Brann Dailor is one of those drummers which being a drummer myself makes me feel completely inadequate when I sit down at my kit. Sure, I could give you some bullshit line about how he inspires me to take my playing to the next level, but thats exactly what it would be, bullshit. Branns playing transcends what my rational mind can comprehend and with the exception of picking up my old LSD/Mushroom habit again, I just dont see myself ever coming anywhere near his caliber of performance. Branns so good in fact, that a few years ago Dave Grohl said that in his opinion, Brann is the best drummer in the world so yeah, theres that.
On a personal level, Brann is equal parts funny and lighthearted as he is intelligent and completely down to earth, which is apparent in the following interview as we nerd out over some of our favorite bands, what some defining moments in Branns life with Mastodon were, where he draws inspiration from and how sometimes that can lead to him leaving riffs on his answering machine which later become Mastodon songs.
Chris Grosso: Hey Brann, thanks for taking the time to do this today.
Brann Dailor: No problem man. Youre with Suicide Girls right?
CG: I am indeed.
BD: Nice, I always wanted to be a Suicide Girl. I could picture myself doing something really hot on a bearskin rug or something.
CG: Well hey man, I can always look into that for you.
BD: Could you? Lets figure that out.
CG: Absolutely. Im going to get to the bottom of this and I dont care whos at the top.
BD: Okay, thanks. Id appreciate it.
CG: No problem. So bearskin rugs aside, the first time I saw Mastodon was back in the early 2000s here in CT at the Bristol Skatepark where there was easily less than 100 kids there.
BD: Yeah, I actually remember that show.
CG: Ah, right on. Its always fun playing on half pipes, right?
BD: Of course.
CG: So its been pretty crazy to watch you guys go from playing on said half pipes for relatively small crowds to playing the main stage at things like this years Mayhem Fest, or other fests like Bonnaroo, Coachella and touring with iconic bands like Metallica, Alice In Chains and so forth. What do you attribute your continued success and consistently growing number of fans too?
BD: You know, its funny cause yeah, now were playing in front of thousands of people, but still, less than a hundred people like it (laughing). But seriously, I dont know what to attribute it to. We just write our music and try to be honest to ourselves about what we dig and we just put it out there. I think we take chances and people appreciate that about us, but I think you have to do that or its worthless.
CG: Yeah, I definitely agree with that.
BD: Theres so much out there thats retreaded.
CG: For sure.
BD: So you need to try and reach down and be that original piece of art that everybody expects. You need to try harder, and I think we do. Sometimes it comes easily and other times, not so much, but still, I couldnt tell you why anyone likes it. I know that I, and the guys in the band like it. Thats been one of our things since day onewe never wanted to chase what we thought somebody else wants to hear from us. Theres a certain cross section of our fan base that wants to hear Remission over and over again, which I totally understand because Im that way with some bands as well. Its like, well, I like the first album and second album but after that Ive lost my liking for whatever I felt that bands particular trip was, but if were constantly going back to that record, were not being true to ourselves and that would come across in the performance and be insincere for the fans as well.
CG: Sure, that makes sense.
BD: Right, so yeah man, who knows. People like what they like and its all circumstantial. Like maybe they broke up with their girlfriend around the time a particular album came out and they decided to give it a try and they were able to sync everything that happened in their experience into that album. Or theres always people who hear something they didnt dig at first for whatever reason and then ten years later they end up falling in love with it.
CG: Yup, guilty.
BD: Yeah, so we feel like if we as a band fall in love with what were writing, then the feeling is there and its going to transfer to somebody as a real thing. Its not manufactured in any way so then hopefully that person is going to fall in love with it for the same reasons we did. Like, going back to what I was saying with the Remission album, you might have people thinking that thats what they want from us, but if we were to try and do that and werent feeling it, it wouldnt be a real thing, so it wouldnt be what they wanted, because if they heard it theyd say, uh because we wouldnt really be in it. Wed be doing it to appease someone so it wouldnt be a real thing.
CG: Right. I can really respect that, though Im sure some fans dont totally grasp it, but its definitely keeping things real for all parties involved.
BD: Right. So theres my very longwinded answer for your question.
CG: And I appreciate it. Id rather that than some bullshit throw away, so thanks for taking time with it.
BD: Cool.
CG: So with all the amazing things Mastodon has done in its career, is there a personal highlight, a very surreal, or wow moment for you that tops everything else, like a particular show, tour, or album etc?
