Interview Brann Dailor Mastodon

Interview with Brann Dailor from Mastodon
8/15/04
Metro - Chicago, IL
Interviewer: Sharita Lumpkin

PhotoSharita: Erika Kristen Watt

"Sharon treats record labels like insurance companies, you know the medication or medical is expensive but you have to have it..."

It's what Brann Dailor, the drummer of Mastodon said when I asked about his quotes on Ozzfest. Brann is truly candid and doesn't hold his tongue. I think all fans whether you like his music or night will enjoy this conversation with him because if his passion for music and the band, his love of meatloaf and potatoes and his admiration for Stevie Wonder and the Melvins. You will definitely see that Brann is very a approachable guy and can talk to him for hours, this felt like us just sitting in a bar talking instead of a somewhat formal interview.

Sharita Lumpkin: How has the tour been so far with Fear Factory as far as the crowd is concerned?

Brann Dailor: It’s been a mystery so far; usually it’s really good. Hard to tell because predominately the reaction from the crowd has been a massive mosh pit but our music is not geared towards that. At first people would be looking bored and we wondered if they liked it, then the crowd would start going crazy and we say, “oh they did like it”. We been selling lots of merchandise which is a good sign of how were received on this tour. New kids, new faces, a lot of Ozzfest kids who never heard of us and we never played to them before. Usually we play to 20-something and older, the drinking crowds. It’s nice to play to younger fans.

Sharita: What bands influenced you when you were growing up?

Brann: Well I guess when I was 7 and stole money out of my mom’s purse while she was sleeping I had three choices, Iron Maiden “Piece of Mind” AC/DC ‘Back in Black” and Kiss “Destroyer” and Iron Maiden won. I listened to a lot of Maiden and Judas Priest growing up. As I got older about 10 or 11 I went through this heavy-duty phase of music from the fifties, old jukebox music when I thought I was a greaser. Then I start getting back into metal like Metallica and Slayer and thrash music became big and I started listening to that. I was 15 in 1991 and moved to NY, saw this group called Mr. Bungle, from that I got into this whole thing with that guy John Zoran, Bill Laswell, Buckethead and Naked City, all these groups doing really crazy stuff and that got me into the world of avant-garde or weird music. Then I went backward because when I was a baby my parents would listen to Stevie Wonder, David Bowie, Genesis and King Crimson, prog rock, and Frank Zappa. Now I’m just really into that stuff it’s come full-circle for me. It’s almost like eating mashed potatoes and meatloaf it’s like comfort food style music for me. I can count on the stuff from the 70’s, early Genesis and Bowie, that’s where my head’s at right now.

Sharita: As far as with labels I’ve read that your music is like a mix of stoner rock and progressive metal is that accurate?

Brann: I suppose so. I leave it up to the journalists to tell me what my band is. It’s hard to be part of a project and analyze it from the outside. We try to tip our hat to our influences and we wear them on our sleeves. I guess it’s the way we arrange it that makes it somewhat different. I guess it’s a progressive, stoner, metal, rock, blah . I just say I play in a heavy metal band. I’m sick of trying to explain the genre to people (goes into a different voice) well we created this hybrid of this sound…

Sharita:  I would say your music sounds like Iron Maiden and Megadeth with the raw energy of Prong and Helmet. Am I off base or on target?

Brann: No you are pretty much on target, all of us in the band unite un music at Neurosis, the Melvins, Metallica, and Thin Lizzy.  You listen to those four bands and you will hear lots of Mastodon 's influences.  Not exactly like them because they are unique and Mastodon tries to be unique.

Sharita: Do have any other specific goals for Mastodon?

Brann: I want us to play music so that our fans would be used to us developing and changing further into our careers and not locking ourselves into a genre so we won’t be fifty years old going out there and be aggressive and screaming. I would like for our music to be able to mature gracefully and still keep the audience growing with us kind of like King Crimson did; or Neurosis is doing.

Sharita: Talk about the relentless touring schedule. You guys been to Japan, Europe why do you tour so extensively?

Brann: No one told me that that was the wrong thing to do. I know Metallica went out in a van, eating cold sandwiches for years, I feel like heavy metal is a live thing. Making records is kinda’ fun but I get the most pleasure out of playing live. I just get off on playing music with my friends on stage and making that musical connection with the audience.

