Mastodon's Brent Hinds: "I Fucking Hate Heavy Metal"
It would appear Brent Hinds of Mastodon is tired of conducting interviews to promote his band. In a rant with Guitarplayer.com, he reveals he doesn't want Mastodon to be a heavy metal outfit anymore and is no longer excited about anything to do with the band. Excerpts from the interview follows:
I never really liked heavy metal in the first place. I came from Alabama playing country music, surf rock, rockabilly, and stuff like that. I just went through a phase in my 20s where I thought it was rebellious to play heavy metal. And then I met Brann [Dailor, Mastodon drummer] and Bill [Kelliher], and they were really, really, really into heavy metal. And ever since then, I’ve been trying to get Mastodon to not be such a heavy metal band, because I fucking hate heavy metal, and I don’t want to be in a heavy metal band.
It would be nice if magazines and all interviews would just go fall off the face of the earth along with all the cigarette smoke and all the other fucking things I hate in life. I don’t like doing interviews, I don’t read interviews, I don’t need to know how people go about doing things. It frustrates me to do interviews, because I have to talk about things I’ve talked about over and over and over and over again. So, no, there’s nothing that we can talk about that involved Mastodon that I’ll get excited about. After 15 years of doing this every fucking day of my life, the last thing I want to do is talk about doing it.
I’m very passionate about playing guitar—I’m just not the most passionate guy in the world about talking about any of it. Breaking details down and getting micro about what cable I plug into what pedal is, to me, a very unnecessary type of dialogue. I understand you have readers that want to know that stuff, but they’re not going to find out from me.
So what do you think - is he just trolling, is he totally right, or should he suck it up, stop being a whiny ass baby, and realize being a rock star means having to answer the same questions in interviews every album cycle?
Read the full article at GuitarPlayer.com.
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14 Comments on "Brent Hinds: 'I Fucking Hate Heavy Metal'"
Member
3. writes:
Who knows what Brent was thinking when he said this. It seems like he's been steadily getting more reclusive since his head injury in 2007. Each successive album has been dialing back the metal influences with regard to vocals and guitar tone. These statements don't seem to be out of character for him. He's been predictably unpredictable for a long time. When you've abused drugs like he has, there's no telling what's next with him. You'd have better luck guessing the blast direction and radius of a homemade pipe bomb.
5. writes:
I have listened to rock/ metal for 30 plus years and I have to agree with Brent that doing something you dislike is disheartening , I feel the same way when I hear country music, but always remember that a lot of metal listeners don't always just listen to only metal, I don't really consider you guys metal, which is why I have every one of your cd's. I would consider my self fortunate to being playing with evolving musicians, in a country of repetitive emotionless metal.
Former Contributor
8. writes:
The guy had a moment of weakness.
I've gone through phases where I don't listen to metal for months. I think the condition is called "metal fatigue". It's not because I hate it but because I need a break, so I go delve into something else (or nothing) for awhile. When I come back to metal (and I always do) it feels fresh and welcoming again.
If I had to play it -every day- and hear it constantly (from fellow tour mates) and talk about a year-old album answering the same questions endlesslt, with no possible hope for escape... I might hate it too.
He knows he's not going to find a better (at least paying) gig. Even the rich and famous get "stuck".
Former Contributor
Member
10. writes:
I'd like a crack at interviewing Brent. I agree with him that interviewing shouldn't be the same questions over and over. I don't care what his favorite toppings are on his pizza. I'd rather know what he thinks about Maiden's upcomming release, or LOG. I want to know where he thinks he stands with his peers. I want to know about his writing process. Interesting questions. Shouldn't be such a stretch.
Member
12. writes:
The more I think about this, the more I tend to agree with Brent. Really that is a pretty broad statement. I mean, what is Heavy Metal and what is he calling Heavy Metal? We all should know by now that defining HM is a constantly moving yet incredibly wide target. You have bands from Black Sabbath to Death, to Emmure, to Meshuggah, to Motley Crue, to Psycroptic, to Opeth, to BTBAM, to….. you get the picture. Maybe some of these fit and some don’t depending on your own personal definition of Heavy Metal.
We are both blessed and cursed with the amount of music we have to choose from. There are some great stuff out there, but for every great band, say Meshuggah, you have 100+ knock-off djent bands that add little inspiration or originality. And we all have the pleasure and pain of sifting through the chaff for the grains of wheat - trying to find the musicians who are doing it for the art and not the leeches jumping on the bandwagon just for some notoriety. Imagine if for every Whistler’s Mother painting, there were hundreds of paintings of old women sitting uncomfortably in a wooden chair. Kinda dilutes the impact of the original doesn’t it?
From what I take away from his statements, as he grew up he wanted to rebel and channel his anger and dissatisfaction. Playing metal was the obvious choice for a guitarist. The stars aligned and he and the rest of the guys in Mastodon got signed. With that opportunity, he saw a way to do more than rebel, but to express his influences and artistic ideas. With each new album, he’s been able to do that and fortunately the music sells. The fame for him is an unwanted by-product of his success. I can see where it is distracting from making music. Imagine if artists from The Renaissance had being asked constantly about what it’s like for them to be famous or having to explain their techniques to the public.
Brent just wants to make music. As fans, we want to hear his music. Why can’t we be satisfied with that? Why do we have to demand that he shake our hand or sign the branded momento we paid for – much less that he do it with a smile and genuine gratitude? The history of art is rife with artists who were at odds with their financial supporters. In those bygone cases, we’ve sided with the artist and blamed the douchebaggery on the rich bastards that were paying them to paint/sculpt/play/sing, etc. Yet, when the tables are turned and we are the douchebags paying to get a piece of their art, the d***head musicians somehow owe us more than what we pay for. Brent sounds like he’s tired of everyone taking a piece of him and fighting him for control of how he expresses himself musically. I think he’s fully within his rights to hate Heavy Metal or at least the embodiment of the constraints that it tries to put on him.
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1. Puddentane writes:
I think "interview journalism" is b.s. and if he doesn't wanna do it, he shouldn't have to. Anyway, since the advent of the internet, a huge number of music journalists/reviewers have never gotten paid anything but "promo CDs" which technically they were not allowed to sell. The whole idea of the sorts of interviews he's talking about, is actually promo for record companies and has little to do with the music itself. It sounds to me like he might want to think about quitting the band and/or finding a new gig.