As if we needed another reason to love the Madison music scene, Ben Lovett (Mumford & Sons), Kevin Jones (Bear’s Den) and producer Ian Grimble are bringing their brainchild, Communion, to Madison’s The Frequency for a monthly stop. Communion was formed in London in 2006 as a way for new bands to get out of the garage and onto a stage.
The project is being brought to North America, and with it comes its promotion of brotherhood within the music industry. I spoke with two of the artists who will be performing at the first Madison Communion, frontman Tommy Shears of The Living Statues and folk singer Willy Mason, about their recent projects, the ’50s and philosopher William James.
Shears and The Living Statues hail from Milwaukee, Wis., and bring a sound that ties together garage rock with the Britpop invasion of the 1950s. The ’50s style comes out in their live performances as well, as the band is known to don dapper black suits on stage.
“[Drummer] Chris Morales and I have been playing together for years, playing in various rock bands throughout high school, even though we went to different schools,” Shears said. “We tried to do a Black Keys, White Stripes kind of two-man, guitar-drums duo, and we did that for a couple years. We recently started getting bigger shows and a little shy so two years ago we brought in Alex [Thornburg] on bass. We’re all bringing something very different to the table. I’m a Beatles maniac to the bone, that’s what I grew up on. As a kid, hearing those melodies, I started to take music seriously. Seeing videos of them playing, picking up their mannerisms. Not just do what they were doing with the sound, but study what makes it so attractive to me. ”
Though Shears comes from the Milwaukee area, he credits his time in Madison for changing his view on live music.
“Madison is where my eyes were opened to what a real ‘music scene’ is. I was in the suburbs of Milwaukee and Summerfest and The Rave were a big part of growing up, but I never got to experience wandering between venues at night looking for something to do,” Shears said. “If you live anywhere on State Street, you’re within walking distance of 10 different places. If you look at The Frequency or the Majestic, they do a great job of catering to all different kinds of music.”
The Living Statues recently released a single, “Our American Cousin,” off their upcoming EP. This will be their third EP after 2011’s Bad News and 2012’s Strike of a Match.
Touring singer-songwriter Willy Mason will also be performing at Communion. Both of his studio albums have charted in the top 40 in the U.K., but neither of them received the same commercial success in the U.S. I found out about Mason through the social website, Reddit, and, ironically, the question posed on the website was why Willy Mason isn’t more well known in his home country. Mason told me what he thinks social media can do for the music industry and gave me his thoughts on his standing in the U.S.
“The Internet feels like how we used to pass cassette tapes around, but now it’s happening on an international scale,” Mason said. “As for my success in the U.K., it’s two main things. When my first album, Where the Humans Eat, came out in 2004, it blew up on the radio in England. One of the main Radio-1 DJs was a big supporter, so the whole country was hearing the album. As a result of that, I ended up spending most of that album cycle touring over there. I didn’t get to spend much time touring the U.S., which I’m changing for this album. Hopefully being able to put in more time over here will spread my music out a little more.”
The folk-blues sound that defines Mason’s music is a product of his family rather than his hometown. Both of Mason’s parents were folk songwriters and he is directly related to philosopher William James.
“It was sort of a closed music scene in Martha’s Vineyard. We didn’t get a lot of international bands coming through. I didn’t see my first international band until I was 16 when I went off island,” Mason said. “I picked up on the folk side from what was going on in my house. My parents had monthly music parties and I’d be around when they were writing. Williams James’ book, “[The] Varieties of Religious Experiences,” was also important for me—his interest in the conscious and subconscious mind and questions of identity and spirituality. We share a curiosity of how the mind works and I tend to use those philosophical questions as the subjects of my songs.”
Carry On, Mason’s latest album was released last year.
“Recording was pretty fast and off-the-cuff. It was exciting for me because I was working with a new producer named Dan Carey. He brought some new techniques to recording, instruments that I’ve never worked with before,” Mason said. “Both of us were so excited by the combination of our influences that we got all of the recording done in the first 10 days.”
Mason and The Living Statues will be at The Frequency for Madison’s inaugural Communion Wednesday, Oct. 16. They will be joined by Roadkill Ghost Choir, 4 on the Floor, Anna Vogelzang and Yacht Club DJs.
