Soundgarden’s Kim Thayil to Appear on Mastodon’s New Album
Mastodon’s new album, Hushed and Grim, announced last week, will be an ambitious double-disc affair featuring a “doom” record and a “rippers” record. According to a new feature with Kerrang!, it’ll also feature a whole host of special guests including Soundgarden guitarist Kim Thayil, Municipal Waste, etc. drummer Dave Witte, blues guitarist Marcus King, Brazilian composer João Nogueira, and bassist Troy Sanders’ mother on French horn.
Sanders, speaking on the band’s decision to release a double-album, explained:
“Mastodon feels as much like home now as ever. We’re not phoning it in, or releasing something obligatory. ‘Hushed And Grim’ was our most collaborative effort to date. There’s no one songwriter or lyricist. We’re all contributing, all writing, all committed to taking a risk. That exemplifies the term ‘band’. 17 years ago, we took a risk writing an album about Moby Dick. Now we’re taking a risk with a double-album. If it feels right, we do it.”
Guitarist Bill Kelliher tacked on:
“It was like, ‘Jesus Christ, this is really a step up for us!’ But of course it is. We’re getting older, having more experiences, getting better at what we do. We have that obligation to the fans to relate to them on that personal level, and that’s what this record is all about. It’s not just about grief and suffering. It’s about trying to overcome those things and get through them together.”
Drummer Brann Dailor addressed the passing of the band’s longtime manager Nick John — he died of pancreatic cancer in 2018 — saying his loss had a profound impact on the record:
“‘Hushed And Grim‘ is a mood. It’s about grief, about guilt, about all those fun feelings. It’s awful seeing your friend suffer like that and knowing there’s nothing that you can do. If you know, you know…”
Sanders added:
“It’s about taking the factual, brutal darkness of a life’s moment, then really trying to navigate through and beyond it. Writing and recording this record was like grief counselling for me: started out feeling horrific, came out feeling fantastic. Even if we wanted to write a happier record, we couldn’t. Our band doesn’t work that way. We can’t just shovel all of the darkness aside and say that everything was great.”
You can listen to the album’s first single, “Pushing the Tides,” below.
Mastodon and Opeth will head out on a co-headline tour of the U.S. this fall with Zeal & Ardor opening. Dates:
Nov 16 – Asheville, NC – ExploreAsheville.com Arena [tickets]
Nov 18 – Boston, MA – The Wang Theatre [tickets]
Nov 19 – Albany, NY – Palace Theatre [tickets]
Nov 20 – New York City – Hammerstein Ballroom [tickets]
Nov 21 – Washington, DC – The Anthem [tickets]
Nov 23 – Nashville, TN – Ryman Auditorium [tickets]
Nov 24 – Atlanta, GA – The Eastern [tickets]
Nov 26 – Austin, TX – ACL Live at the Moody Theater [tickets]
Nov 27 – Dallas, TX – South Side Ballroom [tickets]
Nov 28 – Sugar Land, TX – Smart Financial Centre at Sugar Land [tickets]
Nov 30 – Mesa, AZ – Mesa Amphitheatre [tickets]
Dec 01 – Los Angeles, CA – Hollywood Palladium [tickets]
Dec 02 – Oakland, CA – Fox Theater [tickets]
Dec 04 – Salt Lake City, UT – The Union [tickets]
Dec 05 – Denver, CO – The Mission Ballroom [tickets]
