With Mastodon officially announcing their long-awaited new album, Marrow Deep, months of speculation about the band's next chapter have finally come to an end. Yet for bassist Troy Sanders, a member of one of modern metal’s busiest bands, patience has always been part of the job.
“We genuinely viewed this as the most important record we’ve ever made,” says Sanders. “We nit-picked everything. We made sure every riff was the strongest it could be. We spent time figuring out who should sing what, whether parts were really serving the songs and whether everything fit together naturally.
“We’ve always challenged ourselves, and thankfully we still want to. We’ve never wanted to make the same album twice.”
Surrounded by Bill Kelliher’s intricate guitar riffs, the expressive lead work of new guitarist Nick Johnston, João Nogueira’s atmospheric keyboards, and Brann Dailor’s famously explosive drumming, Sanders viewed his role as providing the band's foundation rather than competing for the spotlight.
“I think I fit into the traditional rock bass-player model. That actually suits me perfectly because I’m not a flashy player and I’m not interested in forcing myself into the spotlight.
“If pulling something back makes the whole band sound bigger, that’s absolutely the right decision. It always comes back to keeping things simple.”
Sanders’ core bass arsenal has also remained unchanged, rotating between a Fender Jaguar Bass, his Fender Signature P-Bass, and a trusted Warwick that has featured on every Mastodon album and tour since 2009’s Crack the Skye.
“That Warwick just handles our low tunings better than anything else I’ve ever played. Those three basses are basically my entire world.”
One unexpected addition during sessions for the new album – their first since the departure of founding guitarist Brent Hinds – came courtesy of producer Kurt Ballou, who persuaded Sanders to abandon convention and run his bass through a Marshall guitar head and 4x12 cabinet.
“Kurt asked if I’d ever tried it and suddenly I’m running my bass through this old Marshall JMP guitar amp. It absolutely roared.
“It had this aggressive growl I’d never really heard before. That became part of the heavier blend throughout the album. It’s not sitting right on top of everything in the mix, but it’s there, adding another layer underneath.”
Despite being an enthusiastic pedal collector, for Sanders, years of experimentation almost always end in exactly the same place.
“Live it’s just a tuner and a Wren & Cuff Elephant Skin distortion, but I’ve probably got 50 pedals sitting on shelves in my practice space. Every time we make a record I’ll bring eight or 10 of them into the studio, but almost every time we finish by going, ‘Right… clean tone, dirty tone, done.’”
- Marrow Deep is available to preorder, out August 28 via Loma Vista
