The High Art of Heavy Metal: Mastodon

| Print Post This | Like (1) | Comments (0)

GUITARIST BILL KELLIHER repeatedly mentions the word "art" when discussing his band, Mastodon. While the Atlanta, Ga.-born group can play the heaviest of metal, calling it "art" isn't a stretch.

Mastodon crafts albums that are thematic, from the the lyrics to the packaging, and it plays an epic style of music that looks as much to early '70s prog-rock as it does early '90 death metal. "Crack the Skye" — the quartet's fourth studio album, and its second for Warner Bros. — brings all of the band's multifaceted art into crystal-clear focus.

"With this record, we had all the time in the world to write it," Kelliher said. "We had a year off and we didn't have any deadline of when we needed to have it turned in by, and usually we have a deadline. So, we were just furiously writing material, writing riffs. By the time we were ready to record, we needed somebody to take away the paintbrushes; take the guitars out of our hands and say, 'OK, now it's enough. Stop writing.'"

Producer Brendan O'Brien didn't strip away Mastodon's epic qualities — "The Czar: I. Usurper - II. Escape - III. Martyr - IV. Spiral" is 11 minutes and closer "The Last Baron" is 13 — but he did help tame some of the band's chaos and encouraged the musicians' turn toward singing, while also precisely capturing the group's sometimes overlooked way with sonic filigree. From the detailed drawings of artist Paul Romano to drummer Brann Dailor's tripped-out lyrics about astral travels and the Russian mystic Rasputin — as well as guitarist Brent Hinds' killer ax slinging and the heavy rhythmic drive of Kelliher and bassist Troy Sanders — "Crack the Skye" is Mastodon's most self-assured and expansive recording yet.

Even Kelliher was knocked for a loop by "Crack the Skye" when he finally got a chance to listen to it uninterrupted.

"I got two kids at home and a wife, and I put the album on for them, but it's not like we're going to sit still for 55 minutes and listen to it," he said. "I put it on and I'd be cooking or doing the dishes or changing diapers or putting the kids asleep. But finally, I had this moment of clarity where I was driving back from the dentist and I was stuck in traffic, so I put it on and cranked it up and I was like, 'This is really and truly a nice piece of art.'"

» 9:30 Club, 815 V St. NW; with Kylesa and Intronaut, Tue., May 12, 6:30 p.m., sold out; 202-265-0930; 930.com. (U St.-Cardozo)

BONUS Q&A

» EXPRESS: "Crack the Skye" came out in so many iterations: CD, CD plus DVD, single LP, double audiophile LP, digital and a really awesome mail-order only CD/DVD box set with a kind of worm-hole accordion thingy in the middle. Are the multiple formats integral extensions of the band's art and expression?
» KELLIHER: It's all about packaging, especially these days when it's a recession and it's tough to sell CDs and records to a public that is so online and [hooked on] iTunes, and there's so many bands out there. It's a tough, competitive market. With this record, we have so much artwork that's beautiful and amazing and heartfelt that we wanted to put it out there as much as we can in every facet available.

Basically, [artist Paul Romano is] part of the band, from day one. We start sending him ideas and keep him in the loop from the early demos — all the lyrics, what the concept is, everything. ... And he really digs deep when he's investigating what we're talking about. ... He brings it all together in a deep, meaningful way by really doing his homework on all the subject matter that we're bring to the table with the album. He has to make a specific piece of art for each song. Every song is meaningful so it has to have a really deep piece of art to go along with it.

The tunnel book came into play when Warner Bros. showed us some ideas and we said, "Wow, that looks really cool. We can incorporate all the elements into one thing and it's a three-dimensional experience." ... Paul had sent it back and forth to us, and Warner Bros. put it all together and gave us mock-ups that didn't quite look right. If you're going to go through all the trouble of doing it, it's gotta be done right; it has to look fucking amazing. And finally we got it right and I think it looks really cool. It's the most elaborate packaging we've ever done. It was a limited run to 5,000 and it sold out immediately.

» EXPRESS: You said when you really got a chance to listen to the album it was a genuine surprise for you. Is it the first time you've been surprised like that — where it almost felt like someone else's music?
» KELLIHER: It always blows my mind that "Wow, we created this. And it's finally finished and this is the final product ." It's always a good feeling. ... I haven't listened to any of our older stuff in a while except for the other day at a record-store signing and they had [our 2004 album] "Leviathan" on. We play it live every day, but I was like, "I need to go back and really listen to all this stuff because there's stuff in there that has changed so much in the time we've been playing it live."

