Mastodon‘s recent split with Brent Hinds was a shocking development to many of the band’s fans, with the outfit parting ways with the aforementioned vocalist/guitarist after 25 years together. While Hinds has yet to publicly address the split, he’s made numerous indications on social media through reshared comments and more that his departure was not exactly amicable.
For their first show back since that massive lineup alteration, the group recruited a popular metal YouTuber named Ben Eller to fill-in. Eller himself had previously shown off his fandom of the Atlanta, GA progressive sludge metallers, posting a handful of videos highlighting the group, including one dubbed ‘Stuff Mastodon Does‘.
Eller joined the band onstage earlier this month at the ‘Tool Live In The Sand‘ festival in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic and it would appear that his role thus far is only a temporary position. In a recently conducted interview with Guitar World, the group’s guitarist Bill Kelliher stated that the band are seeking a long-term replacement who ideally would be, “Someone who is easy to get along with, and who really has a desire to play – and can play well.”
He continued:
“Obviously, you gotta be somebody who we all get along with and can stand the true test of time. Like, living together in a little tour bus on the road for fucking days and months at a time, it’s got to be someone who can do all that.
And that’s another variable. Like, ‘Oh, this person is a great guitar player, why don’t you hire them?’ It’s like, ‘Well, they gotta stand the test of time.’ We’ve got to be able to sit down and have a beer with them, go out to dinner with them, you know, feel them out, and make sure they’re Mastodon material.
Like, can they hang, for sure, but it’s got to be someone who has a unique style, and is very serious about it.”
He later added:
“I’m as serious as a heart attack with Mastodon. It’s my life. It’s all I really know. I’ve got all my eggs in this basket – and I’m not ready to give it up yet. So, we’re going to keep looking, and who knows? We’ll find the right person when the time is right and ready.”
“We do have some more shows coming up. We have a tour with Coheed and Cambria coming up in May, which, you know, we’re still going to fulfil that.”
“We’re going to finish up our new record; I’m not sure what our future is with Ben or if we’ll try a couple of other people out. Not really sure yet; it’s too early to say.”
In another excerpt from that same interviewed published earlier this week, Kelliher stated the following of parting ways with Hinds
“What can you say about the legacy of Mastodon’s first 25 years with Brent? It’s been a fun, wild fucking ride, that’s for sure. We achieved a lot of things that I never in a million years would have imagined. There’s been Grammys, touring with our heroes, like Iron Maiden, Metallica, Motorhead, and Tool. I cherish all of that.
Like a marriage, sometimes people grow apart, and they get interested in other things. We wish nothing but the best for Brent in chasing his dreams. You know, it’s amazing that we made it 25 years with the four of us. I mean, it’s like being married to three other dudes, traveling the world, trying to stay the course, and having everybody agree.
That we managed to do it this long, I feel like that’s a feat in itself. You could never replace any of us because we [are the] the sum of four parts.”
“That doesn’t mean there’s not someone else out there that has stuff to offer in a new direction. I think I’ll just leave it there, you know? It was a hard decision we all had to make. It’s just… it was just time.”
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