For more than two decades, Georgia-based, Grammy Award-winning heavy metal band Mastodon have made a career out of fitness rooms.
Throughout this time, the band shared the stage with a plethora of peers, but they bonded with French metal band Gojira. The two will share the stage at the Arizona Financial Theater on Saturday, April 22 with Lorna Shore.
“It’s pretty natural between us and Gojira,” says drummer Brann Dailor.
“We worked together for years with these guys and became very good friends. It still makes sense because I feel like we’re like-minded bands and we have a unique take on heavy music.
Although the two offer similar sounds, Dailor says touring with Gojira forces Mastodon to dig deep into the heavier side of his discography.
“That’s especially true for a band like us where we have a very wide range of versions of ourselves,” Dailor says.
“We want our fans to be thrilled, but we also want to appeal to some people who may not have seen us and we have to be aware of what those people are coming to see. Because the other two bands are so heavy, we’ll probably feature the heavier version of ourselves with our setlist.
For this reason, Dailor says the band intends to dust off thrash tunes from previous albums like “Remission,” “Leviathan,” and “Blood Mountain.”
Because these tracks come with heavy, relentless beats, Dailor prepared for the tour much like an athlete would prepare for an upcoming sports season. He submits to going to the gym and spending hours behind his basement drum set five days a week.
“I try to treat it like a bit of a job and I’m a big fan of making heavy metal drumming an Olympic sport,” he laughs. “It takes me a long time to prepare for a tour and I really increase the intensity as we get closer to it and start rehearsals in our rehearsal room.”
While delivering the beat for a fast-paced metal band can be physically grueling, Dailor admits there’s one track he’s been looking forward to.
“I love playing ‘The Wolf is Loose’ because it’s really fast and it’s got all the parts and it’s just a crazy track,” he says.
However, as exciting and glamorous as being a rock star may seem, Dailor craves a “normal” life. He admits that after the first leg of the tour, he is excited to enjoy sunny days filled with grilled meats and playing with the newest addition to his family, a boxer pup named Beefcake.
“I’m looking forward to summer and ‘grilling and chilling,’” he says. “I also recently got a puppy that has been a big part of my life, so my time off from the tour will likely be spent on my patio grilling and hanging out with my girlfriend and the pup.”
Dailor says, however, that he is focused on delivering a killer performance at each of the band’s 17 stops on the tour’s first leg.
“I hope the fans think it was the best moment they’ve ever seen and I hope they have to have reconstructive surgery on their face because we melted it,” he laughs. “I just hope they feel like they had an awesome night with all three bands and felt like they got what they paid for.”
The Mega Monster Tour: Mastodon and Gojira with Lorna Shore
WHEN: 7 p.m. Saturday April 22
OR: Arizona Financial Theatre, 400 W. Washington Street, Phoenix
COST: Tickets start at $39.50
INFORMATION: mastodonrocks.com, livenation.com
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