The Hercules of Metal

Thinking of interview questions for a band like Mastodon is not easy. Their press coverage has been vast, and their music extremely intricate. But if there's one thing we've learned from them is that they are anything but a contradiction.

They have been revered as the Led Zeppelin of our time — although drummer Brann Dailor easily admits he prefers Black Sabbath over Zeppelin — and many progressive rock rivalries have been rumored to exist. But Dailor says, "We don't have rivalries with any band. … We want groups to push the envelope musically. We're all in this together, bands that are playing technical music. … We need to stick together because there's not too many of us. We leave the rivalry up to the hip hop guys."

For being incredibly technical and complex, the band seems pretty insouciant when it comes to putting together an album. "We just kind of went to the practice space and hashed [Crack the Skye] out. … We knew what we wanted and we know what to do. … It's the only thing we know how to do for 10 years. … There's that magical moment that happens when the hairs on the back of your neck stand up, and that's why we play music. If it doesn't happen, we won't record it," Dailor says.

The fate of that moment during live shows seems to rest with one key figure: the sound guy. But, even the best sound guy couldn't make up for bassist Troy Sanders' off-key vocals on the Late Show with David Letterman. How could this happen to a band that for so long emulated technical perfection? Refusing to believe that their demigods could screw up, fans spun rumors to conclude that the gig was blown because the band didn't want to play for a mainstream crowd. But when I asked Dailor about it, he merely sighed and remarked, "Troy was sick and I had the flu for two weeks beforehand. ... We're human. Ninety percent of the time we're spot on, the other 10 … [things] happen. It was an awkward show to play because we had to clip a 10-minute song down to 3 minutes. The whole time I was thinking ‘Don't play it the way you've been playing it.'"

After hearing the discomfort in his voice, we switched gears and started to talk about the times that Mastodon played at Italian restaurants, gymnasiums and buffets when they were establishing themselves years back. "At the china buffet, four or five dudes dressed up as '70s gym teachers — you know, with shorts, knee socks and mustaches — and they had a football in their hands. … They used the guitar pedal boards as the lines of scrimmage. … If you got past the pedal boards, you got a touchdown. … They just jumped over all of the kids in the front row that were going nuts and played their game," Dailor says.

With the unconventional yet amusing vision still ingrained in my mind, I couldn't resist to ask one final question: "Being an esteemed metal and progressive rock band, what is Mastodon's official view on Lady Gaga?" Dailor simply chuckled and replied, "Mastodon loves Lady Gaga. She's an extremely talented pop artist that definitely deserves it." Let's just hope that at the next Mastodon gig, a slew of Lady Gagas clad in '80s shoulder pads attempt to play football with guitar pedal boards.