Jesus! so eveyone’s after the Mastodon t-shirt code! Amazing that a free t-shirt could have such a draw. Well we hear on good authority that while our stocks have been reached and breached, there are still codes out there. We’ve spoken to Mastodon’s Brent Hinds, and no, he doesn’t know anything about free t-shirt codes…
To read the news story about the Mastodon t-shirt codes, click here.

How would explain metal’s popularity at the moment?
Brent Hinds: “I don’t know and I don’t care.”
 
Is being original a blessing or a curse when it comes to winning over new fans?
“I guess people could hate us, but they never have! It’s a very vulnerable job, being put on a stage in front of thousands of people. Who knows what shit they’re gonna throw at you?”

Is it satisfying to be among the bands considered to be saviours of the metal scene or are you annoyed that it took people so long to discover you?
“Honestly? I just can’t wait to get away from being at the forefront of it all. I’m the guy in the band that’s not the biggest heavy metal fan. I’m not a fan of heavy music in the same way that the other guys are, so if you hear things in our music that aren’t so heavy then that’s going to be me! Being at the forefront of heavy music is kinda like ‘Ah, whatever!’ to me, you know? I’m glad the kids like us, but at the same time I never look at it that way, like we’re at the forefront or we’re the best. I’d never play in another heavy band apart from Mastodon. Maybe if some other amazing heavy band like High On Fire wanted me to play with them, then maybe I’d think about it, but otherwise I’ll stick with Mastodon because we’ve got a good gig here. I’ve got a lot of confidence in the guys and we’re all really talented dudes, so whatever we come up with is usually pretty cool. We’re biased.”
 
You’re big fans of progressive rock and a lot of that stuff is as dark and weird as any metal you could mention…
“Definitely! We’re such big fans of progressive rock and ‘70s rock that we could give a fuck less about all this heavy metal bullshit. To us, I don’t even know how we got here. We’re finally becoming the band we’ve always wanted to become on this next album, and we’re getting away from all the heavy metal people and just being musicians. I wasn’t a metal fan at all. Ever. I’m still not a metal fan, but I’ve learnt to appreciate it, after a while. I’m not a big fan of it. When I was a kid I was into The Doors and Jimi Hendrix. That was just the music I would gravitate towards. I used to love The Guess Who. When I was a kid I’d listen to Black Sabbath but I didn’t know about all these bands that we’re hanging around with now. I grew up in Birmingham, Alabama, and people were very religious so I didn’t even know about a lot of this stuff. I was just happy with the music I loved. I was happy listening to Jimi Hendrix fuck a guitar up, you know? I’m friends with Slayer now, though. Me and Jeff speak on the phone now, but I still couldn’t tell you much about their music. I like that song Dead Skin Mask, because it’s about Ed Gein. I know little titbits of information about Slayer. All I know is that I get drunk with them a lot and that Dave Lombardo’s a very eccentric being.”
 
Why are war, murder, death and mythology such perennially effective subjects for metal bands to sing and write about?
“For us, we’re enduring people and we’re very creative souls and I think most of the words that come out of all four of our mouths collectively are pretty interesting. We’re just not boring people. Boring people write boring shit and boring lyrics. Plus, who the hell wants to hear someone whining about your parents beating you when you were a kid or your last girlfriend and all the stuff that a typical song would be about? There’s much more interesting stuff in the world than a relationship with another person.”
 
Have you ever been treated badly by a headliner?
”We’ve never had a bad experience and we’ve never been treated badly by any headliner of any sort at any time ever, and I think that’s just because of the enduring quality of the four guys in this band. There’s no way that if you were to meet me or any of these guys that you could blatantly treat us badly because we’re genuinely good people and people can see that right away. People choose not to fuck with us. I don’t think that would be a good move for anybody. We just try to be honest. All that ‘We’re crazy metal people’ stuff and all that screaming and yelling about this and that, I don’t need or want any of that in my life. When I go on stage and do my show with Mastodon, I’m not the person you’d talk to before I go onstage. I transform into a totally different person. We look at each other, shake each other’s hands and say ‘Let’s just go out and have fun out there!’ That’s why we got into this. We believe in the songs that we write. You put on your game face, go out there and clean the dishes and make the doughnuts, you know what I mean? We don’t fake anything. There’s no faking of any emotion or movement or thought in Mastodon. We don’t try to be a heavy metal band. It’s just happened that way.”
 
