Mastodon Photos And Setlist From Post-Gazette Pavilion August 2, 2008

This past Saturday I attended the Rockstar Mayhem Festival at the Post-Gazette Pavillion in Burgettstown, Pa. My friend Sue and I were in the pit and she captured some pretty cool pics. She was also able to score a setlist from one of the roadies. Check out Brann Dailor's Rhandy Rhoads' inspired drum kit. Fuckin' killer!

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MASTODON: New Video Interview With BRANN DAILOR Available

Synthesis.net conducted an interview with drummer Brann Dailor of Atlanta progressive metallers MASTODON at a recent stop on the band's current Rockstar Energy Mayhem Festival tour with SLIPKNOT and DISTURBED. Watch the five-minute chat below.

MASTODON bassist and vocalist Troy Sanders recently shot down rumors that the band's as-yet-untitled new album will be a concept record about Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin. Yes, Dailor drew a mad-eyed image of Rasputin with the band's name tangled into his untamed beard. Yes, the band used the image on t-shirts, posters and stickers. But no, Rasputin won't be the subject of MASTODON's next epic prog-metal opus.

"One big rumor gets out there, and it kind of spreads quickly, which is cool," Sanders told Headbanger's Blog. "I'm glad people are speculating on what the record's gonna be. We want to keep some of the mystery behind it until the record hits the stands. But the record is not based on the life of Rasputin."

MASTODON Drummer: New Songs Are "Heavier Than I Expected"

Progressive metal quartet MASTODON is tentatively scheduled to enter the studio in the spring to begin recording its follow-up to 2006's "Blood Mountain". A late 2008 release via Warner Bros. Records is expected.

In a recent interview with UK's Rock Sound magazine, MASTODON drummer Brann Dailor stated about the songwriting process for the group's new album, "It's a long, arduous process. We've got a skeleton for the whole record and these huge chunks of music four of five different segments that don't have a beginning or end yet... We're just basically in the middle of the record, adding stuff, giving it a taste then adding a little more 'pepper' or 'salt.' Once all the ingredients are in there, you have to bake it — which is just playing it over and over again until it feels right. The main goal is to get the songs right so you don't have to think about the time changes — so you can relax with it and play it how it should be played. There's a level of difficulty to our stuff and if you're too wrapped up in trying to remember how many times something goes and the timing for the next riff, you can't examine the song for being a song. So it takes a while."

So far, only one new songtitle has been revealed: "The Ghost of Karilla".

Commented Brann: "I dont want to give the theme away but I think the song title will leave a few people guessing. It's top secret. I can't divulge that information. It's more fun keeping it under wraps, but you can be assured that it's definitely another MASTODON record which is going to further in a couple of different directions and the stuff we've written so far is heavier than I expected."

MetalHead Hockey Players

Being a huge hockey fan, I found this story to be rather interesting. Brann Dailor, drummer for MASTODON recently penned a blog about metalhead hockey players in the NHL. Here is how the blog reads.

"I’ve had a chance to meet several hockey players in the past few years and it’s always really cool to spend some time with them and compare stories about our lives as musicians and their lives as hockey players.

That’s another reason why I am excited that I can go to the All-Star Game in my hometown to see so many of these great players on one stage.

I’ve met some of the Thrashers, although it can be hard because they are so busy with their season while they are here and we can be busy with touring or making a new record. But, we did that thing on Inside the NHL with Atlanta defensemen Garnet Exelby and Mark Popovic and that was pretty cool. They’re both fans of the heavy music, so that was a lot of fun.

I’ve also recently hung out with Drew Stafford and Toni Lydman of the Buffalo Sabres. They had a Sunday game down here a little while back and they got in on a Saturday and we had them over to the house to hang out. My wife made lasagna and I picked their brains about being hockey players and they picked mine about being a musician.

They live a really cool lifestyle, but I’ll still take playing the drums. Their season seems like such a grind with all the games and everything. I guess they are compensated well for it, but I’ll still take being a musician.

They also came by our practice base, too, and hung out. Drew actually jammed with us. He plays the guitar and he is pretty good. He knew our song “Wolf is Loose” off our latest record, “Blood Mountain.,” so we played that. And, he had this pretty cool song of his that he presented to us and played and I got some drum tracks to go along with it and we just jammed. He was really good.

I had met Toni Lydman before at a music festival in Finland. We were playing this festival and he came up to me after the show. I had no idea who he was and we were just chatting and then he asks if we are ever going to play in the Buffalo area and I’m like, What do you care? That’s when he told me he lived there and played for the Sabres. I was like, “Oh my God!”

There seems to be a lot of hockey guys that are into the heavy metal music.

I feel that style of music totally fits the sport better than anything else. It’s like total speed and just, you know, people getting their heads bashed apart.

And, the level of skill you need to have to play heavy metal is like the level of skill you need to play hockey. I think some of the most skilled musicians are some of the death-metal and speed-metal guys out there, you know?

Well, as I mentioned yesterday, we have a couple of shows to play with Neurosis in Brooklyn tonight and tomorrow night, but we’ll be back in Atlanta for the weekend. Stop by tomorrow and I’ll give those of you lucky enough to be heading into Atlanta for the game some of our favorite haunts in the city."

Go here to read more.

As a fan of the Pittsburgh Penguins, I'd be curious to know how many of them are into metal. By the way, GO PENS!