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RARE PHOTOS: Bill kelliher - The Real Truth

"We're honouring a legend." Inside King Ultramega, the star-studded tribute to Chris Cornell featuring members of Soundgarden, Alice In Chains, Mastodon, Anthrax and more

How a spur-of-the-moment pandemic jam turned into a special tribute to a much-missed legend

Metal Hammer

“The Silver Burst is synonymous with the band. We were talking about how cool it would be to continue that tradition”: Nick Johnston embraces his Mastodon turn with his most metal signature Schecter yet

The guitar completes Johnston’s “evolution” from a single-coil loyalist to twin humbucker convert

Guitar World

“When the first riff came together, we locked in and played it for 100 hours.” How a song about a big angry whale helped four Southern misfits hang with Slipknot and Slayer - and become 21st century metal trailblazers

Making a snarling concept piece about Moby-Dick doesn’t sound like a move for mainstream appeal, but that’s exactly what Mastodon found with the lead single of 2004 masterstroke Leviathan

Metal Hammer

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“I discovered that you need to be anxious – it keeps you motivated. I try to feed off the anxiety and play guitar”: The life and times of Brent Hinds, the visionary guitarist with a maverick style who made Mastodon a big beast of metal

Guitar World pays tribute to the late Brent Hinds, one of metal's wildest and most inventive players, who died on 20 August

Guitar World

“What can we do to make people realise what a great soul we lost? We can turn that sad energy into this great album”: Tragedy lies behind most of Mastodon’s music. Hushed And Grim was no different

In 2021 the band released their first double-length record, which would prove to be their last with Brent Hinds. They hoped it would be their last to be inspired by personal catastrophes

Metal Hammer

“He’s gonna be on the new record, for sure. He’s writing like crazy”: Mastodon have seemingly confirmed their new guitar player – revealing Nick Johnston is writing and recording for their next albums

The guitarist had been drafted in as a touring guitarist following Brent Hinds’ departure, but it seems he’s part of the band’s long-term planning

Guitar World

“My mind’s the most cosmic place I could ever visit. All I have to do is zone out and play the guitar, and before you know it, I’ve visited places unheard of”: Remembering Brent Hinds, the maverick who trampled metal guitar underfoot with Mastodon

Unorthodox, virtuosic, wild in all the right ways, wholly unique, Brent Hinds was the guitar hero the 21st-century metal needed

MusicRadar

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"I will miss your crazy ass Manimal." Mastodon's Bill Kelliher pays tribute to former bandmate Brent Hinds

"I didn’t think you’d be taken from us like this"

Metal Hammer

“All that we accomplished after that first fistfight in the van 25 years ago. I didn’t think you’d be taken from us like this”: Mastodon guitarist Bill Kelliher issues first public statement following Brent Hinds' death

Hinds, Mastodon's co-founder and co-leader for a quarter century, died last week following a tragic motorcycle accident

Guitar World

Brent Hinds 1974 – 2025

Mastodon's former guitarist, who passed away following a motorcycle accident in Atlanta, Georgia on August 20, was a true untameable force of nature

Metal Hammer

“I’m an oddball when it comes to the metal scene”: Co-leader of Mastodon for a quarter century, Brent Hinds was a one-of-a-kind guitarist who took metal guitar into uncharted territory – because he never considered himself a metal guitarist

Hinds was killed in a motorcycle accident on Wednesday, August 20

Guitar World

“They kicked me out of the band for embarrassing them for being who I am”: Brent Hinds says he was forced out of Mastodon – despite claims his departure was amicable

Hinds has seemingly shed more light on his surprise Mastodon departure in a recent comment on social media

Guitar World

"I've never met three people that were so full of themselves. It's disgusting." Ex-Mastodon guitarist Brent Hinds hits out at his former bandmates in scathing social media post

Brent Hinds' latest outburst against his former Mastodon bandmates suggests his exit from the group was less than amicable

