Photos by Kate Kastelic @photogenikate

Atlanta, Georgia’s very own The Callous Daoboys have made a hefty name for themselves in the heavy music scene in a relatively short time. The current torch bearers of mathcore have been turning heads and breaking necks since their debut album, 2019’s Die on Mars, introduced the world to their chaotically complex musical stylings, and they’ve only continued to up the ante.

With 2022’s sophomore effort Celebrity Therapist and their cheekily-titled 2023 EP God Smiles Upon The Callous Daoboys, the band have grown as musicians while incessantly challenging both themselves and their listeners. Taking inspiration from a wide variety of artists and genres - everything from The Dillinger Escape Plan to Skrillex to Gojira to Fall Out Boy and far beyond - The Callous Daoboys have a penchant for taking multiple left turns with their songs. Few other acts have defied falling into a singular style or approach the way they have. 

Led by frontman Carson Pace’s ferociously unique screams, shrieks, and warbles, the band’s music is filled with unpredictable shifts in sound and vibe. The Daoboys’ headbanging riffage and piercing vocals are never allowed to settle into the cookie-cutter trappings of modern metalcore radio thanks to a wild array of rhythmic directions that drummer Matthew Hague and bassist Jackie Buckalew take the tracks. And when backed by the squealing dual guitars of Maddie Caffrey and Daniel Hodsdon, as well as the added layer of violinist Amber Christman, the band’s extreme musical excursions become limitless.

“We have like, 47 songs now. I know some bands cross that threshold of having 100 songs, but I think it's cool.” Pace says. “It's interesting because the culture used to be that a band would sign to a label that everyone went to for new music, the label was the tastemaker, the product was the music, and every two years the band had a new product. Whereas I feel like nowadays, this shit takes just a little longer. There's very few bands that can crank out an album every two years. We're definitely not one of those bands.”

“We write really complex, fucked up music, and I think about it a lot.” he continues. “I'm putting all my time and all my hours into thinking about how to make the best possible record, or product, if that's how you want to look at it. Truthfully, people have less and less reason to check you out now, and it's harder and harder to find bands as well. We're in the lucky position of having had our big upswing before COVID, and also kind of before TikTok was tastemaking everybody.”

It’s likely thanks to that challenging experimentation and brazen attitude with their sound (paired with an oftentimes hilarious social media presence) that the group have afforded themselves the opportunity to tour with pretty much anyone in the scene. Years past have seen the Daoboys play with the likes of Rolo Tomassi, SeeYouSpaceCowboy, ‘68, Avatar, Greyhaven, TesseracT, and others, as well as memorable slots on festivals like Furnace Fest and Brutal Assault. To kick off 2025, they’ll be embarking on tours with Silverstein and Chiodos, and have even secured themselves a spot on the upcoming Coheed & Cambria cruise.

The new year also promises to deliver a brand new Callous Daoboys album, which the band has been hard at work on behind the scenes, and not just the music itself. “Our art direction is something I'm constantly thinking about, down to what colors we're using as vinyl variants,” Pace shares. “Straight up, if a vinyl variant doesn't fit, I’ll reject it. If it doesn't match the colors that I see in my head when I think about the album, it doesn't get printed, you know what I mean? The art direction is very specific.” Alongside finalizing the album, the band recently spent a couple of days shooting a new music video, hinting at a bold visual direction for the upcoming era.

But before the group goes full-steam ahead into the future, they took the time to look back with a special holiday hometown show. The Callous Daoboys’ Christmas On Mars featured a performance of Die On Mars in its entirety, which brought songs like “Cobra Winfrey” and “Pure Schlock” back to the stage for the first time in years as well as the live debut of the criminally underrated “Faraday Cage”. There were also a number of surprises, like former bassist Claire Darling and drummer Sam Williamson reuniting with the band to rip a pair of old school tracks from the Daoboys’ earliest EPs.

Pace thinks back fondly on that first full-length album. “We love Die on Mars. We are so proud of it. It's the reason that we are where we are. We also own it. A label doesn't own it, so we make all the money, which is great. We'll play songs from it until the end of time. But looking back on that stuff now - I was 21 when I wrote that album, I was 22 when it came out, and I'm 28 now approaching my 30s. It's really strange. Honestly, when we ran the songs in practice, they kind of felt like covers. It was interesting.”

“Would I write those songs differently today? Of course. I don't know if they'd be better, because they are what they are. They're recorded forever, and I would never try and redo them or try and make better versions of them, necessarily. You can only make a new thing.” When asked if looking back at the past helped shape the direction of the new music, Pace insists that’s not really the case. “It's never like, oh, we need to get back to this thing we did. We just write songs differently now, especially the chaotic stuff. We've upgraded pretty heavily in the band, so playing this shit is kind of bush league.” he admits.

It’s undoubtedly a weird experience to revisit your old material in such an in-depth way while prepping for the debut of brand new stuff at the same time. “We're coming up on having three albums, and I think it's great, but it is a bit of a mind fuck, because, like, I don't really remember what I was trying to say with these songs on our first record and earlier.” Pace confesses. “I don't really remember what I was trying to get at. Whereas we just made this record where I didn't allow anybody else in the room while I was doing vocals. I was like, “I don't know if I'm ready to sing these words in front of other people yet.”