Sharita: I remember you saying how much it is to play on Ozzfest and that the money can be better spent somewhere else. How about the other fests are they that expensive to play and are they a better for your band?

Brann: That’s a lot of cash. They’re usually are a lot more relaxed. Festivals are a cluster-fuck, doesn’t cost anything; you play and get paid to play because it’s your art. Ozzfest is huge thing, Sharon knows that, I don’t know how it got there but she capitalizes on the fact that labels are willing to pay. It’s almost like she treats record labels like insurance companies medications and medical treatment is so over-priced and expensive that the insurance companies are willing to pay that. There’s lots of bands that get hooked up and get favors and that’s cool for some bands. I don’t think that’s a good idea to pay that much. Not for us at this time. Hopefully we can get our band to the point that we don’t have to pay. I would love to do the festival I’ve heard from friends that played on it that it’s a lot of fun but it could really make or break your band. If you believe in your band it could really do something for you, but some of the bands walk away with nothing and they are a hundred thousand plus in debt and it just ruins your band. I’m not willing to take that risk at this point.

Sharita: Are they any up and coming bands that you listen to?

Brann: I wouldn’t say they are up and coming they’re already there. Mars Volta, Blond Redhead, Engine Down, Burnt By the Sun, and Sweet Cobra from Chicago. We played with them at a breast cancer benefit here a few months ago there’s also another good band from here called Pelican.

Sharita: How do you feel about the other bands on the tour?

Brann: Those bands are excellent. I like seeing them play live. [However] I listen to music when everyone is asleep in the van and that’s going to keep me up to drive.

Sharita: On the FourteenG website we are doing a campaign to bring back MTV-X do you remember the channel?

Brann: I saw it at a friends’ house and I thought this is cool.

Sharita: Yeah, we have an online petition that is linked to the website for people to sign so we can show MTV.

Brann: Cool, I’ll sign it.

Sharita: Good that is just what my fellow journalist and me want to hear. It would be cool to have some celebrity signatures on the petition.

Brann: (Brann chuckles) I’m a celebrity?

Sharita: You are now. (We both chuckled) I’m the editor of a part of the website called On Our Soapbox and I talk about record companies and all the unfortunate things with bands getting caught in contracts and not able to get out of them, tell me how has Relapse treated Mastodon?

Brann: Oh they’re fine. I don’t have any complaints. They bust their ass, they’re a bunch of young dudes and they just work it out. They have been completely upfront with everything that has gone on with us. They have not done anything shady. When we signed the contract we didn’t have a leg to stand on. If you sign a contract that young there’s nothing you can do about the standard contract stuff. If your band gets popular you’re gonna want something more. [I mean] that’s when all those legalities come into play they say hey you signed, so you can’t get upset or bitter about that. Were good friends with everyone at the label though.

Sharita: It’s said that Fear Factory got caught in their contract and actually had to break up to get out of it and that’s pretty scary.

Brann: Yeah, for a band that’s climbing that ladder and more and more people get involved, the more legalities and it starts to become a bit of a headache and the tail starts to wag the dog and you say (Brann changes voices again) “oh my life is planned until 2006” It’s crazy.

Sharita: How about the new album that's coming out on August 31^st, is there a big difference between that and Remission?

Brann: I been told it's a big difference, someone has said that the songwriting is better and tighter, there's more rockin' going on. I guess I feel there was more rockin' going on and the riffs that we were doing I was giving to some more meat and potatoes and then going absolutely bonkers on the thing. I mean it was like I said, "you know it's not working I need to stay in the pocket and serve them up mashed potatoes"  I mean I don't describe it, everything I do with music I [always] relate it to food. I know everybody doesn't understand my analogies. You know some of the songs are like completely stripped down and then some are just straight up rock songs where they just rock all the way through nonstop, not flashy at all. Some are super involved, some that we never done before as a band. I like that medium, I like that balance. I don't want to be in a band that is like techno crazy and goes over people's heads and it's like oh you don't understand that were crazy. 

