For awhile there it looked as though the Masons’ 1999 debut album was going to be their only album. Band leader and songwriter Kraig Mason never stopped writing songs, though, and gentle prodding from a friend who just so happened to run a record label (75 Or Less) spurred him to properly record the songs with a band. And not just any band —The Masons mach 2007 includes such local luminaries as Dave Narcizo (Throwing Muses) on drums, Don Sanders (Medicine Ball) on guitar and vocals, and Jeffrey Underhill (Honeybunch, Velvet Crush) on guitar and keyboards. All these great players work to put Kraig’s charming stories front and center. “Theo”, for instance, draws on the author’s own experience of falling for a dog who’s already taken. (Thankfully he gets visitation rights.)
The band are playing a couple of shows in RI this summer.
The first is at Jake’s on Richmond St on June 9th. The excellent Blizzard of ’78 headline.
The second show is at July 29th at Billy Goode’s in Newport, RI.
I’ll be at Jake’s ’cause Newport at the height of summer is too much for me to handle. (The crowds, the drunken idiots, the traffic jams…) But either show will be well worth your while.
The Masons’ album is available from 75 Or Less Records. More samples and info at the band’s MySpace page.
IMAGE BY JULIE DOUCET FROM HER NEW BOOK ELLE HUMOUR