MASTODON STINK IT UP ON LETTERMAN
Wednesday, May 20th, 2009 at 10:00am by Axl RosenbergHoly shit, has everyone already seen Mastodon’s performance from The Late Show with David Letterman last week? I mean, I love Mastodon – LOVE THEM – but fuck me, the vocals on this just sound horrible. I couldn’t even make it through the whole thing, it sounds so shitty. I knew that Mastodon’s vocals live never sound as good as they do on record, but this is just fucking PAINFUL.
-AR
Last time I saw them live they sounded great to me, can’t expect much from a late night show
they look pretty out of their element on fucking letterman
yeah, totally out of their element… plus having to focus on playing a “radio” version of the song… i saw them in DC a week ago, and they were spot on perfect. i was shocked. i’ve seen mastodon a lot over the last ten years, and their vocals have always been the weakest part of the live show… i dunno what happened on letterman, but on tour they were perfect.
I wouldn’t say they stunk it up. Sounds about like their vocals at any live show I have seen apart from Brann’s because I haven’t seen him sing live.
Gotta give the drummer some here – trying to sing all that shit while playing odd time sigs can’t be too easy to pull off, esp. under the microscope of HDTV.
if he cant do it, then he shouldnt do it..
The Bottom line is this: This band is not that great. Any band can be good in the studio. I loved blood mountain recorded. I dont know why Dailor is singing, he has way to hard of a job behind the kit to be singing too. It all comes down to these guys getting the proper in-ear monitors so they can hear the vocals that they are trying to sing. It also seemed to me that they are a bit out of practice with the new material. That may be the biggest factor.
You have to look at it from this angle as well. The Band is way ….I mean way over rated. Dont get me wrong because I actually enjoy listening to this band but they shouldnt be as big as they are thats all I mean. Mastadon you are a boring live band. Try to head bang or move around or something. You look like an unsigned band that stays still like statues. Good luck dudes I still love you!
your opinion is wrong.
Have you ever been to a Mastodon show? They stand still? Are you Helen Keller?
I’m inclined to agree with most of what you’ve said.
I disagree! Troy rocks the fuck out!! Ok maybe he’s not windmilling or throwing up the horns but he’s and the others have thier own way of doing it. And his vocals are probably the best out of them all live. Sure they arent fucking constantly headbanging but they’re rockin shit!
Troy’s vocals were by far the worst.
Dude, you’re opinion is very very wrong. By this definition, I suppose Lemmy looks like some unsigned schmuck b/c he doesn’t move around much.
out of practice? Their on their tour they are playing the whole album!! How can they be out of practice?
Late night does bands no service. I saw SOAD on Letterman back in like ‘99-’00 and the vocals sounded terrible too (worse than normal).
Yeah, I remember when Primus was on Letterman, and the sound guys turned the bass volume down very low (like you’d expect from some rock bands, except for Primus where the bass is basically the point of the whole song), and turned the guitar to molten levels of volume. Needless to say, it didn’t sound too sweet.
Yeah dude…you are dead mutherfucking wrong.
I saw this a few days ago and thought the exact same thing. I’m glad I’m not alone on this one. I don’t think they made any new fans that night. I understand they had time constraints, but the edited version of the song really screwed them, too. I’ve seen this band crush live more times than I can count – maybe it was just a bad case of nerves.
Er yeah, about those vocals… but Brann did well.
the vocals definitely get better as the song progresses…but still not top notch
also gotta take into account that they probably recorded this at 11 AM, after not getting done playing the night before until 1:00 AM… probably drank and partied until 4 or 5…. that brent hinds is obviously hung over, and probably hadn’t seen that side of noon in ages.
Yeah, not a very good performance. They were pretty sweet on Conan a few years back though. Dunno what was wrong here, but whatever, still love ‘em, still love Crack the Skye. And Brann looks kinda goofy singing and playing hahaha.
I don’t think Patrick up there has ever seen this band live, because they fucking slay.
Awesome musicians, but making a “mainstream record” exposes weak vocals. Still really dig thses guys.
Crack the Skye mainstream?
I like Mastodon and as epic as Crack the Sky is (and I was saying it before you MS heebs were), yeah, the vocals sounded kinda shitty there. The rest of the band sounded farily tight though. I’m still impressed Letterman had a decent band on his show. Oh well, shitty performance, ever band has them.
