{"title":"Steve Mason","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSteve Mason is a Scottish musician, best known as the lead singer and one of the founding members of The Beta Band. With his unique sound and innovative approach to music, Steve has captivated audiences worldwide. His talent for blending genres and creating memorable melodies has earned him critical acclaim and a dedicated fan base. Whether performing live or recording in the studio, Steve's passion for music shines through in every note he plays. Explore his extensive discography and discover why he is considered one of the most influential artists of his generation.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThroughout his career, Steve Mason has consistently pushed boundaries and challenged musical conventions. From his early days with The Beta Band to his successful solo projects, he has never been afraid to experiment with different styles and sounds. This fearless approach has resulted in a diverse body of work that spans multiple genres, including indie rock, folktronica, and psychedelic pop.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn addition to his musical endeavors, Steve is also an outspoken advocate for social justice issues. He uses his platform to raise awareness about important causes such as climate change and inequality. Through both his music and activism, Steve continues to inspire others to make a positive impact on the world around them.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"brothers-and-sisters-8","title":"Brothers and Sisters","description":"\u003cp\u003eSteve Mason releases his fifth solo album, \u003ci\u003eBrothers and Sisters,\u003c\/i\u003e on Double Six. His most open, honest and vibrant solo record to date, it marries the personal and the political but does so in an emotive and uplifting manner. Written against a backdrop of fear and uncertainty, and at a time when those in charge lurched from one disaster to the next mismanagement with increasing regularity, \u003ci\u003eBrothers and Sisters\u003c\/i\u003e is in fact an incredibly joyous, even spiritual, listen.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWith musical contributions from feted Pakistani singer Javed Bashir, British gospel singers Jayando Cole, Keshia Smith, Connie McCall and Adrian Blake and Kaviraj Singh on the santoor  it’s a record about bringing people together through art, music and culture.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e “To me, this record is a massive ‘Fuck you’ to Brexit,” explains Mason. “And a giant ‘Fuck you’ to anyone that is terrified of immigration because there is nothing that immigration has brought to this country that isn’t to be applauded. Can you imagine what this place would be like without that [immigration]? I mean what would it be like? Cornish pasties and morris dancing?.”\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Double Six","offers":[{"title":"Gold | LP | x2","offer_id":50382802780491,"sku":"2002077","price":29.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"CD","offer_id":50382802420043,"sku":"2002075","price":9.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"LP","offer_id":50382802551115,"sku":"2002076","price":27.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/stevemason_brotherssisters_3000_880a9ca8_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1726259537"},{"product_id":"monkey-minds-in-the-devil-s-time","title":"Monkey Minds In The Devil's Time","description":"\u003cp\u003eLimited double heavyweight gatefold vinyl with download. Beta Band mainman finally makes his masterpiece. 8 years of personal and musical frustration for Mason since the Beta Band split have been poured into 'Monkey Minds In The Devil's Time, an album so full of ideas, political anger and great tunes that it resembles the classic album the Beta band promised but never quite made.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"No Label","offers":[{"title":"LP | x2","offer_id":50409890185547,"sku":"358390","price":27.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/0b4e0721-f787-47fc-8e9c-326ff220a190_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1726631319"},{"product_id":"about-the-light","title":"About The Light","description":"\u003cp\u003eNew album from Steve Mason - his 4th solo album - and having written most of his previous albums alone, \u003ci\u003eAbout The Light \u003c\/i\u003emarks a change in approach for Steve. “I decided with this album that I wanted to get my live band involved at every stage because I wanted to capture the energy that we produce when we play live shows, so this time the band and myself worked on a collection of songs over the course of last year,” he explains. Picking Stephen Street to produce the album, and with a very clear plan in mind, from the off the goal was to capture the songs live and draw out their soulful elements. Talking about the process, Stephen Street says, “Steve explained that he wanted to make this album with his band playing more ‘live’ than on some of his previous offerings and also to augment the songs with brass and female backing vocalists. I felt this approach of first stripping back the songs to a more ‘live’ feel to create more space for the more ‘soulful’ elements to breathe in was an interesting one and we got down to work!”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eRecorded at studios in London and Brighton, \u003ci\u003eAbout The Light\u003c\/i\u003e, sees a subtle yet noticeable evolution in Steve’s sound. “When I listen to this album it feels and sounds like the first ‘legitimate’ record that I have ever made. It’s hard to explain but it sounds like a ‘real’ album. I think that is partly the production, the playing and the work that I did with the band for all those months in our rehearsal room on the South Coast,” says Steve “It’s a beautiful, confident, positive, angry, loving and gentle album which once again moves what I do forward,” he adds. “David Bowie said that you should always be slightly out of your comfort zone if you want to achieve greatness, and for the first time perhaps ever, I deliberately pushed myself into that place. Who doesn’t want greatness?”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eLP - Heavyweight Black Vinyl with Download.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eLP+ - Limited Indies Only Heavyweight Silver Vinyl with Download.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eCD - Housed in Gatefold Sleeve.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Double Six","offers":[{"title":"LP.","offer_id":50466013970763,"sku":"1046441","price":24.