The long awaited autobiography from the musical maverick, polymath and Beta Band front man.

Formed in 1996 the band were quickly embraced in the media as The Next Big Thing and hailed by famous fans from Radiohead to Noel Gallagher. They were an idiosyncratic, self-contained, Dadaist counterpoint to the bloated Britpop corpse as it metastasized in the late ‘90s. The band split in 2004, owing their record label £1.2m.

Since 2004, front man and songwriter Steve Mason has forged a singular, highly lauded solo career, releasing 5 albums under his own name and in April this year the Beta Band reformed to announce their first shows and the UK and U.S in over twenty years. “I see this book as a picture of someone who was lost, with zero confidence and had no idea what he was supposed to do to with his life. But through music, he found something approaching belief in himself which carried him over the next 30 years into all manner of success, failure and adventure.

All the while battling the demons on constant patrol in his mind until, after they nearly finished him off, he focused his full attention on purging them from of aspect of his life. It’s a story of youth culture, failure, success, sadness and redemption.

Two Piers release the second in their ‘Presents’ compilation series with Steve Mason (Beta Band, King Biscuit Time) stepping up to the curation table to deliver a stunning compilation of tracks entitled ‘The Romance of Unknowing’.

Steve Mason presents: The Romance of Unknowing takes in influences from Northern Soul, Punk, Folk, Hip-Hop, Soul and Post-Punk, spanning tracks from 1965 to 2005.

“There was a club in Dunfermline (Fife) called The Kronk and the DJ there, called Lel Palfrey would play incredible sets going from House into Hip Hop into Reggae and back into House. Occasionally ending with Booker T’s Green Onions. As someone with wildly eclectic music taste who had been a Mod, Lel helped sure up my opinion that there should be no boundaries in music. It’s just a line of Human expression that stretches back into our past and will continue. Forever. Open your arms and come with me.” - Steve Mason 2025

Scottish singer, songwriter, and producer Steve Mason rose to widespread critical acclaim in the late ‘90s as a member of the Beta Band, with their creative approach and maverick attitude, the Beta Band earned a glowing reputation among fans and the UK press during the post-Brit-Pop era, thanks to releases like 1998’s ’The Three EP’s’ and 2001’s ‘Hot Shot’s II’. During the Beta Band’s heyday and following their 2004 breakup, Mason also recorded as King Biscuit Time and has since had a very successful solo career, releasing numerous critically acclaimed albums, including his most recent 2023 album ‘Brothers & Sisters’. In 2025 the Beta Band reformed to play a bunch of Sold Out Live shows across the world.

Steve Mason presents: The Romance of Unknowing follows the release of Richard Norris Presents: Weird Scenes from the Hangout in 2024 on Two Piers, the label that have released such critically acclaimed Compilations as Pop Psychédélique (The Best of French Psychedelic Pop 1964-2019), Strobes in Space (Indie Sleaze, Nu Rave & Future Disco 2000-2009), Night Train (Transcontinental Landscapes 1968-2019) and Soul Psychédélique (The Sounds of Psychedelic Soul & Funk 1967-2024).

TRACK LISTING

2LP tracklisting:
Side 1
A1. Fête - Roland Bocquet
A2. I Think It’s Time (You Were Mine) - Alice Swoboda
A3. Lay This Burden Down - Mary Love
A4. What You See Is What You Get - Stoney And Meatloaf
A5. Left Over People - Alan Price
A6. Never Get Ahead - Bobby Conn
A7. Terminal Stupid – The Snivelling Shits
A8. A Glass Of Champagne – Sailor
Side 2
B1. I See Stars – Supersempfft
B2. I Dig You- Demis Roussos
B3. YaYa (Nelue Rework Mutant Disco Edit) - Ron Rogers
B4. Slippery People (Club Version) – The Staple Singers
B5. Love Is A Serious Business - Alfie Davison
Side 3
C1. Happy (Is My Life) - Andre Willliams / Velvet Hammer
C2. My Little Girl - Bobby Garrett
C3. Waiting For A Train - Flash And The Pan
C4. Flame (Chicken Lips Version) - Bell X1
C5. Release Yo’Delf (Prodigy Remix) - Method Man
Side 4
D1. Hateful - Aaron Carl
D2. Rose Rouge - St. Germain
D3. Imperfect List Pt.1 - Big Hard Excellent Fish
D4. Nothing - Rene Halkett / David Jay