Pace elaborates that with the upcoming album, one of the main goals was to establish a signature sound that The Callous Daoboys can truly call their own. “We wanted to create something that was wholly us and fully original. I feel like previous things that we've done had us quoting Dillinger, or doing something that Counterparts would do or what have you. We love all those bands that we've quoted, and frankly, ripped off in the past. But for this one, we were like, What is the Daoboy?”

“This one has so many left turns that even when you're expecting it, there's a couple songs that are gonna throw you for such a loop, and I can't wait. It's really exciting. Everything kind of feels a little more intentional on this new one. Previously when we've done left turns, there's been some winking at the camera. This time, I think all of them are very earnest.”

Fans came from all over to experience the once-in-a-lifetime event in Atlanta, including some that flew all the way across the country from Los Angeles just to attend and grab some exclusive merch. It was one of the first truly cold nights in the Southeast, but that didn't stop a sizable line from forming in the chilly alleyways of The Masquerade. Even Miku herself made it out to the show, or at least someone in a convincing cosplay. Fittingly, they were one of the most dedicated moshers throughout the whole evening - and competition was fierce.

Opening acts abandcalledlove., /hospitality/, Circuit Circuit, and Bummer Hill got the sold-out audience properly warmed up, offering an enjoyable mix of styles and tempos that had people moving and grooving. Of course, once The Callous Daoboys took to the stage and launched into their signature brand of mathcore mayhem, the guardrails were fully torn off and the crowd was whipped into a genuine frenzy. The pit stayed in constant motion as bodies were tossed in and out of it, while the front pair of rows banged their heads in unison to the complex onstage rhythms. Any hands up in the air were put to work catching stage divers and crowd surfers, behavior that was routinely encouraged by the band themselves.

After tearing through all of the God Smiles Upon The Callous Daoboys EP (“Pushing the Pink Envelope is such a great opener) and a pair of favorite hits off Celebrity Therapist, it was time for the main event. “Circuit Circuit said something about how they wouldn’t be a band without us.” Pace told the unruly crowd during a brief pause in the chaos. “And for that reason this album is called Die on Mars and it goes out to Circuit Circuit.” The bizarre stylings of “Flip-Flops at a Funeral” began and the place was off to the races, with the energy only growing more and more haywire as the band played through their foundational first record.

The set wasn’t without its heartfelt surprises. Former bassist Claire Darling and drummer Sam Williamson reunited with the band for a pair of throwback tracks from The Daoboys’ earliest EPs, adding an exceptionally nostalgic touch to an already unforgettable night. Members of all of the opening bands also piled onto the stage throughout the night to join in on vocals as others soared over their heads, and bold fans took the initiative to grab the mic to shout along to their favorite parts as well.

The love and camaraderie spilled over backstage too, with members of the opening bands stopping by to share words of admiration to the night’s headliners. Pace even took the initiative to compliment /hospitality/'s frontman on his performance, a reflection of his desire to foster positive interactions in the scene. “I’ve had bad experiences of meeting bands or people I looked up to since I was a kid,” he shared. “It is what it is. You can't really dwell on it, you know? I think that I was put into that position myself so that down the road, I'm not the same way. I hope to never be like that.”

As he looks towards the future of his band, it’s obvious that Pace appears more excited than he’s ever been. “I’m putting the live show together for the first shows we’ll have after we drop the new music,” Pace revealed. “I love it. I think it’s probably our best live show yet, with two of our best songs. I can’t wait. It’s gonna be awesome.”

The opportunity to tour with Chiodos holds personal significance for the frontman. “Lots of emotions,” he admits. “I came into Chiodos through D.R.U.G.S. I kind of came into all of this scene through liking Skrillex and knowing that he was in From First to Last. I loved Linkin Park, I loved Fall Out Boy, Korn was a big one for me too. Avenged Sevenfold, I was big into all that. Skrillex kind of fucked all that up. Knowing that he was in a cool band beforehand, I got really into it, then I got really into D.R.U.G.S. By the time I was a Chiodos head, they were gone again.”

Reflecting on how far he’s come, Pace adds, “Craig [Owens] has been such a helpful mentor to me throughout all this. It really has been an honor that he’s brought us along twice now. The fact that one of my heroes likes my band enough to take us out on tour twice, but also likes me enough to be my friend, is kind of amazing. I love him for that. He has me as a fan for life.”

As the night came to a close, the band left the crowd with one final song: “Contrail Crucifix.” Its self-aware lyrics encapsulated the band’s ethos: “We need you to buy our merch so we can eat, we need you to tell your friends about us. There’s this brand-new second-rate heavy band who can’t even play their instruments. They’ll forget our name with nothing left to say, and we’ll call it quits in 2028.” Delivered with a mix of humor and defiance, it was the perfect end to a show that celebrated the past, present, and future of The Callous Daoboys.

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Catch The Callous Daoboys live supporting Chiodos on the 20th anniversary tour for All's Well That Ends Well. See the complete list of dates and cities below. Get tickets - HERE