Zen and the Art of Wide Mouth Mason
New album Stew debuts with funky grooves, lyrical delights
Hey whats up/ Its Earl Here
So if you are reading this
Youve probably already listened to the music
from the inside CD cover
Who:
Wide Mouth MasonWhere
: Dustys BarWhen
: March 31Just like their interview style, Wide Mouth Masons album Stew is very personable, and a little bit funky.
A note from each member of the Saskatchewan trio Shaun Verreault, Earl Pereira, and Safwan Javed adds a personal touch to the cartoony, outer-space feel of their latest album cover, designed by A Man Called Wrycraft.
Verreault also has a similar ethereal calm when you chat to him about making music and his long-term band.
"You get better at things as a band as you do them," says Verreault, whose long days of play as an only child left him eyeing the guitar.
"When I first picked up a guitar my fingers immediately hurt, and I couldnt play," describes Verreault.
"Then I started to see the guitar as more of a toy, and at a really primal level, making noise made me happy."
The trio, who have been together since high school, once played under the name Mason, a king who had his mouth opened up by a wizards spell. The name was made up by Pereiras sister, but became the foundation for their long-term name, Wide Mouth Mason.
Javeds percussion and vocals add to the R&B-with-funk mixture that is the Wide Mouth Mason sound. Their results are courtesy of new producer, Gordie Johnson of Big Sugar. Johnson describes the lead track on the new album, Whos There, as a combo of "dirty guitar riffs."
This was the first time the band worked with a producer.
"Producers leave a big enough imprint on a band, but you really need them to say, trust me, thats the take," says Verreault.
Wide Mouth Mason opened for Big Sugar on 25 dates of a cross-Canada tour, and were dubbed by one review as "Sweeter than Big Sugar."
Verreault says Wide Mouth Mason considers the studio a "really big instrument," with lights, buttons, and whistles at their fingertips.
Studio productions have included debut album Nazarene in 1996. After a self-titled follow-up in 1998, reviewers like Drop-d magazine were describing them as an "alternative blues trio."
Their album Where I Started was released in 1999.
The Bridges to Babylon tour was one of many cross-Canada junkets.
"We were young guys in a horrible old van at one point there was actually a hole in the van where you could see the road and the newness of it was exciting. Youre on the road, 19, with a few of your friends: its a never-ending adventure!" he says.
The atmosphere of these live shows sheds a different perspective on song creation.
"Theres muscle in your back that gets you going in live performances," he says
"The surroundings (on stage at a live show) are also some of the biological pharmaceuticals you experience, and weve had some top audiences."
And some unusual ones.
"One fan had this crazy theology bent on one of our albums with songs like Mary Mary and The Preacher Man Song, I think he was a PhD student," says Verreault.
"He would point out different words and say hey man, isnt this song about that, and doesnt that refer to this part of the story?" he adds.
They hadnt really seen it that way, but Verreault says fans and their interpretations keep their thought process fresh.
"If someone wants to look deeply into our lyrics, thats great," adds Verreault.
"But if they like the fuzz in one of Earls guitar riffs, then thats good too."
He tells the story of a more unusual gig. When tour managers were left in the lurch for a metal show, they made a quick call to the trio.
"We ended up doing a seven-week run with AC/DC after Slash cancelled his shows. Every night wed be out there, with the audience yelling wheres the guy with the big hair?" he laughs.
"The promoter was not about to advertise that he wasnt playing, but youre in that frame of mind where you have to make the audience get it," adds Verreault.
"It may take some massaging, but well get them!" he says, adding that after three or four songs the fans would mellow out, easing up their fussing.
"You learn to live the life of a musician," he adds.
Touring is always a journey.
Wide Mouth Mason will self-produce their next album.
"Its great, when were in Whistler, we see our Whistler friends, and the same applies for other touring destinations."
And on the personable note, Wide Mouth Mason also donate their playing time to gigs like HOPE, the non-profit association which assists with fund-raising events that support local charities.
And if youre not sure what the album art means, which includes lime green clouds superimposed with wrench-like shapes, or what Bushi Su is all about, thats just fine.
Wide Mouth Mason are pretty flexible.