BD: Well theres always the cool stuff like finding out the people youve idolized and looked up to as a kid know who you are and know your name, which has happened a lot of times now and is really just awesome. It happened with the Metallica guys and other people we really admire whove said they like our band and they support us. I mean, we never dreamt those people, those bands would ever want to have anything to do with us in the beginning, so its been cool getting to open for so many of them and to hang out with them. Its super fun.
CG: Sure, I could only imagine.
BD: As far as crowning achievements, I think when we finished Crack The Skye and sat down on the couch together and listened to it from start to finish we were all blown away by the band wed become. We didnt know that was inside of us, so when we heard it all the way through for the first time, we were in love. We couldnt believe that wed made it. There were high fives, big hugs and tears of joy. And then after that, we knew that we could go there now as a group of four people. We knew that we had it in us to do something which in our opinion surpassed what we thought we could do in the past.
CG: Thats truly amazing man. And quickly to go back to the first part of your answer when you said its cool that people know who you are, I remember reading a quote from Dave Grohl a while back in which he said that in his opinion, youre the best drummer alive... I mean, how cool is that?
BD: Yeah, that was really cool to hear. Hes another person that I didnt think knew who we were but weve hung out many times since then and are pretty good friends. And there have been other really cool things like The Mars Volta guys telling us they were fans and that they listened to Hearts Alive every night before they went on stage, which was really amazing because were such big fans of theirs, but then you get to a point where you realize were all just musicians and were all the same in a way. So its cool and quite an honor to be amongst people like Josh Homme, Jerry Cantrell, the Deftones and so forth. I cant tell you how many drunken nerd out sessions weve had and annoyed the shit out of these people saying things like, Oh man, Im such a big fan of yours and I saw you this time here, and that time there, but youve gotta have your fan boy moments, and they (the bands/musicians) just have to sit there and deal with it (laughter).
CG: Speaking of fan boy moments, I would have had no shortage of them myself at the the show you guys played last month with Quicksand & High On Fire in San Francisco. How was that experience and were there any particular highlights from that one for you?
BD: The whole thing was a highlight. Ive been a huge Quicksand fan since that Slip record came out.
CG: Same here.
BD: That was one of those records that made the rest of my record collection pretty obsolete for quite a while. I do that, Ill get addicted to a particular record for a while and when I try to make myself go listen to something else, its like, no, no, no, I just cant do it. Like the new Queens Of The Stoneage record, I cant stop listening to it.
CG: Well, yeah, because its awesome.
BD: Right, exactly. But the show with Quicksand was amazing, especially because I didnt think itd ever happen since theyd disbanded so many years ago. I saw them on the Slip tour with Snapcase and Seaweed I think.
CG: Jesus, thats an amazing lineup. I saw Quicksand and Seaweed on the first Warped Tour back in 95, but that was it, I never got the club experience.
BD: Yeah, it was fun. And Snapcase was cool too, but I lived in Rochester so Ive seen them plenty of times too.
CG: Yeah, they were always great live. I was coincidentally just telling my wife yesterday that their Lookinglasself album was the first vinyl I bought as a teenager.
BD: Ah, very nice. And I see youve got the Deadguy shirt going on, old school New Jersey right there.
CG: For sure. Theyre still one of my favorite bands hands down, as is Neurosis, speaking of which, (did somebody say segue?) you guys have worked with one of their guitarist/vocalists Scott Kelly on a number of songs now. Can you tell me a bit about your relationship with Scott and what its collaborating with him?
BD: Yeah, were dear friends. Again, hes someone, I dont want to say I idolized, but really looked up too for sure. Theres certain bands weve looked up too that are definitely pillars for us, Neurosis, Melvins, Tool, people whove conducted themselves in a certain way business wise and even image wise as well, which have provided a model to look at that weve tried to adhere to in certain ways. We keep those bands and people in mind when we make certain moves. Its like, Hmm, would Neurosis do this? I dont think so, theyre too fucking cool man (laughter) or, Would the Melvins do this? I dont think so, and we want to be cool right? So lets not do that. But seriously, there is a little validity in that, theyre good role models for a band like us and if it wasnt for them we wouldnt exist, plain and simple. I did a tour with them when I was in a band called Today is The Day back in the day
CG: Yeah, Steve and Today Is The Day are great.
