Mason Hill have been making up for lost time in more ways than one. The young Scots full-length album seemed to have been ages in the making not least with record company politics, and then just as they were building momentum, the pandemic struck. 2021 has been a happier year- the self-titled album finally appeared and smashed the national top 20, and come this autumn they set out on a massive 22-date tour to promote it.

They were also confident enough in their own abilities to take with them two of the most highly praised current bands on the thriving New Wave of Classic Rock (NWOCR) scene in Hollowstar and Empyre without worrying about being overshadowed.

I’d seen both Mason Hill and Hollowstar last month at Nozfest but that by no means exhausted my curiosity, so it was off to the Camden Underworld for the London show of the tour, just around the corner from the much smaller Black Heart, scene of their last London show in late 2019 which has since ascended to legendary reputation.

There was already a healthy crowd when Empyre hit the stage at a Friday night curfew-related 630. Initially I took a while to get into some slow and not obviously commercial songs, and the band seemed equally serious, though they later showed themselves to have a dry humour which inverted a lot of the clichés of live performance.

However a set in which they aired several new numbers grew on me, notably a rather epic ‘Waking Light’, and on both that and ‘Only Way Out’ I was highly impressed with the vocals of Henrik Steenholdt as he moved between a rich baritone and Geoff Tate like screams. After a more up tempo and metallic closer in ‘New Republic’ my conclusions were a lot more positive. Recommended for those who like their NWOCR a little darker, richer and more complex.

The reaction to Hollowstar suggested a large number of the crowd were already confirmed converts. For my part, they have impressed me more every time I have seen them, partly as I have become more familiar with the material, but also with the band really hitting a confident stride.

After a strong, riff-heavy opener in ‘Take It All’ it was noticeable quite how many people were roaring along to ‘Let You Go’ and ‘Invincible’. I had a good vantage point to see what a powerful drummer Jack Bonson is, while ‘Money’ featured an absolutely superb, earworm riff in the hands of Phil Haines and new boy Carl Ledger.

Frontman Joe Bonson has a strong voice and an unusual emotional intelligence for people in the rock world (publicly, at least). I wish I could have bottled some of his wise words about the heroes of the pandemic and being patient with those who need a little longer before they feel they can return to normalcy.

After a cheeky snatch of the Proclaimers ‘500 Miles’ a cover of ‘Wishing Well’ showed their classic rock roots ( it helps that Joe has something of the look of a young Paul Rodgers or Andy Fraser) notably with a fine solo from Phil. However, after ‘Overrated’- with people singing back the ‘I’m dreaming everybody’s sleeping’ line- he excelled himself even more on the poignant ‘Good Man Gone’, dedicated to his recently deceased father who had introduced both him and Joe to this music.

Their best known song ‘All I Gotta Say’ had plenty of people bouncing and concluded a fast and furious 40 minute set which suggested they are certainly easily capable of headlining venues this size.

And so to headliners Mason Hill. Buoyed by the success of the album there certainly seems to be a more assured self confidence about them these days, but rather than tip over into arrogant swagger, this manifested itself in the wide-eyed joy they, singer Scott Taylor in particular, showed at being able to play in front of an adoring, and growing, headline audience (incidentally one with an average age closer to the band’s parents generation!)

The band were lean and tight throughout as they opened with the intro ‘Reborn’ leading into ‘No Regrets’, reminding me a little of Audioslave’s ‘Cochise’, followed by ‘D.N.A’ which has swiftly become a favourite with a chorus made for punching the air. Indeed both ‘Hold On’ and ‘Out Of Reach’, as well as ‘Broken Sun’ a little later in the set, combined heaviness with stirringly melodic choruses, delivered by Scott with energy and passion .

A couple of numbers that hadn’t made the shorter set I saw at Nozfest showed their versatility: ‘Who We Are’ was a widescreen ballad of the type that went down a storm in 2000s America, and ‘We Pray’ was heavier and more brutal, while on ‘Find My Way’, James Bird’s guitar work even had a touch of the Tom Morellos.

Scott explained the justification for recording the Foo Fighters ‘Best Of You’ cover in lockdown but any cynicism had to be suspended as it was a superb vehicle for audience participation. It was also a good musical fit and the thought occurred that, alongside Those Damn Crows, Mason Hill are one of the few bands with a naturally anthemic sound that can, given the opportunity, make them an arena and stadium filling modern rock act.

It also helped the atmosphere build to fever pitch and in fact the last three numbers perhaps provided my fondest memories – oldie ’Now You See Me’ with some superbly aggressive soloing in the closing section from James, the title track ‘Against The Wall’ which as it broke from quiet beginnings into its chorus sparked outbreaks of pogoing in the crowd, and to close a set that did not feature an encore, a seven minute plus rendition of their ‘epic’ ‘Where I Belong’.

Bigger (and better lit!) stages like this are where all three bands belong after a terrific evening’s entertainment proving that the up-and-coming British rock scene is in a healthy state at the moment.

Review and photos by Andy Nathan

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Power Plays w/c 15 April 2024

ENMY The Ledge (FiXT)
KAROBELA Get Hard (indie)
KATH & THE KICKS Neptune (indie)
THE BEE TELLERS River Poem (Black Sand Records)
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09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003-2023
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003-2023
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