Mason Pace: The Kings of Hearts

Mason Pace & his touring band talk about influences, achievements, & more!

Interviewed by: Delaney Hamilton & Veda Verner | 06/13/2023

Images By: @veda.elizabeth.photography

Mason Pace is a mystical/dark metal musician who has captivated their listeners with incredible lyricism, hard-hitting guitar riffs, and mesmerizing vocals. He and his band brought their enchanting performance from South Florida to many places, such as Nashville, Tennessee, where we caught up with them. Mason and his crew have been booked all over Florida. Gibson has recently endorsed Mason and opened for and headlined with acts like Ace Frehley, Joan Jett, Vince Neil, Cheap Trick, and Jared James Nichols. In 2018, Mason released his debut album Whateverland and is now touring with the release of a new single, Storm of Lies, released on all major streaming platforms on May 26, 2023.

On Sunday, June 4, 2023, we received the opportunity to speak with Mason Pace (lead guitarist/vocals) & his touring band: Tanner (guitarist), Johnny (bassist), and Alex (drummer). We were curious to know what got them started with their career paths. “Every kid with their parents goes through this phase, where the parents say, ‘Okay, my kid needs to find something to do with their life.’, so they put them in everything possible. It’s like, ‘I’m going to put them in soccer or baseball,’ in my case, it was both of those. I was the kid eating grass in the outfield; I was the kid that got hit in the face with a baseball and didn’t want to play anymore. In that phase that a parent goes through with their kid, they put me in music lessons, and that’s what I picked up. Over the years and through training, I learned that I had perfect pitch, which for a musician is an advantage.” When Mason was around 12 or 13 years old, he started a band for the first time, which was a rock band. Mason continues and explains how he began booking shows all over South Florida, doing bar gigs and playing 3 to 4-hour-long sets. “In 2021, we put out an EP that showed the sound you see today. I went through COVID and found what my sound was during that time. From there, I went pedal to the metal; I started doing shows all around Florida instead of just in South Florida through Orlando, Tampa, Jacksonville, Tallahassee, Cape Coral, Miami, and everywhere. Beginning in September [2022], we started doing out-of-state shows. We’ve already hit New York, Tennessee, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, the entire Southeast, and a lot of the east coast. We’ve been doing many of those tours and getting some pretty good spots recently. We’ve been around the block and done a lot but still reach for the stars.”

Given their unique sound, we were dying to know their musical influences. “I started with a classic taste like Aerosmith, Led Zepplin, or Queen. Over time, it became newer bands like Slipknot, Gojira, and Devin Townsend, and not so much newer but Rage Against The Machine.” Mason explains. We continued asking the rest of the band about their musical influences. Johnny follows up with his response, “Biggest influences for me being a bassist is Flea from Red Hot Chili Peppers, Geezer Butler from Black Sabbath, and Geddy Lee from Rush. Those are the ones that got me into playing, and I was like, ‘I want to do that.’.” Following Johnny was Tanner. “Metallica is what got me into playing. Avenged Sevenfold’s Synyster Gates is one of my favorite guitar players.” Ending with Alex, “The band that got me into playing drums was Bullet For My Valentine, but my biggest inspirations are The Used, My Chemical Romance, Hawthorne Heights, and Taking Back Sunday. Hardcore bands like On Broken Wings, Vain, & Harm’s Way.”

To learn more about the band and their inspirations, we were curious to know their dream collaborations with any artist, alive or deceased. Starting with Mason, he expressed how much he would love to work with Devin Townsend. “Style-wise and just musicianship, it would be Devin Townsend. If you listen to anything by him, or from Strapping Young Lad, or Devin Townsend Project, the production is so big and so grand. It’s just giant. That’s the feeling I love getting from music. To write a song with him would be a rollercoaster, in the best way.” Tanner chimed in with his response, “Mason put me on this band more recently, Middle-Class Rut. I think they have that perfect blend between rock/alternative and heavy as hell. I’m always just trying to find that cool blend of heavy but easily palatable for anyone.” Ending it off with Johnny’s answer, “I’d go with Clutch. They are one of my favorite bands, and I’ve seen them live many times. Seeing them was the most fun I’ve ever had at a concert. Just to be on a stage with them and rip for like an hour and a half would be amazing. Writing a song with them would be so cool.”

