Simon Mason Recovery Services
MY CREATIVE LIFE IN RECOVERY
Author
Too High, Too Far, Too Soon
I’m am the author of the critically acclaimed memoir, Too High, Too Far, Too Soon.
The book was chosen by Norman Baker, previously the UK Government Minister of State for Crime Prevention as his favourite from the top 50 books on drugs and addiction.
​“A remarkable memoir.” The London Evening Standard
“He has chronicled the full arc of these misadventures in, Too High, Too Far, Too Soon – a book that falls somewhere between Stephen Smith’s Addict and Danny Sugarman’s Wonderland Avenue and is perhaps the great British narco-memoir of modern times.” Vice Magazine
“Nothing’s more boring than a drugs memoir. Not this one though.” Irvine Welsh
Available on Amazon​
MUSIC
Hightown Pirates
I am also the singer/songwriter in the band, Hightown Pirates, a collective of clean/sober musicians who have recorded and released three studio albums since 2017 and toured the UK.
The ever-changing musical collective formed and fronted by singer/songwriter Simon Mason. They have just (very) quietly released their third album, Welcome to Wilderness Hill (2023). Written in his adopted hometown of Margate, recorded at the Libertines, Albion Rooms studio, it is aural portrait of a broken country, filled with characters and situations vividly, viciously, and beautifully described by the guitar and pen of Simon Mason. There are no reviews of the new album on Simon’s insistence.
​
“It’s not a competition, I’m not playing that game anymore!”
Previously however…
All of the Above. (2020)
​
“The album is massive. It has tastes of every sound he ever heard and loved; it’s acoustic and electric guitar, piano, Hammond, harmonica, trumpet, sax; it’s a rock and soul revue sound with songs that are packed with images of those that lived on the streets, those that still live there, those that have survived their issues, those that haven’t. It’s about the state of the country as we see it now. It’s The Who, The E Street Band, The Hold Steady, The Jam, those Mancunian lads he used to know if they’d kept their edge. It’s got hope, anger, despair, delight, and it’s full of love, for your family, your friends, your fellow man. It’s about standing up, making a stand, “Not here man, this is holy ground” in an echo of a Waterboys moment”, believing in things, believing in yourself, and in your ‘self’.” Getintothis Magazine.
“Mason weaves a tapestry together of diverse characters and lives like vignettes. The passion and talent has to be lauded. Mason is a teller of stories, of some lives, lived, others hidden and lost, of hopes and dreams and everything else in-between.”
XSnoize.
“Big on numbers, with a big sound, big hooks and even bigger tunes. Tunes that are powered by big guitars, a big booming bass, big and beautiful trumpets, big drums, and big soulful vocals. But most of all Hightown Pirates have a great big heart. A great big, beautiful beating heart. Just buy the album, it is utterly beautiful.”
Loire Magazine.
“Sophisticated and nuanced: There is real vulnerability in these tunes that puts it on a plane with Elliot Smith. There’s an emotional literacy here as well. 9/10."
Louder Than War magazine.
Dry and High (2017)
“A joyous, anthem-laden affair that evokes Arcade Fire’s sweep; Blood, Sweat & Tears’
horns, and the finer moments of Primal Scream’s Screamadelica.”
****Q Magazine.
“Boldness has genius, go f**kin’ listen.”
Louder Than War. 9/10
“A brilliant debut album.”
GQ.
“The glorious sound of a rocknroll band having the time of their (and your) life. 8/10"
Dave Haslam
MUSIC VIDEOS
SHORT FILMS
WRITING
PERFORMANCE
Public-Speaker and Performing​​​I am also a public-speaker and performer, having starred in the theatrical adaptation of my memoir, whichplayed in London’s West-End for 4 weeks before touring the UK.
‘A happy meeting of emotional and intellectual engagement.…Raw, with Simon Mason utterly compelling and sympathetic as a performer’ – Theatre Bubble
***** “The combination of Simon Mason’s gripping performance of his helter-skelter journey through addiction and into recovery was perfectly complimented by Cathy Sloane’s imaginary direction.”Jimmy Page, (Led Zeppelin)