Wide Mouth Mason

Wide Mouth Mason is Shaun Verreault, Safwan Javed, and Gordie Johnson.
As one of Canada's more interesting musical exports, Wide Mouth Mason is a trio of musicians who represent the heart of a nation built of many different cultures. Comprised of Shaun Verreault (vocals, guitar), Safwan Javed (percussion, vocals), and Gordie Johnson (bass, vocals), the band Wide Mouth Mason creates music that transcends the easy labels of music media and instead lays ground for a sound that is wholly the band and best heard live.
Shaun and Safwan began playing together over 20 years ago as school children, with their first performances as Wide Mouth Mason being approximately in 1995. As Wide Mouth Mason, the young men from Saskatoon began to build a fan base, the guys taking their band name from jars of the same name that they once used to drink from. From their beginnings performing in rural Alberta in 1995, the band has seen its fan base grow in Canada and extend to other areas of the world such as the United States and in Europe. With each new fan gained often quick to share the discovery of Wide Mouth Mason's music with others who have yet to hear the band's music. In February 2011, after co-founder and bassist Earl Pereira chose to leave Wide Mouth Mason to pursue other musical opportunities, Wide Mouth Mason was joined by Gordie Johnson (Big Sugar, Grady) who has since taken over the role of bass and vocals permanently in the group.
While Wide Mouth Mason's albums provide musical snapshots of a band's journey and growth, it is the opportunity of hearing the guys perform live that is something not easily described or captured, only experienced. The band has opened for such groups as AC/DC, The Rolling Stones, ZZ Top, The Guess Who, and gaining more fans with each performance along the way. They've played at many different music festivals, including the prestigious Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland. With each performance, Wide Mouth Mason has ably demonstrated at an innate ability to tailor their performance to the size of their audience and the environment created with each subtle nuance of a music fan enjoying the band's music. Wide Mouth Mason has the rare ability to not just sense the music the audience is hoping to hear but to also often surprise even the most jaded listener with their versatility and range.
As a live act, the band not only plays what one might expect, but also often plays what is the unexpected, whether it be adding funk to what would normally be a blues standard in front of a jazz-oriented balance or pulling the rawness of guitar and hard rhythms to introduce and invigorate the band's sound to a hard-rock inured listening public expecting to hear a perhaps more well-known rock band. The talent of the band in each of their performances indescribably gives each person in an audience the feeling that the band is performing just for them. Just as the band can never be adequately identified by the labels of the music industry, so too does the style and talent of the band be all and yet be none of the easy labels, depending on who is listening.
Our Fan Network is at www.WideMouthMason.net! Check out our Band Journal at the official Wide Mouth Mason website at www.WideMouthMason.com!