When Brent Hinds left Mastodon in March 2025, guitarist Bill Kelliher admits it was “a relief [though] bittersweet”. And when Hinds died just a few months later in August of last year, following a motorcycle crash, Kelliher – ever honest – tells Guitarist, “I was shocked, but not surprised.”
So when it came time for Mastodon to write their upcoming ninth record, Marrow Deep, Kelliher admits, “We couldn’t just write a happy record.” So, they didn’t. Songs such as Poisonous Weapons, Your Ghost Again, The Vanishing and The Three Fates are all clearly impacted by Hinds’ exit from Mastodon and subsequent death.
“I fucking cranked it,” Kelliher says of the first time he listened to Marrow Deep back proper. “After the first couple songs, there were tears like someone was squeezing my tear ducts. I could not control it. It was really bizarre.”
Sad as he is about Hinds being gone, Kelliher has newfound freedom.
“I’m free to write whatever without having to think about Brent not liking it,” Kelliher says. “He was a different person every day. Some days he would love Mastodon. But other days he would be like, ‘I fucking hate metal.’ I’d be like, ‘Okay, we’re a metal band. I don’t know what to tell you, bro…’”
With a new line-up featuring Nick Johnston on guitar, João Nogueira on keyboards, along with original members Brann Dailor and Troy Sanders, Kelliher feels good about Mastodon’s future, though, of course, he misses Hinds.
“We’d always be friends in the end,” he says. “It was really hard; we always wanted to keep the band as the four of us, but it’s onward and upward for me. This is my life. I live and breathe Mastodon.”
Was work on Marrow Deep started before or after Brent’s death?
I’m constantly writing. With Brent, it was always a competition, which I didn’t understand. It was one-sided with him. He was interesting – a great fucking guitar player and songwriter – but it was difficult to write with him. With this new stuff, I’m writing all the time and putting riffs into my phone. But with Brent, after a while, he was just on his own wave…
He just wasn’t into it any more. I was like, “Dude, how great is it that we get to go up on stage, have people buy our albums and worship you?” But he just had this self-destructive streak. It just became that we were on totally different ends of the spectrum as far as guitar and personality.
I always had to think, “Is Brent gonna like this?” And pretty soon, he just didn’t like anything that we would come up with
We did have a lot of things in common, but he was dangerous. I think that’s what made the Mastodon we were in the early days. He would just do whatever the fuck he wanted to do, but that got old after a while.
How did it feel when Brent left the band?
Honestly, it was like a big weight had been lifted. I was doing the lion’s share of the writing, but I always had to think, “Is Brent gonna like this?” And pretty soon, he just didn’t like anything that we would come up with.
How did living and working in a post-Brent world impact the writing of Marrow Deep?
He’s got such a unique style, so it took a second when he first joined, but he’s settled in now
The subject matter definitely changed a lot. After losing Brent, we were like, “This is huge. We can’t ignore this. We have to pay tribute. We have to talk about it and get it out and off our chests.”
What has Brent’s replacement, Nick Johnston, brought to the band?
Nick’s got really big shoes to fill – but Nick has really big feet. No-one could replace Brent, and we’re not trying to. But Nick is a wonderful human being and he doesn’t play a wrong note. He’s got such a unique style, so it took a second when he first joined, but he’s settled in now.”
What’s the story behind the track entitled Your Ghost Again?
That song was totally different at first. I wrote most of the song and Brann wrote a chorus, and slowly every riff came out of the song and got replaced with what’s there now. It happens like that sometimes, where a riff here or there gets cannibalised, but since we overdub the vocals last, we always focus on the song structure, riffs and harmonies.
What about Snakes For Dinner, which features Josh Homme?
Josh is the Elvis of our generation. He’s got the swagger, the coolness, and he’s handsome as hell [laughs]. He’s been a friend of ours for a long time, and so he ended up on that song. But the chorus of that song just came out of me sifting through my pile of riffs. We were putting it together, and I’m like, ‘Oh, I might have a riff that might go well there,’ and I went through my phone and found it.
What guitars did you lean on while you were recording the album?
I have a white Les Paul Custom that’s yellowed now. It’s a ’77 and it has these old Lace pickups in there from before I designed my signature [Mojotone Hellbender] pickups. Man, whatever that guitar does, it just sounds fucking amazing.
Nick used it a lot for his solos, too. I also used an ESP Viper Baritone on a bunch of stuff, like Barbarians Blood because it stays in tune really well. Nothing else would stay in tune for that song but the ESP.
![Mastodon - Steambreather [Official Music Video] - YouTube](https://img.youtube.com/vi/HEubrZV04b0/maxresdefault.jpg)
This is a new era for Mastodon. What’s your outlook as you move forward?
I’m still processing it. It’s not something I’ll ever fully process… it’s bittersweet. Unfortunately, he’s gone, and I was shocked but not surprised. I was waiting for that phone call about him because he was always living on the edge.
But he’s at peace now… he just seemed like he couldn’t find peace, you know? And, honestly, with the band now, I see great things continuing to happen.
But if it ended today, I’d be appreciative, and if I could say anything to Brent now, it would be, ‘No hard feelings.’ I’d say, ‘Hey man, remember the good times? Because there were a fucking lot of them.’ I mean, every night was a good time, dude. People change and you fall out of love with people and you don’t wanna be in a band any more. That’s fine. It’s water under the bridge.
- Marrow Deep is out now via Loma Vista Recordings
- This article first appeared in Guitarist. Subscribe and save.
