Mastodon Interview

Mastodon's Brann Dailor while on the road in the midst's of 2005's Ozzfest speaks about life on the road, the bands recording process, video making and a whole lot more!!!


Hey Brann, how are things with you?
Pretty good, just hanging out on the Ozzfest. Rocking out everyday. The tour is going great, (we're playing) 20,000 seaters. Of course we play the second stage so usually it is 8 to 10,000 kids watching us.
How are you finding playing to larger crowds and bigger arenas?
Over the past 2 months though we were over in Europe and mainly played Festivals we're pretty much used to it now.
Have you managed to catch any of the other acts on the Ozzfest bill?
Yeah absolutely, pretty much everybody! Iron Maiden, it would be a crime if you didn't watch them every night.
Prior to Ozzfest the band did a round of European festival dates, which included Download at Donington Park. How much of a buzz was it to play Donington and how where the other European dates?
It was awesome, I loved it, it was a great thrill. We had some technical difficulties, so what can you do? We try not to put to much pressure on any one show, you know mentally it's not a good idea to go into a situation like that, it creates more trouble I think. Try and treat it like another gig, but it was exciting to play there. There were a lot of people went crazy for us so it was a great feeling.
Donington aside, was there one Festival that has stuck out in your mind as being particularly memorable?
The Roskilde Festival was probably one of the best ones. We played late, and there was about 15,000 people jammed into the tent going crazy. It was awesome. It was also a really well run festival, the weather was really nice; we had a really good day. So it was great.
Mainland Europe appears to be catching up the UK in terms of Mastodon’s popularity. Have you noticed any significant changes in the European crowds since you first toured Europe and have you noticed a difference between US and European crowds?
Yeah it seems to be better for us in Europe at the moment, maybe we'll be one of those bands that is always going to be bigger in Europe than here in the States. Hopefully this Ozzfest will turn that around for us. I think in Europe we have a lot more people who travel around to see us, they go to show after to show. Maybe more die hard fans in Europe, but that said there are die hard fans over here (USA) to. Geographically I look at it more like city to city, it's not so much that it is better for us in Europe or here in the States, it's more like we do really well in New York and we do really well in London.
Since the release of “Leviathan” the band has toured almost non-stop. How has it been spending the past 12 months pretty much on the road, and do you find it a struggle to keep a balance between your personal and public lives?
You just kinda don't think to much about it, you just do it. We get to play music everyday, so it's fun. It's not to hard, there is no people out wanting to know everything about me, I don't have problems going anywhere. I'm not a famous person or anything.
“Leviathan” has catapulted the band into the forefront of the metal scene. Did you ever imagine the impact the album would have?
No not really, I didn't think about it. I was like "we're going to change the world" or we're going to do this or do that. We just concentrated on the music. Playing the music we like to play and putting it out there and if people like it then that's awesome and if they don't that's fine to.
What do you think “Leviathan” had that perhaps “Remission” didn't?
I don't know. Maybe the riffs were catchier, maybe we wrote more cohesive songs. Perhaps the song writing was a little bit more mature
Given the extensive touring schedule the band have had over the past year, have you had any opportunity to develop / write any new material?
Well you can never really force ideas and you can't make ideas go away. When ideas come to you you write them down, that's how we roll, we take ideas when they come. We aren't able to put much stuff together on tour but we are collecting riffs and parts for songs. Then when we get home, in a month or so, we'll put it all together and then go record it.
Do you have any plans as to when you will head back into the studio?
We are looking at around November, something like that. We could then have a Spring / Summer release date.
What is the writing process within the band, is it a collective or individual process?
We prepare stuff at home, but most of the time it's a collective thing. Some of us co-write songs together, so of us write the whole thing by ourselves then bring it to the class, so to speak, then everyone kinda dissects it and then puts it all back together, we'll play it as a band then everyone decides. We all put our 2 cents in and says if a part needs to be cut by 2; it's all about the feel once you get in there and start playing it.
Is the studio an environment that you feel comfortable in?
The studio is alright, I don't really love it. I feel shackled when I put those ear phones on and start playing and start playing. That is when I feel the most pressure is when we're recording, I'm like "oh my God this is the one, this has to be it"!!! So long as you go in prepared there is no real worries or problems, nothing can happen. I prefer to play life as there is not so much pressure to have the beat totally perfect and usually it is because the pressure isn't really there.
Will Mastodon continue to release / produce conceptual albums?
I'd love to. Maybe some of our own concepts we've come up with, I think it's cool to have a common thread that weaves through the entire record that can tie it all together. It makes it more interesting for the listener and it makes it more interesting for us. I now kinda feel without the concept there are a lot of loose ends and there is nothing that ties the album together, it gives people the opportunity to skip around song to song and listen to one song as opposed to listen to the whole album. I like the idea of putting it on at the start and listening to it to the very end.
	Any thoughts as to any concepts you'd like to use for the next record?
	I'd like to do something a little more abstract and crazy.
	You chose to bring Mat Bayles back into the fold to produce “Leviathan”, what make Matt the obvious choice when it came time to choose a producer?