Do you get a lot of psycho fans?
“Of course, but we were getting those fans even when we weren’t as popular as we are now. Usually our fans are as cool as shit. I always end up hanging out with those people and they give me free weed. Those people are harmless and they’re just really into our music, and that’s all it is. When I was a kid I’d travel thousands of miles just to see Neurosis or The Melvins or whoever I was really into, so I was that fan, you know? So I don’t mind those people at all.”
 
Why are metal fans more devoted than fans of other types of music?
“Because people can see the honesty and the loyalty. People can see right through plastic bullshit, you know? I can see right through Hannah Montana. Plus, it’s much harder to play this kind of music. It takes a lot of concentration and people hear it and think ‘I can’t believe they’re playing this stuff’, but we really are. It’s really happening right now!”
 
What advice would to give to any news bands that want to follow in your footsteps?
“Never take your guns off. Sleep with your guns. Don’t trust anyone. Keep people at arm’s length. You need to get to know the people you’re working with very well. If we don’t know someone, they can’t come in. We don’t let anyone in that hasn’t been through airport security in Atlanta. Ha ha ha! Plus we’ve been doing this for a long time and we’ve got the right people in place. They’re doing such an amazing job. We had some stinkers there for a while, but you live and you learn. Before you build a corporation, an incorporated company, out of your band, you’re obviously going to have to start somewhere. Also, this is a completely different generation of ‘making it’. Now you have the internet, so kids don’t even really need record companies anymore. The world is becoming DIY and the corporations are crumbling in on themselves, in the music industry at least. It’s becoming easier for kids to get more popular as a band than it was when we were coming up.”
 
How much have you and the band dabbled with rock ‘n’ roll excess over the years?
“I’m really consistent with my rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle. When I’m not on the road I’m doing the same things that I would do on the road. I’m huffing down joints all day, drinking beer and playing guitar. That’s what I do. My job is to smoke pot, drink beer and play guitar. That’s what I do for a living, but that’s what I was doing in high school. I’m a natural at it, man, you know what I mean? If anything, I’ve tamed it down a couple of notches from where I was in my early twenties. I’m in my early thirties now, and I just try to stay away from the heavy drugs. I try not to do those things anymore. I stick to the milder drugs like marijuana and alcohol.”
 
Do you have any rules about how many beers you can drink before you go on stage?
“No, there’s not. Here’s the limit – you can do whatever drug or whatever you want before you go on stage, but if you fuck up a song or fuck up the show, when you’re drunk or stoned or whatever, then there’s gonna be hell to pay from the other guys in the band when you get off the stage. That’s usually a trial and error thing. It took each member of the band one time to learn that lesson the hard way. I’ve done it so many times that I can’t even remember the first time. Now, I’m the most sober that I will be all day 30 minutes before I go on stage, but that doesn’t mean that I won’t be wasted at two o’clock in the afternoon. I’ll go take a nap and drink a shitload of water to get back to where I need to be. All in moderation, I guess.”
 
How much bigger can metal get? How much more can you achieve as a band?
“Our goals have been accomplished but there’s always more goals. You can always set your sights higher. I think we’re becoming more a part of the music scene in general, rather than just being the moguls of metal or whatever. We’re just trying to make unique, cool music that we think sounds awesome, and if it makes us happy then we’re sure the kids will love it too, because we’re pretty picky people! We’re like the PCP of heavy metal. Some kid really likes Trivium and then they see us and it’s like a bad trip. I want to take on the kids that like Slipknot and Slayer or whatever and I want to get them heading in our direction and broaden their minds a little bit.”