Video: Mastodon Talk LSD, Iron Maiden, Singing in Dave Grohl's Bathroom

On their new prog-metal masterpiece Crack the Skye, Mastodon pen tales about a paraplegic traveling through space, Russian visionary Rasputin, wormholes and fighting with the Devil. Weird subject matter, that is, until you meet Mastodon. The group's thunderous rhythm section, drummer-lyricist Brann Dailor and bassist Troy Sanders, recently stopped by the Rolling Stone studios to discuss scatterbrain topics like opening for Iron Maiden and Metallica, serenading Dave Grohl in the Foo Fighters' bathroom and taking copious amounts of LSD. Also, Dailor wonders aloud how ironic it is that Steppenwolf coined the phrase "heavy metal" (in "Born to Be Wild"), yet weren't heavy metal at all. Check out all the band's rants in the video above.

The band's high-flying concept album originates in one very simple place: "It comes from taking too much acid," guitarist Brent Hinds tells Rolling Stone in a feature in our current issue. "Acid is the best drug in the world. It did the most amazing things for my creative psyche, and it still is doing it for me." Somehow, Hinds' LSD love is the least shocking revelation in RS' profile of "the greatest metal band of their generation." In just the first paragraph, Hinds threatens to kill Rolling Stone writer Brian Hiatt if he incorporates what was intended to be an off-the-record story about a female celebrity into the article. Hiatt observes Hinds is an "authentic rock & roll madman — sometimes too authentic."

So how did Axl Rose react when Hinds stole his groupie backstage at a 2006 Guns n' Roses concert? Find out in our explosive Mastodon profile in the Lil Wayne-fronted issue of Rolling Stone on stands now.

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Song Stories

“Smells Like Teen Spirit”

Nirvana | 1991

"Smells Like Teen Spirit," named after a brand of deodorant marketed to girls, was Kurt Cobain's attempt to "write the ultimate pop song," he said, using the soft-loud dynamic of his favorite band, the Pixies. Cobain "had that dichotomy of punk rage and alienation," the song’s producer, Butch Vig, told Rolling Stone, "but also this vulnerable pop sensibility. In 'Teen Spirit,' a lot of that vulnerability is in the tone of his voice." Sadly, by the time of Nirvana's last U.S. tour, in late '93, Cobain was tortured by the obligation to play "Teen Spirit" every night. "There are many other songs that I have written that are as good, if not better," he claimed.

More Song Stories entries »

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