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News March 6, 2018

Name change for Reece Mastin, new single ‘Not The Man For You’ unveils hard rock sound

Name change for Reece Mastin, new single ‘Not The Man For You’ unveils hard rock sound

It’s a familiar story. In 2011, 16-year-old Reece Mastin won X Factor Australia, notched up a series of hit singles and two #1 pop albums which went platinum, and toured to thousands.

As Mastin puts it, he was“living the dream” but was “kept at an arms length from all decisions made in my career at that time, and to be honest, I wasn’t thinking about it in the slightest. I was being a kid and living out my fantasy.”

Leaving behind major label support and going down the independent route was“a massive shock to the system,” he tells TMN.

“Depression is something I have definitely had to work on and through therapy and a lot of hard nights and even harder mornings,

“I’m starting to get a grip on it. Being able to fulfil my passions and my need to play and create this music that is uncontainable, makes it so much easier to process the darker sides of your mind.”

Going the independent route, he says, gives him more freedom artistically, but also more responsibility on the business side of things, which he had to figure out as he gigged endlessly to sharpen the new sound.

“Every in and out, every triumph and fuck up. I am over it all.

“It’s the only way to fully get every thing you want out of this industry.

“I’ve also chosen carefully a perfect network of people around me to get it all done.”

Now at 23, he’s calling himself Mastin, and new single ‘Not The Man For You’ that reflects the sounds – Guns N’Roses, Free, Queen, The Stones, Edgar Winter – that he learned to play guitar to in his teens.

The single, along with the parent riff-laden EP Suitcase of Stories (out April 6), was produced by Ricki Rae (Electric Mary).

He’d met Rae on the show, and reconnected with him a year ago in his studio.

“I sat on his couch playing him the EP with my acoustic (guitar) and explained what I wanted to do.

“It’s very clear when talking to us together, our lines of passion are parallel in our tastes of music.”

Apart from one track that he wrote solo (‘The One That Never Gets Away’), he wrote the single with Mitch Rodgers who plays drums in his band, and ‘Tell Me All About It’ with Ben Rodgers (who plays bass in his new band) and LA-based Aussie singer-songwriter Georgi Kay.

The title track was penned with Oklahoma songwriter Audra Mae while ‘The Problem’’ was with Alys Ffion, the Queensland singer-songwriter who landed a US publishing deal at 18 after dropping out of school, and recently relocated to Nashville.

Mastin accepts that some of the earlier fans might not “get” the new sound.

But he emphasises, “This EP is more ’me’ in bounds than anything else I’ve ever put out.

“Yes! It’s rock n roll to the heavens, there are stories of love, anger, sex and realization, all blanketed in the sweet tones of rock n roll, guitars loud and proud.”

Mastin hits the road at:

Sat April 7: The Basement, Sydney

Fri April 13: Saloon Bar, Launceston

Fri April 20: Shoalhaven Bowls Club, NSW’

Sat April 21: Waves, Wollongong

Sun April 29: Fowlers, Adelaide

Thurs May 31: Lsmore Workers Club, Lismore

Fri May 4: Surfers Paradise Live, Gold Coast

Sat May 5: The Brightside, Brisbane

Sun May 6: Sol Bar, Maroochydore

Thurs May 10: Transit Bar, Canberra

Sat May 19: Winton Supercars, Voc

Fri May 25: Grand Hotel, Mornington

Sun May 27: Max Watts, Melbourne

Fri June 15: The Grand Central, Perth

Sat June 16: Charles Hotel, Perth

Thurs July 12: The Loft, Warrnambool

Fri July 13: Workers Club, Geelong

Sat July 14: SS&A Club: Albury

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