On an unseasonably toasty Seattle morning in April, 2004, four dishevelled men stumble out of the Extended Stay hotel that has served as their quarters for the past month. Powering through the lingering effects of the prior evening’s revelry, they pack their lives into the back of a battered white van. Despite the daunting 40-hour drive home to Atlanta, they are buzzing with excitement.
After hours in the studio, they literally hold their fortunes in their hands – the rough mix to their forthcoming album, . “We bought a 30-pack of Rainier beer for the van,” recalls Mastodon drummer Brann Dailor, speaking with via Zoom, decked out in an Ozzy t-shirt and drinking coffee from a mug featuring John Travolta in . “It was just the four of us and the rough mix of .
I think we listened to it five times in a row! Ha ha! It was such an exciting time. The feeling among the band was, ‘Wait ’til they hear this!’” After nearly two backbreaking years of touring the globe, followed by a month holed up in a Seattle recording studio, – Brann, bassist Troy Sanders, and guitarists Bill Kelliher and Brent Hinds – had crafted something phenomenal. They sensed the seismic shift looming on the horizon, a tidal wave about to crash over the world of heavy metal, yet they couldn’t quite foresee how much their lives would change.
Mastodon had formed in Atlanta in 2000, and a year later they released the EP – a raw, unpolished gem that hinted at fearsome power. However, it was th.
