THERE are currently 300 people running around the country armed with a little secret they are not quite ready to tell.

You can identify them if you know the signs. The easiest way is to strike up a conversation around seeing huge bands before they were huge and watch as a smug and knowing expression takes hold on the subject.

It’s clear they have something; but you are not sure exactly what. What’s worse is that you get the feeling you may have to wait a little while to hear this particular claim to fame.

For this select group have an ace up their sleeve – they will forever be able to say that were there the night Mason Hill played King Tut’s in 2019.

In the short years to come, the Glasgow five-piece will almost certainly earn a place on the steps of the famous venue and reinstate the rock ‘n’ roll credentials of the city.

In Scott Taylor they have a singer and frontman with enviable range and vocals easily likened to that of Brent Smith or Eddie Veliz with, perhaps, a notable touch of the mighty Chris Cornell. A few songs in, he remarks that he has been fighting a cold – it’s hard to imagine that anything had dampened his performance, such was the strength of his voice.

Drummer Craig McFetridge is capable and crisp in his work and provides the steady hand to support guitarists James Bird and Marc Montgomery who dive seamlessly from crunching low-end riffs to the dynamic lead parts.

Of course, the band’s live act is punctuated by the infectious enthusiasm of bassist Matthew Ward – a man who has never worn the same expression twice and is a beacon of joy on stage.

Armed with a formidable setlist of driving, straight-laced rock, they weaved a trail from their earlier self-titled EP to the unveiling of their new material.

Opening with Survive, they set the tone for the evening, with further highlights coming in the shape of Now You See Me and the epic Against the Wall – the title track from their upcoming album.

Mason Hill are surely on the precipice of something special and the release of their first full-length recording next year is likely to lay the groundwork for their ascendency.

A sell-out show at Tut’s certainly does no harm either. Just ask those who were there to bear witness. They shouldn’t be too hard to find.