Watch Mastodon Geek Out About Gear, Guitar Solos
“The gear is definitely why I get out of bed in the morning,” says guitarist Brent Hinds.
Mastodon have been celebrating the 10th anniversary of their fourth album, 2009’s Crack the Skye, all year with new merch, a vinyl picture disc of the record and a co-headlining tour with Coheed and Cambria on which they’re playing the full track list.
Additionally, they’ve been releasing weekly episodes chronicling the making of the record. Above, check out the fourth episode, which focuses on guitar playing and gear.
Regarding how he approached his leads on the record, Brent Hinds says, “Here’s how I’ll write guitar solos: I don’t. I just put my brain on autopilot and pick up the guitar and say ‘Play this song.’ ”
Remarks Bill Kelliher, “I always try to harmonize…not everything, but anything that’s single notes or whatever, I feel like, ‘I’m gonna harmonize the crap out of that.’ ”
They also delve deep into the “immense” arsenal of guitars and amps they had to work with on the record, which included Leslie speakers, vintage Strats and Teles, a purple Marshall JMP and a JCM 800 reissue that was, according to Kelliher, “100 watts of pure fuckin’ metal.”
Says Hinds, “The gear is definitely why I get out of bed in the morning.”
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Rich is the co-author of the best-selling Nöthin' But a Good Time: The Uncensored History of the '80s Hard Rock Explosion. He is also a recording and performing musician, and a former editor of Guitar World magazine and executive editor of Guitar Aficionado magazine. He has authored several additional books, among them Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck, the companion to the documentary of the same name.
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