Mastodon’s Hinds sticks to his guns

Mastodon’s Brent Hinds says his parents warned him against pursuing a music career as the chances of him being successful were “one in a million.”

He tells PartySmasherInc’s Ben Weinman: “My dad warned me, ‘what you’re going to try to do for a living is a one in a million chance. Hardly anyone makes it in the music business. You need to go to college, get a proper education and raise a family – that’s a guaranteed good living.’

“I said, ‘Thanks dad, but no thanks, I’m going to give this music thing a chance.‘”

And he says the reason he did make it was because of his Mastodon band members Troy Sanders, Bill Kelliher and Brann Dailor

He continues: “I met the right bunch of guys that had the same vision I did and they were willing to be hungry with me and willing to eat sardines and live on mustard and stuff like that. That’s the demographic you have to form with other guys in order to get to where we are now.”

Hinds also reveals that when he’s off the road, he likes to get creative by painting and sculpting as this stops him from feeling “worthless.”

He adds: “That’s what completes me. It’s my other medium of art: painting, drawing and wood sculpting. Without it, I feel like I’m worthless. When I’m off tour, I still have to do art to feel like I’m worth something.”

Dillinger Escape Plan’s Weinman and Hinds will continue work on the Giraffe Tongue Orchestra project this year, which also includes former Jane’s Addiction bassist Eric Avery and ex-Mars Volta drummer Jon Theodore.

Mastodon have a UK tour coming up, which takes in nine dates across the country supporting their sixth album Once More ‘Round The Sun.

Tour dates

Nov 20: Belfast The Limelight

Nov 22: Southampton O2 Guildhall

Nov 24: Manchester Academy

Nov 25: Newcastle O2 Academy

Nov 26: Glasgow O2 Academy

Nov 28: London O2 Academy

Nov 29: Birmingham O2 Academy

Dec 01: Nottingham Rock City

Dec 02: Bristol O2 Academy

Scott Munro
Louder e-commerce editor

Scott has spent more than 30 years in newspapers, magazines and online as an editor, production editor, sub-editor, designer, writer and reviewer. Scott joined our news desk in the summer of 2014 before moving to the e-commerce team in 2020. Scott maintains Louder’s buyer’s guides, scouts out the best deals for music fans and reviews headphones, speakers, books and more. He's written more than 11,000 articles across Louder, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and Prog and has previous written for publications including IGN, the Sunday Mirror, Daily Record and The Herald, covering everything from daily news and weekly features, to video games, travel and whisky. Scott's favourite bands are Fields Of The Nephilim, The Cure, New Model Army, All About Eve, The Mission, Cocteau Twins, Drab Majesty, Marillion and Rush.