Hot Press meets Mastodon

Since the chart-busting success of 2011’s fifth album, The Hunter, Georgia, USA metallers Mastodon have seen their status catapult from the minor to the major league. The Atlanta rockers are Dublin-bound shortly and bassist Troy Sanders is only too happy to shoot the breeze with Hot Press in advance about his love of Ireland, collaborations with The Cure, covering Feist and toning down the partying after 13 years on the road.

“Ireland has been very, very welcoming to our band. Any time we’ve come through there you’ve been nothing short of wonderful,” he smiles.
The band’s fondness for these shores ties in nicely with their well-documented love of Thin Lizzy, an appreciation they share with a certain Mr. Robert Smith and co. The mutual fandom saw the birth of a kinship between the two camps that has spawned collaboration plans.
“We were fortunate enough to be at several festivals last summer with The Cure and it was wonderful to befriend them,” explains Troy. “We did speak of working together and I certainly hope that will become a reality. It’s always hard to make these things work but we would love to do something with them. We have so much admiration for them as people and for their music.”
A collaboration which did come to fruition was the Feist/Mastodon split EP for 2012 Record Store Day. Titled Feistodon the venture saw Feist tackling Mastodon’s ‘Black Tongue’ and her ‘A Commotion’ getting a spin through the heavy cycle.
“We love her version of our song!” beams Troy. “It’s incredible, it sounds so good.  We have a lot of love for Feist, she really takes the song to another level. The idea of working together had come up many times. We are very happy with our version of her song and vice versa.”
They first met the Canadian songstress on a Later... With Jools Holland appearance, which Troy confesses was very much a rabbit-caught-in-the-headlights moment.
“I really enjoyed it but the few minutes of recording were the most terrifying I’ve ever had in the band,” he admits. “Being on the show with all these great artists and having the camera in front of you, knowing that red light is on and that you had to get it right. There was a collective sigh of relief when it was done!”
What was it like working with the larger than life Josh Homme on their third long-player, Blood Mountain?
“He’s an awesome character. We’ve played so many shows with Queens Of The Stone Age and are good friends with those guys. Whenever you get the chance to collaborate with someone who’s a friend it’s always really great.”
Troy has been lucky enough to cross paths with a plethora of his childhood heroes.
“That’s the great adventure of being in Mastodon, it’s been unbelievable!” he beams. “Last year I was able to have a one-on-one with Rob Halford of Judas Priest, which was something I never thought would happen. And there have been many more. If I was to go back and tell my 15-year-old self, ‘One day you’ll be on a first name basis with Rob Halford!’ my head would have exploded!”
Another memorable moment for the troupe was having ZZ Top legend Billy Gibbons guest on their cover of one of his tracks.
“He played guitar on our version of ‘Just Got Paid’, which was mind-blowing! We’ve also recorded with Neurosis and played with our heroes The Melvins, which was wonderful,” he adds. Currently the band are making time between live shows to work on their next album which guitarist Brent Hinds has indicated will be “eerie, Radiohead-ish and spooky.”
“It’s coming along slowly but surely,” nods Troy. “It’s a slow process but we’re working on it now and have three or four songs in the bag. We’d rather do it slowly and make it right than rush it and not ultimately be happy with what we’ve done. We’re just allowing our natural feelings to come from our hearts through our fingers into our instruments and back out and see where it goes. We don’t have any set rules.”
Finally, I put it to Troy that Mastodon look like a band that enjoy a celebratory tipple or two after a show. Is this true?
“Yes, some of us more than others,” he laughs. “Our band has been together 13 years and we’ve done well over 1,000 shows, and that’s been our lifestyle for the bulk of that time. Being in a rock ‘n’ roll environment and travelling the world it’s very easy to indulge and perhaps have too much fun. But we’re better now than we were several years ago! Our health and the band’s career come first.”

Mastodon play the Academy on June 12 and 13. The Hunter is out now on Warner Music.