Artist: Mason Hill
Orgin: Glasgow, Schottland
Genre: UK Rock, Rock, Modern Rock, Alternative Rock
Release: 05.03.2021
Label: 7Hz Recordings / Warner ADA
Link: https://www.facebook.com/masonhillofficial
Bandmember:
Vocals – Scott Taylor
Guitare – James Bird
Guitare – Marc Montgomery
Bass – Matthew Ward
Drums– Craig McFetridge
Time For Metal / René W.:
Hello dear James from Mason Hill,
I am glad that you found the time to talk about your band and your current album Against The Wall.
Mason Hill / James Bird:
Our pleasure.
Time For Metal / René W.:
The final start of Mason Hill was in 2013, and it took indeed eight years to release your debut album Against The Wall in March. Did you already think at the start that the release of the first album would take such a long time? And why was the production phase so long?
Mason Hill / James Bird:
Yeah we began in 2013, It’s not that it took 8 years to make this album in particular as we only started the process to being able to start an album around 2017 but we have been a band since 2013. The early years was just me, Scott and Craig it took a long time to get the final lineup. We had an EP in 2015 which was a great start to allowing the band to begin getting noticed and being offered more shows which saw us on the rise but we fell into various music industry complications which delayed any chance of doing the debut album. With that being said though we overcame everything and managed to get the album made!
Time For Metal / René W.:
You play UK Rock and Modern Rock, but there are also some influences of Alternative Rock. Did you recognize this direction already during the songwriting and then say „ok, let’s keep it like that“?
Mason Hill / James Bird:
Yeah I think that over the years of being a songwriter the beginning was heavily influenced by classic rock/metal, especially 80s rock/metal! Through time of maturing and getting more and more experience of creating music we definitely realised that we enjoyed having a modern element to the band. This has just continued and as a result we have Against The Wall which lends a balance to all of our influences into the 1 album.
Time For Metal / René W.:
The artwork of Against The Wall looks more like for a Punk record or a High School Rock band. Why did you choose this plain design, and is there any message to the listener behind it?
Mason Hill / James Bird:
The point of the artwork is that we as a band at the time felt like we were very much against the wall and were unable to talk about it. The idea was to have a face to show that we are unable to talk about our struggles. We also wanted it to be bright so that it would stand out from all the other album covers from other bands which it does when looking at the other albums we are sharing the chart position with.
Time For Metal / René W.:
According to your promo agent the details, why it took so long until the release of Against The Wall, should not be mentioned in a band bio. I can’t quite let you get away with that statement, so can you name three other facts, that you would never voluntarily mention in your band bio?
Mason Hill / James Bird:
Now that would be telling haha. I think you can say that 1) it’s fact that we made some bad decisions initially with people we worked with, 2) we then decided to do a lot of things ourselves hence launching the Kickstarter campaign and 3) we made some really good decisions with our new team and set up, all of whom are really great. I suppose the moral of the story is, you have to learn from your mistakes!!
Time For Metal / René W.:
So let’s get back to the twelve songs, which are available since several days via 7Hz Recordings / Warner ADA. How did you get this record deal, and why did you choose this label family?
Mason Hill / James Bird:
We signed we our management company JABA Music. They have their own record label which gets distributed by Warner ADA so they showed us a plan of what they wanted to do and very much involved us in each step of the process. This really appealed to us as it’s very important to work together with your label and to understand all of the planning stages which go into running a campaign for the life cycle of an album. Our team really understand how to build a rock campaign having worked on many successful other rock acts.
Time For Metal / René W.:
Sing-along passages meet shallow ballads with a focus on bombastic Alternative Rock beats. Can you agree with my opinion? How would you explain your music to a new potential fan?
Mason Hill / James Bird:
The album is a journey, no song sounds the same but you’ll get a balance of Heavy rock, heavy riffs and large distorted vocals mixed with slower, meaningful songs with huge solos and melodic vocals. Definitely something which is inspired by one of our favourite bands Alter Bridge.
Time For Metal / René W.:
You have released a video for the title track beginning of February. Who wrote the script for it? Did you have any problems during the recordings due to the Corona situation?
Mason Hill / James Bird:
We as a band came up with the idea of masked people in suits telling us what to do on a movie set. So the video is suppose to show that we are making a music video so it’s a bit of another dimension type thing to get your head around haha! Yeah we had to social distance and wear face masks during the filming of it which was an unusual experience!
Time For Metal / René W.:
So let’s stay with this topic. Could you already play some live shows or are you still waiting to play your first gig? The possibilities to play live shows outside of Scotland in the near future are very limited, but what is the situation in your home country? Will shows or even festivals be possible? And will you play outside the UK as soon as this will be possible again?
Mason Hill / James Bird:
We have not done a gig since March 2020! We’re hoping by September 2021 we can get back out gigging however we need to wait and see how covid progresses. Hopefully we will all be able to go back to normal soon! We have been so desperate to get back out there and cannot wait for the day we can do it again.
Time For Metal / René W.:
Thanks for your time and your answers to my questions. The last word is yours. Is there anything you want to tell your fans and our readers?
Mason Hill / James Bird:
Thank you for your time, and a huge thank you to anyone who goes ahead and checks Mason Hill out, we’re very appreciative of the support especially during times like these.