Is it just me, or did the vocals sound like The Sword always does? (STFU, The Sword is one of my favorite bands)
I think JD’s vocals are actually stronger than these
is his voice stronger, yes. better, debatable.
I still laugh everytime I hear JD do the high part in Freya, “when ALL is done it must begin again”
Yeah, that is damn goofy. But I still love the Sword. And Mastodon, for the record.
The Sword rules man.
Better than I expected. … At least they didn’t seem totally wasted or anything. The vocals seem like an improvement over other live television performances by Mastodon I’ve seen. (Haven’t seen them in concert, and not sure if I care to.)
I do partly agree with Patrick; I won’t say they aren’t that great, but I do think they are over-rated. I bought Blood Mountain off of the hype, and I don’t think it delivered. That’s why I haven’t bought Crack the Skye, because I feel like it will be the same thing all over again, hype that fails to produce.
For a psychedelic band they aren’t that trippy, and as a rock and metal band, they aren’t that exciting. I’m not saying they are “bad”, but they aren’t my cup of tea.
i was never really a big fan of blood mountain, and i only like a few songs on leviathan, but i gotta give it to them on crack the sky, the album works great as a cohesive whole. One of my favorite albums this year, and i say that as someone who wasnt really a big fan before i heard it
I bought Blood Mountain also because of the hype and found it pretty damn dull. In fact, its put me to sleep a few times when I’ve tried listen to it again to see if i ‘get it’ yet. However, I do like Crack the Skye. The more I hear it, the better it gets. Its more progressive and is more interesting to listen to overall. You might want to give that disc a try, its different from Bore Mountain.
Bottom line: If you don’t like Mastodon live, you don’t like Mastodon’s music.
not entirely true.
Nope certainly no bottom line. I never liked Wham live either but on record … well…
I dont understand why everyone is all over their balls like there’s Peanut Butter on them. This band is very NAPTIME inducing.
No, ISIS is naptime inducing.
The other guys were shaky. Brann did a great job though.
When I saw mastadon, they opened with my favorite mastadon song, and the vocals were so bad that one and a half songs in I left so as to not allow mastadon to ruin themselves for me.
more then anything the edited version of the song bothered me, it completely loses its feel
brann is the Mastodon of the band…. awesome drummer… lyrics, and his vocals are by far the best in the group. Maybe he should sing in another band or find a drummer for Mastodon and jump up front.
Axl, I love you and all, but this is NOT BAD…. at all! I was expecting something awful from your description and, yes, they weren’t mind blowing but they were just as good as usual. Lighten up, dude!
On shows like Letterman or SNL, the mix is always terrible. Especially the vocals and ESPECIALLY for metal. They probably couldn’t hear the music as well as we could, because they don’t have decent monitors on TV sets, making it impossible to sing in key or in tune. If you can’t hear your own vocals for shit, you can’t sing for shit. Still, that wasn’t bad for a Letterman performance. Brann actually sounded pretty good.
I agree. Pretty much any “heavy” band I’ve ever seen on a late night show, including SNL, sounds like shit. That being said, I’ve heard other recordings where Mastodon’s vocals are kind of shitty as well. When I saw them live, they sounded pretty good after they got through Oblivion. I think they need to get warmed up or something. However, that’s not really an excuse. They do need to work on their vocal duties.
At least they didn’t lip- sync.
Gotta go with JasonEllisFan on this one. Honestly I’m not even a Mastodon fan anymore, they kinda lost me, but that wasn’t terrible by any means. A few rough spots here and there, but… even with that the song was good enough to get me curious – and I had never heard one note from the new album prior to this due to lack of interest, ha!
Brent has a “unique” voice that can I can handle in small doses (like on Leviathan) but now that Mastodon is trying to become a rock band he’s singing more and more and its horrible! As far as I’m concerned Troy is the voice of Mastodon and even he needs to stick to screaming.
Anyone else notice Bill & Brents long sleeves covering their tattoos and how the camera spent more time on Brann & Troy rather than Brent & his Mike Tyson face tatt?
I’m not huge Mastodon fan but this was still better that blink-182 on Leno last night.