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"LP","offer_id":50466014036299,"sku":"1046440","price":22.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":50466014134603,"sku":"1046442","price":9.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/a0cfb403-3ca3-4cf5-a36c-5741707253ac_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727300760"},{"product_id":"boys-outside","title":"Boys Outside","description":"\u003cp\u003eSteve Mason is one of the Britpop generation's few genuinely brilliant and original song smiths, best known for his role as singer and one of the founding members of the Beta Band, and more specifically for \u003ci\u003eThe Three EP's\u003c\/i\u003e, the masterpiece which introduced his extraordinary talent to the world. The groundbreaking recordings on \u003ci\u003eThe Three EP's\u003c\/i\u003e, which were compiled 12 years ago from Mason's very first releases, had a massive impact on the UK pop landscape and beyond, quite literally altering the way music was made, bringing a fresh, playful, genre-busting spirit to the deployment of new technology and traditional instruments. Thereafter, the Beta Band, led by Mason, struggled manfully beneath the weight of expectation. After they split up in '04, Steve went to ground in his native fife, firing off wonderfully unconventional records under a series of pseudonyms - most prominently, King Biscuit Time and Black Affair. In a Mike Yarwood 'and this is me...' type development, however, Steve's latest album, \u003ci\u003eBoys Outside\u003c\/i\u003e appears under his own name, because, he says, he' had enough of all the aliases, and because, more than ever in his life, he's comfortable in his own skin. also, he's proud of these ten songs, whose sparse, haunting arrangements bespeak economy, maturity and focus. \u003ci\u003eBoys Outside\u003c\/i\u003e is fully the equal of \u003ci\u003eThe Three EP's\u003c\/i\u003e, packed with inventively sculpted sounds. The album was produced by Steve Mason and the ever impressive Richard X.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Double Six","offers":[{"title":"LP","offer_id":50491065139531,"sku":"324572","price":24.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/fceb8312-793c-4ff6-841a-ed80372dd1ea_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727681671"},{"product_id":"meet-the-humans","title":"Meet the Humans","description":"\u003cp\u003eWritten at home by Mason, the tracks were then rehearsed in Brighton with touring band mates Steve Duffield and Greg Nielson, before being recorded with Elbow keyboardist and producer Craig Potter at Blueprint Studios in Salford.  Recorded in the studios 'big room', an ex-factory space with floor to ceiling windows, the album took shape during a smooth and enjoyable six weeks in the early summer of 2015.Following from his 'double political concept album' 'Monkey Minds In The Devil's Time' this album is a move towards a more simple ethic; 'an album where each song is a separate entity, where there is no great narrative running through it.' 'Meet The Humans' is shot through with a sense of renewal following Steve's recent move to Brighton, swinging musically across dance, pop, folk, dub, and deep house influences. It's a record which repeatedly returns to core themes, the possibility of others to redeem the self, the opportunity of change for the better in the individual, the joy of life and the world we inhabit, it's arguably the most complete and direct of Steve's long discography - eleven personal stories combined into one positive and proper whole, the sweep of the human condition written large and full of love and hope and joy.LP - Heavyweight Gatefold Vinyl with Download Code.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Double Six","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":50493552329035,"sku":"397455","price":9.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/c9cfafde-e6fa-4805-a24c-b578f33fc34c_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727698827"},{"product_id":"play-flights","title":"Play Flights","description":"\u003cp\u003eMason Bee is the solo project of Benet Walsh, best known as long-term co-writer and touring partner with UK electronic duo Plaid (warp records). His debut album \u003ci\u003ePlay Flights\u003c\/i\u003e is a brilliant patchwork of diverse influences, from choral folk mantras to modern glitch guitar sounds,invoking the spirit of 70s experimental record-making. \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Pollen Kit Recordings","offers":[{"title":"Black | LP","offer_id":50787703030091,"sku":"1112475","price":11.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/32d017b8-ebf4-4ccc-93ae-d9837ec0d020_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1731124069"},{"product_id":"failure-is-always-an-option-lo-fi-adventures-with-the-beta-band","title":"Failure Is Always An Option: Glorious Adventures On The Beta Band Front Line And Other Tales","description":"\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e“Self-destructive pop saboteurs who did it all wrong in all the right ways. Utterly brilliant” NME\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eSteve Mason is a Scottish singer songwriter and founding member of the Beta Band. Formed in 1996 the band were quickly embraced in the media as The Next Big Thing and hailed by famous fans from Radiohead to Noel Gallagher. They were an idiosyncratic, self-contained, self-sabotaging Dadaist counterpoint to the bloated Britpop corpse as it metastasized in the late ‘90s. The band split in 2004, owing their record label £1.2m.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eThe book focuses not only on Steve’s music career but his battles with depression that tore the band and his personal relationships apart. “It’s a story of youth culture, failure, success, sadness and redemption” Steve Mason, August 2025\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"New Modern","offers":[{"title":"Hardback - Exclusive","offer_id":56350048190795,"sku":"R2880-7194","price":25.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Hardback","offer_id":56693288304971,"sku":"R2880-8618","price":25.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/FailureisAlwaysanOption.jpg?v=1771239924"}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/collections\/test_a5ac4711_thumbnail_4096_9c3bb2c0-e7c8-4dbc-8705-6d1033241cf3.jpg?v=1726259487","url":"https:\/\/shop.roughtrade.com\/collections\/steve-mason.oembed","provider":"Rough Trade","version":"1.0","type":"link"}