I want the perfect balance being able to push myself as a musician. Also make a catchy rap song that people will be able to hum to in their heads, that's a goal. Leviathan has some melody; there is actual singing on it.  It wasn't really on Remission because it really didn't call for it.  We tried yelling some parts and it just didn't sound natural but then we started singing it and were like hey that actually sounds good to sing on some of it.

Sharita: Cool. I am looking forward to hearing Leviathan…

Brann: You don’t have it yet?

Sharita: Well no it’s not out yet.

Brann: It leaked on the internet.

Sharita: Really? How do you feel about the issue of downloading?

Brann: I don’t care. They can download it if they want. If they really like it they will buy it. It really turns people on to our music, I mean we really don’t make any money off of making records anyway; we don’t really make money but when we get paid, we get paid to play live. If more people hear the music then it will bring them to our shows to see us play, buy merchandise and hang with us afterwards. [It all boils down to] I’d rather a kid have the music than not. If he doesn’t have enough money to have it but, he has a real fancy computer hmm…(laugh)  no, wait a minute. It’s fun to make music; I don’t look at it as a job. I mean if I’m out on the road and I’m away from my family and I’m playing music then I’ll take some compensation for playing live, but as far as the record thing I don’t care they can have it.

Sharita: Yeah I talked to the lead singer of 36 Crazyfists and he said he didn’t mind it either but he wished there was some way they could regulate it.

Brann: You can’t and you’ll never stop it. All we try to do is make the artwork more interesting and do stuff like that to draw the interest in the CD, and make the whole package makes sense.

Sharita: Who actually does your artwork?

Brann: This guy named Paul Romano.

Sharita: It’s some great work so far with Remission and Leviathan…

Brann: You haven’t seen anything yet. It’s all part of this painting he has. The whale is only a small part of that painting. It’s a whole world of new Mastodon art; it’s cool.
 

After the show I had a chance to sit down and have a conversation over drinks with Brann. The guys were in great spirits and seemed to be having a great time hanging out with Erika, Karma, myself, and patrons of the Smart Bar under the Metro. In talking about his influences once again he mentioned how much Stevie Wonder is a favorite. “He has the voice of God. He always repeats a chorus like three times and starts off small and ends up big. I learned how to write songs because of him.”  As far as other music goes he asked me what kind of music I liked. When I told him he says he liked some of the same I did and says he’s too old to care about what people say about the music he listens to. He went on to talk about the musical family he is a part of. His mom and dad, grandma and grandpa were all musicians. His grandfather jammed with Hank Williams and recently he met Hank three from Superjoint Ritual and they talked about their grandfathers playing together. He’s happy with the bands sound and in commenting on the band traveling in a van says it’s a lot cheaper than $400 a day on a bus. He went on to say if the band can’t travel in a van in close proximity then they shouldn’t play together.

I thought it was interesting to hear that he still has a job back in Atlanta, traveling the country buying t-shirts and his boss loves telling people that one of his workers is in a band that travels the world. Kids come in the store and say, “aren’t you in Mastodon” when he says yes they can’t believe he still has a job, thinking that the music business is enough and he doesn’t need a job. He says all the money he gets goes back home to pay the bills. His friend is a tattoo artist that house sits for him while he’s on tour and takes care of all his finances while he is away then we talked about how much he enjoys playing drums. Brann says he recalls one drum lesson in which he hated and vowed to his father that he’d never go back. He says all he does is have fun while playing the drums and hardly has ever sat and practiced.  

Brann truly is an entertaining personality and it really shows how much he enjoys playing music. His candid nature and sense of humor is quite refreshing seeing that Mastodon is being touted as the next big thing out of America. He seems to have a care free attitude and confident but not brash or conceited. Never had I had such an in-depth conversation with the drummer of the band. Usually the lead singer in a band is the one to do all the interviews and take all the glory. However, the guys in Mastodon are a united force and they don’t let their egos get in the way of making great music.

After the show at the Smart Bar in Chicago...
The guys wind down and act silly in the process with Russell Ellis (Red shirt) and John Airo (far left), one Metro's favorites and fellow local musician of the Streetwise Men. Again, Bill was not with the band because of family obligations, Eric (black shirt with a cigarette) was his replacement.

Click here for the redux (part II) interview with Brann from the Jäger Tour