Brann’s the only one who can sing worth a damn! I like what Brent does vocally too, though, and I like what Troy is TRYING to do, but he wasn’t even in the ballpark on some of those attempted high notes. Instrumentally, the performance was great. Definitely seemed out of their element, which is to be expected…
nobody’s vocals sound good on letterman
also – i like how paul shaffer and his band were playing a korn song when they came back from commercial
Let us forget this show, because no one knows under what circumstances these guys played.
They’re a great band and they are where they deserve to be (especially with Crack The Skye).
Axl, you WAY oversold the suckiness here. They sound pretty damn good. What’s best about any band playing on Letterman is his playful, but truthful, cluelessness about any band who he introduces.
MELISSA CROSS
LOL!
Troy was the worst, the others weren’t so bad. Brann was a little flat on the end of a couple lines, but his technique was decent. Troy seems to pull up his chest voice constantly for higher notes, that’s a recipe for nodes on the vocal chords. Bad medicine.
No surprise, the vocals have always been Mastodon’s weak spot.
Still love ‘em to death though. Crack The Skye = best album of the year.
As i’m sure people mentioned above, this is exactly how they sound live. Brann is the only one who can actually sing into a mic for some reason, even though he’s burdened with the mutiltasking of drumming. Troy and Brent are incapable of directing their voices into a mic consistently, and by the end of the show in Toronto, Troy had lost his voice.
Mutiltasking? Is that, like, doing other shit while mutilating something? THAT”S METAL!!!
Sounds fine to me, but that’s because I don’t need a pitch perfect performance. In fact I prefer mistakes and actual LIVE sounding vocals. You ever played a show in front of an audience who probably doesn’t listen to your shit? It’s pretty intimidating, but at least they fucking sang
beyond pathetic
there never as bad as this
why did they let this air?
they had 2 days between recording and airing
if youve ever seen any other performance of this song, you would know this is relatively good by their standards. watch the interface performance, now THAT they stink it up in.
http://www.spinner.com/2009/03/13/mastodon-crack-the-interface/
hahah! wow. brent has to be the worst singer ever. But you gotta kind of respect that. He’s a likeable caveman.
When did he get that retarded tattoo on his forehead though? I haven’t seen them since the leviathan tour and I swear it wasn’t there then.
Their vocals are the main reason I can’t get into this band. Brent, and Tory are not great singers. They need to take more voice lessons.
that was pretty bad. letterman was probably not a good idea.
Crack the Skye is still better than your favorite record of 2009.
Might have been hangovers, might have been bad/non-existent monitor mixes, might have been being worn out from tour, might have been having to play a rearranged version of your song, but was probably a mix of all of the above.
when i saw them they were amazing. perfect.
I think it is just the whole late night show curse. Almost everyone is terrible on those shows, especially rock/metal bands. The bands always seemed rushed, and they never really look comfortable. I mean c’mon Mastodon had to cut an almost six minute song down to four.
When I saw Mastodon live a week or two ago, they were great
The only band I have ever seen perform good on a late night show was The Dillinger Escape Plan Conan around the time Ire Works came out, and they were great
Late night performances from whatever metal bands they have usually don’t sound too good.
Really wasn’t that bad I suppose. And only the vocals were even kind of off, everything else was excellent.
I actually like there live sound.
Very Raw..
Yes fuck there is another one out there. Their sludgier stuff has always sound extra punishing live. The low end is much grittier on stage, I’m sure this sounded killer if you were in studio listening.
glad im not the only one who thought so
Here’s an opinion for everyone to fight about.
Vocals aren’t very important in metal nowadays. The days of powerhouse vocalists like Rob Halford were great, but they’re also gone. Good vocals are always a plus but if the vocals are bad, hey, at least those riffs completely kick ass. It’s way more important for a band to have an outstanding drummer than a good vocalist. Mastodon has an outstanding drummer. Brent Hinds might not be able to sing very well, but his vocals aren’t so terrible that they distract from the killer riffs and godly drumming. Vocals=by far the least important component of metal music. Especially black and death metal. Everyone who hates on extreme metal hates on the vocals, but as far as I’m concerned, the vocals are just some cool background noise that highlights the rhythm and intensity of the music. Controversial opinion, I know, but I really don’t give a fuck.
You may now flay me alive and call me a “poser faggit”.
