Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: I found Leviathan to be a major step forward for Mastodon. As musicians and songwriters, what did you try to do differently from Remission?

Brann Dailor: The only thing we tried to do differently was the vocals. We don’t really try to over analyze anything. We just write music. If we like it, then we play it and if we don’t, then we don’t. Musically, we didn’t try to do anything differently. We only had a month and a half to write it so we didn’t have any time to say “ok, this is what we want to do”. We just had to be like “does anybody have any songs?” (Laughs)

Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: It did kind of differentiate from the last album though. This one seems more, I don’t want to say heavier, but there’s something that seems different from the last album. I really dug this album.

Brann Dailor: Yeah, it is. It’s a couple years different. We played together for another two or three years since we wrote Remission.  

Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: So, the band has grown.

Brann Dailor: Definitely, you’ve got to grow.

Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: Why did the band choose the concept of Moby Dick when writing for the album as well as using artwork with this theme?

Brann Dailor: For me one of the main reasons was the artwork and the subject matter I thought was pretty cool. It was just an idea that I had in the back of my head for a while but I hadn’t read the book in a long time. So I figured I should read the book again just to make sure and then come to the band with the idea. I read the book again and I was like “perfect”.

Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: From reading the book, what inspired you from that book to say “well, I’m going to take this theme of Moby Dick”?

Brann Dailor: The second or third page referred to the sperm whale as the salt sea mastodon. It was a sign. I was reading the book and started throwing a bunch of different parallels between us and Ahab. He wanted to get out there and kill that big ass whale. I thought it would be cool to have a theme that would tie into the whole record so the artwork and the story I thought just kind of made sense. Their a bunch sailor’s piling into a boat looking for a whale, the same way that we pile into our van, drive around and get drunk every night. (Laughs)

Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: There are 10 songs on Leviathan. Were those the only 10 that you recorded or were there others to select from and if so, will these leftover tracks ever become available?

Brann Dailor: No, that’s everything that we recorded. There was a couple things when we were writing the record. Basically, we wrote a bunch of stuff and we would get song after song done. We’re not the type of band that writes a bunch of music and then picks from it. If we wrote 15 or 20 songs, we would probably use all of them. We don’t write anything that we think we would go back and say “ah, this sucks”.

Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: Well a lot of bands leave tracks for another album or have material leftover for future albums.

Brann Dailor: Yeah, I think maybe some day we’ll have something like that. But we never really have that much time to write music. When we get in there, we pretty much use everything that we have and when we’re done, we’re like “fuck, we’ve got enough for an album”. (Laughs)

Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: Well, you guy’s are constantly on the road and that makes it difficult too.

Brann Dailor: Yeah, we tour a bunch. 
 
Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: How would you describe your particular composition process, in general and specifically, how would you describe it for Leviathan?

Brann Dailor: There’s a couple different ways that it can happen. Either I write a full song and put it down on a Dictaphone or hum it into a dictation machine and then show it to the guy’s and play the riffs for them to see if they can come up with something. We do it like that or Brent will write an entire song or Bill will write an entire song or there’s some instances where Bill may have a couple riffs that have been lying around for a while and then I’ll come up with a couple riffs. For instance, Seabeast was two riffs from Bill, and then I took those two riffs and I had a couple of other riffs that I couldn’t have put anywhere and we kind of put those together. So, sometimes it’s mix matched and sometimes somebody has everything worked out. But then we get in there together and arrange it together.   

Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: Do you write any of the lyrics?

Brann Dailor: Yeah, I wrote all the lyrics for Blood & Thunder and some other ones. I come up with song titles.

Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: I didn’t know that you contributed to that. It’s cool to see a drummer writing lyrics.

Brann Dailor: I write lyrics. I write music. I wrote 4 or 5 songs on the record. I constantly have music playing in my head. So I try to put it down on Dictaphone and get it out to the dude’s to see if they can come up with anything better. 

Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: When it came time to record Leviathan, what was the mindset for the recording? I know the band chose to work with producer Matt Bayles again.

Brann Dailor: We just wanted to be comfortable. We knew Matt. Therefore, when we got in the studio with him it was pretty nice. He’s good at what he does and we know that he can get a great performance out of us. We toured for 2 months on the new material and then we toured up to Seattle and recorded there for a month. So we knew we had some time.

Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: You flew into where he was actually rather than having him come out as with the last album.   

