Rockezine.com interview with Mastodon on Jan 30, 2003

with Brann Dailor on Jan 30, 2003

Mastodon are on their first European tour. Drummer Brann Dailor, on the phone from Germany, answers some questions.
		Mastodon likes touring Europe, especially with High On Fire. It’s awesome. We’re having a lot of fun. We’ve had some awesome shows. We never expected anything; but it’s crazy, people know the words. Europe is nicer than the States; we get treated a lot nicer. They supply you with food and drinks and that makes you perform better as you feel more appreciated. And people are excited to see us; we sold a lot of CDs, which is always a good sign. In the States we tour a lot. Most States think we’re a local band because we’re there so much, ha ha! Touring with High On Fire is awesome. We did two months in the States, we went to Japan and now we’re in Europe. We’re friends really.
		In Mastodon it’s clear that there are many different musical influences. All of us have a large catalogue in the back of our brains where we get our ideas. They just have to fall into common ground. We all like stuff like old Metallica, Neurosis, Thin Lizzy’s double guitar parts… Writing music is totally a joint effort. Either someone writes an entire song and we mess around with the arrangement; or we put riffs together. When we like it, we know it right away. It’s all about catchiness and riffs. It doesn’t even have to be heavy. Some of it is just pretty music.
		The biography (written by the record company) states: ‘… aiming to change the face of heavy music for the better.’ That doesn’t mean Mastodon consciously tries to write difficult and weird music. It’s not a conscious thing at all. It’s just really what we like to hear. We’re just trying to write music that sounds good to us. There’s no secret formula to it. It’s accidental that it sounds the way it does. We have some original musicians in the band that are really talented. We know our instruments very well; we’ve practiced for many, many years. It’s just the right relationship. It’s like falling in love. It’s like you meet the right girl; she likes everything you like and you talk for hours and you never get bored with her. We’ve found us a musical marriage.
We never expected anything; but it’s crazy, people know the words.		Mastodon is not just loud and heavy. The music is pretty intense and emotional as well. This also shows up in the lyrics. The lyrics have pretty personal subjects and not a classical metal motif. They’re about personal change. Music, to us, is a way to deal with problems and the lyrics go along with that. They’re about personal change, growth and passion.
		The band formed shortly after Brann left his former band Today Is The Day. Me and Bill (Kellihir, guitar) left Today Is The Day and he moved to Atlanta. He said ‘I don’t know what you’re gonna do, but if you want to come with me we can start up a band.’ And I was like: ‘Ok’. So I went down there and within two weeks I met Brent (Hines, guitar) and Troy (Sanders, bass) at a High On Fire show. Brent had an Iron Maiden jacket on and I was like ‘Hell Yeah!’ and he said ‘I heard about you, you’re that crazy drummer guy from Today Is The Day!’ And I said I was looking for musicians and he said he played guitar so I said ‘Come on down’. And it worked out. It kinda fell into my lap. I didn’t expect to find it so quickly, you know. Within four months we were on tour. People forget about you quickly so I wanted to get back out there as soon as possible.
		That seems like a good basis to continue and that’s just what the band is planning to do. We’re gonna go home and work on the next record. We don’t know yet how it’s going to work out. We really have to work hard to outdo the stuff we already wrote and take us to the next level. I don’t know what that’s going to be but I think it’ll happen, ha ha. We might change a little bit dynamically. Playing some softer stuff and then explode into heavier stuff. That’s something I would like to do. If it’s going to happen? I don’t know. I hope so!
(Walter de Korver)