Meet Nick Mason | Drummer & Music Educator

We had the good fortune of connecting with Nick Mason and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Nick, how has your perspective on work-life balance evolved over time?
I’ve been notoriously bad at balancing work & life. I think in part because I enjoy working so much. I love what I do, I love the fact that I get to sit behind a drum set every day.
However, it is still very important to walk away from it and focus on other things. This has only been a recent discovery for me. Adding some hobbies outside of music had done wonders for my mental health in ways I didn’t know I needed.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I took playing music pretty serious right from the start, but I was naive. I thought that if you had a good band you would become popular enough to get a record deal and all your dreams would come true.
I was in my late teens and early 20’s when I began to understand that if I personally wanted to “make it” I’m going to have to branch out and not put all my eggs in one basket.
Yes, having a good band that gets popular is something to be proud of, but keeping a roof over your head while perusing that is near impossible. Especially with the dot com boom in the early 2000’s. Since then it’s only gotten harder.
It was around this time I started to market myself as freelance. A gun for hire who would play with any music artist, not just my own group.
This was the path to actually earning income from performing.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I’m a big fan of Tiki Bars, and Los Angeles has no shortage of them. My favorite is Tonga Hut in North Hollywood. It’s the oldest one in LA too.
For food there’s a couple spots I like to indulge. The best is probably Ye Olde King’s Head in Santa Monica. Authentic English pub, with the best breakfast outside of the UK.
It’s right between the Pier and Promenade. So, there’s plenty to entertain the whole day.
Another day-long activity is visiting all the oddity shops on Magnolia in Burbank. Blast from the Past Comics, Halloween Town, Mystic Museum. There even an old school video rental place!

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
My family deserves a lot of credit. Music was encouraged in my household. No one but my neighbors and cops ever told me to “keep it down.” lol

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Image Credits
Image credited The Pure Rock Shop