2CD Tracklisting:
CD1
1. Fête - Roland Bocquet
2. I Think It’s Time (You Were Mine) - Alice Swoboda
3. Lay This Burden Down - Mary Love
4. What You See Is What You Get - Stoney And Meatloaf
5. Left Over People - Alan Price
6. Never Get Ahead - Bobby Conn
7. Terminal Stupid – The Snivelling Shits
8. A Glass Of Champagne – Sailor
9. I See Stars – Supersempfft
10. I Dig You- Demis Roussos
11. YaYa (Nelue Rework Mutant Disco Edit) - Ron Rogers
12. Slippery People (Club Version) – The Staple Singers
13. Love Is A Serious Business - Alfie Davison
CD2
1. Happy (Is My Life) - Andre Willliams / Velvet Hammer
2. My Little Girl - Bobby Garrett
3. Waiting For A Train - Flash And The Pan
4. Flame (Chicken Lips Version) - Bell X1
5. Release Yo’Delf (Prodigy Remix) - Method Man
6. Hateful - Aaron Carl
7. Rose Rouge - St. Germain
8. Imperfect List Pt.1 - Big Hard Excellent Fish
9. Nothing - Rene Halkett / David Jay

His most open, honest and vibrant solo record to date, Brothers & Sisters marries the personal and the political but does so in an emotive and uplifting manner. Written against a backdrop of fear and uncertainty, and at a time when those in charge lurched from one disaster to the next mismanagement with increasing regularity, Brothers & Sisters is in fact an incredibly joyous, even spiritual, listen.

With musical contributions from feted Pakistani singer Javed Bashir, British gospel singers Jayando Cole, Keshia Smith, Connie McCall & Adrian Blake and Kaviraj Singh on the santoor it’s a record about bringing people together through art, music and culture.

“To me, this record is a massive ‘Fuck you’ to Brexit,” explains Mason. “And a giant ‘Fuck you’ to anyone that is terrified of immigration because there is nothing that immigration has brought to this country that isn’t to be applauded. Can you imagine what this place would be like without that [immigration]? I mean what would it be like? Cornish pasties and morris dancing?.”

STAFF COMMENTS

Andy says: A record which Steve himself calls "a massive Fuck You to Brexit" is actually an incredibly uplifting pop record with some of the best tunes and grooves of his whole career. Inspirational!

TRACK LISTING

1. Mars Man
2. I’m On My Way
3. No More
4. All Over Again
5. The People Say
6. Let It Go
7. Pieces Of Me
8. Travelling Hard
9. Brixton Fish Fry
10. Upon My Soul
11. Brothers & Sisters

Having written most of his previous albums alone, About The Light marks a change in approach for Steve.

“I decided with this album that I wanted to get my live band involved at every stage because I wanted to capture the energy that we produce when we play live shows, so this time the band and myself worked on a collection of songs over the course of last year,” he explains.

Picking Stephen Street to produce the album, and with a very clear plan in mind, from the off the goal was to capture the songs live and draw out their soulful elements.

Talking about the process, Stephen Street says, “Steve explained that he wanted to make this album with his band playing more ‘live’ than on some of his previous offerings and also to augment the songs with brass and female backing vocalists. I felt this approach of first stripping back the songs to a more ‘live’ feel to create more space for the more ‘soulful’ elements to breathe in was an interesting one and we got down to work!”

Recorded at studios in London and Brighton, About The Light, sees a subtle yet noticeable evolution in Steve’s sound.

“When I listen to this album it feels and sounds like the first ‘legitimate’ record that I have ever made. It’s hard to explain but it sounds like a ‘real’ album. I think that is partly the production, the playing and the work that I did with the band for all those months in our rehearsal room on the South Coast,” says Steve.

