Mastodon are on the hunt for their next permanent guitar player.
The Atlanta sludge/prog metal beloveds split with their founding guitarist Brent Hinds earlier this month, ending his 25-year tenure. Though the band played a festival set the following weekend with YouTuber Ben Eller filling in, co-guitarist Bill Kelliher says their search for a full-time fourth member is ongoing.
In a new interview with Guitar World, Kelliher details what a person would need to become Mastodon’s first new member since 2000. “Someone who is easy to get along with, and who really has a desire to play – and can play well,” he says.
He adds, “Obviously, you gotta be somebody who we all get along with and can stand the true test of time. Like, living together in a little tour bus on the road for fucking days and months at a time, it’s got to be someone who can do all that.
“And that’s another variable. Like, ‘Oh, this person is a great guitar player, why don’t you hire them?’ It’s like, ‘Well, they gotta stand the test of time.’ We’ve got to be able to sit down and have a beer with them, go out to dinner with them, you know, feel them out, and make sure they’re Mastodon material.
“Like, can they hang, for sure, but it’s got to be someone who has a unique style, and is very serious about it.”
Kelliher also emphasises his commitment to Mastodon, who’ve become one of their genre’s most lauded bands with eight acclaimed records under their collective belt. “I’m as serious as a heart attack with Mastodon. It’s my life. It’s all I really know. I’ve got all my eggs in this basket – and I’m not ready to give it up yet. So, we’re going to keep looking, and who knows? We’ll find the right person when the time is right and ready.”
Mastodon will tour North America with fellow prog metal act Coheed And Cambria in May. whether Eller will play guitar on the tour or the role will be filled by someone else remains to be seen.
The band announced Hinds’ exit on March 7, calling the parting a mutual decision. The band remain committed to all announced live plans. They include a slot at Black Sabbath’s star-studded Back To The Beginning event on July 5 as well as two shows supporting Slayer in the UK the same month. The four-piece will also be special guests at Bloodstock Open Air in Derbyshire in August.