	Well we really liked the way he worked. We worked well with him the first time and it was under extreme circumstances; he was like living on our floor. The first three days of recording were shot as the tape machine broke, we had to find a new studio that day, the record was made in a lot less time that we were told as we only had a week to do the whole thing. During that hair raising experience I thought he did a real good job at that point. So why not go out to Seattle and try him out on his home turf were he is used to working, and this time we had a whole month.
	In a music scene where bands can take months even years in the studio, do you think you'll continue to record in a matter of weeks rather than months?
	Yeah probably. There isn't much of a reason for us to spend that much time on recording bass, two guitars, drums and vocals, it's not like we're pulling in a seventeen piece orchestra or like we have thousands of sound effects going on.
I just don't think it should take that long if you learn your songs, you get them down you go in and record them.
Given the success of “Leviathan”, do you perceive you'll be looking to change the recording process form a proven winning formula?
Probably! We'll look to experiment with some new toys and experiment with some new things as it will be a little bit better for us financially, but if it ain't broke don't fix it.
How did you approach writing the an album and how did you tell the other guys that you wanted to write an album about Moby Dick?
That is pretty much what I said, we're writing an album about Moby Dick. I was excited about it and when I told everybody about it, they got excited about it to, and it help motivate us. When we started writing the record, we all had the same goal to focus on, it gave us that kick in the ass as we had a concept, lets go for it.
Was it a conscience effort to write in a more picturesque, rather than the narrative for the record?
We loosely took the story and the imagery a took it from there. A large part had to do with the artwork that was going to be involved. Our friend Paul Romano, who is a fantastic artist, he and I got on the phone and brain stormed what we wanted to see and he kinda just got on with it.
Musically “Remission” had an almost mournful Doom metal feel compared to “Leviathan” that has a more rock vibe. Is a change of direction album to album something that you will continue?
No not really. It's more where we go as a band ad as people. Nothing is predetermined as far as anything is going to sound like, if we write stuff and like it that's cool if we don't we don't play it.
The lyrical theme’s album to album however has remained consistent, focusing on mystical creatures and the stuff of legends. Where do you get the inspiration for your lyrics?
I don't really know, I think we are all just kinda into that folk law stuff. We're into monsters, monster movies and Clash of the Titans stuff like that. I guess we never really grew up outta that sorta stuff and we think it makes for a good heavy metal record. As opposed to crying about your parents or girlfriend.
The band also just filmed your first video from “Leviathan”. When watching the video it looks like it was a great deal of fun to make. Is video making something you enjoy?
Yeah that was probably the most fun we ever had making a video, all those clowns, that was funny. We all thought it would be a good idea to play in front of a bunch of clowns. We thought it would look crazy. We have a lot of friends in Atlanta that are into circus stuff, so we had a bunch of friends help us out doing make-up and to put the whole thing together. It came together really nicely and a lot of our best friends are in that video, with girlfriends and wives there to.
Visually the video is nothing like anything we've seen you guys do before was that deliberate?
Yeah that video was our idea, it was our thing. Video's in the past we've sorta thrown into and told here you have to go and do this, and we were like OK. That's not to say those video's came out bad but they are not exactly what we wanted, they weren't our ideas so... The video didn't have anything to do with the song, but I don't think that matters to much. A lot of people wanted us to come out with an ethic video with Ahab and a great big ship
and all this stuff and it's like hey there, we've got limited funds here people. We need to think of something that is creative and on a shoe string budget here.
Atlanta is home for you now, is there much of a scene to speak of?
I don't know to be honest, I'm not there that much and I feel like I haven't been there in over a year. When I am there I don't go out that much, so I don't know what the hell is going on to be honest with the music scene. I know when we play there we always have a really great show, so there are people there who like to go out and see music.
The band credit many different bands and artists as direct influences on the band, from Prog Rock to Stevie Wonder. Who brings what to the band and how do you find a home for all these differing styles of music in your songs?
I don't know, I suppose it's like making soup. Everybody in the band is into music and we are all huge music fans and we like everything. Brent's favourite band is Thin Lizzy, mine is early Genesis, Bill's is Weezer or something and Troy's is like George Jones, but it gets a lot crazier than that. I can't even begin to describe all the different kinds of music we listen to. Once we get into the studio and start writing, we have a vast catalogue that is in the back of our heads to pull from, pretty much nothing is off limits. If it sounds good or a Middle Eastern top 40 sound and it sounds good we're going to play it.
Do you feel with all these influences it's impossible to categorize the band, and how does categorization sit with you?
I don't care about being in any kind of category. The good thing about our band is that we can play with any kind of band, we can tour with Slayer, King Crimson or Maiden, that is a vast spectrum of groups we could go out with. Musically I like to play with different kinds of bands, we like to position ourselves to move in between different kinds of audiences and be universal.
Mastodon have just signed to Warner Bros, how does that feel? With this deal no doubt comes big pressure?
We are going to treat it the same way as we did when we were on Relapse. Write a record and put it out through them. It will be bigger and better I guess, if they hate it then we'll continue to write music.

All images used with the kind permission of Relapse Records and Metal Chaos.