Bicoastal artist Gena Mason writes, sings, and plays progressive rock music.

"Globetrotting boho Gena Mason has, apparently, taken up residence in Portland--and subsequently this town's cred should increase threefold. In both her poetry and her bass-heavy rock, Mason has received comparisons with Burroughs, Reed, Morrison, and Cobain...Mason, who is much more beautiful than any of those white guys, carries her influences' independent spirit and gritty aesthetic." --Mark Baumgarten, Willamette Week (Portland, OR)

Gena Mason was born in Chicago, grew up in Indianapolis, debuted in the church choir at age 3, and composed her first poem at 9. Throughout her teenage years she wrote songs, sang, and played piano and guitar, then progressed to the bass. Gena has been on the move ever since.

Her psychedelic college experiences included a year in Paris on scholarship. Leaving for New York at 21, she shared an Alphabet City tenement with a former boyfriend. The duo recorded a demo while living below a crazy neighbor who spent six months punching a hole through her own floor until the couple's ceiling collapsed. Mason's boyfriend fled.

Soon after, Gena's profile rose as an outspoken poet in New York City's avant-garde scene around The Poetry Project at St. Mark's Church, where she has frequently shared a bill with downtown luminaries. Early work of hers was spurred by literary outlaws like Burroughs and Celine. She penned the poem "Criminal" after sheltering a male bisexual bathroom hustler and heroin addict. Mason's success in spoken-word grew, and included exposure on the Lower East Side pirate radio station WSTR (Steal This Radio).

But the Beat moved her most, and Mason returned to writing rock songs. She started with "City of Night," about her brief affair with the teenage son of a writer. Next came "Queen," her neo-Beat street poet's version of hip-hop swagger. Recording a demo CD in 12 hours, she landed her first rock gig at Hollywood's Roxy Theater and flew to Los Angeles in the summer of 2000.

Of course, Gena's club debut led to a drama of epic proportion. It was at about this time that she began to realize that she had an extremely obsessive and powerul stalker. A series of related incidents including a brush with identity theft, political difficulties, and the job market's collapse left her penniless and on the street in a strange city. After 3 days without food or shelter, Gena was abducted by a religious cult ("I left when they tried to take my pot pipe," Mason laughs), and then forced to crash with a string of characters including con artists, prostitutes, DJs, and drug dealers. She ended up in a homeless shelter run by Chinese nuns; after 4 weeks, friction with the sisters and other residents forced her to flee back to New York--but not before she'd managed to play a few more shows in Tinseltown.

Months later, Gena decided to give Los Angeles another try. Stopping en route in Indianapolis, she recorded her third demo in a converted Masonic lodge during the week of the World Trade Center terrorist attack (about which Mason had received premonitions in dreams for over a year). On 911 she wrote and produced all the songs, performing on vocals, guitar, bass, and drum machine.

Back in Hollywood, Mason continued her work in the studio, onstage, and on the radio. In early 2003, she sat in on vocals with current and former members of Blondie and Guns N' Roses. That summer, she debuted "The Alternative," her weekly radio program, which launched on KLAS FM. During this time she also learned that she is descended from a line of preachers, including a founder of several churches. Which explains much; through her lyrics Mason explores metaphysics in the guise of love songs. She has been a practicing Witch for the past few years.

Indeed, Mason receives inspiration from a variety of sources. She has had "uh, I think about 50" jobs, ranging from editor to exotic dancer. The latter, a three-month stint to pay for art school, still inspires her songwriting. Like the film O Brother, Where Art Thou? one of her recent songs is based on Homer's classic The Odyssey. Fascinated by the passage with the deadly ocean sirens, Mason wrote her own version of their verses. The result is "I'll Be Your Mirror," a love song sung from a siren's perspective.

October of 2003 saw her move to Portland, Oregon. Just over one month later, she was gigging in town and completing tracking on her first commercial recording. In April 2004, Mason released The Queen EP, a five-song effort. The CD was quickly followed by a successful West Coast tour. Six of the final tour dates were booked as Gena Mason and the Drones--Gena's first full band. However, after 5 shows together, the first version of Gena Mason and the Drones imploded in a firestorm of straight and gay sex, jealousy, and no-shows. For several years after that meltdown, Gena played mostly solo shows, backed by her trusty iBook.

2005 saw the publication of Mason's acclaimed zine, The CIA Makes Science Fiction Unexciting #3 (Microcosm Publishing). Now in its third printing, CIAMSFU #3 has garnered praise from the public and press, and is available through booksellers across the country. In 2009 Gena's zine spent a season on display at Chicago's Museum of Contemporary Art, as part of the museum's USA Today exhibition. Other artists' books in the exhibition included works by Yoko Ono, Joseph Beuys, and Jenny Holzer.

In 2005 Gena Mason also moved back to New York City and enrolled in law school at Columbia University. At the end of 2007 she completed production on Testament, her first full-length album and second commercial release. Testament traces Gena's journey to the heart of darkness and back again. The recording session followed 6 months during which Gena trained with famed vocal coach Don Lawrence (Christina Aguilera, Rolling Stones, Bono).Mason sings and plays guitar, bass, keyboards, drums, drum machine, and other percussion; she wrote, performed, and produced almost every note. In 2007 Mason also debuted her cable access TV show, Alien Nation.

After 2 years at Columbia, Gena decided to take a break from law school, and is currently on a leave of absence. She spent the first 4 months of her leave living in a Buddhist monastery atop Overlook Mountain in Woodstock, NY, where she also shot her first 2 music videos, "Book 49" and "I'll Be Your Mirror." In January of 2010, she left the monastery and moved back to Los Angeles, where she is now living. She has formed a new band, with whom she is performing in Hollywood.

On September 14, 2009, Gena joined the rest of GenX and started a blog. The first entry is a tribute to Jim Carroll, a former hero and acquaintance of Gena's who passed away on September 11, 2009. The blog has since developed into Dorado Magazine, a multimedia weblog.

Gena has just finished recording her new EP. Exile, Mason's third commercial release, shows her bringing together such disparate influences as Sonic Youth, Nine Inch Nails, Merry Clayton, Igor Stravinsky, and Syd Barrett.

Gena Mason has graced stages in New York, NY; Los Angeles; Seattle; San Francisco; Washington, D.C.; Austin, TX; Nashville, TN; Portland, OR; Pittsburgh, PA; Olympia, WA; Boise, ID; Burlington, VT; and Santa Cruz, CA. Her music has been heard on college and community radio in Los Angeles; Portland; Olympia; and Provincetown, MA. She has been interviewed live on college, community, internet, and pirate radio.

"Gena Mason completely caught Bobble Tiki off guard when he caught her show in Portland. The bass-heavy rock along with her Jim Morrison-like words sucked Bobble Tiki in like a Hoover in heat. Mason pounded out some beautifully gritty and spirited rock. And it sounds real. She is easily one of Bobble Tiki's favorite contemporary songwriters. Trust him. You just gotta see her." --Bobble Tiki, The Weekly Volcano (Olympia, WA)