Mason Bunt – Pridelands ‘The Vulnerability of Being Honest’

Posted on May 25, 2018 by Paul 'Browny' Brown

When you think of Melbourne, a few things come to mind: Hipsters, Rooftop Bars, Marvel Stadium and bands. Lots and lots of bands. The latest one to emerge into our sights is post-hardcore outfit Pridelands who released their new EP Any Colour Your Desire back on May 4th this year and they’ve since been gearing up for their release show which has finally arrived.

Tomorrow we’ll get to see the band ripping through tracks from their latest offering, but before we get there, we grabbed vocalist Mason Bunt to find out more about the band and what’s in store for their potential new fans…

Hey Mason, congrats on the new release Any Colour You Desire, what’s one thing you learned about yourself in the writing/recording process?

Thank you very much! I think the biggest thing we learnt is that we needed to be vulnerable. You gotta be an open book to let all that colour of life in ya know?

I know what you mean, don’t be afraid to tell your story or show your scars because that’s where the emotional storytelling comes from. Soundwise, you’re heavy with melodic vocals akin to that of Northlane/Void of Vision etc was that a coincidence or intentional?

I don’t think it was intentional. We love both those bands but no way did we hear their latest work and go “yeah sick we wanna be that”. We aren’t re-inventing the wheel with what we try to do, we just decide to make heavy music that we will actually enjoy, so if someone thinks its like VoV or Northlane then that’s their own opinion to make. You can take it as a compliment really.

100% dude and if someone said I was from either of those bands I wouldn’t complain at all haha Back to your EP, it’s only 6 songs in total but that’s enough to pack a punch and showcase you’re emerging talent, where’d the inspiration mainly come from?

The inspiration for these songs came directly from ourselves. We were fed up, we stopped enjoying what we were doing and the music we were playing, we completely lost our love for life. So it was either make or break really. We sat down and said let’s dig deep, let’s make something we genuinely enjoy and not worry about anything else going on out there. I’m really glad we did that. Who would have thought that once you are honest with your self then your work becomes honest too?

And they’re the BEST moments too. Once you’ve got nothing else to hide, that’s where the fun starts! In a live setting though, what’s the difference between listening to the songs on the EP and listening to them at a show e.g. tomorrow night in Fitzroy?

We like to deliver an emotive live show. If you felt something listening to the EP then that will be multiplied by 10 tomorrow night.

And what’s on the setlist?

You’ll hear the ACYD EP in full, plus all your old favourites!

Nice. Taking a look at you guys, is it a prerequisite to be able to shred and have long hair in order to play in Pridelands?

Well, it is a thing now yes. We’ll take the crown for hairiest shredders in Melbourne anyday.

I think you’ll have some competition with our resident Melbourne hipster/man-ape Todd but this time we’ll give it to you. For those who haven’t jumped on the bandwagon yet, what are they missing out on?

You’re missing out on 5 hairy boys turning pain into pleasure whilst worshipping satan every step of the way. Sounds fun hey?

Sound erotic… I’m in!! And last but not least, if you could only be exposed to one colour for the rest of your life (clothes, car, inside of your house etc) what colour would you desire?

Oh that’s a hard one. I’d probably go black, I’ve seen plenty of colour with my eyes closed before so I think I could make it work.

Now you’re talking. Thanks Mason!

Pridelands play a Sold Out Workers Club tomorrow night
Check out their Any Colour You Desire EP on Spotify