ST

Wide Mouth Mason are a Saskatoon, Saskatchewan blues-rock band formed in 1995 by guitarist and vocalist Shaun Verreault, bassist Earl Pereira, and drummer Safwan Javed. Built around the chemistry of three young musicians from the same prairie music community, the group emerged with a sound rooted in electric blues, soul, hard rock, and improvisational power-trio playing. Verreault and Javed had known each other since childhood, while Pereira joined after moving to Saskatoon from Toronto, completing a lineup whose tightness would become central to the band’s early reputation.

The band’s name came from the wide-mouth mason jar, but their music drew from a much wider vocabulary than rustic Canadiana. Early sets mixed original material with the influence of blues and rock figures such as Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughan, B.B. King, Buddy Guy, and Prince, giving the trio a foundation that was both technically sharp and emotionally direct. In Saskatoon, they developed quickly through school shows, local clubs, and prairie bar gigs, building a reputation as a young band with unusual instrumental control and a singer-guitarist whose voice and playing were both immediately identifiable.

Wide Mouth Mason released their independent debut, The Nazarene, in 1996. Pressed in a small run, the album was strong enough to attract major-label attention, leading to the band signing with Warner Music Canada and re-recording much of the material for their 1997 self-titled release. Recorded and mixed at Greenhouse Studios in Vancouver with Joel Van Dyke, Wide Mouth Mason introduced the group nationally and produced some of their best-known early songs, including ‘Midnight Rain’, ‘My Old Self’, ‘This Mourning’, and ‘The Game’. The album established the band as one of the most promising Canadian rock acts of the late 1990s and brought them a Juno Award nomination for Best New Group.

Their follow-up, Where I Started, was released in 1999 and confirmed that Wide Mouth Mason were not simply a blues-rock revival act. Produced by David Leonard and recorded at Greenhouse Studios, the album expanded the band’s sound with more groove, atmosphere, and pop structure while keeping the trio’s blues foundation intact. It produced the singles ‘Why’, ‘Companion (Lay Me Down)’, ‘Sugarcane’, and ‘Half A Chance’, won Outstanding Rock Recording at the 1999 Prairie Music Awards, and was certified Gold in Canada.

By the end of the decade, Wide Mouth Mason had become one of Canada’s most visible blues-rooted rock bands. Their profile grew through MuchMusic exposure, rock radio support, and extensive touring, including major dates with The Rolling Stones, AC/DC, and ZZ Top, as well as appearances at the Montreux Jazz Festival. The trio stood apart from many post-grunge-era Canadian rock bands by placing musicianship, swing, and blues feel at the centre of their sound rather than using blues merely as decoration.

The band continued to evolve with Stew in 2000, a more eclectic album that brought another Juno Award nomination, this time for Best Rock Album. Rained Out Parade followed in 2002, leaning into earthier tones and a looser blues-rock feel, while Shot Down Satellites appeared in 2005 after the band’s Warner period, as Wide Mouth Mason continued through a changing Canadian music industry that was becoming less hospitable to major-label rock development.

After years of touring and recording, the original trio eventually changed shape. Earl Pereira left the band and later focused on his own project, The Steadies, while Verreault and Javed carried Wide Mouth Mason forward. Gordie Johnson of Big Sugar, who had been an early supporter and touring connection for the group, later became directly involved with the band, playing bass and producing No Bad Days, released in 2011. His presence linked Wide Mouth Mason even more closely to the Canadian blues-rock lineage that had helped open doors for them in their early years.

In the late 2010s, Wide Mouth Mason re-emerged with a renewed emphasis on blues forms and instrumental experimentation. By this point the band had become a duo centred on original members Shaun Verreault and Safwan Javed, with Verreault increasingly focused on his distinctive tri-slide technique, using three slides on his fretting hand to combine lap-steel textures, chordal movement, and electric blues phrasing. This approach became central to I Wanna Go With You, released in 2019, a record that pushed the band toward older blues, jump, and roots sounds while still carrying the intensity of their rock background.

Wide Mouth Mason followed with Late Night Walking in 2023. Produced by Ryan Dahle and Wide Mouth Mason, the album was recorded, mixed, and mastered by Dahle at Mayne Island Sound, with bass parts composed and recorded by Gordie Johnson at The Sound Shack. The album featured Verreault on vocals, lap steel, guitar, and banjo; Javed on drums, percussion, and backing vocals; Johnson on bass and B3 organ; and Dahle on backing vocals and additional guitar. The same period also saw renewed vinyl activity around the band’s catalogue, including reissues of the self-titled album and Where I Started.

Across three decades, Wide Mouth Mason have remained one of Canada’s most enduring blues-rock acts, moving from teenage Saskatoon power trio to major-label breakthrough band, national touring act, and later-career roots-blues experimenters. Their strongest work rests on the tension between prairie directness and restless musicianship: Verreault’s elastic voice and guitar language, Javed’s dynamic rhythmic feel, Pereira’s original bass-driven trio foundation, and the later involvement of Gordie Johnson and Ryan Dahle all form part of a story that connects 1990s Canadian rock with a much older blues tradition.

-Robert Williston