Mastodon surprisingly split with co-founding guitarist Brent Hinds on March 5, and then played their first Hinds-less show on March 9 at Tool's Live In The Sand with YouTube Ben Eller filling in. And while it's not clear if Eller will be Mastodon's permanent new guitarist, we do know for sure that Hinds will not be a part of the new record… but what about the new member?
According to Mastodon guitarist Bill Kelliher in an interview with Radical Metal, Mastodon has a good chunk of the new stuff written but would like to get input from whoever joins the band. Kelliher also notes that Mastodon will demo their new record on the road, which isn't something they normally do.
"I'm always writing. For the past three years since Hushed And Grim, even though we had a lot of songs leftover from that, I started just writing new shit. We're like, 65-percent of the way. We have a ton of stuff. Whoever steps into the band, we kinda wanna get their input on some stuff too. We wanna make it as best as we possibly can. People are gonna expect it's not gonna be as good because we're missing a member, but… we wanna take our time.
"Loma Vista, our new record company, they're totally cool with that. They're like 'it'll be done when it's done.' So we're aiming for the end of this year to have it out, or at least have it recorded. I wanna do a lot of demoing on the road, like backstage. Which never really clicked for us, but in this new era, it may be a little bit better for us."
Mastodon is gonna be touring with Coheed And Cambria and Periphery this May and June. The tour kicks off on May 10 at Salem Civic Center in Salem, VA and wraps up about a month later on June 8 at Vibrant Music Hall in Waukee, IA. Tickets are available here.
5/10 Salem, VA Salem Civic Center
5/11 Knoxville, TN Knoxville Civic Coliseum
5/13 Raleigh, NC Red Hat Amphitheater
5/15 Wilmington, NC Live Oak Bank Pavilion at Riverfront Park
5/16 Charleston, SC Firefly Distillery
5/17 Augusta, GA William B Bell Auditorium (no Mastodon)
5/19 Estero, FL Hertz Arena
5/21 Huntsville, AL Orion Amphitheater
5/22 Lexington, KY Rupp Arena
5/24 Virginia Beach, VA The Dome
5/25 Bridgeport, CT Hartford Healthcare Amphitheater
5/26 Saratoga Springs, NY Broadview Stage at SPAC
5/28 Portland, ME Cross Insurance Arena
5/30 Syracuse, NY Empower Federal Credit Union Amphitheater at Lakeview
5/31 Scranton, PA The Pavilion at Montage Mountain
6/1 Youngstown, OH Youngstown Foundation Amphitheatre
6/3 Fort Wayne, IN Allen County War Memorial Coliseum
6/4 Peoria, IL Peoria Civic Center Arena
6/6 Grand Rapids, MI Van Andel Arena
6/7 Green Bay, WI Resch Center
6/8 Waukee, IA Vibrant Music Hall
