Mastodon Is Working On ‘Two Different Projects’
Mastodon drummer Brann Dailor recently spoke to Loudwire Nights and told host Chuck Armstrong about plans for after their just-launched “Ashes Of Leviathan” North American co-headlining tour with Lamb Of God. “Riffs. Drum beats and riffs. I can’t really divulge too much. It’s a hush-hush operation, very top secret… I don’t wanna spoil it.”
Dailor added, “There’s lots of music, that’s all I can say. There’s tons of music. We’ve been writing pretty much this whole time that we’ve been off since we got home from South America (in November ’23). And after we got home from South America with Gojira, we opened Christmas presents and then, since like February or so, we’ve just been working hard making two different projects — not a double album, but two different projects. So that’s the nugget I can share with you. Whatever those projects are, nobody knows. But there’s riffs involved. Some of the riffs are, like, really heavy and tasty and I really like ’em. I’m the metalhead in the band, so when we get some real heavy stuff, I’m, like, ‘Oh, yeah, I like that. It’s cool.'”
You may have heard – Mastodon played a “secret” show under the name “Big Hairy Elephant” last Tuesday (July 16) at Star Bar in Atlanta, Georgia. Think – Warm-Up-Gig for the “Ashes Of Leviathan” tour (which kicked off on July 19) in Grand Prairie, Texas). Kerry King and Malevolence are support throughout the tour, with Unearth on some dates.
Both headlining bands will be supporting a charity of their choice throughout the tour, which is pretty cool; Mastodon’s choice is the Hirshberg Foundation For Pancreatic Cancer Research. Their manager, Nick John, passed away from pancreatic cancer in 2018 and Mastodon has helped raise nearly $60K since to fight the disease and support researchers and patients around the world.
Mastodon’s latest studio album, “Hushed And Grim”, is a double album, recorded at the band’s Atlanta studio, West End Sound, and produced by David Bottrill (Tool, Rush, Peter Gabriel). It was their third consecutive #1 debut on the Billboard Hard Rock Albums chart.