» EXPRESS: Most of the songs on "Crack the Skye" are by Brent and Brann. When will a Bill-oriented Mastodon album surface?
» KELLIHER: I have ideas and stuff, but it hasn't been my turn to write. I'm thinking about the next record, trying to get ahead of everybody. Usually Brann has some grandiose scheme and ideas behind it right away, and I'm like, "Whoa! OK, if you have it all packaged up and ready to go already." I help and I talk about ideas, but I gave up singing. I sing live; I'll do screaming and more of a Dave Edwardson kind of thing from Neurosis. But being the frontman and singing, you kind of take on the responsibility of everyone thinking you're the leader and they want to talk to you. But I kind of like laying back and holding down the riffs of the songs and just concentrating on playing while the other guys are trying to sing and perform.

» EXPRESS: Speaking of Neurosis, "Crack the Skye" is the third Mastodon album where you've had Scott Kelly contribute. How was it for Brann to write a personal song like "Crack the Skye" — which is, in part, about his sister's suicide — with another lyricist?
» KELLIHER: The relationship between us and Scott Kelly [we] have similar situations. Scott Kelly has had tragedy in his life — everyone has a tragic story — but on a personal level with Scott, it's easy for us to talk to him and we love having his vocals and his art as a part of Mastodon, and I think the feeling's mutual. Him and Brann are really close as far as talking about personal tragedies. They're really good friends; they can cry on each other's shoulders so to speak. There's just a mutual kinship between the two bands and between the people.

» EXPRESS: With all of Mastodon's members able to contribute to songwriting, do you guys sometimes overwrite? And how did working with producer Brendan O'Brien focus the band?
» KELLIHER: Hiring a person like Brendan to come — he was amazing. Without compromising anyone's feelings he said, "I'm going to be brutal about your music — that's what you're hiring me for. I'm going to tell if you if that part doesn't totally rock, I'm going to tell you to take it out and I hope you're not going to cry about it." And we said, "No, no, it's cool; we want your input." For "Ghost of Karolia," me and Brann especially had gone down to our practice space and rearranged the song a million times. ... We got kind of frustrated. The song was great, all the riffs were there, but we couldn't quite get it where it was blowing us away. And Brendan came in and he was like, "Change this part, throw that part away ... it's extra fluff." And we tried it that way and all the sudden were super-happy with it.

["The Last Baron"] was like eight or nine riffs just in a row, and we were like, "This isn't a song. It's just a bunch of riffs — but they all go together." So, we had to figure out which riff would be the main focus of the song ... and we fooled around with it enough until where we thought it sounded great. [The part with the clipped notes soaked in heavy delay] I call that the Mars Volta part. It's something we've never before. It's really spacey and there's a special energy that the song has. That was the first riff of the song, too. We didn't really know where to go from that, so we just anchored the other parts around it.

And when we played ["The Last Baron"] for Brendan live, he was like, "That song, I'm not even going to touch. I don't even know what to make of it." I think we confused him. He was like, "Whoa, that's totally you guys. There's no way of chopping that song down to make it a three-and-a-half-minute single. Just leave it the way it is — it's fine, it's perfect. I have nothing to say about it at all. Just fucking go for it."

» EXPRESS: You guys are playing "Crack the Skye" in its entirety on this tour. How exhausting is it playing those 10-plus-minute songs?
» KELLIHER: It's not as difficult as I thought it would be ... [but] I'm happy when it comes to the last riff in "The Last Baron," I'm like, "Oh, god." Once it gets over the Frank Zappa part in the middle — with all those crazy licks — once that part's over, it's smooth sailing. Once that song is over, that whole half of the set is over and we take a two-minute break and then we play 45 minutes of old stuff. And by then it's like, OK, all the tough stuff's over.

» EXPRESS: After Brent was punched in Sept. 2007 and was hospitalized with severe injuries, it made the band retrench and become more committed to one another. Brann even wrote about Brent's ordeal on "Crack the Skye." But then Brent goes and gets into another fight in Sept. 2008, and while King Khan got the worst of it, it was surprising that Brent would put himself in that situation again.
» KELLIHER: That's just who he is. I dunno. He's got ... he' just that kind of guy — really on edge a lot. I dunno if that's because of the accident or what, but those kinds of things just seem to follow him around; he can't seem to get out of it. Somebody saying the wrong thing to him. He's a delicate artist, I guess. [Laughs]

» EXPRESS: You've made some huge changes in your life, too, after being hospitalized in Nov. 2008. How's the sobriety going while also being back on tour?
» KELLIHER: Been going great, man. I've completely turned my life around around. I jog every morning now ... I try to work out every day — sit-ups and push-ups and jump ropes. I'm 38 and you can't just fucking go through life a drunken mess and playing rock 'n' roll every night and staying up all night and still try to perform the best you can. Everything in moderation; I've learned that finally, I think, for real. This pancreatitis really fucking scared me and showed me I'm not invincible — no one is. People need to realize we're all mortal and we're all going to die, which sucks to think about, but when you have kids — I have two boys — that's when everything changed for me. But it was like my wake-up call — I'm glad I didn't die because they said I had about a day left and I would have died.

» RELATED: "Deluxe Metal: Mastodon & Lamb of God" [Express, March 24, 2009]

Photo by James Minchin