Interview: Carson Pace Of The Callous Daoboys

After receiving high praise for their full-length album, Celebrity Therapist, in 2022, The Callous Daoboys followed it up with their latest EP, God Smiles Upon The Callous Daoboys.

Full of fun-loving yet still heavy experimentation, The Callous Daoboys continued to break the mold with the EP. Pushing the envelope (pun intended) with a more whimsically experimental sound and more straightforward lyrical messages, God Smiles Upon The Callous Daoboys traverses through each track, leaving you with a spontaneous, refreshing feeling.

During the holidays, lead vocalist Carson Pace talked to us about some of his influences, the reason behind some creative choices on the EP, how the creation process felt, and more.

Iceis Augustino / Altwire: Almost every artist and band member has that defining moment when they realize they want to make music for a hobby or career. What was that moment like for each of you?

The Callous Daoboys / Carson Pace: My defining moment was hearing “The Catalyst” by Linkin Park for the first time. I didn’t know art like that could be made; all I wanted to do was make art like that.

Iceis Augustino / Altwire: We all have inspirations and influences throughout our lives. When you have a creative outlet, those inspirations and influences continuously trickle into your work. What are some of the inspirations that influenced the style and sound of the music you make?

The Callous Daoboys / Carson Pace: My primary inspiration right now is ambient soundtrack music, specifically the soundtrack to the movie “Annihilation”, it’s a similar situation where I want to isolate every stem in every song to figure out how it was made.

Iceis Augustino / Altwire: When you first created and/or joined the band, did you have any goals in the beginning, career-wise or personally? (Follow-up questions) Have any of those goals changed throughout your time and experiences being in The Callous Daoboys? If you could achieve one final thing as a band, what would it be?

 The Callous Daoboys / Carson Pace: I think the goal when we started the band was to open for The Dillinger Escape Plan, which we are doing in June. The final goal now is to make as many cool and diverse albums as possible.

Iceis Augustino / Altwire: What do you feel you have learned throughout your careers that you might not have learned otherwise? (Follow-up question) What do you wish you knew when you started your careers as musicians?

The Callous Daoboys / Carson Pace: I feel like I’ve met every type of person by now, and I know who I want in my life. I wish I had known early on that you don’t have to be friends with everyone.

Iceis Augustino / Altwire: On your new EP God Smiles Upon The Callous Daoboys your song “Pushing The Pink Envelope” sounds much more experimental and unorthodox than some of your previous work. You use a lot more electronic sounding effects and different sounding transitions within that song. What made you want to stretch those boundaries, or push the envelope if you will, with that song specifically? (Follow-up question) Would you like to work more in that style with those elements in the future?

 The Callous Daoboys / Carson Pace: We’ve always toyed with Electronic elements; I learned to write songs and work a DAW from making electronic music in high school. It’s my favorite type of music. I will always strive to include it in our sound.

Iceis Augustino / Altwire: Lyrically this EP sounds less vague and more direct. Obviously, each song, EP, and album will sound different and evolve from past work, but what inspired or made you want to change your lyricism for this EP?

The Callous Daoboys / Carson Pace: I think part of growing as a songwriter is being more direct and taking out metaphors within metaphors. I think I was afraid of being honest or naked, but I know that to grow and get better at making art, I have to pour out more of myself, and that scares and excites me in the best ways.

Iceis Augustino / Altwire: All songs, EPs, and albums have an underlying topic, theme, message, or story they’re trying to tell. What is the overall message or topic that you want God Smiles Upon The Callous Daoboys to express either cohesively as an EP or individually with each song?

The Callous Daoboys / Carson Pace: This EP is a purge of emotions I needed to get out, it felt like vomiting out my internal organs.

Iceis Augustino / Altwire: The creation process can vary for an EP, album, or song. What did the creation process look like for this EP? (Follow-up question) how do you feel like it differed from the creation process of your previous music?

The Callous Daoboys / Carson Pace: The creative process was shorter; it felt like a burst of energy.

Iceis Augustino / Altwire: Your new EP God Smiles Upon The Callous Daoboys obviously has the signature sound and style of your previous music, but it also stands apart from some of your previous work. What do you feel like sets your new EP apart from your previous projects?

The Callous Daoboys / Carson Pace: We’ve just all improved as musicians overall, I’d like to think, which makes a huge difference.

Iceis Augustino / Altwire: Fill in the sentence “God Smiles Upon The Callous Daoboys is a great EP to listen to if you’re *blank* because *blank*.”

The Callous Daoboys / Carson Pace: GSUTCD is a great EP to listen to if you’re sunburned because you’re pale.

Iceis Augustino / Altwire: What is one thing you want people to take away when they’re done listening to your new EP for the first time? Or just your music in general?

 The Callous Daoboys / Carson Pace: “What the hell was that?”

Iceis Augustino / Altwire: If you were going on a space exploration expedition, who would be the captain out of six of you? Who would most likely accidentally go floating out into space during a maintenance repair task? Who would most likely be responsible for causing the depletion of astronaut ice cream two days into the expedition? Who would most likely accidentally bring back a man-eating alien monster? Who’s most likely to build a civilization on an unknown planet you visit and remain living there for the rest of their days? And who would most likely get abducted by aliens?

The Callous Daoboys / Carson Pace: All 6 of us would explode on the launchpad. We don’t know how any of that shit works.

Iceis Augustino / Altwire: When you reflect on previous years and your older music, how do you feel like you’ve evolved as musicians and just human beings in general from your journey of being a band?

 The Callous Daoboys / Carson Pace: I feel like we’re constantly evolving and trying to figure out what we can do better. It’s hard to listen to the older stuff for me because of how far we’ve come, but at the same time I’m still proud of all those songs!

Iceis Augustino / Altwire: The end of the year is approaching quickly. Is there anything you are looking forward to occurring either professionally as a band or separately personally in the remainder of the year or early next year?

The Callous Daoboys / Carson Pace: We record our third album in May. I’m co-producing it with someone new, and it will be the finale to the trilogy that we started with “Die on Mars.” I’m really excited to finish that.