Mastodon’s Brann Dailor is to honour his late grandmother Jeanne by playing her bass guitar on their next album.
He and his bandmates are currently in the studio working on their follow-up to 2014’s Once More ‘Round The Sun with producer Brendan O’Brien, who has worked with Rage Against The Machine and Korn.
Dailor’s gesture follows the song Aunt Lisa, which features on their latest album as a tribute to his late aunt who died of leukaemia. Mastodon’s 2009 album Crack The Skye was also written in memory of the drummer’s late sister, while 2011’s The Hunter was based on guitarist Brent Hinds’ brother, who died while hunting in 2010.
He says: “Just played my Grandma Jeanne’s bass on our new album. Thanks to my best friends @bhinds@butterslax @mastodonrocks and especially Troy Sanders for letting me pay tribute to a very important person in my life. RIP.”
Speaking of family as a common theme of Mastodon’s music, Dailor previously said: “I’m lucky enough to have a platform to honour the people who inspired a lot of the music that we write. I think it’s a good thing for our families in general. It lets them know that we care.
“We’ve had countless kids come up to us, saying, ‘Yeah I lost this person and this music helped me.’ And why wouldn’t it, because it helped us in exactly the same situation. I think that artists owe it to themselves and their fans to put as much of themselves into their art as possible. To help themselves and to help other people through their experiences.”
Dailor reported this summer that they were chasing a “more proggy” sound on the as-yet-untitled record, which is due for release in 2017.