Metal Hammer

“I know I’m being judged right now. I read comments saying, ‘You’ve got nothing on Brent.’ I’m not worrying. I feel free”: How Nick Johnston went from instrumental virtuoso du jour to joining Mastodon and playing Ozzy Osbourne’s final show

The Canadian instrumentalist has taken the leap from small clinics to festival stages in his stride, and thanks to his 10-year relationship with Schecter, he’s got a custom Silverburst to match his new bandmates

Guitar World

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Metal Hammer

"An evolving creation to pay tribute to the voice of a generation": Listen to new supergroup King Ultramega's cover of Soundgarden's Rusty Cage

King Ultramega are made up of members of Alice In Chains, Mastodon, Anthrax and Metal Allegiance

Guitar World

“Brann told me I’d be the first person he’d call if anything ever came up. That’s what he did”: How prog fusion ace Nick Johnston ended up replacing Brent Hinds in Mastodon on tour – after a casual coffee hang

Johnston has replaced Hinds on the band’s current tour

Guitar World

“Instead of being like, ‘Hey, man, you’re my favorite guitar player,’ I was like, ‘Watch out for that cable running across the floor’”: Bill Kelliher on his awkward Tony Iommi encounter and Mastodon’s Back to the Beginning plans

As he gears up for Black Sabbath's last hurrah, the Mastodon man looks back on his brief – but probably very helpful! – exchange with Tony Iommi, and explains why no-one tops the Sabbath riff lord

MusicRadar

“I won’t miss being in a sh** band with horrible humans”: Mastodon guitarist slams ex-bandmates

Brent Hinds left metal band in March

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Guitar World

Mastodon recruit prog fusion virtuoso Nick Johnston as surprise new stand-in guitarist following Brent Hinds’ departure

The Canadian instrumentalist – known for his rock and fusion chops – has linked up with Bill Kelliher and co for the start of Mastodon's 2025 Infinite Arc tour

Metal Hammer

“Brent had an Iron Maiden jacket on so I went over to him to talk to him and he was like, ‘Hey you’re that crazy drummer dude’”: The chaotic birth of prog metal giants Mastodon

How Mastodon crawled from the Atlanta underground metal scene to become one of the most important bands of the 21st century

Metal Hammer

“She was looking at her pill bottles. I knew she was going to die so I was like, ‘Put it down. Live right now’”: Mastodon’s Bill Kelliher wrote songs for Emperor Of Sand at his mum’s deathbed

A cancer tragedy and other real-life dramas inspired Mastodon’s seventh album Emperor Of Sand, which they believe was 17 years in the making

Guitar World

Brent Hinds plays first show since leaving Mastodon – and he has plenty more lined up

Since departing the metal giants after 25 years, Hinds has already taken to the stage with his “psychobilly surf” outfit – and three of his bands will play the same show in April

Guitar World

“Bill, Troy and I were rocking it – I took a step back, only to clip my heel on a monitor wedge. I went ass-over-teakettle”: How Ben Eller went from Mastodon super-fan to filling in for Brent Hinds – and taking it all in his stride

Despite an embarrassing stage fall and frustrating in-ear monitor problems, the YouTuber had a blast alongside his buddy Bill Kelliher. But he can’t discuss what might happen next…

Guitar World

“My lead skills are decent enough – but whoever we get is going to be light years ahead of me”: Brent Hinds’ exit left Mastodon at a crossroads. But for Bill Kelliher, it’s an opportunity for a fresh start with a new guitar wingman

After 25 years, the metal heroes are without a lead guitarist. In his first interview since the split, Kelliher reveals what went down – and what he’s looking for from a new six-string partner in crime

Guitar World

“I went into this looking at it as one of the coolest things I could ever be part of, but knowing the backlash could be brutal”: Ben Eller was wary of the reaction he’d get for stepping in for Brent Hinds in Mastodon – but that didn’t stop him saying yes

The Youtuber and Mastodon mega-fan stepped in at the last minute for the band’s Tool Live in the Sand set, even if it risked dividing the fanbase

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