MusicRadar

Mastodon's Brent Hinds and Bill Kelliher, backstage at Terminal 5 in New York City. © Joe Bosso

It's four o'clock in New York City and Mastodon have just finished a blistering, three-song soundcheck at Terminal Five. The guys hustle backstage and begin making separate, pre-show arrangements.

Guitarist Bill Kelliher phones his wife, in town from Atlanta, to figure out dinner plans; drummer Brann Dailor is deciding if he can run downtown to purchase a painting at an art gallery; guitarist Brent Hinds is looking forward to several hours of kicking back with his own self and some beers on the tour bus; and as for bassist Troy Sanders...well, nobody really knows what he's doing.

"This is when we tend to scatter," says Hinds. "We're together a lot on tour. You get us in New York before a show, and we're all over the place. Each guy does his own thing."

Dailor and Sanders have already scattered, but MusicRadar manages to corral Hinds and Kelliher in a dressing room for a chat about how the songs on Mastodon's recently released (and freakin' brilliant) album The Hunter are going over. In addition, we talked about their stage guitars (see the video on page two) and asked them about the question that's on everybody's mind: What in the world were you guys doing with Barney And Friends?

The songs on The Hunter are shorter and less progressive than some of your earlier numbers. Are they easier to play live? Easier to remember?

Brent Hinds: "Yes to both. Which takes the stress level down and cools the anxiety. As a consequence, we get to have more fun. With Crack The Skye, we were dealing with very intense material. The songs were difficult, very complex and escape-y, with lots of notes flying around everywhere. It's hard to get that stuff perfect."

Bill Kelliher: "The Hunter material has been easier to tackle. Crack The Skye took a lot out of us as players This new stuff is real upbeat, lots of fun. I don't want to say that Crack The Skye was depressing – it wasn't. But it was deep and kind of shoe-gazer. People would zone out to it. Live, it was hard to keep the crowd's energy up."

Hinds: "We were showing movies to it, taking people on this long and crazy ride. It was a vibe, an experience."

Kelliher: "The new stuff is totally in your face. It flies. It's not full of hills and valleys. Let's be honest: for the most part, a live show is still about getting the crowd going. When we did Crack The Skye in its entirety, the audience would be into it, but when we did the second set of older material, they went completely apeshit.

Hinds: "We used to back away from songs that were simple and more commercial: 'Naw, that's too simple, man. We've gotta complicate it.' Now, we have the attitude of 'If it's rocking, if it sounds good, let's do it.'"

Of the new songs you're playing live, which ones are surprising you the most?

Hinds: "Creature Lives. We just started doing it, and it's going over big. The people were singing along right away. They're singing the chorus before we can even get to it! Figure that one out." [laughs]

Kelliher: "I didn't expect that. Brann thought that would be the case, but I was like, 'Are we really that kind of band? A sing-along…I just don't hear it.' But he was right. So I guess we are a sing-along band." [laughs]

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