Mason Rack has an affinity with the pumping waves of Kirra and Snapper and he will return – this time riding a wave of support – when his awesome blend of blues and rock is showcased at the Cooly Hotel each Sunday throughout the Quiksilver Pro.
Mason learned to surf at the famed point break of Kirra and it was here that his dad Billy Rack would encourage a young Wayne ‘Rabbit’ Bartholomew to get amongst the waves – lending the future world champ surfboards from his beach hire set-up.
“Surfing has always been in my blood and I have some great memories of Kirra Point just going off for days on end when I was younger,” said Mason.
“My dad was a bit of a surfing pioneer and had a lot to do with the surfers growing up in the 1970s and ’80s, including Rabbit and MP.”
Mason was born in the Southport Hospital and started performing at the tender age of six, playing to charmed audiences with his dad Billy who was a multi-talented jazz musician and all round legend. Raised on jazz, rock and the ocean, Mason looked set to have a career in surfing, but the lifestyle he was living had other ideas and the music was born.
While Mason has swapped his surfboard for a guitar ‘only getting out there when it’s on’, he’s amped to rock on with some familiar faces and a whole bunch of new supporters.
“Coolangatta put the Gold Coast on the world surfing map with Snapper and Kirra and now that a world tour event is held here, it’s like a big home-coming for the local guys on the tour,” he said.
“Our music lends itself well to surfers; it’s radical and progressive, yet grounded in some way. We all have a unique connection to the waves and the earth and that’s part of the driving spirit behind the Mason Rack Band.”
Mason Rack Band will belt out songs from its new album Limits of Grip – the album that the lead singer says breaks all the genre rules – a classic mix of heavy rock, blues, jazz and roots complemented by the modern flavours of country punk, jazz, alternate rock and reggae funk.
Mason Rack Band pours out alt-rock tunes influenced by blues, southern stomp, swamp, rock and roots. The music is a collection of rock, blues and roots with flashes of Tom Waits and Jimi Hendrix, and roots extending to Ben Harper. Throw in a slide guitar, a rocking bluesy bass, massive drum percussion and the result is a spectacular kaleidoscope of musical genres.
“Limits of Grip includes almost all musical genres except Classical. We wanted to create tracks that were a natural progression and that felt right, without sticking to the rules. No songs were premeditated and we entered the recording studios with only two tracks already written,” said Mason.
Mason Rack is a natural entertainer, blessed with a tapestry of slide guitar, wild ‘broken glass’ vocals and story-fuelled blues rock.
Influences include Tom Waits, Tex Perkins, Jeff Buckley, Ben Harper, Violent Femmes, Dave Mathews, Rolling Stones, and many old blues masters including Muddy Waters, Robert Johnson, Jeff Beck and Buddy Guy.
He has played alongside artists like Xavier Rudd, Ben Harper, Jack Johnson, Buddy Guy, Keith Urban, John Foggarty, Tony Joe White, Jimmy Barnes, Phil Emmanuel, Tex Perkins.
