Mastodon's Brann Dailor to release book of clown drawings made in quarantine

A montage of some of BRann Dailor's clown art

(Image credit: Brann Dailor)

Last year, we brought you news that Mastodon's Brann Dailor had spent his downtime during the pandemic drawing spine-tingling creepy clowns. Well, good news, heavy metal clown fans: those drawings are now to be published in a book titled 101 Clowns Of The Coronavirus.

The images Dailor drew include a clown version of Iron Maiden’s Number Of The Beast album cover, a clown-inspired Jaws poster and his dog, Thriller, depicted as a clown.

He says that he sent some of the pictures to friends and other musicians, including Lars Ulrich, Joey Jordison, Gojira’s Joe and Mario Duplantier, Deftones’ Chino Moreno and more.

“Everybody’s fragile, and feeling kind of sad,” Dailor told Metal Hammer. “Sometimes the clowns would pick them up, and sometimes the clowns would remind them of how special human relationships are and how much they miss everybody.”

“It’s this meditation that’s been important to my mental health throughout this experience,” he said. “Everyone is dealing with it in their own way, but for me it was imperative that I sit down and do this. I draw these two clowns hugging, like, ‘I needed that’, you know what I mean?”

“The clowns kept me from spiraling out during all the uncertainty,” Dailor explains in a new statement. “They kept me from sinking into a deep depression or experiencing crippling anxiety. The clowns were perfect for that — even the dark ones.”

The drummer commenced the unusual project on the first day of lockdown in Atlanta, on March 24 of last year. Elaborating on the clown-creating process that took place over quarantine, Dailor states in the book's foreword: “I’d get up every day and have my glass of water, two tangerines and a cup of coffee. Then I’d crack the sketchbook open. In my notes on my phone, I probably had 10 or 15 clown ideas I could pull from if I hadn’t thought of something the night before.

“The thing that I came to find out is that anything is clown-able. The clown is such an icon that you can turn anything into a clown.”

Alongside the illustrations, which are often set in spooky settings inspired by horror films like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, the book will contain written commentary by fellow musicians like Metallica’s Lars Ulrich, Queens Of The Stone Age’s Josh Homme, Lamb Of God’s Randy Blythe, Sean Ono Lennon, Deftones’ Chino Moreno, among others.

As a matter of fact, Dailor's love for clowns goes beyond pen (or pencils) on paper, as he's actually a keen collector of all sorts of clown memorabilia. Some of the things Dailor has collected over the years include a replica of the possessed clown from Poltergeist, as well as three masks from the horror comedy Killer Klowns From Outer Space.

On top of the book, fans will be able to purchase t-shirts and screen prints. Pre-order 101 Clowns of the Coronavirus now.

Brann Dailor's clown art — (Image credit: Brann Dailor)

Liz manages Louder's social media channels and works on keeping the sites up to date with the latest news from the world of rock and metal. Prior to joining Louder as a full time staff writer, she completed a Diploma with the National Council for the Training of Journalists and received a First Class Honours Degree in Popular Music Journalism. She enjoys writing about anything from neo-glam rock to stoner, doom and progressive metal, and loves celebrating women in music.