It’s nearly 50 years since his band Traffic entered the UK charts but as Dave Mason plays St David’s Hall on March 7 as part of a series of rare UK shows on his Traffic Jam tour he admits to having slightly mixed emotions.
“I’m excited and a little apprehensive because I’ve never toured the UK solo,” Worcester-born Dave tells Andy Howells, “I’ve been touring constantly for the last 45 plus years in the US and if I had a dollar for everyone who asked me “Are Traffic going to come out and do something again?” I’d be a wealthy man.”
Dave along with Steve Winwood, Jim Capaldi and Chris Wood formed Traffic following Steve’s departure from The Spencer Davis Group in 1967. The band went on to have three UK chart hits that year Paper Sun, Hole in My Shoe and Here We Go Round The Mulberry Bush. Two albums also followed including Mr Fantasy and the eponymously titled Traffic.
Dave Mason touring the UK with Traffic Jam
Dave left Traffic during 1968 to become an in-demand session musician playing alongside Jimi Hendrix and The Rolling Stones before moving to the United States.
Based in the States over the last five decades, Dave has maintained a strong presence as a solo recording artist but felt the pull to return to his music roots three years ago, “What I did, which is what I’ll do on the UK tour is 98 per cent of what I did with Traffic from the very beginning.”
Dave will perform most Traffic material from the band’s first two albums, although he claims there will be one major omission, “Hole in My Shoe was very much a studio record, it’s not exactly a live song, so I wouldn’t even attempt it.”
Dave continues, “Most of the stuff that I do is written by Jim (Capaldi) and Steve(Winwood) because it’s a lot of fun to play live and everyone can join in, Feelin’ Alright is a song that never stops. There’s a couple of Traffic tunes I’ve done a little rewriting on, I’ve wrote my own version of Dear Mr Fantasy, and a new slow blues version of Low Spark of High Heeled Boys and then Segway into material from my solo career.”
Despite his apprehensions, Dave is sure fans will enjoy the opportunity to hear Traffic material performed live once again, “The music is great, it’s a great band, and live we can put it over. I think people who’ll come will not be disappointed for sure.”
- To book seats, visit http://www.stdavidshallcardiff.co.uk or call the Box Office on 029 2087 8444.