THE FINAL WORD ON THE MATTER: I don’t know what small marsupial crawled inside all your vaginas and prolapsed but this performance nowhere near deserves the blasting it’s receiving from the haterade crew. Sure Troy’s interludes sound slightly out of breath but Mastodon still sound more amazing and transcendental than any band, metal or otherwise, plus you have to remember this is the letterman studio, no fucking band sounds good on Letterman, the acoustics are always fucked up and the levels are not managed properly. You get Rob Halford on that tiny cone of a stage and he’ll get drowned out by the bass. Look my point is, Mastodon is the most important band in the world right now in terms of innovation, song arrangement and musical storytelling and their sound translates on the stage better than anyone could expect when listening to crack the skye. And seriously shove a dildo up it all you cunts who keep whining about how their so mediocre because their not brutal or sludgy anymore, it’s called musical evolution and sometimes you have to sacrifice headbanging potential in order to make an important piece of art that you believe in, they made an album about very personal loss and your bitching because it doesn’t sound like blood and thunder, that’s just absurd, you’re acting like a bunch of fickle fucking pop punk fans. Long live metal but longer live artistic creativity for without it there would be no brutality.
Now walk the plank ye swine.
Jesus man this is my thoughts that I couldn’t articulate, well done.
Damn
And this, friends, is why vocal damage via alcohol and cigarettes is a bad thing.
mastadon is a band who has continually gotten worse and more boring with each release.
I thought it was fine myself. If anything Troy souded a little funny but… whatever. I thought it was fine.
i saw these guys the day before the letterman performance in nc and they were spot on with this song (first song of the show). it has to be rough to travel up to nyc the next morning and play this edited version, especially after the jerk-like introduction letterman gave them…that is definitely an issue with not having enough vocals in the monitors. if you can’t hear yourself how can you stay in tune?
Brann was great, he did vocs and drums pretty much on the point. yes, troy and brent did suck…when I 1st heard crack the skye, I knew they wouldnt be able to do these vocals live…it sucks, but they chose to have those vocals on the cd, so, they gotz to live wit it..
Sounds about as bad as the record sounded. Divinations sounds like Mastodon covering System of a down with Trey Parker singing. Clown shoes.
Captain Blacklung: “Blahblahblahblah”
There have been so many righteous performances on Letterman over the years, Metal and not metal, any stage related complaints are just excuses.
The people on here aren’t acting any more like “pop Punk fans” then they ever do, you’re just so embarrassingly unversed with anything not covered in Hit Parader that Mastodon would seem like some pretty mind blowing shit ( “transcendental”? give me a fucking break). Am I being presumptuous? Absolutely, but with a street team level tirade like that, championing an increasingly mediocre band with the kind of excitement that only a high school fan boy could muster, what else would the average reader be left to assume?
It’s actually kind of sad that this band has developed such Tool/Slipknot/radiohead-esque fan base. A crowd of total retards cruising around droning on about how original some band who would probably be embarrassed to have them as fans are. Except for that tattooed mongoloid they have playing guitar grunt/whining, he glows with so much self love that it’s nauseating. Good thing he’s probably going to either drink himself in to early retirement or get put in to a coma after picking a fight with some one from ill nino or hedPE or something.
King Khan rules.
While I don’t hate Mastodon probably as much as you do, thank you.
Yeah, you’re the fuckin man. The best way to judge a band is absolutely by how popular they aren’t and who their fanbase is. Not musical ability, or originality. That shit is overrated. If hipsters like it, it sucks. If their album goes gold, they suck. If they try to sing, they absolutely suck. If Rolling Stone recognizes their music as groundbreaking and innovative, it is by default neither groundbreaking nor innovative. Metal is all about extreme brutality and hating on everything that’s popular. It’s all about being alienated and pissed off and never selling any records. Anyone who doesn’t tour in a van is not metal. Anyone who has a style or a look is NOT metal. Oh yeah, and people who are into popular bands like Mastodon and Tool couldn’t possibly know a thing about true metal like Wormphlegm. Your taste in music is above everyone else’s if you listen to music that no one else has heard.
I used to purposefully spill my beer on haters at metal shows, then I realized it’s a waste of beer.
I can’t stand Mastodon to begin with and I watched this video out of curiosity. Needless to say, I turned it off in about 1 minute.
It has to be way different for a band to play in front of their fans than to play in front of an audience who doesn’t really give a shit. Mastodon still rules.