We pinned down the mighty Mastodon on their recent UK tour and then threatened them with spears until they talked us through their live rigs. Click-through the gallery to find out about Bill Kelliher’s custom-made guitars, Brent Hinds’ hair dryer and which pedal they use to call Hulk Hogan.

Bill says:

“This is a Les Paul Custom 2007. It's kind of a reissue. I don't know if they started making these because Brent and I play a Silverburst so much, or why they came back, but I usually play old 79s and 82s, but this one is a really good guitar as well.

“It needs a little playing-in, but it sounds good, it's got the original pickups in it. It's just a big, heavy lump of wood. It's in D-standard – standard tuning, but tuned down to D.

“Silverburst is just a cool colour. I don't know what it is about it. When I was a kid I liked going to the motor races and there was a Corvette that was the pace car and it was this colour. I use this for the first half of the set, ‘Dry Bone Valley’, ‘Black Tongue’, ‘Crystal Skull’, ‘Capillarian Crest’, ‘Colony Of Birchmen’.”

Not got your fix? The new issue of Total Guitar (226, on sale 19 March to 15 April) contains a massive, six-page Mastodon feature, PLUS a full tab for 'Curl Of The Burl'.