From creating one song prior to the pandemic to playing the biggest show of their music career, local Tucson band Brace Yourself is an emerging pop-punk group.
Brace Yourself came to be in March 2020, right before the pandemic began. Despite the unfortunate timing, the band had an EP released as well as other singles, such as their recent single Bad Days.
Their first show was at Tucson’s local bar, The Edge. They were the headliner and organized the whole show themselves with three other bands as support. Now, the band is moving up on the food chain by being the act to perform right before renowned emo rock band Black Veil Brides at the Rialto Theater on Friday, November 26th, 2021.
When Brace Yourself noticed that they were going on tour, they decided to post TikTok videos everyday playing different BVB songs until they were noticed by the band. After day 11 when they played Lost It All on the piano, they were noticed by Black Veil Brides’ manager and personally invited by lead guitarist Jake Pitts via TikTok video.
“We were all losing it when that happened,” said frontman Xander Mason, “We tried to get on the show earlier through the promoter for the show and he said “Yeah, we’ll see,” then TikTok was the thing that ultimately got us there.”
Mason started his music career at an early age and was always singing, but it really started around fifth grade when he started playing shows. Shortly afterwards, he began voice lessons and also taught himself guitar and piano to help with songwriting. Outside of his music career, he graduated from the University of Arizona with a degree in Musical Theater and is currently a first grade teacher for various TUSD schools.
Guitarist Aidan Roberson is currently a student at Pima Community and helps his dad with his jiu jitsu gym. His passion for music started early as well, when his sixth grade teacher would always bring and play a guitar in class. After lots of begging, his parents bought him his first guitar and he taught himself how to play using YouTube videos and other similar sources.
Personally for Mason, he is huge on self expression and wears his heart on his sleeve. “I feel emotions very strongly. That being said, I wanted to find a way in my life to translate that,” he said. He has done theater and sang since he was young, but there always felt like something was missing. He added, “I was hearing all these other people tell their stories and I connected to them, but there was still the feeling that there was something special about what’s going on with me or the people in this group and I feel that we need to communicate that.”
Roberson is strongly influenced by music and feels it speaks for who he is as a person. “Music is a great way to escape from the world and go into your own reality to get away from all the problems of life. It’s a great therapy,”
Unfortunately, it isn’t common for small bands to have large amounts of passion or purpose for what they do. The band’s goal is to make a connection with people and tell a story rather than just playing a song.
Mason said, “It’s such a daunting time right now, and you never know what genuine connections are because there are online services and digital connections; you never get to meet people face-to-face...it’s really just about having that space that’s totally inclusive.”
To this, Roberson added, “The mainstream music that people listen to just isn’t the same anymore...but it’s a good time to be a pop-punk band for sure,”
Behind the scenes the members of Brace Yourself love to keep it light hearted and often prank each other. Roberson and Mason mentioned, “It’s usually light hearted until right before we’re about to go on, then the nerves start kicking in. We just have to laugh about it or else we’re not getting through it.”
Want to learn more about Brace Yourself or follow their journey? You’ll just have to catch them at an upcoming show, find them on social media or listen on your favorite streaming service.
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