Brann Dailor: We drove there. We toured all the way up there. We toured for 2 month’s and we ended up in Seattle.

Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: Now that the albums completed, how would you compare your initial vision of Leviathan to its final outcome?

Brann Dailor: I think it’s exactly the album that we wanted to make. The good thing about us is we don’t have any preconceived fire that we’re set to. We’re happy with experimenting in the studio and kind of seeing what happens.

Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: Sometimes that’s the best outcome.

Brann Dailor: We just kind of go in there and play around with stuff and see how things work, especially with the vocals. Nobody really knew exactly what they were going to do. It helped being on tour for a couple months and playing the stuff live every night. But when we actually got in there, it was cool to hear the music. I just hear it from behind the drum set so I never really get to hear it until it’s recorded.  

Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: Do you differ live from the studio recording?

Brann Dailor: Things kind of take their own shape when it’s live. My drum fills will ultimately change a bunch from now and a year and a half from now and different things are going to happen just because I’ll be playing them live every night and I’ll discover new things and the same with the guitar work. There will be some different harmonies and different little things. There will be little nuances that will pop up just from playing them all the time for a couple years straight.

Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: So, you kind of mix it up.

Brann Dailor: Obviously, it’s a recognizable song. All the riffs are the same. There are key moments in songs and certain drum fills that I really like that mark transitions. A lot of it stays the same. Though, usually during the course of a couple years the songs are going to change slightly.          

Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: The band invited Clutch’s Neil Fallon and Scott Kelly from Neurosis into the studio for guest spots. What prompted the motivation behind this because you had just come off tour with Clutch not to long before you began recording the album?

Brann Dailor: Scott’s a good friend of mine and I kind of brought it up to him. We had a part in the song and we said it would be cool if Scott could throw some vocals down over this and not to mention that Neurosis is one of our favorite bands of all time collectively. He’s an awesome person and has a remarkable voice so it was kind of a no brainer. I called him and asked him if he wanted to do it and he agreed. He said he’d be happy to and we started collaborating on that song. With Neil Fallon, we did 3 Clutch tours. We played 80-90 shows with them in the course of a year and we became really close friends. I had the perfect part for him during Blood & Thunder. I felt his voice is very reminiscent some times of a ranting, drunkin’ sailor so I figured it would be perfect to get him up to Seattle to do a guest spot. He also has a remarkable voice and very recognizable in the heavy scene. Neil and Scott both are definitely dually noted for their talents behind the microphone.

Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: Are you going to be doing any guest spots on their stuff in the future?

Brann Dailor: I don’t know. Scott and I are going to get together eventually. We’ve always talked about it. I’ll probably go up there and stay at his house for a week and maybe bust out a record. That would be cool but it depends on our schedules. We have a lot of shit going on, especially with the album coming out not to long ago.

Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: You guys are busy. But busy is good.

Brann Dailor: Busy is awesome! We really like touring. We’re a live band. We like to get out there and play to as many people as possible and as often as possible. We’re in a good position at the moment. I can’t wait to write more music. I have a lot of ideas.

Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: The bands going to start writing again or do you mean solely?

Brann Dailor: Brent, Bill and I are probably going to start writing when we go out on tour this time. We’re headlining so we’ll probably have some time to work on stuff. I know that Brent’s has a lot of material itching to get out there and I have a bunch of songs that I want to do. We’re going to do something. My brain won’t stop rockin’, so I’ve got to get that shit out. (Laughs)

Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: Hey, that’s what albums are made of! (Laughs) How do you feel Leviathan distinguishes itself as an album unto itself when comparing to past releases?

Brann Dailor: I think Leviathan’s cool. I think the sounds matured. I think it sounds like that we’re a bunch of thirty year old guys that have been playing music for their whole lives and really love music and have put everything into it. All of our influences and tastes are pretty well represented. I think it’s a well rounded record and I think it’s a good classic, rock/metal album. It has its crazy moments and I think it has something in there for everybody. It’s the next step in the evolution of our band of what we’ve been trying to do. As players, friends and musicians playing together, we’re probably just as excited, if not more excited as our fans to see what we’re going to do next or what’s going to happen. I’m excited to see what Brent’s going to come up with. I’m excited to see what Bill’s going to come up with.

Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: You guy’s seem to have a great chemistry and that’s key.