BD: Yeah, they are. We did a tour in Europe and there were nineteen people on one bus. It was us, Voivod and Neurosis and being in such close quarters made it easy to get to know one another really well. Scott and I ended up becoming close and ever since then I just wanted to keep him in my life, so I would call him often. I kept him in the loop when I left Today Is The Day to let him know what I was doing. I even called him at his house and asked what he thought of the name Mastodon when we were getting started. He had his son Damon with him who was like twelve at the time and he said, Damon, Mastodon as a band name, what do you think? and Damon gave him the thumbs up so it was cool. I mean, we wouldnt even name our band without clearance from the man himself, Scott Kelly so yeah. He sang on Aqua Dementia first and thats when we were getting the balls to ask some of our friends to sing on songs, because it was a bit nerve-racking, like going up to a pretty girl and asking her out on a date she might say no (laughter). But I was pretty confident that hed say yes, so I let him know that song made me think of him and that I could hear him doing something over it and if he dug it to let me know, and he was totally down for it. We also had Fallon from Clutch come and sing on Blood and Thunder and that was amazing.
CG: Yeah, thats all very amazing for sure. So I know were just about out of time here, but I did want to ask you quickly, besides music, where else do you draw inspiration in life from?
BD: Pretty much any and everywhere all day long. Im big into movies and documentaries and was telling this story the other day about when King Kong came out, how I had to leave the theater in the middle of it to go use a payphone to call my house and leave a riff on the answering machine, which became the riff in Crystal Skull that Scott (Kelly) sings over actually. So it could really be anything. Im always seeking it. I read a lot of books and look for things on the page, a phrase that lights up which I can take and use as a jumping off point for lyrics. I try to travel as much as I can, even when Im home from tour Ill go to Peru or Egypt or Russia if I hadnt have gone on that trip to Russia I wouldnt have been able to finish my Crack The Skye story with the Rasputin thing because I got really inspired there with all the beastial imagery and what not. So Im always looking for it no matter where I go, keeping my eyes and ears open. You can get a riff just walking down the street in silence and then all of the sudden the most beautiful noise can enter your brain and hopefully I can guide that noise, that sound to Bill or Brents fingers which will possibly then make it onto the record and in turn, the people in the crowd can have fun with it and when it all comes full circle, that chain of events happened because I simply decided to take the dog for a walk and I love that.
CG: Awesome, an absolute perfect place to wrap this up. Thanks so much for your time and Im psyched for your set later on.
BD: Thanks man. Have a good one.
On a personal level, Brann is equal parts funny and lighthearted as he is intelligent and completely down to earth, which is apparent in the following interview as we nerd out over some of our favorite bands, what some defining moments in Branns life with Mastodon were, where he draws inspiration from and how sometimes that can lead to him leaving riffs on his answering machine which later become Mastodon songs.
Chris Grosso: Hey Brann, thanks for taking the time to do this today.
Brann Dailor: No problem man. Youre with Suicide Girls right?
CG: I am indeed.
BD: Nice, I always wanted to be a Suicide Girl. I could picture myself doing something really hot on a bearskin rug or something.
CG: Well hey man, I can always look into that for you.
BD: Could you? Lets figure that out.
CG: Absolutely. Im going to get to the bottom of this and I dont care whos at the top.
BD: Okay, thanks. Id appreciate it.
CG: No problem. So bearskin rugs aside, the first time I saw Mastodon was back in the early 2000s here in CT at the Bristol Skatepark where there was easily less than 100 kids there.
BD: Yeah, I actually remember that show.
CG: Ah, right on. Its always fun playing on half pipes, right?
BD: Of course.
CG: So its been pretty crazy to watch you guys go from playing on said half pipes for relatively small crowds to playing the main stage at things like this years Mayhem Fest, or other fests like Bonnaroo, Coachella and touring with iconic bands like Metallica, Alice In Chains and so forth. What do you attribute your continued success and consistently growing number of fans too?
BD: You know, its funny cause yeah, now were playing in front of thousands of people, but still, less than a hundred people like it (laughing). But seriously, I dont know what to attribute it to. We just write our music and try to be honest to ourselves about what we dig and we just put it out there. I think we take chances and people appreciate that about us, but I think you have to do that or its worthless.
CG: Yeah, I definitely agree with that.
BD: Theres so much out there thats retreaded.
CG: For sure.
