Australian blues trio The Mason Rack band doesn’t want to be pigeonholed as just a blues act, so they are shaking things up on their new CD “Limit of Grip” as well as on their fourth tour of Canada, which brings them to the Slice, Aug. 4.

“It’s blues rock on steroids,” observed frontman/guitarist Mason Rack on the road to Winnipeg in the middle of their seven week Canadian tour. So far , all of the shows have been sold out with the exception of a few Monday and early week shows.
 The band, which also includes drummer Joel Purkess, also features original bassist Nathan Lee Archer, who comes from Tasmania.

“The new Cd crosses genres. There are a couple alternative songs at the beginning, then some blues rock, then some country-rock then ends with some alternative songs,” he said. The new CD is a studio Cd, while their previous effort was recorded live at  various Canadian shows.

The band doesn’t ever stop touring. They recently won QLD music award for Best Touring Band.
“It feels like we’re touring constantly,” he said. They tour a lot around their home of Queensland, Australia. It is paying off as they continue breaking new ground, launching tours of Japan and the United Kingdom next year.

“It feels great to play a place that wasn’t sold out the last time we played there then the next time we play there, it is sold out,” he said.
“It’s really nice. After four tours of Canada, it shows us that it’s working,” he said.

Their new music deliberately has a lot more variety.
“I don’t like it when I go to shows and see a band and after three or for songs, you’ve heard everything they’ve got and all the songs sound the same. I don’t want to do that. We always want to play blues rock,  but we didn’t want to be pigeonholed as a blues rock band,” he continued. He said now they feel comfortable playing a jazz or folk festival one day and a hard rock club the next.

He is looking forward to Lethbridge to play the Slice. They are filming this tour for a new tour DVD they are working on which includes footage from  a variety of Australian shows.

“They have great pizza there. We have new songs and a new drum thing that we do. It’s going to be mohawks, fireworks and roasted  bread and all of that stuff,” he said.
There is a $10 cover for the show, which begins at 9:30 p.m., Aug. 4.