We wanted to get to know their perspective better as musicians, so we asked them what song best represents their attitude toward life. “The first one that came to mind was Given Up by Linkin Park. It’s a little dark, but that song speaks to me. Sometimes I listen to that song and get choked up, like, ‘Yeah, man, you’re speaking to me.’, when I’m in a good mood, probably like, Stacy’s Mom by Fountains of Wayne.” Johnny stated. Mason followed Johnny's response, “For me, there are two songs, and they’re by Gojira. Gojira writes about a lot of positive stuff. One of them is Esoteric Surgery. The first line is, ‘You have the power to heal yourself.’ then it goes into the sickest riff you’ve ever heard. I love Gojira, not only because their so big and tribal but also because their message is so positive. They are the most positive metal band you’ll ever find. There’s another one called The Shooting Star. Those lyrics are ‘Everlasting love is ever-growing, Hang on to what you have and let it grow, Everlasting love is ever-dying, It's in the past, you have to let it go.’ but if you look into Gojira’s lyrics, they are about you being such a powerful being by just being yourself. You can do so much in this world. I just love that. I live by that.” Tanner gave a more half-lighthearted, half-serious answer to our question, “I don’t know if you guys know the band Rotting Out, but they have this song called Who Am I. I honestly don’t know what the hell he’s saying in the verses, but I love his voice. Honestly, who am I? I don’t know - it’s changing every day. We’re all just trying to figure it out until the day we die, maybe. Hopefully, I’ll figure it out before then.” Lastly, Alex shared his answer. “I’d have to say Motion Sickness by Neckdeep. It’s about dealing with your problems on the side but also putting all that shit to the side to be the best you can be. Just listen to the lyrics, and it says it all.”

To learn more about the band's musical achievements thus far, we wanted to know what they were most proud of and where they wanted to go from there. “For me, personally, in 2019, I got endorsed by Gibson Guitars, and I was asked, by a representative, to showcase their new acoustic guitar and do acoustic sets up at NAMM Showcase, which is the largest music convention in the world. I went and did that, and meeting my team and reps was amazing, and how they treat their artists and how they go about artist representation with a brand is amazing. I had been playing Gibsons way before I ever got into contact with them, and all my heroes played Gibsons. The sound is perfect for what I do, so I play them. For them to get me onto their brand was amazing for me. Probably my most proud thing is being a Gibson artist. To be fair, it can’t get any better. That’s my ideal brand to be with. Maybe a Blackstar [Amplification] endorsement. The combo of Gibsons and Blackstars gives me this dark, punchy, big sound. That’s what I love more than anything. The way to step it up is a Blackstar endorsement.”. Following Mason, Johnny shared an interesting story with us. “I played a festival with my old band in Schaghticoke, New York, just outside Albany. It was called Rock’n Derby. While we were sound-checking, my guitarist was playing Stop by Jane’s Addiction for his soundcheck, and I started hearing drums behind me, so I whipped my head around to yell at my drummer to stop playing because we’re sound-checking. I turn around, and Taylor Hawkins is playing drums right behind me. I was like, ‘I need to start playing along,’ so we just jammed. We played a lot of that song together. Playing on a big stage, like a festival stage, there’s nothing like it. To step that up, I wanna make a career out of this and play those kinds of stages.” Continuing onto Tanner, he said his proudest achievement is playing on three tours and surviving. “Two were with these guys, and another was back in 2019. Just the fact that I could survive, have fun with a group of guys, just make it work & have a blast. To make it even better would be to make it even longer, with bigger shows and big stages. Just more, more, more!”. Alex chimed in with his achievements. “I play in another band back in Florida. We went on a tour that opened up for Of Mice & Men. It was a United States, Canada, and Mexico tour, definitely the most fun I’ve ever had. They were like the nicest, coolest dads you could imagine. The whole tour was phenomenal.”

Following the latest release of Storm of Lies, we were anxious to see what was to come from Mason Pace. Mason called back to an unreleased song they had performed earlier that night and stated, “That’s our next one. We don’t have a date yet, but that will be next. We’re also working on a cover that we’ll be releasing. Now that I am a graduated marketing student, I will have a lot of time to get those out to everyone.” With that being said, be on the lookout for new music. We can say for certain that it is worth the wait and if you ever have the chance to catch a Mason Pace show, we highly recommend checking them out!