XL Music

Indie-pop's Masonic builds upon its feel-good sound

By V. Marc Fort
Thursday, August 17, 2006

Sick of the rules implicit in "indie rock," the keyboard-rock-meets-noise-pop band Masonic took a major leap forward on its newest release, "Without Warning," allowing the current bandwagon of clichéd trends to ride right on past.

The Austin-via-Oklahoma City rock outfit revolves around three brothers and two friends: drummer Brian Mason, keyboardist and guitarist Kevin Mason, guitarist John Mason, bassist Mike Norfleet and vocalist Eryn Gettys. The band is on its third vocalist in as many albums, but it appears to have stirred its musical mix and fixed the formula for feel-good indie-pop music.

Shaking things up to get exactly what the band wanted involved a painful little breakup and an expanse of experimentation. Only two days after officially parting ways with former vocalist Leah Bogan, Masonic recruited Gettys into the melodic chirps and flutters of its Moog keyboard-drenched mix.

"It was a very fortuitous, random thing to happen," Kevin Mason says, referring to the quickness with which Gettys joined the band after Bogan's departure, which kept the band from losing momentum. "It was a very emotional, traumatic and stressful thing . . . the whole blowup that had happened two days prior. That whole ordeal with Leah was harder than any girlfriend breakup I've ever gone through."

Masonic turned the breakup into a shake-up. John Mason began recording all of the rehearsals. Soon after, the band cut numerous demos at his home studio, where he labored for days (that turned into months) over the control board like a young Phil Spector or a pre-breakdown Brian Wilson. His work ethic and ambition for experimentation was key to unlocking Masonic's new sound. Gettys' note-perfect melodies — courtesy of her classical, musical theater training — proved to be the cherry on Masonic's sonic icing.

"Anything you feel uncomfortable with, that means we should probably be doing it," John Mason says. "That's why we tried new things like having me singing on 'Without Warning.' I mean, I've never sang (on a recorded album) before in my entire life. We all tried things that we were extremely uncomfortable with."

Originally inspired by local heroes the Flaming Lips and the Chainsaw Kittens in the members' native Oklahoma, Masonic sprouted in 1991 while John and Kevin Mason were enrolled at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater.

The band's first name was Lovebuzz (appropriated from the Nirvana song), but it would play many more shows under the moniker Swirlitbox, with Kevin Mason singing lead vocals before the group enlisted a female vocalist to smooth out the melodies.

The Mason brothers moved to Austin in 1995 and trudged along for years in the underground before "Never Stood A Chance" — the debut album of their newly christened incarnation, Masonic — dropped in 2002. Despite its lo-fi sound, the album scored airplay on "The Next Big Thing," a program on the Austin modern-rock radio station KROX (101.5 FM). That little bit of radio support, along with a simmering word-of-mouth buzz, garnered Masonic some South by Southwest appearances and a healthy bit of attention in its formative days.

Today, the members of Masonic have their eyes and ears turned toward the future. The band already has written enough material for a follow-up to "Without Warning." Further, Masonic has decided to reclaim its past by having Gettys re-record all of the vocal tracks on the first two records and rereleasing them on iTunes.

After Masonic completes that laborious process in the winter, Kevin Mason said he'll follow through on an idea he's been nursing for several months: getting Austin DJs to remix songs from the band's first three albums.

"I like the concept of showcasing the talents of various Austin producers, DJs, engineers and people from different genres," he says. "Let's see what can happen and just have fun with the songs. No rules. Just Frankenstein it . . . cut and chop the songs however they want."

"It goes back to the indie rock rules things," John Mason continues. "There are so many . . . indie rock rules."

"It's so 'not indie' to have your music remixed, where people are dancing on the dance floor. But . . . I think it's cool. Music is supposed to be fun; it's not a business," Kevin Mason says.