Metal Anarchy

Mastodon have premiered a new song titled “Your Ghost Again.” You can check that out below:

Drummer/vocalist Brann Dailor commented:

“‘Your Ghost Again’ is about when you lose somebody that’s close to you that you existed with for most of your life. When we were in the studio recording, I kept seeing Brent. I’d see him on my right holding the guitar because that’s where he’d usually be. It’s the same with my mom: I keep seeing her. I was just singing about what I was seeing, and I was seeing ghosts.

‘Your Ghost Again’ is about being in those familiar places you used to be with people, which for us is in the studio. I just kept seeing [Brent] out of the corner of my eye, where he would normally be with his guitar. It’s about that: your mind plays tricks on you, especially so soon after someone dies and you’re in the places where they always were. You just see them.”

Bassist/vocalist Troy Sanders continued:

“My portion of the song, lyrically, is all about Brent, and for Brent. The bridge lyrics are two lines of pure gratitude towards Brent. It’s all the gifts from you, now you can take them back where you must go, meaning you came into my life, you exposed me to things that blew my mind, together we conquered thousands of stages around the world, had magical moments that we can never repeat again, but all the beauty that you brought it still remains, always will, and it’s just a line of gratitude because that’s important that we include Brent.”

Guitarist/vocalist Bill Kelliher added:

“We wanted to pick a song that sounds like Mastodon, and that has all the things in there, because it’s the first impression of what people are gonna hear. It speaks about things that have just happened and people passing, I could go deep but I don’t want to because a lot of that shit’s personal.”

Dailor also discussed the band’s new album:

“Hopefully this album helps everybody. Hopefully they can find some piece of it that speaks to them about it. I know Brent’s not there and it’s weird and it’s hard, and some people might be like, ‘Well I don’t wanna listen to it because Brent’s not there and I’m hurting about that’, but we are too. Big time.

It means a lot to me, and I hope that’s able to translate to our fans and people who are grieving, too. I understand that, because we never really addressed it. We just couldn’t. And to the fans I’m just sorry that I wasn’t able to be more for them when that happened, because I couldn’t. For myself, I’m still unpacking it.”

In other news, Mastodon have also announced a North American tour with Deafheaven and Alcest. Here’s the dates for that run:

09/16 Orlando, FL – Hard Rock Live
09/18 Asheville, NC – Asheville Yards
09/19 Pittsburgh, PA – Stage AE
09/20 Louisville, KY – Louder Than Life
09/22 Philadelphia, PA – Frankling Music Hall
09/23 Boston, MA – Citizens House of Blues
09/24 Brooklyn, NY – Brooklyn Paramount
09/25 Washington, DC – Anthem
09/27 Montreal, QC – MTELUS
09/28 Toronto, ON – Rebel
09/29 Buffalo, NY – Buffalo River Works
10/01 Detroit, MI – The Fillmore Detroit
10/02 Chicago, IL – The Riviera Theater
10/03 Minneapolis, MN – Palace Theatre
10/06 Salt Lake City, UT – The Complex
10/07 Boise, ID – Revolution Center
10/09 Oakland, CA – Fox Theater
10/10 Los Angeles, CA – Hollywood Palladium
10/11 San Diego, CA – The Sound
10/14 Denver, CO – Fillmore Plaza
10/16 Des Moines, IA – Val Air Ballroom
10/17 St. Louis, MO – The Pageant
10/18 Memphis, TN – Satellite Music Hall
10/20 Cleveland, OH – Algora Ballroom
10/21 Greensboro, NC – Piedmont Hall
10/22 Atlanta, GA – The Eastern
10/24 Dallas, TX – Sick New World Texas