LOCKDOWN restrictions have helped a musician fulfil his dream and create his debut album.

Calum Mason plays bass guitar in a number of bands, including Victorian Trout Conspiracy and racecar.

However, with live performances shelved due to the Covid-19 pandemic, it allowed him time to put pen to paper and start piecing together his own album, Panopticon.

He said: “I have always been a songwriter.

“The bands I perform bass for, I tend to write songs for the bands.

“That was always, I suppose, specific to the band and their genre or style and what they do.

“It was time for me to do something that was much more up my own alley musically.

“I had done solo stuff but never taken it too seriously or had enough time, either side of doing performing and being involved in bands, to pursue it properly.

“It was really during the pandemic and being in lockdown that gave me time and space to put some energy into doing my own stuff.

“There was definitely a silver lining to the pandemic.

“[Usually] you are choc-a-bloc playing gigs and don’t have much time for creative endeavour, especially for your own thing.

“It was nice to have a little bit of time to work on that.”

The former Knox Academy pupil’s love of music was established when he was a teenager.

He attended the Bridge Centre’s Music Project and started playing bass, going on to form punk/funk band Edelweiss Pirates with friends.

Growing up on Haddington’s Burnside, Calum would then go on to study music at Edinburgh Napier University.

The 10 tracks on his new album were recorded at Venice of the North Studios in Glasgow.

Now, after writing, arranging and recording the songs for his debut album, he is waiting on the finished product arriving at his home in the Capital.

Calum told the Courier: “I guess I would describe the music as alternative rock with a hint of folk music, as well as traditional music.

“I guess I was influenced by a bunch of bands when I was younger and this has carried on through.

“I was interested in the Seattle grunge scene and all the alternative rock that came out of that like Nirvana and Pearl Jam, and then I started enjoying Queens Of The Stone Age, Foo Fighters, Radiohead and bands like that.

“In terms of songwriters, I am a really big fan of Nick Cave, Tom Waits and the Scottish songwriter John Martyn as well.”

As lockdown restrictions ease, the 32-year-old is hopeful of putting a band together and performing Panopticon, which is released on March 4, live.

He said: “Of course, that’s the actual plan.

“In this day and age, you don’t know what is going to happen but that is on the cards!”