Brann Dailor: Yeah, that’s exactly what it is. You could be the best musician in the world but if you don’t find those right people to play with, essentially it’s wasted. I like playing music and I like being able to play my instrument to the best of my ability and to incorporate that into the music we play. But really what I like is to write songs and play music with my friends. That’s the most fun thing to do in the world.        

Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: Would you say that Leviathan is Mastodon’s best work to date or is the best still to come?

Brann Dailor: Hopefully the best is still to come. (Laughs) Leviathan I think is great. But in the next year and a half my brains hopefully going to go some place else. Hopefully every album can just stand on its own and excel.

Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: From what I’ve been reading and hearing within the media, Mastodon has had an almost immediate positive response. Did you find it surprising that the band gained notoriety so quickly and do you feel that your expectations have been met since being signed or do you feel there should be more?

Brann Dailor: The initial reaction to people being so into it, I thought was great. I’m really happy that people liked it and that was one of my main concerns before we put it out. I was seriously nervous that no one would dig it. So of course it takes a load off my back when I read the initial reviews when they start coming in and people are really excited about it and happy. That’s basically all we want to do is put a smile on some peoples faces, as corny as that might sound.

Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: No, it doesn’t sound corny! That should be the most important thing because if it’s not about the people, then where’s the album.      

Brann Dailor: That’s what music is all about. We write music for ourselves first and foremost because that’s what you have to do. You can’t get into anyone’s brain and know what they like. But when you put it out there and you’re playing it live and people are really responding to it and having a good time, you’re like “fuck, this is awesome!” This is exactly where I want to be and this is great. When you read reviews of how much the album is helping people and how much they really dig it, it gives you a great feeling. You feel like you’ve accomplished something or made someone’s day.

Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: That’s a great attitude! I’ve met bands that have your attitude and I’ve met bands that don’t have your attitude and that’s not a good thing because most of them disintegrated, if you know what I mean. (Laughs) They were big bands at one time but it was their attitude and the way they looked at things that ruined it. Like you said, you can have the best music in the world but if you have the attitude “it’s all about me”, eventually down the line it’s not going to work because it does partially have to do with the fans. If the fans don’t want you, then what are you? (Laughs) You’ll be sitting in a room by yourself listening to your own records. (Laughs)

Brann Dailor: (Laughs) Yeah, you’ll be like “ah, fuck I was completely wrong about everything.”

Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: Yes, it’s important of course to like what you’re playing but it’s also important to have the fans supporting you and some bands don’t get that.

Brann Dailor: I think if you love what you’re playing and that shows when you’re playing, then other people are going to love it too. So it’s good to kind of keep it like that.          

Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: Do you feel that your expectations have been met since being signed or do you feel there should be more?

Brann Dailor: Absolutely. I didn’t even expect there to be what there is. The best way to go into it is not to expect anything. Yeah, it would be great to be the biggest, rock-n-roll metal band in the world but it’s not an expectation. In the beginning of our band we just wanted to tour and play music. We never asked for anything. We never thought we were owed anything from anybody because it’s just a really fun thing to do to go out there and do this in the first place. I think too many musicians in bands kind of get this weird spoiled sport thing where their like “we didn’t get this tour, and fuck them”, and that’s not what it’s about. Go out and play you’re music. You’re lucky you can go out on tour. There’s so many kids out there that really want to be doing this and can’t. We’ve always had a strong work ethic. We aren’t asking anybody for anything. We get in our van and we go on tour. For the first two or three years, it was all basements and I never expected it to go above that.

Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: Well, I’m from Jersey and I remember seeing your band. You guys were always out there before Relapse and all that.

Brann Dailor: Yeah, I was in Today is the Day for a few years and we toured a lot. When I quit that band, I moved and started my own band and we started right away. I just wanted to get back to the level that I was at with Today is the Day but I knew it was going to take a lot of hard work so we needed to get back out there right away. I flew to Atlanta, was there for two weeks, found the other two guy’s and I was like “fuck yeah, that rules”. These guy’s are totally into the Melvins, Neurosis, Judas Priest, Thin Lizzy, Metallica etc... We wrote some songs, recorded a demo, made demos and booked a two-week tour by ourselves on the internet. We rode in the van with our equipment and drove around and played in basements and then when we got back, we booked another tour and then we booked another tour. We just kept booking tours. We lost our ass. We lost shit loads of money but we didn’t complain about it. We said this is just something we want to do. We believe in our music. We love our music. We love to play it. We see that people are responding to it. So let’s go out there and see how far we can take it.

Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: A lot of bands don’t realize that. They think all of this just comes to you. They don’t realize that you have to do the leg work and that you’re going to lose money.

Brann Dailor: Lots of local bands that are in this area will come up and say “how do you get to be on tour with Slayer?” You have to tour constantly for 5 years and it still might not ever happen. There’s not secret to it. There’s no hidden button or secret place or secret password that you say and their like “ok, here you go”. No ones going to come up to your door and go “here’s a record contract”. There’s a couple different ways that you can do it. There’s an entire sellout scene that thrives in LA and New York. If you want to do that, then go do that. You can move to New York or move to LA and put yourself out there. Try to buy the right clothes, try to get the right haircut, and try to have the list of the ten favorite albums etc… But that’s a completely different way to approach it. That’s the “music business”. That’s being business oriented and the industry puts these bands together. When the indie scene started happening again you got a bunch of people in LA that are like, fuck, I need to do my hair like this now and I need to get rid of my shiny shirt and tell everybody that my favorite records are the Rolling Stones or Iggy Pop.   

Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: I call them cookie cutter bands. (Laughs)

Brann Dailor: But if it wasn’t for all those bands, then the bands that stuck out wouldn’t be as good. If every band was absolutely genius or amazing then there has to be some contrast there. (Laughs)

Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: The funny thing is most of these cookie cutter bands have one record and then their out. 

Brann Dailor: Of course.  That’s why I tell bands, write some songs, if you really love them and you and your band love playing them, then go out and play them for people and see if they like them too. If they don’t, big deal. It doesn’t matter. Just go out and play and have fun doing it. It doesn’t matter. Don’t make playing music your “job”. It’s more like a garden. That’s the way you have to look at it. I don’t ever want this to be my “job”. I’ve had a million shitty jobs. I don’t want it to be one of those. So I’m just going to play the music that I like and if it works out for me, great. It’s not going to be forever.

Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: Well, you never know. With an attitude like the one that you’re showing now, it may. But I know what you’re saying, you can’t look at it that way. You have to look at things realistically. Well in the mean time, ride it out.

Brann Dailor: Yeah, I’m looking at it realistically. I’m having fun now, people dig it and I’m having a really good time on this ride. We’re playing in Japan next week and that’s going to be amazing. The people that I’ve met playing music have been incredible and that’s the most important thing in life is the personal, human relationships that you make.                  

Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: Being that the video Iron Tusk was so well received on MTV2, has the band discussed maybe shooting footage for some of the other tracks and if so, which ones? I remember “Megalodon” being one that was spoken of in the past.

Brann Dailor: We’re doing Blood & Thunder next Thursday.

Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: Do you want to discuss it? Where’s it being filmed?

Brann Dailor: It’s being filmed here in Atlanta at a bar called “The Star Bar”. It’s a small old time kind of bar. We will be dressed as shriner’s and there’s going to about 100-150 clowns in a mosh pit. There’s going to be a circle pit of clowns and a whole bunch of other shit.

Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: That should be cool. Are you going to allow fans to come in and interact or is it a closed set?

Brann Dailor: The fans are going to be the clowns. I bought 100 clown suits, wigs and there will be make-up artists on site.

Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: I thought you meant they were actors that you were hiring. Are going to have it posted on the website in case fans are in the area and they want to come out?

Brann Dailor: Yes.    

Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: When on tour, Mastodon is known for having an exceptional live performance with the band being very energetic. What measures do you find to be influential in having a great performance live?

Brann Dailor: You just have to be really into your music and get that flow of energy going. The sound on stage has to be good, that helps. (Laughs) 

Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: I know the band is touring Europe next month but when will the US dates resume?

Brann Dailor: Late March.

Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: Thanks for the interview and I’m looking forward to seeing the band in 2005. With that said, do you have any final words for The Metal Web!?

Brann Dailor: No. (Laughs)

Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: Hey! Watch it! (Laughs)

Brann Dailor: I’m just kidding. I love you all! (Laughs) You’re the best in the world!

Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: Yes we are aren’t we! (Laughs) We’ll definitely check you out on tour.

Brann Dailor: Kick ass! Introduce yourself. See ya soon.


OFFICIAL SITE “MASTODON”: http://www.mastodonrocks.com


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