Q&A: Mastodon

Sanders: I guess for me it's just the overall feeling of growth and being proud. The four of us are a rather tight knit unit, and over nine years later and five albums later, to feel like we're continuing to bond further and still walking away from an album session feeling like this is our purest and best work to date only proves that the four of us are still ascending. It proves we're still very much alive, the four of us still have that fire that has yet to be extinguished. The brotherhood and camaraderie is what means the world to us. I don't think we could deal with that any other way, I don't think we could tour nine months a year if we weren't a solid unit and this still means the world to us. I guess I'm just most proud of my dudes.

It seems you really tapped into the heart and soul of the band this time around. What brought that out?
Sanders: This is definitely the most personal record we've ever made. We dove in and tapped into energy that's kind of been bottled up for a while, for the most part, as far as dealing physically and emotionally and reflecting on the past two years of our band life and really not being afraid to tap into deeper, darker and more personal spaces and letting that inspire the music we create. So the result is gonna be a very heartfelt, down-to-earth, melodic, spacious, chunk of music.

And it really comes across as a very emotional record.
Sanders: Cool, thanks. Ya know, when you're creating something and you mean it and you're feeling it, then that's I guess the vulnerable side of it. If you can capture those emotions and relate it to others in that manner, then that's the tip of the hat to, 'Hey you were honest and authentic when creating it.' If you can capture that feel and relate it to others then, you know, your job is complete."

How did astral travel, wormholes and Tsarist Russia end up being main concepts on the album?
Sanders: We always deal with topics that are fascinating to us and we kinda lay all these topics and ideas on the table, so to speak, and piece them together to ultimately make a cohesive story. On the surface it can seem very far-fetched and very bizarrely concocted. But to us it makes total sense and helps create a more multi-dimensional storyline and feel. Also, when we tap into this fantastical storyline, it only makes it more open to interpretation, therefore allowing anyone that cares as a listener to pull various feelings and emotions from it. It's not such a literal record where, 'This is what we're saying and that's what it is.' It's very open to interpretation and we're proud of that idea because we want people to pull whatever the want and whatever they can from this.

And what about the elemental factor?
Sanders: Well, the past few records have also been centered around a particular element. Remission was fire, Leviathan was water, Blood Mountain was all elements on Earth. So this time, instead a doing wind or air, we wanted to literally take it a step further and take it to outer space and deal with the element of ether. It made powerful sense to us because many consider ether to be the fifth element, and this is our fifth record. Ether is the purest of all elements and when intermeshed with other elements it does not change. We felt like this was our purest record and our purest music to date. So we based this record around the central theme of ether. So dealing with astral travel, the possibilities of time travel via the wormhole, and dealing with constellations -- constellations are patterns that are telling stories -- we've always felt that way about our music; our music is a pattern and we create a story revolving around that pattern. So, it all made perfect sense to us to ascend the atmosphere through the crack in the sky and explore that. We've also been fascinated with the ideas of séance and anything involving the supernatural. Like the song "Divinations" for example, is dealing with a divination that's taking place in the spiritual realm. Again, just fascinating topics that we can use as metaphors for our own personal and band experiences.

And with one of those experiences being Brent's head injury at the VMA's, how do events like that change the whole outlook of the band?
Sanders: When you're granted a second lease on life, you're able to step back and realize that life is precious. That's not just the way we think but you know, how negative experiences can help you realize and focus and recalculate your feelings and desires on your own life. It made perfect sense to us with this record. It lent it itself to be incredibly authentic to ourselves and creating honest art. That's the only way we feel art should be created.

How did some of the sonic change-ups -- cleaner, more melodic vocals, slower arrangements, Banjo-playing, etc. -- come into play during the songwriting process?
Sanders: Well we're always open to any new possibilities, but it's just a matter of placing certain instruments and sounds tastefully. You know we don't wanna put keyboards and banjo on something that wouldn't make a lick of sense. It's whatever we could add to match and truly marry the feel of the song itself. We feel that's the proper way to elaborate on an idea and give it life and breath to grow into something all it's own, hopefully in a unique manner. But we had this banjo riff in the beginning and it made total sense like, "Yeah, that's great," or "You know what that kind of clashes and doesn't help the overall effectiveness of the song." Then we would take it out."

What comes first: the music or the themes?
Sanders: The themes come whenever. The music is created as just a musical piece and then we feel it out and see what particular theme or part of the storyline might match the vibe of the song itself.

What are your favorite tracks on the record?
Sanders: You know what, I really love it as a whole. It's easy to say, but I really do. We were done with the record in September and I have had moments where I've had a favorite song at a time, I've gone through all seven and had a favorite. Now, I've really just resolved to loving it as a whole. Our hearts and souls were sunk into it and I really just love it as a whole.

Is that why you plan to play the whole record from start to finish on tour?
Sanders: Yeah, we feel it's the most cohesive album we've ever put out and we've always played around with the idea of performing a record in its entirety. We listened back and thought that this was an album that we can and should do this on. And we have some visuals that go along, to further the visual stimulation of our live performance."

What sort of visuals?
Sanders: We're going to tap into imagery that matches the feel of every song. Just create a path to help us tap in psychedelically. Close your eyes and drift into fantasyland and escape? I don't know [laughs].

Nine years in and producing some of your best art to date what keeps you guys grounded and focused?
Sanders: I think the fire and the passion you have to have to start something like this in the first place. The four of us have always said we're going to sail this ship until it sinks. It's a very all-or-nothing mentality. If this experience and lifestyle is not fulfilling to you as a person then I suppose that's when it would cease. This is a job that we've always aspired to have, doing music fulltime and allowing your music to carry you all over the world. Now that we're there, we realized it's a combination of being fortunate as well as persevering beyond all belief. It would be a lot to throw away if we put down our instruments right now, but this is the life we've always aspired for. We never dreamt that we'd actually be here, it was just a dream in our silly little mush brains that's come to reality. Right now we're all in a great space and we're going for it.