guitar a lot on “All the Heavy
Lifting” and some of the harmonies on “Curl of the Burl.”
With its Alan Parsons
Project-/Pink Floyd-style
synths and chanting choirs,
“The Creature Lives” is very
theatrical. What was the impetus for that song?
Kelliher: [Laughs.] That was all
Brann’s idea. He wrote it years
ago and he pretty much directed
and composed how everything fell
into place. He thinks it’s going to
be one of those lift-your-lighter-in-the-air-and-sway songs. I’m
sure Mastodon fans will think,
‘What the hell is this?’ But I’ve
heard some people compare it
old Pink Floyd, with the prog-y
Hammond organs. Crack the Skye
was a serious record—it was a
healing process for a lot of people.
And that’s not to say The Hunter
isn’t going to cure some ills, too,
but we wanted to do a party
record that was fun to make—and
hopefully fun for fans to crank up
and jam with some friends.
song together, and I kind of just
made it by the seat of my pants
with all this creative energy
swirling and pressure mounting.
Hinds: The guitar-and-drum solo
part in “The Hunter”—where
Brann and me play off each
other—it screams “Check this
out!” When you hear me and
Brann bounce off each other in
those moments where he takes
the lead with some fills and I’m
sustaining, and then I take over
again—it’s a really cool thing to
be in a band where you have that
romantic cadence between the different instruments. I’m not sure if
Deep Purple was one of the first
bands to have a drum solo and a
guitar solo going at the same time,
but I like how it turned out a lot.
What’s your favorite part of
the new album?
Kelliher: I’d have to say the
middle of “All the Heavy
Lifting,” where there’s all this
craziness between my guitar
parts and Brann’s drumming.
It was a spontaneous riff that I
wrote while we were putting the
“Bedazzled Fingernails” has
some pretty mind-boggling
stuff going on with the timing
and the riffs. How did that
song develop?
Hinds: You’re, like, the third
person that’s interviewed me
that has asked about that song—
that’s a great sign. That has been
a riff I’ve been playing around
with for a long time, but it
never really worked in anything
else until The Hunter sessions.
Kelliher barres his 1980 Gibson Explorer at a June 2011 Netherlands gig.
Photo by Cindy Frey
Those syncopated riffs sound
pretty difficult to play.
Hinds: That’s the whole
point—it sounds difficult, but
that doesn’t mean it is difficult.
Guitar playing is like being a
magician—you try to do more
with less and work smarter, not
harder. I’ve played with hybrid-
style picking—using a pick
along with my middle, ring,
and pinky fingers—forever,
because I learned on the banjo
first. But on this song I don’t
really use a pick that much, I’m
just using my open fingers with
hammer-ons and pull-offs to
get that confusing, high-speed
riff illusion.
The main riff in “The
Octopus Has No Friends”
sounds pretty brutal, too.
Hinds: That’s just how I play
guitar. That type of hybrid
picking will always be a big
part of my playing—whether
it’s in Mastodon or my side
bands. For “Octopus,” I just
wanted to make things sound
as crazy—like raindrops—and
chorus-y as possible, so I really
worked it up to speed on my
9-string First Act, because it
creates those natural chorus
Hinds on His Acrylic V
The 25. 1"-scale acrylic guitar that Brent
Hinds favors for his work in Mastodon
was built to his specs by Electrical Guitar
Company’s Kevin Burkett. Hinds requested
a V-shaped body with a Maestro Vibrato
and high-output ECG alnico 5 humbuckers. “The pickups are double potted—wax
and epoxy—to help keep the microphonics
down at high volumes,” says Burkett.
The Brent Hinds Custom also has a
Schaller bridge, Grover tuners, and stain-
less steel frets. “I love the unique tone
the guitars have—they’re brighter and
had clearer highs than any other guitars
I played,” Hinds says. “The other part I
really like is how thin and flat the neck is.”
The aluminum neck measures 1. 65" at the
nut and features a slotted headstock that
looks like a cross between what you’d
find on a fingerstyle acoustic guitar and
those found on 1970s aluminum-neck
solidbodies.
