“I’m not a jam guy - but he is”

How Bill Kelliher and Brent Hinds achieve perfect balance

Mastodon’s guitarists have their own unique take on the instrument, at times operating from worlds apart and still somehow managing to meet in the middle. “I’m more on the beat and trying to be as tight as possible,” explains Bill Kelliher. “A lot of the times when Brent writes stuff, like Capillariancrest, he goes off on this chicken picking bonanza in the middle! I can’t play that, it would take me a year to learn. That’s why I end up playing something different. Brent will say there are no bad notes on the fretboard, you just gotta stretch it until you get to the right one. And I hear him do that all the time, he’ll hit something way below and just bend until it’s there. He’s got such a good feel for that, he’s very improvised. I need to rehearse and get my sh*t in order before

I can play. I’m not a jam guy, getting up on stage and improvising solos. I’ve done it before but that’s not my happy place, while he is all about that.”

Peaceandtranquility – one of the more fingertwisting tracks on the new album – took time and careful consideration before its dual harmonies were finalised. As Kelliher admits: “The beginning is crazy and took ages to figure out. I have to watch both hands with Brent because he uses his fingers, so I end up videoing him and then slowing it down at home. At first I was going to play something a little more grounded underneath. I couldn’t avoid his part for that song, though! It’s long and has about six thousand notes. I started getting anxious because I had no idea what to do. Eventually I came up with a harmony that’s different every time, making it sound even more wild.”