Mastodon

On offer is “a wild evening of intelligent heavy music”.

The American metal giants wrap up the touring of a record made under considerable stress, including family illness, their own health issues and battles with sobriety. Drummer Brann Dailor looks at the past and to the future.

How close did Mastodon come to breaking up during the making of the band’s current latest album, 2017’s Emperor Of Sand?

It was never really on the table. Mastodon is the lighthouse that really got us through those past few difficult years, and everything in the last few months as well.

Yes, we were sorry to hear about the death of the band’s manager, Nick John. It’s a nice touch that fans are being invited to donate to cancer charities in his honour.

Nick died of pancreatic cancer and there have been no strides towards a cure for that. It was really brutal way to go, and we loved the guy so much.

Emperor Of Sand was the band’s first full-blown concept album since Crack

The Skye in 2009. Mastodon positively thrive as storytellers.

Some of my favourite albums are the ones with a tale behind them, such as The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway [Genesis] or Abigail [King Diamond]. It’s great to immerse yourself in a record the way you would a book.

Scott Kelly of Neurosis joins you this time out. What’s his role in the show? We’ll play for over an hour, take a breather and then come back out and do all of the Scott stuff and maybe some other things.

Did Mastodon choose their two support acts, Kvelertak and Mutoid Man?

Yeah, we did. If you’re a fan of Mastodon you’re probably into those two bands as well, and having them out on the road with us makes for a wild evening of intelligent heavy music.

With the end of the Emperor Of Sand campaign in sight, are you already making plans for the next record? Yeah. There are a lot of riffs flying around. I don’t want it to be commercial in any way. Let’s go a little bit more experimental. DL

The tour concludes in Bristol on January 26.