MASTODON’s BILL KELLIHER: “We’ve Always Been Able to Play What We Want to Play”

By Prog Sphere on April 14, 2017

In an interview for Noisey, Mastodon‘s Bill Kelliher and Troy Sanders talked about the band’s new chart-topping album Emperor of Sand.

Speaking about the creative freedom the band has during the writing processes of all their albums, guitarist Bill Kelliher said: “[And] that’s the cool thing about our band, is that we’ve always been able to play what we want to play. We never signed a contract that said we were going to be a heavy metal band, or a death metal band, or a crust punk band, for the rest of our lives. Our fucking fans are nuts. They pick apart every fucking note, every fucking word, who’s singing what, why this song doesn’t sound like the last song, why this song sucks because it’s different. I’m always trying to come up with riffs and ideas and songs to impress Troy, Brent, or Brann. I’m not trying to do to it to impress Joe Blow on Facebook. I don’t give a shit. That’s what keeps us going. It’s funny when I read these comments on the internet of people saying we sold out by playing songs like ‘Show Yourself.’ Who the fuck are you? What do you mean we sold out? I’ll play whatever music I want to play! I’ll put out a goddamn pop record if I want to. I don’t have to answer to anybody but my bandmates… and my wife.“

About haters on the Internet, Kelliher commented: “There’s people that follow the Mastodon Facebook page and then they talk shit. Are you just trying to be cool? I think of a pimply faced 14-year-old in his underpants sitting on his computer. Where’s your band that you’ve had for 17 years? Where are your three-time Grammy loser certificates?“

Bassist Troy Sanders added: “Have you lost three Grammys, you little prick? Type, type, type. No, I didn’t think so.“

Read the full interview here. Emperor of Sand is out now; order it here.