The heats for the 2006 Next Big Thing WA competition have been announced. Chris Mason will be playing in heat 7 at the Swan Basement (downstairs at the Swan Hotel, 201 Queen Victoria St Fremantle) on Saturday July 8 from 9:20-9:40pm. NBTWA is WA's premier original  live music competition, with past winners including John Butler and The Fault. Artists play 20 minute sets in front of a panel of judges consisting of some of the heavyweights of the Perth music industry. Chris, playing songs from the recently released <em>Up Down Up</em>, will be ably backed by Stuart Medley <em>(Holding Pattern</em>) on piano and Simon Kirk on guitar.

"It's a bit of a special gig, so I thought it would be a great opportunity to play the songs with a different dynamic. Normally, for live gigs, it's just me and my acoustic but I thought I'd ask a couple of friends of mine to help out and try and take the music a little closer to how they sound on record. Rehearsals are going really well. Hopefully the other guys will be keen to continue and do some more gigs. I'm really pleased with how the material is sounding; really looking forward to the gig and the opportunity to play in front of a few people."

<a href="http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/Media/HSR_Radio/chris_mason/Fits_and_Starts.mp3">mp3link</a> <em>Chris Mason - Fits and starts </em>