At a time when many of their contemporaries have downsized their ambitions for keeping things contemporary and fresh, the four core members of Mastodon continue to showcase a band that’s in no way approaching a midlife creative crisis. Out this spring and summer with their longtime friends Gojira, Mastodon are looking at several months’ worth of shows that’ll highlight new(ish) and (quite) old material. It’ll be a catalog-diving year, before an expected return to the studio.
The band’s ability to create and hone a singular style is built on a personal and musical kinship, one made possible by spending two decades in rooms together.
Now 23 years into their career, Atlanta’s Mastodon — Troy Sanders (bass/vocals), Brent Hinds (lead guitar/vocals), Bill Kelliher (rhythm guitar/backing vocals) and Brann Dailor (drums/vocals), along with touring member João Nogueira (keyboards/synthesizers) – has a catalog rich and varied enough that fans come out for shows with or without a new album to support. In 2023, the group’s not hitting the road with new music to sell, per se; that said, a handful of new tracks, according to Dailor, are in some sort of fighting shape. But mostly, they’ll pull from their entire recorded output of eight studio albums.
Out of that experience, Dailor said that “we did have a plethora of riffs and parts of songs. We have rough sketches of some, around four or five. We’re not working diligently on the new material at the moment. Instead, we’re dusting off some oldies, the stuff that we haven’t played in a bunch of years. And it’s not like we write songs with two or three chords. But we’ve had plenty of time to get ahead of the curve and swing toward that older material. It’s more about those right now.”
Mastodon isn’t a group that uses sound checks to put together new material, preferring for the various songwriting members of the group to bring sketches to pre-release rehearsal-and-writing sessions. So any new songs probably won’t get developed much on tour. Still, Dailor is looking forward to that process.
“It’s an exciting time period for us,” the super-amiable Dailor said, expressing his enthusiasm for working on new material. “It’s imperative for us to let time pass and be inspired by different things along the way to help shape the new album. If that all happens too soon, then it’s not as genuine.”
Mastodon’s last album, the double-LP “Hushed and Grim,” was widely-hailed as one of the finest metal albums of 2021. In an example of the praise, Rolling Stone magazine deemed it the second-best metal album of that year, writing that “Mastodon’s last few albums sounded like dispatches from a mid-career comfort zone. Having streamlined their maximal prog-metal on 2011′s ‘The Hunter,’ they made only minor tweaks to that radio-ready formula up through 2017′s ‘Emperor of Sand.’ But ‘Hushed and Grim’ makes bold new demands on the listener, and rewards them handsomely.”
The group’s fans have been up to the challenges extended to them by such diverse and intricate material.
Over the years, Mastodon has grown from club-sized shows and van trips to the full accouterments of a big time, rock’n’roll machine, existing in a world of tour buses and theaters.
Dailor’s honest in saying that he and the group are constantly looking for ways to bring “better” if not “bigger” elements to the live experience, while also not spending every dollar that they make on the road. That said, the foursome have seen their live sets enhanced by all sorts of technical enhancements over time, including lighting elements that’ve only gotten more sophisticated and eye-popping.
For a group that grew from humble beginnings in Atlanta in 2000 and cemented the current lineup in 2001, all of this is heady stuff. Shows in big theaters and small stadiums; Grammy nominations; detailed dissections of their songs by famed YouTubers like ubiquitous fellow Atlantan Rick Beato; “Making of” album documentaries; even a pair of guest slots in the HBO hit “Game of Thrones,” in which the group played Wildlings, thanks to a fan amongst the program’s showrunners.
“It’s just a heavy metal band, not that we haven’t worked hard,” the acclaimed drummer said, allowing that “there’ve been many moments in this charmed life that Mastodon has allowed me to enjoy. Thank you, Mastodon! So many ‘pinch me’ moments, whether it’s the Grammys or things of that nature, where it almost feels like you shouldn’t be there. Pretty amazing.”
And they’re pals at the end of the day ... or on tour, as it may be — good pals.
“I want the best for the guys in my band,” Dailor said. “I want all amazing things to happen for them in their personal lives and in any other music projects they may have. Like Brent’s solo project, or any of the other things that he does. I want him to do great at it. Same for Bill and same with Troy. I think that attitude makes for happy, healthy relationships.”
CONCERT PREVIEW
Mastodon with Gojira and Lorna Shore
7 p.m. May 6. $34.50-$59.50. Ameris Bank Amphitheatre, 2200 Encore Parkway, Alpharetta. concerts.livenation.com.
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