| A music geek’s most frequent question after listening to a Grey Daze song is "Who’s the bassist?” The 45 year old Mace Byers has a long history of playing bass. > Q: So can you tell us your own Grey Daze story?  Sure. I used to be a production manager at a venue in Tempe called The Electric Ballroom. I met Grey Daze there when they played covers at our after hours nights.
They called me to see if I knew any bass players and I said: "Yeah. ME!”
Chester was like 18 or something like that.
Anyway, we made some bad biz' decisions but eventually made a decent CD.
I opened a Tattoo Shop named Club Tattoo from putting on conventions at the club. We got a lot of attention because I had a high profile position in town. This was the hottest club out there...that’s a whole other story.
Sean the drummer came in on the tat shop with me.
I got married like an ass, all the women weren’t getting along. I’m not going to throw stones, but I will say it had nothing to do with lyrics or shit like that. Chester and I quit at the same time. It’s all personal bullshit.
> Q: What was the biggest show Grey Daze played? We played a lot of big shows, opened up for a lot of big bands. The year we won number one local band of the year in Arizona was one of the biggest. > Q: What were the setlists like? We played a little of the first CD...mainly songs off "No Sun Today” - the second CD. And a lot of stuff never released. > Q: Which song was the biggest crowd pleaser? "B12” and the cover of "Anything Anything”. > Q: Have you played in any other bands before Grey Daze? I have been playing the bass for many years.
Recorded my first record at 16. The Double "O" Zeros which later became The Zeros. We wrote and recorded the Howard Stern theme song (in NYC). Got screwed over by Atlantic Records. Saved our money and with the help of a small label released an EP in 1984 and moved to London. I stayed with this band for 4 years. My singer had a nervous breakdown - I quit the band over a fight about peanut butter…
Moved to LA with a hundred dollars in my pocket. Met some musicians on the plane. Soon after formed a band called SHAME. Got signed to Simmons Records (Gene Simmons from KISS, his label). We lost the deal. I was in that band for 4 years as well. In the process of being in LA, I auditioned for Alice Cooper. Was runner up for the gig.
Ozzy Osbourne - my buddy Mike got the gig over me.
Then Iggy Pop - almost had that gig.
Steve Vai - played with him for three days and lost out to his friend for that world tour.
Had a few bands in between all of this...Then I sang for a band called So What. Got offered a deal, but it wasn’t good enough so we didn’t take it. Left that band ‘cause they were racist. Opened up for Rage and Body Count a lot.
Had a few bands after that and then moved to Arizona to join Grey Daze.
At this point I have done about 11 records. > Q: So what did you do after you left the band? I messed with a few bands in AZ then moved to NJ to write songs on my own. Got a job at a Hot Topic as a manager. Saved money and recorded my own solo CD (http://www.killingtimeproductions.com/me). I played all the instruments, wrote, sang and recorded it myself.
Was going to have Chester sing on a track, but when I showed up in Philly he was too sick to sing on it. Then he kept getting bigger. Decided to find a tour to get my bass playing back in shape after playing drums & guitar for while. Found a band in Ohio online, joined the band and have played over 180 shows with them touring the Midwest and East Coast. They are called Woodside Quinn. Well, we lost our sax player because he lost his mind and was committed. The style of music and the musicianship really aren’t what I am used to. > Q: Can you tell me some interesting stories about the band? Chester called me to audition for a band called Hybrid Theory (at the time they had a publishing deal and a few labels interested), so I flew out to LA. The bass player Scott at the time was on drugs, so I played behind his back. It went well, but…the guys thought I was too old. Sorry, but I still look young as hell, and my chops are better than Phoenix's, but that’s the biz for ya. | 
So Kongo Shock's lead singer was being deported back to Canada. We tried out quite a few people to fill his shoes. Grey Daze had just broken up, and their practice studio was located in the same complex. I also went to High School with their drummer. We had always been friends with them, but were miles apart in styles. Chester (with his 2 foot, stringy, blond dread locks) tried out and was the one that we eventually chose, but he was also very persuasive. He threw a BBQ at his house after the second tryout as a way to really shake us up.
According to one of Grey Daze’s old lawyers named Scott, whose partner is Chester’s lawyer, Warner Bros wanted to release it and kind of promote it with Linkin Park (the guitar tracks), but also hold and organize a benefit show for Bobby since he was having trouble paying his medical bills. A show was scheduled for September 7, 2002 at the Dodge Theater in Phoenix, Arizona with several other bands. On August 28, 2002, Chester was forced to cancel the benefit show because the record label had summoned Linkin Park back to the studio with Don Gilmore to record their next album, Meteora. LinkinPark.com stated it was canceled due to "unavoidable time constraints of recording the next Linkin Park album.” Chester issued a statement saying, "It's very unfortunate that we are having to postpone this concert but our management has pulled everyone back from vacations and various activities in order to meet our recording obligations. However I will continue to help Bobby and his family at this very difficult time."
