Mastodon
We talked to Brann all about the new Mastodon record which is released this coming Monday!
Mastodon release their brand new album 'Crack The Skye' this coming Monday - March 23rd. A week or two back we spoke to Brann to see how it all came together...
Rocklouder: Hi Brann! Thanks for taking the time to give us a call...
Brann: Hey man, no problem.
RL: So you guys are in the UK at the moment?
B: Yeah, we're in Camden. I'm in my hotel room and just woke up a few hours ago. We've been here 4 or 5 days now. And the weather's been pretty decent! It hasn't been too bad...
RL: So, you've got the new record coming out here on March 23rd. Where and when did you write the record? Did you have time off to write it or was it a case of getting things done whilst touring the last one?
B: Well, during tour we just kinda collect riffs along the way, you know, whenever there's a moment. But, there's not too many moments so it's kinda difficult to write actual songs on the road. So during soundcheck Brent might have something or we might start jamming on something quickly and try to stick it in the riff bag, and then when you get back home you have a few to start with and kinda dump them out on the practice room floor and go from there. But, yeah, we had about a year off. We decided to take that time off. We did do a few shows here and there... we did a couple of shows with Neurosis in Brooklyn, we did a festival called Vegoose in Vegas and we did the VMAs, obviously. We did some shows with Queens Of The Stone Age too, but all in all, we just took it easy and really made sure that we took as much time as possible to kinda let all the material develop on its own. We didn't try and push anything.
RL:So when and where did you record the album after that?
B: We were ready to go, I'd say, in April. We were planning on going to New York to do it with a guy named Rich Costey, who mixed our last record, and he wasn't gonna be able to fit us into his schedule into September or October and we were like, we're ready to go now! I mean, our feeling was that we just needed someone to press record and there's plenty of guys out there to do that. I guess we didn't necessarily feel like we needed to be 'produced', but then we met up with Brendan O'Brien and things happened rather quickly from there. We sent our demos over but I don't think anybody thought anything would come of it because I guess we just considered ourselves small potatoes in the grand scheme of his roster that he's worked with. But he called the next day and he was really excited and he was like 'I just wanna come down and meet you guys and see what happens from there'. And we met, and he lives in Atlanta... and again for us, the planets aligned.
RL: So you hit the studio in April/May time?
B: We went in in June actually. We were there for about 3 weeks and then we broke. We had a break to go on the Mayhem tour with Slipknot and Disturbed in the US. That was good too, as we had the record almost totally finished, rough mixes... and then we got out there on tour, playing in front of our buddies every night. It gave it time for it to really sink in and then when we went back home we had another week in the studio to kinda do various things here and there. Change a little vocal thing, or add a part, or whatever we wanted to do, so it was good.
RL: Is Brendan someone you've wanted to work with for a while?
B: Yeah man. I just feel that he's able to take the perfect snapshot of a band and that's really what you're supposed to do I guess. And he's just real personable and a musical guy. He had lots of good ideas and I felt like he really breathed new life into the project, you know? When you're writing for nine months and you're going over the same stuff constantly and you're like, now we need to record it! To get it down... someone eventually needed to take the paintbrush away, because we just go in there every single day and we like to play. But it's cool, i'm really proud of it and really happy how it came out.
RL: Obviously your previous records, the last especially, have won such massive accolades and awards. Has there been much pressure on you with regards to the new one?
B: No, not in that aspect. You know, it's curious what critics say and how they view the record, and there are some publications that I maybe respect more than others. Or certain interviewers where you think 'wow, cool'. But all that is nothing that enters into our mind when we're writing it. The only pressure that we actually feel is more internal from ourselves. We desperately want to make a great record... that's really self-indulgent and we don't wanna let any of our fans down, but we really can't think of anyone else but ourselves once we're in there and creating. You gotta trust yourself with that kinda stuff.
RL: So have things progressed since the last record would you say?
B: It's just a different record. It's a bigger, broader and a little bit more laid back I feel. There's just more heart in it for some reason. It's definitely my favourite thing that we've done so far.
RL: We've seen a few things about themes that run through the album. Everything from wormhole travel to Tsarist Russia...
B: Yeah, that's all in there. It's a big grandiose story.
RL:Is that all stuff that you guys are into, or that just came around for the record?
B: Yeah, we're nerds. We read books and watch the discovery channel. I dunno... all those things are pretty fascinating. Astral travel and things of a spiritual nature. I guess the otherworldly, the 'other side'... aether and all it encompasses. It's just fascinating subject matter and we write from the standpoint of a personal but metaphorical level.
RL: So looking at the album art, it seems to take in most of those aspects. Did you guys put that together or did you have someone that managed to convey exactly what you were getting at?
B: Yeah, it's a guy named Paul Romano that we've been working with since day one, so he's right there with us. I call him on the phone and say 'hey, listen... astral travel, up in outer space, lost in a wormhole, in the spirit realm, coming out in tsarist russia into rasputin's body, blah, blah blah...', and he's like 'yeah, yeah, yeah, of course, makes perfect sense!'
RL: Awesome. So on the live front, you've got some shows with Metallica coming up over here...
B: Hell yeah. Summer camp with Metallica and Lamb Of God. Gonna be fantastic. See you then!
'Crack The Skye' is out this coming Monday, 23rd March.
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