Stadiums, Clubs, Studios

It's All Metal To Mastodon

originally published January 31, 2007

It's time to face facts: no genre of music embraces the opportunity to enact the duality of good versus evil, greatness versus failure and heroes versus villains as much as metal. And that's not a coincidence: wash off the corpsepaint, peel off the vaguely jagged accessories, and within the typical metalhead you'll find the steadily beating heart of a one-time comic book fanatic. It makes perfect sense, as the larger-than-life personas played out in the pages of Marvel and DC translate not only to the fantastic, violent imagery of metal, but to the scene-at-large.

Shit-talking online forums and skeptical purists create an environment that stoically hails the approved and heaps scorn on those deemed "false." That said, the members of Atlanta's Mastodon are almost universally agreed upon as true heroes of the underground metal scene.

Since 2002's Remission, Mastodon has lived out a thrasher's dream: to record uncompromising, progressive music under the world's most renowned metal label, Relapse, tour like your life depends on it, and even wrest from major label Warner Brothers that Excaliber of industry jargon: full creative control. Troy Sanders, the band's bassist and co-vocalist, actually speaks fondly of his band's new label and the freedom graciously granted the band on newest album Blood Mountain. "That was the first thing that we hammered out - we didn't even have to hammer it out," says Sanders, speaking from his home in Atlanta on one of the band's rare respites from a nigh-insane touring schedule. "The first conversation that was engaged was, 'Hey, we love what you're doing, we want you to continue to do what you're doing, but we want to take over where Relapse will leave off.'"

In order to better navigate the course from (albeit hugely successful) indie label to major, the Atlanta four-piece - Sanders, guitarists Brent Hinds and Bill Kelliher and drummer Brann Dailor - maintained much of their trademark crew. Paul Romano's spirit-animal artwork graces Mastodon's jewel cases for a third consecutive time, and once again producer Matt Bayles (Botch, Isis, HORSE the Band) was behind the boards. As Sanders puts it, "We kept all the players intact; we just switched teams."

Even a cursory listen to Blood Mountain, the band's third full-length and first for Warner Brothers, dispels any cries of "sell-out" without even breaking a sweat. Instead of doing what detractors may have expected (going poppier, writing a "single," collaborating with Ja Rule), Mastodon simply stays the course, with maybe a slight deviation into even more complex arrangements. And while Blood Mountain features the band making broader and more frequent attempts at "clean," melodic singing, Sanders claims this option simply never occurred to the group in the past. "It never really entered our minds," he says. "We listen to a lot of bands that really use their voice as a fifth instrument and we were not afraid to dive into this record attempting to use our voices to better the songs. For example, [we were influenced by] Thin Lizzy, Melvins, Neurosis, shit that's heavy, amazing, pure, brutal and uncompromising, but with clean vocals, with melody. The more vocal stylings, the more character the record has. Clean vocals does not equal a giant bag of cheese."

A recurring theme that pops up in conversation with Sanders is the persistent concept of Mastodon's steadfast commitment to staying true to its uniquely personal creative process - in other words, if anyone doesn't like it, it's certainly not Mastodon's problem. "We're not worried about any backlash," Sanders firmly states, regarding the members' choice to sing where they once might've screamed. "We weren't afraid of any criticism whatsoever. We never have been. We've always gone into the studio when we write the songs that we want to write and we record the songs the way we want to record them. It's always been from our points of view since our first demo we recorded in Woodstock, GA."

But to say that they've always followed their muse, whether grinding or soaring, isn't to say that there was necessarily an overarching a game plan. "Every step forth we've taken has been a natural progression of the Mastodon evolution," says Sanders. "We've never sat down and said, 'We should have some more epic songs, 10 minutes or longer.' Or, we've never sat down and said, 'We should have a couple of crazy songs, balance it out with a couple of mid-tempo, catchy songs.' We've never had any agenda, ever. It's just poured out of us naturally and very honestly and I think that's something that we enjoy about ourselves and the level of authenticity that we've been doing." As opposed to the chest-beating martyrs of underground metal snobbery, Sanders and his bandmates' insistence upon their own unaffected songwriting and basis of operation sounds less like a band bolstering its own cred and more like a tight-knit group that has proven itself with a consistent output and, of course, lots of time spent in close quarters in moving vehicles.

With nary a whit of weariness, Sanders rattles off a dizzying laundry list of tour dates that the band has committed to through July, including its first jaunt to Australia and a desert festival in Dubai. Having recently completed a tour of Europe with Tool and a fifth (!) outing with Slayer, it seems that the Mastodon guys are becoming acclimated to their success and, additionally, what it cost to get them there. Remember, this is a band that used to play Tasty World in 2002 and 2003, only to struggle into the 40 Watt and, clearly, beyond.

"Watching bands like Slayer and Tool over and over and over, they just come out and they punish, and they're still amazing, and they deliver the goods every single night. That's what they're known for, what they're respected for, that's their craft, their genius," says Sanders. "It's just nice to watch this over and over and over and also realize that this has… become our place, to a degree. This is what we make a living at. People [ask us], 'Do you still have day jobs?' Well, we would if we were home for more than three months collectively per year, total! So this has become our lifestyle, morning, noon, and night, every day, we have been living, breathing, walking, eating and shitting Mastodon for seven years straight, and it kind of just becomes you."

Any urge to tuck-and-roll out of the bus after several weeks on the road playing with/ for deodorant-challenged dudes? "We've maintained our sanity through sarcasm and friendship," laughs Sanders. "Thankfully we haven't gotten to that point."

Jeff Tobias

WHO: Mastodon, Converge, Priestess
WHERE: 40 Watt Club
WHEN: Wednesday, January 31
HOW MUCH: $15

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