In conversation with J.R. Hayes, excerpted from “Musical Darwinism.”
Dude, [being played on rock radio], that’s what [Mastodon] wanted from the beginning. They were willing to put in the time that it took. Like, when you look at what Metallica has gotten for themselves, you can feel however you want about the stuff that they’ve put out, or the way that they conduct themselves, but just the amount of work they put into that, touring 300 days out of the year, and really going out and busting their ass on the road, and making it happen, it’s what they do.
Mastodon were willing to put in those tour hours that a lot bands aren’t willing to. There are a lot of bands that are willing to tour, but there’s not a lot of bands that are willing to just take every fucking tour like they do. You gotta admire their work ethic.
The Black Dahlia Murder is always on the road. They’ve paid a lot of dues, just straight touring. Even a band like Jungle Rot, you know what I mean? Like, nobody gives a fuck. They just tour their ass off on their shitty death metal records. They got signed to Victory. Did you know that? I’m actually kinda happy for ‘em. I mean, they signed Jungle Rot!
Speaking of Mastodon, check out our classic interview with the band from 2001 in archive ‘zine issue #25, page 10.
Photos: Jason Hornick
