LEGEND OF THE SEAGULLMEN
What happens when you mix the drummer of Tool, a Mastodon guitarist and Finding Nemo? Meet Legend Of The Seagullmen: metal’s most bizarre new supergroup
Tool’s Danny carey and Mastodon’s Brent Hinds team up for a sea-themed supergroup. It’s shore to be oceans of fun.
Imagine, if you can, a band of heavy metal superheroes who exist deep in the underbelly of the ocean, harnessing the awesome power of progressive rock, cinematic bombast, spaghetti western music and rousing sea shanties. Their minds have previously brought to life everything from Lateralus, to Crack The Skye, to… er… Finding Nemo. Welcome to the weird and wonderful world of Legend Of The Seagullmen.
“We’re all really good friends and we have been for over a decade,” explains Jimmy Hayward, an animator on legendary Hollywood staples such as Toy Story, Monsters, Inc. and A Bug’s Life, who also happens to be the guitarist in 2018’s most bizarre band. “We’d all hang out and jam. One day, our singer, The Doctor, came up with the idea for this nautical-themed band, which was wild and amazing. He was convinced that we should tell the story of these crazy guys in the ocean, and the more it started to take shape, the more I realised how much it resonated with me. I grew up within a few miles of the Pacific Ocean and he grew up close to [Florida’s] Cocoa Beach, so we’ve been around the boats and the animals and the water our whole lives…”
“I, on the other hand, grew up in Kansas... so I didn’t know what the fuck they were talking about! But they sucked me in!” says Tool drummer Danny Carey about his involvement, as the two men crack up.
“So, then he moved to Malibu to ride dolphins!” Jimmy shoots back.
The pair are in high spirits today. They’ve previously worked together, with Danny scoring and acting for Jimmy’s films, and are obviously delighted to finally unleash the Seagullmen’s self-titled debut album on an unsuspecting world, a good three years after they revealed their existence and released Battle Of The Deep-Sea Diver and Ships Wreck online.
BFFs they may be, but the Seagullmen have some serious pedigree within their ranks. Jimmy and Danny are joined by the aforementioned David ‘The Doctor’ Dreyer on vocals, bassist Pete Griffin of Dethklok, synth man Chris DiGiovanni, and guitarists Tim Dawson and Mastodon wizard Brent Hinds. His presence adds yet another name, alongside Giraffe Tongue Orchestra, Gone Is Gone and Killer Be Killed, to the ever-swelling list of Mastodon members’ extra-curricular activities. They all live in LA apart from Brent, who joined them from Atlanta to add his distinctive touch.
“When he did come in, we wanted to make the most of him,” says Jimmy. “And that meant just letting him go; we could play him a bit of
music, and he’d just play a solo or lead in one take, and then we’d say, ‘Wanna try that again?’ And he’d do a completely different piece in a completely different scale the second time. The things he brought to this project were just… wow! Plus, he’s a big, intimidating guy, so I have to say that…”
“I could take him!” grins Danny, before Jimmy starts giggling uncontrollably.
Combining the weirdness of Mastodon, the progressive diversions of Tool, and rousing orchestral parts that sound like Pirates Of The Caribbean Goes Metal – Jimmy was influenced by the symphonies he works with on his movies – the Seagullmen defy genre categorisation. They’ve already played with the suitably offbeat Primus, and plan to return to stages when time allows. With big names attached to the band, it’s no shock that the label ‘supergroup’ has been bandied around – but it isn’t something they’re particularly comfortable with.
“It’s kind of a weird one for me, because they’re just the people I hang with,” shrugs Danny. “I mean, the guys in Mastodon or Meshuggah or Rage are my friends, and you just hang out with your crew, and I want to create! I hate that term anyway. When I first moved to LA, I was a driver, and one of the first jobs I did was for Dick Van Dyke’s birthday party.”
“Ha ha ha! No fucking way!”
Jimmy shouts, before the two men descend into another bout of righteous laughter.
“I did!” Danny’s continues. “I was just some kid from Kansas, and I went there and saw him just hanging out with all these big stars, and I thought, ‘Well, I guess these guys have to party too, right?’
And after that I’ve never really considered it – it’s all relative.”
It’s rare to hear two bandmembers so relaxed on the eve of a new project’s release, but Legend Of The Seagullmen is an album so absurdly unrestrained, so full of head-spinning prog and odd, multicoloured characters, that you have to wonder if the band are serious at all.
“Once we had the concept, we wanted to each take on these largerthan-life characters within the band,” Danny says. “That was, again, The Doctor’s idea. But there is more to the album than that. I mean, I’m not gonna sit here and spell it out for you…”
“…but there are obviously a lot of metaphors within the concept,” adds Jimmy. “I guess it seems pretty fantastical when you throw names like The Seagull God around, or Danny’s character, The Fogger, who delivers karmic justice to those who abuse the ocean. I don’t wanna wave my environmentalist flag too much, but we’re people who care about that stuff. But part of the thing that we always loved about the music we listened to growing up, whether it was Number Of The Beast, Sad Wings Of Destiny or any of the King Crimson stuff, was figuring out what the fuck they were talking about. So, as I always say when I make movies, I want intelligent people to pay attention to this.”
So, are you willing to get onboard? The
Legend Of The Seagullmen’s maiden voyage is about to begin…
Legend Of The SeaguLLmen IS OUT NOW
VIA DINE ALONE
“We’re delivering justice to people Who
abuse the ocean!”
LEGEND OF THE SEAGULLMEN ARE SERIOUS ABOUT OUR SEAS