Brenden Mason spends his days repairing guitars at Real Guitars in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs. Mason’s been deeply attached to the instrument since first getting his hands on one as a teenager in the 1960s.
His entire adult life has revolved around the guitar in one way or another, most famously as a member of the Melbourne-based ‘70s progressive rock band, Madder Lake.
“I trained as a graphic artist and I walked out of my final year exam to go touring with Madder Lake, much to my parents’ dismay,” says Mason. “I’ve never regretted that move one bit. I’m completely satisfied in my decision of moving away from graphic art to music, even though music is such an unreliable source of income.”
Madder Lake are still at it and these days Mason also lends a hand to fellow ‘70s prog rockers, Spectrum. He’s driven by passion first and foremost, which is demonstrated by the fact he’s been a regular at Fad Gallery, located on Corrs Lane in the city, for over a decade.
“It’s the longest residency I’ve ever had in my life,” Mason says. “I’ve played with various bands there.”
Mason currently supplies lead guitar for the eight-piece cover band, Frank Raymond and the Silhouettes, who perform at Fad every first and third Thursday of the month.
“Covers are a lot more accessible,” says Mason. “But in the light of us doing covers, most of my life I’ve stayed with original bands and that has always been my preference. So we’re definitely not a little jukebox or a karaoke machine insofar as doing the covers exactly [as they originally sounded]. We inject our own flavour and then Johnny Halleday has his own character too. John adds his own stamp to things and it is quite unique and quite entertaining.”
Outside of adopting the moniker Frank Raymond on stage, Halleday, the band’s frontperson, is the venue owner. “He’s the main man,” says Mason. “And all the time that I’ve been playing there, he’s probably been there 100% of the time. John is quite a unique character. Various bands that I played with, we’d coax him at the end of the night to get up and have a sing and I think that was one of the things that sparked him into putting a band together.”
The FRATS repertoire includes anything that fits under the header “funky, folk, rock’n’roll,” from the 1960s onwards.
“It goes anything from The Neville Brothers to soul music, a bit of blues,” says Mason. “‘Valerie’, we do that. We do ‘Superstitious’. We do things like [Eddie Floyd’s] ‘Knock On Wood’. It’s relatively broad in what we do and they’re reasonably well-known songs too.”
FRATS aren’t Fad’s only reliable house band – Bernadette Novembre and Rocky and the Two Bob Millionaires are also monthly regulars. Given his longstanding residency at Fad, Mason has witnessed the culture of the venue grow.
“There’s quite a few regulars that come in. Johnny has devoted Thursday nights to live music, which is fantastic. On Fridays and Saturdays they do a bit more like disco, so it tends to get a younger crowd. But it’s quite a unique little place and for those who are regulars there, it’s a very comfortable little place. Johnny keeps great control of the place.”
It’s now 50 years since the formation of Madder Lake and Mason’s passion and enthusiasm for live performance remains as strong as ever.
“I can’t get it out of my blood. I’ve virtually never stopped playing in my whole life and I’m quite grateful of any gig that I do. I thoroughly enjoy that side of things; creating and writing music and playing music.”
Frank Raymond and the Silhouettes play a residency at Fad Gallery every first and third Thursday of the month. Fad Gallery is located at 14 Corrs Lane in the CBD – find out more about the venue at fadgallery.com.au.
