks is Brixton Fish Fry, which seems to sum up the spirit of collaboration on the album.
Susumu pushed it in the direction you hear now. The basic track was worked to a solid point, and then the various elements were assembled around it, the last piece being the incredible vocals by Pakistani singer Javid Bashir. I was introduced to the world of Indian Cinema in the mid-90s, and whilst I could take or leave some of the plots, the music I found absolutely incredible, particularly the films from the 70s and 80s. They just seemed so lawless, slightly chaotic, incredibly beautiful and sonically so raw. I had always wanted to capture elements of these sounds in my own music, and in fact, attempted to record in India with the Beta Band, but in the end it didn’t happen. I was determined to integrate some elements of Indian music into the album, and the first piece of the puzzle was using an instrument called the Santoor. Its melodic sound is all over Indian music on film soundtracks, but it is really difficult to play. Enter Kaviraj Singh, one of the very very few people in the UK who have mastered this instrument. Next, I needed a singer. Someone who could bring a spiritual element into the music. Two singers who really stood out to me were Saieen Zahoor and Javid Bashir, who are both from Pakistan. After much consideration, I approached Javid because he had a background in both sufi music and Indian/Pakistani film soundtracks. And he could also play the Harmonium, which I also wanted on the album. We chatted for some time over Zoom, and I explained my love of Indian and Pakistani music, and my connection to Kashmir through my wife’s family. I outlined the concept of the record and how I wanted it to be a statement against the direction Britain has gone in recently, and how I wanted it to represent all the innumerable and indispensable things we take for granted that immigration and movement of people and culture has brought here. Like everybody involved in the making of this record, he understood immediately and was very happy to be part of everything. Both his contributions took my breath away and even made my wife cry. The connection of her family and culture being brought together with me and my music was very powerful for us as a family; it encapsulated in a moment the entire purpose and point of this album.
The album is a testament to my disgust with Brexit and anti-immigration policies. I wanted to make a record that celebrates collaboration and the things that other cultures bring to our country because immigration is just one massive collaboration. People arrive here, we see what they’re doing, they see what we’re doing, and at some point, we all get together and create something else. For me, that’s one of the great beauties of life. Going against that is such a backwards way of thinking. For me, the best way is to stay positive, to have hope and to keep moving forward – living your life as you want the world to be.
The album is a testament to my disgust with Brexit and anti-immigration policies.
And you’re playing the O2 Academy on April 21st. Can we expect a fair few from the new album?
It’s always a balance, isn’t it? Everything is hopefully a development; I don’t really look back and I’m trying to move on. Some of the old stuff sits better with the new stuff than others. I guess I used to write a lot about my feelings, my depression, and those songs are difficult to play live, as I don’t feel that anymore. It’s like being thrown into a room with your old self or reading your old diaries. We’ve not started rehearsal yet, but I suppose there will be a good few new tracks in the setlist. I’m just really looking forward to playing live and lifting people’s spirits. I used to write a lot about politics, but now I want people to leave the gig uplifted, fulfilled and ready for the fight! I’d rather give people a break than rant at them about things they already know are happening. I want people to come to the shows, enter a world free from all that kind of negative energy and try to create something positive, something which can galvanise all of us.
Steve Mason plays Sheffield’s O2 Academy 2 on 21st April. Tickets (£28) are available from Ticketmaster now.
