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Last Updated:
Mar 19th, 2008 - 07:43:02 |
uck this!” Scott Masson put down the pot of coffee meant for refills,
threw his order notepad in the trash and strode out of the restaurant
in the middle of his shift. “Fuck the lunch crowd.”Masson went straight to the bank and took out a $10,000 loan so that he
could stay at home and work 9-5 strictly on music. “It’s nice because
I’ve been able to quit my job recently and live off music, so this has
become my office,” he said.
Office, a phrase of countless connotations and universally dark nuances
for everyone with a day job, is the name of Masson’s poppy, dancey,
folky, nu-wave quartet from Chicago; a singer, songwriter, guitarist,
pianist and sculptor, who finally quit his day job to essentially catch
the dream swirling around inside the heads of any pure, passionate
musician stuck at the “local” level. Though, Masson is not one to gloat
of the recent success of his band, (they played at Lollapalooza.) “I
think ego is the killer of a lot of good art,” Masson mystically mused.
A musician since age 7, he got into sculpting early in college and
ended up with office-themed shows in galleries featuring rooms covered
in Xerox paper, cell phone sculptures dangling from the ceiling and
performance piece/display of water bottles. “It’s unfortunate that in
America visual art is not as recognizable as music, especially gallery
art,” Masson said. “In America, if you went to art school chances are
you probably have to work within some kind of industry that’s separate
from creative work, you're more of a hired gun.”
Any state of scrutiny Masson produces comes from his particularly
inspiring stint of living in London, where he became influenced by
eletronica, dance and club culture, putting a more dancier, rhythmic
bounce to his previously more folk-driven musical aspirations. (But
even before his folk days, he was fairly “punked out” with former
bandmate and friend Jeremy of Freer, who will join Office at the Magic
Stick on Saturday.)
“I’ve always felt that folk music is pop music, and pop music is folk
music” Masson said. “A good pop song’s ultimate goal is to communicate
to a broad spectrum of people. I think a lot of times with pop music
that’s on the radio it’s not keeping that tradition alive, the lyrics -
they’re not even proper English half the time. I’ve always felt that
the Beatles or those classic songwriters — that they write folk music
even!”
Office’s latest release, Q&A, is the culmination of his recent
fluctuating influences, as well as a set quartet (from what was
previously mostly a solo outing) of fellow Chicago working class
musicians Alissa Noonan (bass,) Erica Corniel (drum) and Tom Smith
(guitar). Self-produced and much of it being recorded in Masson’s
bedroom, Q&A is the glorious, electro-pop fruition of his daring
risk of chasing a dream. Be it melodramatic to paint it that way, the
side-story only adds more empowerment and hope to all of us caught in
the whirlpool of the 9-5 sea. “I think the best option for any creative
person is to have the ability to get up and move, to be able to see a
new environment every day, or at least talk to different people every
single day,” Masson said, before half-seriously adding, “I’d love to
see everybody quit.”
His band wear suits and ties at their shows, singing lyrics of escaping
work and sometimes hiring temps to type on stage with them, meaning
Masson’s efforts run the risk of being reduced to a gimmick. “People
seem to focus on that rather than the actual music,” Masson said,
“which is funny because our music takes a lot longer to make than it
takes to put on our suits.” | RDW
Office • August 19 • Magic Stick
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