Wayne Mason is one of New Zealand's finest and most respected singer/songwriters. With a musical history spanning forty years of commitment to the New Zealand music scene, Mason continues to write songs that stand the test of time.
In 2001 Mason's song ‘Nature’ once again hit the spotlight when it was voted the number one song for the past 75 years by members of APRA (Australasian Performance Rights Association).
In 2002 Mason was recognised on the Queens Birthday Honours list and became a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit (MNZM)for services to the Music Industry.
"His list of firsts and all-round accomplishments on the Kiwi rock scene must have guaranteed him a place in the Kiwi Hall of fame, surely." Gary Steele
2008, a new year and a new album with Sense Got Out being released in late March. Mason's third album under his own name and his first with his band "The Fallen Angels".
The title song ‘Sense Got Out’ was a finalist in the prestigious US based International Songwriting Competition (ISC) in 2006, judged by some of the world's top musicians.
Sense Got Out is a collection of great tunes infused with the darker lyric and Mason says this album has some of his best work yet.
An album that's a bit of a journey through alt pop/folk/rock styles with some emotional dizziness thrown in...with a very hot band "The Fallen Angels"
A keen observer of human nature, Mason doesn't hold back with a lyrical intensity that reflects his song writing craft. He continues to shape and sharpen his words with plenty to observe in the everyday of his relationships with people and landscapes, both inside and out.
Mason was a founding member of "The Fourmyula", one of New Zealand's most successful pop bands - renowned for breaking the tradition of recording covers and making a stand to write and record their own original material.
"The policy of releasing cover versions denied many bands the chance to express themselves throughout the 60's...if anyone can claim a major role towards homegrown compositions, it was the Fourmyula, who cracked the New Zealand Hit Parade on nine occasions, and in 1969 a Fourmyula song featured on every chart of the year. They were huge, they were talented, they wrote all but one of their dozen releases." John Dix, Stranded in Paradise
While recording and touring in England in 1970 , Mason's song "Nature" reached number one back in New Zealand and that same year he was awarded the APRA Silver Scroll. He has since been a finalist on two other occasions for "Tightrope" and "Rain from a Blue Sky".
Mason is never far from his guitar or piano and has been a major player and songwriter with other successful New Zealand bands including "Rockinghorse" and "The Warratahs".
Mason's song "Hands of my Heart", written prior to The Warratahs, became their first top twenty hit. It's a song he still plays with his current band The Fallen Angels giving it a fast and furious boogie woogie twist. Mason is without doubt one of New Zealand's foremost barrelhouse piano players, audiences are captivated by his frenzied hand movements as he produces a powerful piano performance.
After leaving The Warratahs in 1994, Mason decided it was time to pursue a solo career. He had been involved in bands since the sixties, contributing to over twenty five albums and singles. His songs were covered by other artists both nationally and internationally - it was time to be upfront and personal with his own songs and his own shows.
In 1995 he released "Between Frames" an album produced and engineered by Nigel Stone with long time friends and musical buddies Ross Burge (MuttonBirds)on drums and Clinton Brown (Rockinghorse, Warratahs) on bass.
"Between Frames" received plenty of critical acclaim and Mason was touring again under his own name. It was time to come out from behind the comfortable place of a well known band and introduce "Wayne Mason".
"Between Frames...a world class songwriter album. We all knew Mason could write melodies, we all knew he could play, but how many of us knew about that wonderfully rich, yet suitably road-weary voice, or that rare poetic ability to somehow make the everyday things seem really important." Real Groove
In 1998 Mason headed to Europe, Britain and Ireland and soon realised how eagerly European audiences engaged and enjoyed his songs and was often asked back for encores.
They were particularly aware how the sentiment of his songs transcended cultural and geographical boundaries. If there was a ‘language' barrier, audiences always understood his songs; songs from the heart.
His live performance is passionate and powerful, intimate and intense, impossible to ignore. Lyrics that get under the skin and melodies that won't leave you alone.
In 2000 Mason started recording his second album. For a few days each month, he would travel on the Overlander train to Auckland to spend time with Steve Garden (engineer/drums) and Clinton Brown (producer/bass) at Steve's recording studio - "The Garden Shed".
They had all shared time together in the band Rockinghorse and were having a great time being back together again. What emerged after some months, were 11 songs written from different times in Mason's life, from his travels overseas, to observations on life, people and relationships. Mason decided to include 'Nature' and 'Turn Your Back on the Wind' , songs he wrote when with The Fourmyula.
It was also a great privilege for Mason to have Sharon O'Neill feature on the hauntingly beautiful first track "Cold Wind Bay" and "All She Ever Wanted". Also the wonderful voices of Kim Willougby, Jackie Clarke and Callie Blood can be heard on ‘Back from Over There’ and ‘This Fire’.
"Mason's lyrics trace so clearly the geography of the heartland as well as the heart; the melodies themselves feel elemental, as ageless as a sou'wester, as permanent as the hills." Nick Bollinger
"If there ever was any doubts about Mason's status as one of the most gifted New Zealand troubadours, songs such as 'Cold Wind Bay' and 'Same Boy' will erase them. Kiwi albums don't come much better." The Evening Post
"Wayne Mason has a mainline to the heart and heartland...his new album Same Boy (Jayrem) finds him again on typically excellent form. Mason explores local, yet universal images and symbols of land, sea and sky.....a lovely album best considered late in the evening, or a warm afternoon, or when the highway unfurls beyond the windshield. Same boy, but a national
treasure." Graham Reid NZ Herald
Although major commercial success has eluded him, Mason remains a major New Zealand songwriter, dedicated to his craft and passion regardless of his lack of public recognition.
Mason also contributes to the NZ Music Commission as a Music Mentor and has worked with a number of students inspiring them in the art of songwriting.
ENDS
www.waynemason.co.nz
www.myspace.com/waynemasonandthefallenangels
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