Mastodon Guitarist Bill Kelliher Remembers Brent Hinds: ‘You Were A Brother’
I can’t imagine how hard it’s gotta be in the Mastodon camp right now. Sure, things were rocky between the remaining members of Mastodon and their now late guitarist Brent Hinds, but they were together as a band for a quarter of a century.
Earlier today, surviving guitarist Bill Kelliher shared a tribute to his fallen brother on Instagram. In what must have been a difficult post to make, he shared his raw feelings about the situation, lamenting the loss of someone he saw countless successes and failures with over the years.
“It’s been hard to get a grip on my emotions this week.
“We had our good and bad times just like in any relationship. All that we accomplished after that first fistfight in the van 25 years ago.
“I didn’t think you’d be taken from us like this, absolute loss of a true one of a kind guitar wizard extraordinaire.
“Keeping up with you taught me a lot. You were a brother, we were a family, you were a wild man not to be tamed, you could f*ck up bowling ball with a feather.
“You weren’t perfect but you were always DIRTY-B!! Your vagabond/gypsy/wild child lives on through your music, I will miss your crazy ass Manimal.”
According to a report by Atlanta News First, Hinds was riding his motorcycle late at night this past Wednesday, August 20 when he was struck by an SUV that failed to yield while attempting to make a left-handed turn at the intersection of Memorial Drive SE and Boulevard SE. When first responders arrived at the scene, Hinds was found unresponsive and was ultimately pronounced dead at the scene by medical officials.
Having been an original member since the band’s inception in 2000, Hinds was a major part of the band’s unique sound and style. Having been featured on every one of the band’s albums, it all came as a shock when he was summarily kicked out of the band back in March.
In the weeks that followed his ousting, Hinds did not hold back on his frustration and anger toward his former bandmates, despite the band’s original statement that all parties “mutually agreed to part ways.”
At their first show following Hinds’ death, Mastodon drummer/vocalist Brann Dailor addressed the crowd about their loss.
”We lost somebody very special to us yesterday. Brent Hinds, 25 years with us as our guitar player, one of the most creative, beautiful people that we’ve ever come across in this world, tragically left us. Very, very unfortunate. We loved him so, so, so very much. And we had the ups and downs of a 25-year relationship. You know what I mean? It’s not always perfect, it’s not always amazing, but we were brothers to the end. And we really loved each other and we made a lot, a lot of very beautiful music together. And I think that that’s gonna stand the test of time, evidenced by you people here tonight.
“So we will continue to play Brent’s beautiful, beautiful music that he helped us make, that we formed this band together and traveled the world together, slept in a van together, laid our heads down on beds of fucking kitty litter, got way too drunk to remember anything the next day about a thousand, million times over and over again with the love that we shared and the beauty, all the audiences that we played, for all the stages we stepped on.
“I don’t know. We’re just at a loss for words. We’re absolutely devastated and crushed to lose him and to be able to never have him back again. But you guys made it okay for us to come on stage and do this tonight. So that was for fucking Brent, okay?! Thank you guys so much. We will see you real soon. Okay? I’m gonna give you guys some fucking pieces of wood, okay? We love you.
“Thank you, Alaska, for having us. It’s the 50th state for us to cross off of our bucket list. So thank you for the amazing milestone and thank you for helping us get through that one. It was fucking tough for us, but you guys are fucking amazing, so thank you, thank you, thank you once again. We’ll see you real soon, okay?! We love you, we love you, love you, love you so much. Good night.”
