Impossible Main Vocals: Jeff Mason Backing Vocals: Jeff Mason, Chris Marshall Accoustic Guitar: Jeff Mason Electric Guitars: Jeff Mason, John Mason Bass Guitar: Colin Warren Drums: Morris Windsor Produced by Jeff Mason Mixed by Chris Marshall Engineered by John Mason Recorded in London, Edinburgh and Cumbria 2011. artwork, words and music copyright Jeff Mason 2011 The Interview It was a beautiful august afternoon, I was stood next to Jeff Mason at the top of Heversham Point in Cumbria staring out across Grange over Sands into Morecambe Bay. Jeff had invited me over to talk about his latest music project. 'Change The World'. He'd sent me a copy of the single 'Impossible' to review a week before which had got me seriously interested in his music and which enticed me along 200miles of motorway to find out who was Jeff Mason and what was it all about. Impossible, the first release off the album is just immense, the guitar especially, so I started by asking him about it. "I wrote it a couple of years ago in scotland and it made sense to put it on 'Change the world' as it's a kind of global statement." "John's guitar style blends perfectly with mine he's a superb guitarist, just wonderful, the mix came back from Chris really good in the end". We had listened to the album back at Jeff's house, his musical influences range from, well just about everything. Frank Sinatra, Beatles, Elvis, Otis Reading, Kinks, Dylan, Rolling Stones, Weather Report, Steely Dan, Bob Marley, Ian Dury,........ Pretenders, Peter Gabriel, Stevie Winwood and well, countless others. "Why 'Change The World'?" He was looking right into my eyes and even beyond into the inner person lurking deep inside. "I didn't write it just for me". He continued, ignoring my right to reply to his first question. Another space opened in his eyes that you could fit a whole universe into. I wasn't sure if this was another question disguised as an answer. I asked back, "change the world?" He laughed. "Which bit do you want to change?" I continued undeterred. "Everything' He replied. 'It's all backwards." " Environment, social structures, personal reality, finance, education, etc etc...." He waved his hands in a cyclical motion to emphasise the infinite length of the things he wanted to change. "I am a family man, but I live alone now which means that I have time to reflect and assess the reality which we are creating and write about it." "I believe we need to globably design a new reason and purpose for being and cooperate on a meaningful remedial plan for the world". I queried whether it wasn't a pretty, tall order for one album's worth of songs from a virtually unknown artist. He nodded in agreement. "I suppose the first album had a similar message, it was just the wrong time." He smiled a broad deep grin, accompanied by a mischievous sparkle from his blue-grey eyes. I smiled back instinctively. He was referring to the 'Love Is' ep which I found a copy of on the rythmshop website. Not easy to find either as he doesn't 'do' marketing or social networking, to the contrary, he prides himself on his anonymity. I confront him with this ambiguity. Change the world, the original song was written in Epsom Downs in 1989 ish It was a 'chanty' type of song with a sequenced chinese instrument in the background and a hard synth bass and drum driving it. Very different to the version on the album. Silence . He looks into space; the Epsom Downs space from a previous life a long time ago."I played the original version to chris, twenty years ago and he said, nice sequencing!" "I mean, for a guitar player." He chuckled and stared intently into the sky. "Strangely though, he is the only one sequencing anything on Change The World. Ha!" "The piano is outrageous on 'Rolling' and 'Glad it's summer'." "He also sequenced my conga parts on Glad it's Summer, which was a good thing mainly because we didn't have two hours for me to get it right!" "Jeez, all pressure!" He grins a wide cheeky grin, "which is why I mainly work with professional children and animals!" " At least then you know that you're going to get the most amount of chaos from the time you have." He turned and grinned at me eyes on fire and continued. "My friends 'The Smoothies' from Gloucestershire were amazing, even the difficult ones!" "They tried very hard to comply with my wishes and play guitars and drums simultaneously without any sensible rehearsing or direction." "The mind boggles!" He laughed at the mental images of the recording session in Evesham six weeks previously. "They did revolt over Glad it's Summer but then everyone did, even Chris Marshall, so it was inevitable that it became my favourite song." "I toyed with Alan Davies, the smoothies guitarist and a long standing friend, when I took the first 'bounce' to gloucester to trial. I refused to let him listen to Glad it's Summer for hours, but once he had heard it he grovelled an apology for trying to sabotage it." "Ha! Revenge is sweet." "What he didn't realise was how much I had to grovel to Chris to get any bass or piano on the f**ing track in the first place and how close I came to abandoning it altogether; but we didn't. John and Chris realising how much this track meant to me helped rescue the original and between us we restored the masterpiece to health, ha!" "I tried to send Barak a copy but there was no facility to attach a file to the whitehouse email." "So Jeff, if nobody knows who you are, how do you intend selling enough copies to change anything?" I could feel him wince and curl in frustration. "I don't know, blind faith? But it isn't about me, the 'change' word is already out but, because the message is so important it needs to be repeated to make a difference, and if even one more person gets it....." He's suddenly very serious. "But, I know this album is a bit special and will affect a lot of people, from the guy in the street to the President of the United States, who better to talk to if you want to change the world?" Change the world is an album of 8 songs by Jeff Mason and includes the single 'Impossible' it will be available on CD or download wav/.mp3 from www.rythmnshop.com initially, but on most download websites by christmas. We can change the world together. Thank you for being here.