MASTODON

-Troy : Well, everything is getting bigger and better and it’s a very nice compliment to be so well received, and so it makes us appreciate what we’re doing even more ; but we stay modest in our head and down to earth and just continue to do what we’ve been doing !

-Matt Bayles produced it, as well as ‘Remission’ : how did you choose him ?

-Troy : We first chose him because we liked the way that the Isis album sounded that he produced, as well as the Melvins album he produced, so we got in touch with him, three or four years ago. He then worked on our first record, ‘Remission’. We became friends, he’s a very cool guy with very good ears : so we chose to work with him again for the new one. He’s a big friend of ours now !

-The concept of the huge oceanic beasts is rather far from the average rock lyrics : do you think it played a part in your success, along with great music and fantastic artwork ?

-Troy : Well thank you ! I think it helps. It’s almost diving into myths, mythology, but we are fans of prehistoric creatures and the ocean, monsters, sea beasts, sharks, the whole animals and monsters that were or were not ever existing, so I think it helps unify our art!

-As for John Merrick, are those beasts symbolic of a kind of segregation and objects of fear as well as a kind of symbol for the search of freedom ?

-Troy : It is, and it’s almost a dedication to him and his life : he was a gentle and beautiful person, and people only saw the surface, thinking he was ugly and treated him wrong. His life was extraordinary, and so we chose to dedicate one song to him on each album.

-Not all songs are about big sea animals or John Merrick : there’s also ‘Naked burn’, about priests raping young boys...

-Troy : Yes, that’s some bullshit that underlies religion : it’s a very disturbing subject, and it's been existing for a very long time...

-I heard that Bjork was a big fan of Mastodon : what do you appreciate in her work ?

-Troy : I think she’s a small fan ! She’s a short athletic fan ! ! We met her recently one night and she was very cool. We love her music, and meeting her was cool, overwhelming. She’s a fan of heavy music !

-You toured recently with Slipknot and Slayer : how was it ?

-Troy : Amazing ! It was an unbelievable, huge, enormous production. It was our biggest tour and the exposure was amazing, all the cities we’ve played with Slipknot a few months ago, the shows were packed, it helps a lot and brings our band to the next level, bringing it higher.

-There’s a bonus DVD on the special edition of ‘Leviathan’ : but it’s audio only ! Why no pictures, or why not a simple audio bonus CD ?

-Troy : They had this recording, that they wanted to use as an extra : we didn’t have the proper material for a good DVD. We will release a ‘real’ DVD when we get enough footage, for every song from different stages and different countries. So, probably next year we will release a proper DVD.

-Tell me about this great artist : Paul Romano...

-Troy : He’s a friend of ours, from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and we started working with him on our very first one, our EP, ‘Lifesblood’ : we became huge friends, and he introduced us to Alexandro Jodorowsky, watching all his movies in his house : ‘El Topo’, ‘Holy Mountain’ and ‘Santa Sangre’, which blew us away. He does a great artwork and he’s one of our best friends.

-He drew the cover for the new Trivium record as well ?

-Troy : Yes ; he painted the ‘Remission’ cover as well as many insert pages.

-He introduced Bran to Alexandro Jodorowsky : what do you think of him ?

-Troy : Well, there’s a lot of landscapes, the cinematography is great, and there’s so many bizarre occurrences in his movies, it’s fascinating, it’s mind blowing, overwhelming !

-I read that you wanted to sample extracts from the score of Holy Mountain on stage ?

-Troy : Oh yes, that would be great, but we didn’t have time to do that. That would be a nice project.

-Never tempted to compose a score ?

-Troy : That would be amazing if we had the opportunity : hopefully, we will one day, and truly get a venture outside of the normal Mastodon sound. It would be very cool, we would love to do that, because we’re big movie fans, as well as soundtrack. Music in movies is great !

-There are some guests on this record : Scott Kelly, from Neurosis, and Neil Fannon, from Clutch...

-Troy : Because we were friends with those two guys, first of all, and all four of us are very respectful of their bands and their history. We found one part for each person, this part reminded us of their voice in their heart and when we asked them to do it both of them were very happy to be a part of it, so it all came together, like we’ve been fans of both of them for ten years or more, so toured with them, we became friends, and invited them on our album for a small collaboration. It was like a dream come true, when you respect someone for that long : they were very happy to do it, and it was just amazing how that came full circle. We were very honored that they were part of it !

-Tell me some about your new video for ‘Love and thunder’, with all those clowns...

-Troy : There’s a two pages feature in a magazine (Kerrang !). Well, it’s not released yet : the four of us were shriners, with their fezes, we had all our friends and sometimes family there, we had the Elephant man, we had about sixty clowns, an alligator lady, some twins, we tried to get some midgets in here but we couldn’t, and many other things. I’m not sure when it will be released : we did it the day before we left for the tour, and so, I don’t know what’s going on with it but I’m very happy with it, and we can’t wait for the rest of the world to see it !

-You seem famous amongst the hobo community, and you wanted some of them to be in the video ?

-Troy : We tried to get some homeless people to play our instruments, but they wanted us to be in it again, and plus Bran and I do have very expensive guitars, and homeless people don’t know how to play a several thousand dollars guitar, so they didn’t want them to do it, so we ended up playing it ourselves !

-It’s pretty far from the big beasts of the ocean !

-Troy : Yes it is ! But, you know, it’s nice to do something different for a video ; we tried it and hopefully people will enjoy it !

-If Mastodon was a movie ?

-Troy : Wow, big question ! Everything from classic monster movies to ‘Clash of the titans’, to ‘Mars Attacks’, and anything in any Jodorowsky movie ! That’s too broad, we would like to be in all those movies !

-Could you give some records which changed your life ?

-Troy : Neurosis : ‘Enemy of the sun’, Metallica ‘Ride the lightning’, anything by Willie Nelson and Primus, that’s for me personally !

-Do you have a new album on the way ?

-Troy : It will come out next year, probably summer 2006.

March 3rd, 2005

Thanks to Yvonne Mc Lean and Frank Van Liempd, from Petting Zoo and Relapse in Holland.

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