BRANN DAILOR Explains How He Started Singing In MASTODON

Up until their 2009 album Crack The Skye, Mastodon had two main vocalists – bassist Troy Sanders and guitarist Brent Hinds. Then drummer Brann Dailor joined the lead vocal party on Crack The Skye, though he didn’t plan to initially.

In a new interview with Drumeo, Dailor talked about how he’d usually lay down vocals as guides for Sanders and Hinds. Though once he laid down his tracks for “Oblivion”, Hinds decided that for the first time ever, Dailor was gonna sing and he’d just have to figure out how to pull it off live.

“I would go in there sometimes [in the studio] and I would sing something, and then either Troy or Brent would go in and sing over top of it – they would just use it as a template, and do their own thing with it,” said Dailor as transcribed by Metal Injection. “But this one particular case, because of the fact that the music had… I don’t want to say mellowed out, but it did a little bit, you know? It got in more of the prog-o-sphere, where we were wanting to go with Crack The Skye.

“Brent had written this whole, almost like an opera it seemed. He wrote all his music, it was really amazing. There was a lot of chill moments to it, and we were just like, ‘yeah let’s go that direction. ‘That’ll be cool. That’ll be a departure from Blood Mountain being so spastic and crazy.’ Not that [Crack The Skye] didn’t have its crazy moments.

“I went in and tried out my idea for ‘Oblivion’ and I sang over the verse there and everyone seemed to like it, and Brent really liked it. I was like, ‘dude I don’t know if I can even pull that off; like, singing and playing. It seems really hard so I never tried it.’ So we tried to get Troy to be the one that sang that part because, first and foremost, Brendan O’Brien – legendary producer – was producing this album and it was the first time we’d ever worked together. He said ‘no way in hell are the opening vocals going to be from the drummer, and [from] a singer that’s never even sang on a Mastodon song before. There’s no way I’m doing that.’ And it was the song he thought was going to be the hit of the album.

“So he was totally against it. I was in his corner. I was like ‘yeah, that’s terrible. Let’s not do that.’ He’s like, ‘the last thing I want to see on David Letterman is you guys come out and then all of a sudden the drummer is singing.’ Like, what’s going on?”

“It started there. Troy got really close and it sounded really good, and then we were all in the control room listening back and Brent‘s like, ‘yeah it sounds really good. Let’s hear Brann‘s again.’ He put mine on and Brent looked at me and he was like ‘sorry buddy, you’re gonna have to figure it out.'”

Lamb Of God and Mastodon will hit the road this July and August to play their 2004 albums Ashes Of The Wake and Leviathan in full. All dates will be opened by Kerry King and Malevolence, except for a few in the middle featuring Kerry King and Unearth. Get the full list of dates below and get your tickets here.

7/19 Grand Prairie, TX Texas Trust CU Theatre
7/20 Austin, TX Germania Insurance Amphitheater
7/21 Houston, TX 713 Music Hall
7/23 Jacksonville, FL Daily’s Place
7/24 Orlando, FL Orlando Amphitheater
7/25 Alpharetta, GA Ameris Bank Amphitheatre
7/27 Raleigh, NC Red Hat Amphitheater
7/28 Richmond, VA Virginia Credit Union LIVE!
7/30 Pittsburgh, PA Stage AE
7/31 London, ON Budweiser Gardens
8/1 Montreal, QC Bell Centre
8/3 Uncasville, CT Mohegan Sun Arena
8/4 Manchester, NH SNHU Arena
8/6 Bangor, ME Maine Savings Amphitheatre
8/8 Reading, PA Santander Arena (w/ Kerry King & Unearth)
8/9 Cleveland, OH Jacobs Pavilion (w/ Kerry King & Unearth)
8/10 Sterling Heights, MI Michigan Lottery Amphitheatre @ Freedom Hill (w/ Kerry King & Unearth)
8/13 Moorhead, MN Bluestem Center For The Arts Amphitheater
8/15 Calgary, AB Scotiabank Saddledome
8/16 Penticton, BC South Okanagan Events Centre
8/17 Kent, WA accesso ShoWare Center
8/18 Portland, OR Theater of the Clouds
8/21 Los Angeles, CA The Kia Forum
8/23 Phoenix, AZ Arizona Financial Theatre
8/24 Rio Rancho, NM Rio Rancho Events Center
8/25 El Paso, TX El Paso County Coliseum
8/27 Magna, UT The Great Saltair
8/29 Morrison, CO Red Rocks Amphitheatre
8/31 Omaha, NE The Astro Amphitheater