YouTube It
Kelliher and Hinds tear it up on one of Mastodon’s heaviest Remission-era songs at the
2005 With Full Force Festival in Germany.
You Tube search term: Mastodon -
Mother Puncher (live)
This 2006 performance of Leviathan’s
13-minute opus in Nottingham, England,
opens with broodingly overdriven guitars and
slowly builds to a tidal wave of epic metal.
You Tube search term: Mastodon -
Hearts Alive HD Live 1/15 Rock City Nottingham December 12, 2006
This video from a 2009 Chicago gig shows
Kelliher playing his custom First Act
9-string and Hinds playing his custom
First Act 12-string on “Ghost of Karelia”
from Crack the Skye.
You Tube search term: Mastodon -
Ghost of Karelia [Live]
What did you use for the
other half of the solo?
Kelliher: The second part of
the solo was done in the studio
before that European tour, and
I really like it because it has that
“Orion” [from Metallica’s Master
of Puppets] feel and groove. I
used this new Gibson Explorer
with EMG X Series 81 and 85
humbuckers. It’s a metal-shred-
ding beast that doesn’t sound
phony—it’s quickly become
my go-to super-heavy guitar.
I plug straight into the amp
for the majority of my record-
ings, so when I need something
gargantuan, I have that in my
back pocket. I used to hate
active pickups and thought they
sounded brittle and stale, but I
totally dig their tone with my
Explorer—it’s a clear, concise,
unique distortion. I use that
