Steve Mason @ Melody Maker, June 10 1995

streetwise snaps: Tom Sheehan

GIMME SHELTER

Shelter: the national campaign for homeless people

Melody Maker, June 10, 1995

Steve Mason, The Guitarist of Gene

뭐 저렇게 당대에 핫했던 밴드 넷이 모여서 Shelter 캠페인 홍보하는 공연을 했던 모양 

기념으로 기타들을 모아서 인터뷰하고..

이 사진 보고 놀래서 소리지름 

먼데 이렇게 생겨가지고 그런 성격인데 너는.. 표정도 되게 평온해보이고 눈빛도 그냥 되게 다정해보여서 가슴을 치게 되었다

-Our conversation is interrupted by the arrival of Steve Mason, the quietly spoken and devilishly handsome Gene Guitarist who is today sporting a Small Faces haircut and the kind of sheepskin overcoat normally spotted only on minor Endsleigh League football manager. He has two hours to spend with us before joining the rest of Gene at the BBC studios to film "The Late Show". In Three days, he flies with the rest of the band to NY for promotional interviews.

-While Steve, who hasn't met any of the other musicians before is quieter and more self-conscious.

"I see homeless people selling 'The Big Issue' and these hard-faced businessman in long mohair jackets saunter past as if they don't exist, and it really riles me' -Steve

  Gene's most-topped, endearingly pensive guitarist Steve Mason feels that he's had a charmed life. He's never been homeless nor found himself in a situation where he had no decent place to est his head. However, this doesn't prevent himself from empathizing with Shelter's aims.

  "It's obvious that housing policies here aren't working," he says.  "Just go to any major city and look ant how many people are sitting in the street. Shelter know what they're doing, they do their research, and they come up with statistics which should really be making this Government quake. 

  "This gig's not  just about helping people who are sleeping rough, it's also for people who are getting their houses repossessed or living in bed&breakfast accommodation. Shelter helps those people, too. There's a severe homeless situation and we should be trying with all our heart and soul to rectify it."

 Don't you have moral misgivings about the inappropriate nature of charities being forced to perform what should be the job of the government? How do you differentiate between this admirably intentioned venture and the mawkish, sentiment-laden spectacle of Comic Relief, where showbiz millionaires queue up to instruct Joe Public to give generously?

  "I don't want to criticize Comic Relief," says the guitarist, "but it's just a media frenzy, really, isn't it? This isn't hyped at all. It's coming from a street level. I'm in Waterloo all the time, and I see these people living in cardboard boxes..."

  And the poor will always be with us?

  "Yes, Unfortunately as long as Man is greedy, which is what causes these problems. I'm not a politician, I'm a musician, but it's obvious to me that we should be spending money on housing and not on giving the chairman of British Telecom 300,000 pound per year. I see homeless people selling 'The Big Issue' and these hard-faced businessmen in long mohair jackets saunter past as if they don't exist, and it really riles me."

  "There needs to be a limit on how much people are allowed to earn. The gulf between the people at the top and those actually doing the hard work is getting too wide. I just can't work out how people can keep voting the Tories back in..."

 Gene signer Martin Rossiter's down-the-line Labour Party views are well-known. Do you share Martin's partisan commitment?

"Our moralities are pretty much as one."

So if Tony Blair phoned you tomorrow and asked you to join a Red Wedge-style tour to support the Labour Party, would you go?

"We were asked to do something with Tony Blair," Mason smiles. "We were too busy. Otherwise, we'd have done it. But no, Gene are far more subtle on our approach to our political learning. I wouldn't want us to start becoming preachers. Gene aren't politicians, we're songwriters. We just hope from playing this concert, people get more aware of what Shelter is actually about and understand the work they're doing."

-Steve is the only star to check his hair in the mirror before the photos are taken and also, act fans, the only one who has a hairy chest.

"나는 정치인이 아닌 뮤지션이지만, 브리티쉬 텔레콤 회장에게 연당 삼십만 파운드씩 갖다바치는것보다는 housing에 돈을 써야한다는건 명백한 사실이죠."

"홈리스들이 빅이슈를 파는 거리에서, 긴 모헤어 자켓을 입은 사람들이 얼굴을 굳힌채 홈리스들이 존재하지도 않는다는듯 지나치는 광경을 보면, 화가 나요"

"빈부격차가 갈수록 더 심각해지고 있어요.. 그런데도 사람들이 공화당에 다시 투표하는 걸 도저히 이해할 수 없어요."

마틴 로시터의 당파적인 신념을 공유하는 편인가요? "우리의 도덕적인 가치관은 거의 하나와 같아요."

"하지만..아니요. Gene은 우리의 '정치학습'의 접근방식에 있어서는 좀 더 subtle하죠. 난 우리가 전도사가 되는건 원하지 않아요. Gene은 정치인이 아니예요, 우리는 송라이터들이죠."

*

아 좀 한 밴드안에 나의 이상형이 둘이나 있는건 정말 자닌한 일인 것 같다

둘이 얼굴보고 캐스팅한 사인데 어쩜 애들이 성격이나 생각도 이렇지.. 이상한 애들이다....

베_충.이새끼들이나/ 페북에 이성적인 척 하면서 글쓰면서 현실도 좆도 모르면서 현학적인 자기위안이나 하는 먹물 먹은 애새끼들이나/ 정치적인 스탠스는 비슷해도 약자존중할줄도 모르는 결국 자신의 스탠스의 기반이 결핍에서 비롯된 열등감이라는걸 신나게 티내는 애새끼들이나 보다가 얘네 둘이 말하는거 보고있으면 존나 가슴을 치게 된다 아...구십오년도는 그냥 블러고 오아시스고 꽐라되가지고 씩씩거리면서 미디어에 쏀척하고 술퍼마시고 돌이켜보면 존나 래디쉬한 문화라 여자는 철저하게 배제되거나 그들의 부수적인 트로피같은 그런 세대였자나 존나 시대를 잘못타고 났다는 생각만이... 아니 뭐 근데 요새도 딱히 다를거 없지 흑흑 존나 너무 소중해서 내 돈 다주고싶다!!!!!!!!!!!! 

요란하지 않지만 조용조용 잘 말하고 간듯. 하지만 밴드와 자신의 정치색은 적당히 거리를 두겠다는 하여간 내가 존나 환장할것같은 대답을 야무지게 하고 간 스티브 메이슨..그래 너희는 의식있는 청년이지만 예술이 자체로 고고하게 아름다울 수 있는 수준의 정도를 너무나도 정확히 알고있지.. 

그리고 옆페이지에는 자랑스럽게 사진이 뙇

로시터....딴데보고 사진찍으면 이렇게 예쁘게 나오는데

잘생긴 애들만 보려고 한번 잘라보았다