Mastodon released their landmark album Leviathan on August 31, 2004. As the band gears up for a 20-year anniversary tour featuring the album, Mastodon vocalist and bassist Troy Sanders sat down with Heavy Consequence to explain how the band got prepared to record such a behemoth of an album.
Long story short, Mastodon quite literally played Leviathan every single night on tour as they headed out to record the album with Matt Balis. And if that doesn't prepare you for the studio, then I dunno – maybe rethink your career.
"We had put out Lifesblood [in 2001] on Relapse and then Remission [in 2002], and we were just toured basements and VHF halls and boat sheds and, you know, we lived by BookYourOwnLife.com," said Sanders as transcribed by Metal Injection. "Our friends in Clutch invited us to open for them in 2003, and we decided that we were an unknown band and we had all this new material for a new record which was going to be Leviathan.
"So we played Leviathan pretty much start to finish opening for Clutch for an entire month. The tour was East Coast all the way through the US, and wound up in Seattle where we recorded Leviathan with Matt Balis at Litho Studios. So we rehearsed Leviathan in front of a crowd that had never heard any of those songs ever, in the time where no one had a phone recording all the stuff – all your new stuff, not that it would meant much to us at the time, anyway.
"But we were a relatively unknown band playing a whole record of unfamiliar material to an entire run opening for Clutch, for thousands of people collectively. We got to Seattle and sure enough we were pretty damn well rehearsed on the material. We recorded Leviathan and it came out… you know, we really stretched ourselves doing the Moby Dick story, and thankfully it worked out well because a month later we were on tour with Lamb Of God and Slayer."
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/ Unearth, no Malevolence)
8/9 Cleveland, OH Jacobs Pavilion (w/ Unearth, no Malevolence)
8/10 Sterling Heights, MI Michigan Lottery Amphitheatre @ Freedom Hill (w/ Unearth, no Malevolence)
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