BD: So you need to try and reach down and be that original piece of art that everybody expects. You need to try harder, and I think we do. Sometimes it comes easily and other times, not so much, but still, I couldnt tell you why anyone likes it. I know that I, and the guys in the band like it. Thats been one of our things since day onewe never wanted to chase what we thought somebody else wants to hear from us. Theres a certain cross section of our fan base that wants to hear Remission over and over again, which I totally understand because Im that way with some bands as well. Its like, well, I like the first album and second album but after that Ive lost my liking for whatever I felt that bands particular trip was, but if were constantly going back to that record, were not being true to ourselves and that would come across in the performance and be insincere for the fans as well.
CG: Sure, that makes sense.
BD: Right, so yeah man, who knows. People like what they like and its all circumstantial. Like maybe they broke up with their girlfriend around the time a particular album came out and they decided to give it a try and they were able to sync everything that happened in their experience into that album. Or theres always people who hear something they didnt dig at first for whatever reason and then ten years later they end up falling in love with it.
CG: Yup, guilty.
BD: Yeah, so we feel like if we as a band fall in love with what were writing, then the feeling is there and its going to transfer to somebody as a real thing. Its not manufactured in any way so then hopefully that person is going to fall in love with it for the same reasons we did. Like, going back to what I was saying with the Remission album, you might have people thinking that thats what they want from us, but if we were to try and do that and werent feeling it, it wouldnt be a real thing, so it wouldnt be what they wanted, because if they heard it theyd say, uh because we wouldnt really be in it. Wed be doing it to appease someone so it wouldnt be a real thing.
CG: Right. I can really respect that, though Im sure some fans dont totally grasp it, but its definitely keeping things real for all parties involved.
BD: Right. So theres my very longwinded answer for your question.
CG: And I appreciate it. Id rather that than some bullshit throw away, so thanks for taking time with it.
BD: Cool.
CG: So with all the amazing things Mastodon has done in its career, is there a personal highlight, a very surreal, or wow moment for you that tops everything else, like a particular show, tour, or album etc?
BD: Well theres always the cool stuff like finding out the people youve idolized and looked up to as a kid know who you are and know your name, which has happened a lot of times now and is really just awesome. It happened with the Metallica guys and other people we really admire whove said they like our band and they support us. I mean, we never dreamt those people, those bands would ever want to have anything to do with us in the beginning, so its been cool getting to open for so many of them and to hang out with them. Its super fun.
CG: Sure, I could only imagine.
BD: As far as crowning achievements, I think when we finished Crack The Skye and sat down on the couch together and listened to it from start to finish we were all blown away by the band wed become. We didnt know that was inside of us, so when we heard it all the way through for the first time, we were in love. We couldnt believe that wed made it. There were high fives, big hugs and tears of joy. And then after that, we knew that we could go there now as a group of four people. We knew that we had it in us to do something which in our opinion surpassed what we thought we could do in the past.
CG: Thats truly amazing man. And quickly to go back to the first part of your answer when you said its cool that people know who you are, I remember reading a quote from Dave Grohl a while back in which he said that in his opinion, youre the best drummer alive... I mean, how cool is that?
BD: Yeah, that was really cool to hear. Hes another person that I didnt think knew who we were but weve hung out many times since then and are pretty good friends. And there have been other really cool things like The Mars Volta guys telling us they were fans and that they listened to Hearts Alive every night before they went on stage, which was really amazing because were such big fans of theirs, but then you get to a point where you realize were all just musicians and were all the same in a way. So its cool and quite an honor to be amongst people like Josh Homme, Jerry Cantrell, the Deftones and so forth. I cant tell you how many drunken nerd out sessions weve had and annoyed the shit out of these people saying things like, Oh man, Im such a big fan of yours and I saw you this time here, and that time there, but youve gotta have your fan boy moments, and they (the bands/musicians) just have to sit there and deal with it (laughter).
CG: Speaking of fan boy moments, I would have had no shortage of them myself at the the show you guys played last month with Quicksand & High On Fire in San Francisco. How was that experience and were there any particular highlights from that one for you?
BD: The whole thing was a highlight. Ive been a huge Quicksand fan since that Slip record came out.
CG: Same here.
BD: That was one of those records that made the rest of my record collection pretty obsolete for quite a while. I do that, Ill get addicted to a particular record for a while and when I try to make myself go listen to something else, its like, no, no, no, I just cant do it. Like the new Queens Of The Stoneage record, I cant stop listening to it.
