They turned the stage over to a pair of rockers, Wide Mouth Mason getting funky with covers of Prince’s Raspberry Beret and David Bowie’s Modern love among their repertoire.
Source: Tinnitist
By Darryl Sterdan
Posted: August 30, 2022
That infectious four-minute slice of cultural cross-pollination may be the most eclectic track this talented trio have ever recorded. But it’s hardly out of place on this inspired and adventurous album. The 14-cut Rained Out Parade finds the Masons moving light-years beyond their Prairie blues-rock roots, augmenting their catchy melodies, soaring vocals, breakup-song lyrics and powerful performances with everything from futuristically cutting-edge production to earthy Indian tabla. Like Come Out To Go, a lot of the combinations shouldn’t work on paper — but they invariably (and usually inexplicably) do, confirming Rained Out Parade’s status as the most creative and distinctive disc of Wide Mouth Mason’s career. These boys deserve a parade.
With Wide Mouth Mason in the midst of preparing new music, we’ve taken the time to update our Gigography section with past and future tour dates from 2021 and 2022. For the years prior to 2021, please contact us to provide us with your concert memories that are not yet listed!
As for upcoming gigs, there are two in September 2022 to look forward to!
Wide Mouth Mason’s set begins at 8pm at the Southside Shuffle, part of the 24th Annual Port Credit Blues and Jazz Festival located at the Memorial Park Festival Grounds in Port Credit (32 Stavebank Road, Port Credit, ON).
Wide Mouth Mason takes the stage at 8pm at the Saanich Fair on September 4, 2022 (1528 Stellys Cross Road, Saanichton, BC V8M 1S8).
Remastered for vinyl by Dany Laj in commemoration of Stew’s 20th anniversary.
Multi-Gold selling and multi-JUNO Award nominated Canadian blues rockers Wide Mouth Mason announce the forthcoming 20th Anniversary reissue of Stew this November 27th, 2020 to be released as a limited edition LP by the band and their management, We Are Busy Bodies. The original album was released by Warner Music Canada and licensed to the band for the anniversary release.
“Stew was intentionally Wide Mouth Mason’s funkiest offspring,” original band member Shaun Verreault, along with Safwan Javed, recalls. “It showcased a specific subset of our musical influences, and was a mashup of musical styles passed through the filter of Wide Mouth Mason.”
“But it was also a case study for Wide Mouth Mason to better understand those musical styles,” Javed adds “We’d been listening to a lot of Marvin Gaye, James Brown, Jimi Hendrix’s Band of Gypsies, and the like. Meanwhile, our good friend Gordie (Johnson, Big Sugar), who produced it, was hipping us to bands like The Meters and The Gap Band. We dug in and deconstructed the component parts of records that were undeniably funky.”
Inspired by the tunes and arrangements on those records, Wide Mouth Mason honed in on the audio ingredients to utilize. “Drums that were punchy and taut, almost 808-like, the bass ran simultaneously through a bass amp, and a little guitar amp hanging on for dear life,” Verreault muses. “We made falsetto harmonies — almost like horn parts — a recurring theme, and broadened the sonic palette with some keyboard parts by Gordie, and a string section.”
“Though we’d plotted a defined sonic mission statement, there was a lot of room for happy accidents and spontaneous invention,” Javed says. “They were fun, funny, joyful sessions.”
Pre-Order the STEW Vinyl at: We Are Busy Bodies.
Wide Mouth Mason will be taking part in the 54th Annual Variety Show of Hearts Telethon airing on Global BC from 9:30 am to 5:30 pm on Sunday, February 9, 2020. Call 310-KIDS (in BC) or donate online at variety.bc.ca to help kids in BC with special needs.
Happy New Wide Mouth Mason Album Day! Updated the Discography & Lyrics section of the site to add Wide Mouth Mason’s newest album, I Wanna Go With You, that is released digitally on October 25, 2019. Pre-orders for CDs and the limited pressing of LPs are available through We Are Busy Bodies. Tag your social media posts on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram with #IWGWYxWMM so we can see what you think of the new album!
As announced recently on social media, Wide Mouth Mason will be part of the 35th Anniversary celebrations at Edmonton’s Blues on Whyte on November 1, 2019. Tickets are now on sale via ShowPass.
In anticipation of Wide Mouth Mason’s eighth album, I Wanna Go With You, that is released digitally through We Are Busy Bodies on October 25, 2019, we have a lyric video for the song “Erase Any Trace” on Wide Mouth Mason’s YouTube channel. Listen to this track on the We Are Busy Bodies soundcloud at: https://soundcloud.com/wearebusybodies/erase-any-trace
Pre-Order.
CD: https://we-are-busy-bodies.myshopify.com/products/wide-mouth-mason-i-wanna-go-with-you-cd-pre-order
LP: https://we-are-busy-bodies.myshopify.com/products/wide-mouth-mason-i-wanna-go-with-you-pre-order
Wide Mouth Mason’s eighth album, I Wanna Go With You, will be released digitally through We Are Busy Bodies on October 25, with vinyl and CD to come soon after. Vinyl is limited to 300 copies and is colour in colour. It comes with a download code. Digital pre-order coming soon.
Listen to Erase Any Trace – https://soundcloud.com/wearebusybodies/erase-any-trace
Pre-Order.
CD: https://we-are-busy-bodies.myshopify.com/products/wide-mouth-mason-i-wanna-go-with-you-cd-pre-order
LP: https://we-are-busy-bodies.myshopify.com/products/wide-mouth-mason-i-wanna-go-with-you-pre-order
I Wanna Go With You Tracklisting