Mastodon drummer and vocalist Brann Dailor has opened up about the band’s difficult year of change, saying he always believed there might one day be a future where he and Brent Hinds found their way back together. In a new interview, Dailor said that possibility no longer exists, and he called that reality “really sad.”
Dailor’s comments came as Mastodon’s ninth studio album has now been completed, following what he described as an intensely emotional period for the band. He said the record was finished after a stretch marked by loss, upheaval, and major personal grief, making it one of the hardest albums Mastodon has ever had to make.
The conversation began with Dailor discussing his contribution to the King Ultramega Soundgarden tribute project, but it quickly turned back to Mastodon’s recent upheaval. He explained that the last year hit the band from multiple directions: the departure of Brent Hinds, Hinds’ later death, and the death of Dailor’s mother. Dailor said it was “a hard record to make” and that the album reflects everything the band went through.
He said the group had been sitting on some of the album’s material for about two years, but the emotional weight only became clear as the writing and recording unfolded. Dailor said that while he originally hoped the record would be about something lighter and more mythic, life had other plans. In his words, they got “a two-fer,” meaning they ended up dealing with more loss than they expected.
The most emotional part of the interview came when Dailor talked specifically about Hinds. He said he was sad about how things ended and added that nobody wanted it to happen that way. Dailor explained that he had imagined a future where the band might eventually come back together and laugh about everything that had happened, but he now accepts that “it’s not a possibility.”
That sense of unfinished business runs through the whole interview. Dailor described Hinds as a “free spirit” and a complex person who loved the camaraderie of the band, even if he did not always want to be in rehearsal or tied down by the routine. Dailor said he respected that side of him, even when it was frustrating.
Still, Mastodon are moving forward. Dailor said the band remains “as dedicated as ever” to the project they started more than two decades ago. Canadian guitarist Nick Johnston has stepped in for live duties, and Dailor said the fit has worked because Johnston is not trying to imitate Hinds but instead brings a different style while still honoring his parts.
He also made clear that the band is sensitive to Hinds’ legacy. Dailor said he wants the older solos and signature parts to be played as faithfully as possible, because some of them are too iconic to reinvent carelessly. It is a statement that shows both grief and respect: the band is not trying to erase Hinds, but it is also not pretending the old dynamic can be restored.
For Mastodon fans, the interview lands as something more than a standard album update. It is a reminder that the band is entering a new phase under painful circumstances, with a record that carries the emotional weight of everything that has happened to them. Dailor’s message is blunt but honest: the future he once imagined with Brent Hinds will not happen, and that loss still hurts.
