HELLO GOODBYE
Dave Mason remembers joking and hoping in Traffic.
HELLO MID 1966
Jim [Capaldi] and I grew up not far apart, we got a group together called The Hellions, local Worcester boys, and then Deep Feeling. We’d play locally and up in Birmingham. We were big fans of The Spencer Davis Group, and I think Jim and I met Steve [Winwood] at a place called The Elbow Room in Birmingham, which was a sort of after-hours private club with music. Steve knew Chris Wood, and we had a lot of similar tastes, so it really started as just four young guys just hanging out, listening to music. I’d spent about two, three months being a roadie for The Spencer Davis Group prior to it all, too. It was gradual – the first musical thing was, I sang harmony with Steve on [1966 Number 1] Somebody Help Me. And then all of us were on Gimme Some Lovin’ and I’m A Man [both Top 10]. Steve had pretty much decided that he wanted to do something new, we knew that, so it sort of floated into Traffic. I don’t even know if we had a meeting about it. We started working pretty much as soon as the decision was made. We occupied a little cottage in Berkshire, up a mud road with no electricity and no running water. Was it great? Yeah! Come on, we were kids, I was 19 or something. No marriages, mortgages or anything… what did we care? When Traffic formed is when I started writing. We discussed what sort of material we were gonna do, and I just went, shit this is a unique situation. I don’t know if I can write, but I’m gonna start! And of course, I’m not a street kid, it’s like, I just fell off the turnip truck here, life experiences were not big in my life. That, and the times… they were sort of whimsical songs, when I look back on it. But I finished up writing [Number 2 single] Hole In My Shoe, which became the biggest hit record. And I think that alone probably started the problem.
GOODBYE OCTOBER 1968
I left after the first album [Mr. Fantasy, December 1967], not because there was any personal tensions, but because I was not prepared for the success, mentally and emotionally. Then I produced Music In A Doll’s House for the Family, got to know Hendrix and finished up on a couple of tracks on Electric Ladyland, and started going back and forth to the US. In that break, I realised, If I’m gonna write, I gotta delve in a little deeper with the songs. As I remember it, they were in New York working [on 1968 LP Traffic] at the Record Plant, and I went by to see everybody, and they only had five songs. I said, “Well, I got five songs.” So it was, OK, you’re back in. And one of those songs was Feelin’ Alright? I think what happened was, my songs always got picked as the singles, because I have somewhat of a pop sensibility. I think that was the beginning of my tenure there not being… erm, how do you put it without it sounding like sour grapes, because it isn’t, it is what it is, and at this point, I don’t really care. There was a meeting with the three of them at Chris Blackwell’s house, after that second album. Bottom line, the only thing that got everybody ruffled was that they didn’t really like what I wrote. In 1971, we did (live LP) Welcome To The Canteen. It was a great unit to come back together with, and I thought that it was hopefully going to happen. I was always hoping. But again, it just wasn’t to be. I still get asked, “When are you doing a Traffic tour?” My standard answer is, “You’re asking the wrong guy,” heh heh. I’d love to do it. For three years I’ve done this show Traffic Jam, doing those songs, and songs from my solo career. Pretty much all the songs in there I play are Jim and Steve’s, my own versions. They’re great. It’s like a musical biography, I suppose.
Dave Mason’s Traffic Jam tours the UK in February and March 2017, see davemasonmusic.com for info
“IT’S LIKE, I JUST FELL OFF THE TURNIP TRUCK HERE.”