Bill Kelliher

Latest about Bill Kelliher

Left - Guitarist Bill Kelliher of Mastodon performs on stage during the Hellfest Open Air Festival on June 17, 2022 in Clisson, France;Right - Lars Ulrich and James Hetfield of the band Metallica perform at the 2024 Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song on March 20, 2024 at DAR Constitution Hall in Washington, DC
Mastodon's Bill Kelliher on how meeting his guitar heroes pushed him to improve his craft

By Janelle Borg Published

Mastodon's Bill Kelliher also credits Slayer's Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman for changing his previously nonchalant attitude to warming up before a show

Guitarists
Bill Kelliher performs onstage with Mastodon at the Hellfest Open Air Festival in Clisson, France on June 17, 2022
“It’s heavy, thick and unique. It feels great, and the neck is incredible. And it’s heavy; but that’s okay because the weight of a guitar is very important to me. The thicker the better”: If you pick up Bill Kelliher’s new ESP guitar, you’ll know about it

By Andrew Daly Published

The Mastodon guitarist – who aims to write simpler songs for the band's next album – had his favorite 9-string mapped and mutated into the LTD Silver Sunburst Royal Shiva

Guitarists
Bill Kelliher with his ESP LTD Bill Kelliher Royal Shiva Silver Sunburst
“I tried SGs and Flying Vs, and they might look cool, but it's like playing a piece of Styrofoam”: Bill Kelliher explains why he prefers his guitars to be as heavy as possible

By Matt Owen Published

Since around 2020, the Mastodon maestro has been wielding an extraordinarily thick ESP Custom Shop model, which was recently reissued as the LTD Royal Shiva – and both closely follow Kelliher’s ethos of “the thicker, the better”

Electric Guitars
Bill Kelliher and ESP LTD Bill Kelliher Royal Shiva Silver Sunburst
NAMM 2024: “It's heavy, thick, and unique. It feels great”: ESP brings Bill Kelliher’s long-awaited double-cut custom model to the masses with LTD Royal Shiva signature guitar

By Matt Owen Published

The Mastodon riff lord's latest signature model is based on his beastly Silver Sunburst six-string that was built in 2020, and receives an official release after much anticipation

Events & Trade Shows
Bill Kelliher
“My dad didn’t believe in distortion”: Bill Kelliher took us through his unlikely guitar tone journey – while he cooked us lunch

By Matt Owen Published

We asked the Mastodon maestro to tell us about his lifelong search for perfect guitar tone, so he did – and gave us a killer culinary class while doing so

Guitarists
ESP LTD Signature Series guitars 2023
NAMM 2023: ESP meets fan demand with James Hetfield Olympic White Vulture and debuts 12 LTD signature guitars, including Gary Holt’s “very pointy” GH-SV

By Matt Parker Published

Bill Kelliher, Stephen Carpenter, Nergal, Lars Frederiksen and Javier Reyes all have at least one new guitar on the way from the LTD stable

Electric Guitars
Victory Amps VS100 Super Sheriff and Mastodon's Brent Hinds and Bill Kelliher performing live
Victory Amps overhauls its Sheriff range – and seemingly signs Mastodon’s Brent Hinds and Bill Kelliher to its ranks

By Michael Astley-Brown Published

The British rock-voiced series has been revamped with new Mastodon-endorsed heads and combos

Guitar Amps
Mojotone Bill Kelliher Hellbender pickup set
Are Bill Kelliher’s new Mojotone Hellbender pickups the most versatile metal humbuckers ever made?

By Matt Parker Published

The Mastodon rhythm king’s new signature set uses Alnico II and V ceramic magnets to deliver tones spanning brutal to beautiful

Guitar Pickups
[L-R] Bill Kelliher and Brent Hinds of Mastodon
Mastodon: “We write our guitar parts separately then show them to each other. We’re not a jam band – we’re more like choreographed acrobatics”

By Jon Wiederhorn Published

Stylistically divergent – yet undoubtedly compatible – Mastodon guitarists Brent Hinds and Bill Kelliher unravel Hushed and Grim, the band’s first double album

Music Releases
Bill Kelliher of Mastadon performs at Michigan Lottery Amphitheatre at Freedom Hill on June 11, 2019 in Sterling Heights, Michigan.
Bill Kelliher reveals Ron Wood’s signature ESP as his secret studio weapon: “It’s the best-sounding Tele ever”

By Michael Astley-Brown Published

The Mastodon guitarist shared his love for the humbucker-equipped Rolling Stones model in a new interview on the making of Hushed and Grim

Electric Guitars
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