“It’s a beautiful, confident, positive, angry, loving and gentle album which once again moves what I do forward,” he adds. “David Bowie said that you should always be slightly out of your comfort zone if you want to achieve greatness, and for the first time perhaps ever, I deliberately pushed myself into that place. Who doesn’t want greatness?”

STAFF COMMENTS

Laura says: Wearing his heart on his sleeve both emotionally and politically, the former Beta Band front man brings us his best and most direct album to date. As ever he dabbles with different genres, be it folky ballads, melodica tinged dub, Stones-ey southern Soul or big hook filled pop songs, but this time around, more than ever, he’s managed to meld everything into a cohesive, uplifting whole.

TRACK LISTING

1. America Is Your Boyfriend
2. Rocket
3. No Clue
4. About The Light
5. Fox On The Rooftop
6. Stars Around My Heart
7. Spanish Brigade
8. Don’t Know Where
9. Walking Away From Love
10. The End

Written at home by Mason, the tracks were then rehearsed in Brighton with touring band mates Steve Duffield and Greg Nielson, before being recorded with Elbow keyboardist and producer Craig Potter at Blueprint Studios in Salford. Recorded in the studios ‘big room’, an ex-factory space with floor to ceiling windows, the album took shape during a smooth and enjoyable six weeks in the early summer of 2015.

Following from his ‘double political concept album’ ‘Monkey Minds In The Devil’s Time’ this album is a move towards a more simple ethic; ‘an album where each song is a separate entity, where there is no great narrative running through it.’

‘Meet The Humans’ is shot through with a sense of renewal following Steve’s recent move to Brighton, swinging musically across dance, pop, folk, dub, and deep house influences. It’s a record which repeatedly returns to core themes, the possibility of others to redeem the self, the opportunity of change for the better in the individual, the joy of life and the world we inhabit, it’s arguably the most complete and direct of Steve’s long discography - eleven personal stories combined into one positive and proper whole, the sweep of the human condition written large and full of love and hope and joy.

STAFF COMMENTS

Andy says: The funky ex Beta Band maestro returns with a buoyant encapsulation of all that is good in his groovesome world. The lush production and airy vibes make this pretty close to a pop record, but as ever, there's always the melancholy in the melody for Mr. Mason. However, certain tracks on here take us right back to those glorious baggy days of 1989, which I always thought was Steve's musical template. Combining these with the more introspective moments make this possibly the best album of his career so far. Inspirational.

TRACK LISTING

1. Water Bored
2. Alive
3. Alright
4. Another Day
5. Ran Away
6. To A Door
7. Hardly Go Through
8. Through My Window
9. Planet Sizes
10. Like Water
11. Words In My Head

After the critically lauded ‘Boys Outside’, ex-Beta Band mainman Steve Mason delivers his magnum opus ‘Monkey Minds In The Devil’s Time’.

‘Monkey Minds In The Devil’s Time’ is an album saturated with politics. With a title referring to the Buddhist term for an easily distracted brain, the album features 20 songs - 9 recorded in London with producer Dan Carey and 11 short linking pieces self-produced in Mason’s Fife studio.

All songs on the album were written by Mason, while Dan Carey appears on bass throughout the record, and acclaimed London MC Mystro provides vocals on ‘More Money, More Fire’.

TRACK LISTING

1. The Old Problem
2. Lie Awake
3. Flyover ‘98
4. A Lot Of Love
5. The Last Of Heroes
6. Lonely
7. Safe Population
8. Friends For Ever More
9. Seen It All Before
10. From Hate We Hope
11. Oh My Lord
12. Goodbye Youth
13. Never Be Alone
14. Behind The Curtains
14. More Money, More Fire
16. Fire!
17. Operation Mason
18. Fight Them Back
19. Towers Of Power
20. Come To Me

BONUS CD DISC:
1. Seen It All Before (Greg Wilson Remix)
2. Come To Me (Greg Wilson Remix)