CG: Well, yeah, because its awesome.
BD: Right, exactly. But the show with Quicksand was amazing, especially because I didnt think itd ever happen since theyd disbanded so many years ago. I saw them on the Slip tour with Snapcase and Seaweed I think.
CG: Jesus, thats an amazing lineup. I saw Quicksand and Seaweed on the first Warped Tour back in 95, but that was it, I never got the club experience.
BD: Yeah, it was fun. And Snapcase was cool too, but I lived in Rochester so Ive seen them plenty of times too.
CG: Yeah, they were always great live. I was coincidentally just telling my wife yesterday that their Lookinglasself album was the first vinyl I bought as a teenager.
BD: Ah, very nice. And I see youve got the Deadguy shirt going on, old school New Jersey right there.
CG: For sure. Theyre still one of my favorite bands hands down, as is Neurosis, speaking of which, (did somebody say segue?) you guys have worked with one of their guitarist/vocalists Scott Kelly on a number of songs now. Can you tell me a bit about your relationship with Scott and what its collaborating with him?
BD: Yeah, were dear friends. Again, hes someone, I dont want to say I idolized, but really looked up too for sure. Theres certain bands weve looked up too that are definitely pillars for us, Neurosis, Melvins, Tool, people whove conducted themselves in a certain way business wise and even image wise as well, which have provided a model to look at that weve tried to adhere to in certain ways. We keep those bands and people in mind when we make certain moves. Its like, Hmm, would Neurosis do this? I dont think so, theyre too fucking cool man (laughter) or, Would the Melvins do this? I dont think so, and we want to be cool right? So lets not do that. But seriously, there is a little validity in that, theyre good role models for a band like us and if it wasnt for them we wouldnt exist, plain and simple. I did a tour with them when I was in a band called Today is The Day back in the day
CG: Yeah, Steve and Today Is The Day are great.
BD: Yeah, they are. We did a tour in Europe and there were nineteen people on one bus. It was us, Voivod and Neurosis and being in such close quarters made it easy to get to know one another really well. Scott and I ended up becoming close and ever since then I just wanted to keep him in my life, so I would call him often. I kept him in the loop when I left Today Is The Day to let him know what I was doing. I even called him at his house and asked what he thought of the name Mastodon when we were getting started. He had his son Damon with him who was like twelve at the time and he said, Damon, Mastodon as a band name, what do you think? and Damon gave him the thumbs up so it was cool. I mean, we wouldnt even name our band without clearance from the man himself, Scott Kelly so yeah. He sang on Aqua Dementia first and thats when we were getting the balls to ask some of our friends to sing on songs, because it was a bit nerve-racking, like going up to a pretty girl and asking her out on a date she might say no (laughter). But I was pretty confident that hed say yes, so I let him know that song made me think of him and that I could hear him doing something over it and if he dug it to let me know, and he was totally down for it. We also had Fallon from Clutch come and sing on Blood and Thunder and that was amazing.
CG: Yeah, thats all very amazing for sure. So I know were just about out of time here, but I did want to ask you quickly, besides music, where else do you draw inspiration in life from?
BD: Pretty much any and everywhere all day long. Im big into movies and documentaries and was telling this story the other day about when King Kong came out, how I had to leave the theater in the middle of it to go use a payphone to call my house and leave a riff on the answering machine, which became the riff in Crystal Skull that Scott (Kelly) sings over actually. So it could really be anything. Im always seeking it. I read a lot of books and look for things on the page, a phrase that lights up which I can take and use as a jumping off point for lyrics. I try to travel as much as I can, even when Im home from tour Ill go to Peru or Egypt or Russia if I hadnt have gone on that trip to Russia I wouldnt have been able to finish my Crack The Skye story with the Rasputin thing because I got really inspired there with all the beastial imagery and what not. So Im always looking for it no matter where I go, keeping my eyes and ears open. You can get a riff just walking down the street in silence and then all of the sudden the most beautiful noise can enter your brain and hopefully I can guide that noise, that sound to Bill or Brents fingers which will possibly then make it onto the record and in turn, the people in the crowd can have fun with it and when it all comes full circle, that chain of events happened because I simply decided to take the dog for a walk and I love that.
CG: Awesome, an absolute perfect place to wrap this up. Thanks so much for your time and Im psyched for your set later on.
BD: Thanks man. Have a good one.