What did you use to record in
the hotel room?
Kelliher: I had a Yamaha
SBG2000 and my Marshall
Micro Stack and some Shure
condenser mics I was going
to use, but I decided to run it
through AmpliTube’s Marshall
amp models, because Warner
Bros. was asking for the song to
be done so they could release
it as a single the next morning
in the USA. I was like, “It’s not
done yet!” [
Laughs.] When I got
done, I was so proud of myself
and felt really good about it,
because I had gotten it down and
everyone liked it. I kind of live
for moments like that. I’m a multitasker
by nature. My wife says
I should focus on one thing at a
time—because I’m always doing
several things at once—but in
this instance it worked out. The
deadline forced me to work some
fast magic, but I don’t advise anyone
to do that on a regular basis!
What did you use for the
other half of the solo?
Kelliher: The second part of
the solo was done in the studio
before that European tour, and
I really like it because it has that
“Orion” [from Metallica’s
Master
of Puppets] feel and groove. I
used this new Gibson Explorer
with EMG X Series 81 and 85
humbuckers. It’s a metal-shredding
beast that doesn’t sound
phony—it’s quickly become
my go-to super-heavy guitar.
I plug straight into the amp
for the majority of my recordings,
so when I need something
gargantuan, I have that in my
back pocket. I used to hate
active pickups and thought they
sounded brittle and stale, but I
totally dig their tone with my
Explorer—it’s a clear, concise,
unique distortion. I use that
guitar a lot on “All the Heavy
Lifting” and some of the harmonies
on “Curl of the Burl.”
With its Alan Parsons
Project-/Pink Floyd-style
synths and chanting choirs,
“The Creature Lives” is very
theatrical. What was the impetus
for that song?
Kelliher: [
Laughs.] That was all
Brann’s idea. He wrote it years
ago and he pretty much directed
and composed how everything fell
into place. He thinks it’s going to
be one of those lift-your-lighter-in-
the-air-and-sway songs. I’m
sure Mastodon fans will think,
‘What the hell is this?’ But I’ve
heard some people compare it
old Pink Floyd, with the prog-y
Hammond organs.
Crack the Skye
was a serious record—it was a
healing process for a lot of people.
And that’s not to say
The Hunter
isn’t going to cure some ills, too,
but we wanted to do a party
record that was fun to make—and
hopefully fun for fans to crank up
and jam with some friends.
Kelliher barres his 1980 Gibson Explorer at a June 2011 Netherlands gig.
Photo by Cindy Frey
What’s your favorite part of
the new album?
Kelliher: I’d have to say the
middle of “All the Heavy
Lifting,” where there’s all this
craziness between my guitar
parts and Brann’s drumming.
It was a spontaneous riff that I
wrote while we were putting the
song together, and I kind of just
made it by the seat of my pants
with all this creative energy
swirling and pressure mounting.
Hinds: The guitar-and-drum solo
part in “The Hunter”—where
Brann and me play off each
other—it screams “Check this
out!” When you hear me and
Brann bounce off each other in
those moments where he takes
the lead with some fills and I’m
sustaining, and then I take over
again—it’s a really cool thing to
be in a band where you have that
romantic cadence between the different
instruments. I’m not sure if
Deep Purple was one of the first
bands to have a drum solo and a
guitar solo going at the same time,
but I like how it turned out a lot.