Metal Anarchy

During a recent interview with Kerrang!, Mastodon’s Troy Sanders reflected on 2019 and discussed his plans for 2020. Among those plans is a new Mastodon album, which he hopes to release this year.

Sanders said the following when asked about new Mastodon music:

“We’re constantly creating. When we’re out on tour, we’re always coming up with lyrics, riffs or half-songs on voice notes and the Pro Tools rig we take out with us. The long touring process for ‘Emperor Of Sand‘ ended in July, and we all took a couple of months off. Then we all started calling each other with the itch. Through November, we’ve been in Atlanta sifting through ideas. We’re always moving forward.”

He also opened up about the deaths of the band’s manager Nick John and their tour manager Bob Dallas and how it may influence the new material:

“We lost both our tour manager and band manager last year. Nick John had managed our band for 15 years, and he died of pancreatic cancer. He was our best buddy and our biggest fan. He was really our friend before he was our manager. After seeing us play at this little show in New Jersey in 2004, he took us from nothing to being on Ozzfest within three months. I wouldn’t even be talking to K! if it wasn’t for him. Our tour manager Bob Dallas passed away, too.

Artistically, we usually respond well to tragedy. It’s all part of life. It’s going to happen one way or the other. The four of us are brutally thankful that we have Mastodon to channel that energy through, to find something beautiful and to create something that lasts forever.”

He later finished the chat by laying out his plans for 2020:

“I’m gonna go skiing in Utah, I’m going to put out a new Gone Is Gone record, and hopefully there’ll be a new Mastodon album, too. Onward and upward – that’s the motion!”