MASTODON Will 'Definitely' Record A Studio Version Of BLACK SABBATH's 'Supernaut': 'We Have To'

At this year's Bloodstock Open Air festival in the United Kingdom, MASTODON's Brann Dailor and Bill Kelliher took some time out with Bloodstock TV host Oran O'Beirne to talk about their experience performing at the "Back To The Beginning" event, celebrating the life of Ozzy Osbourne and BLACK SABBATH. Asked if they knew about the concert far in advance, Brann said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "It was probably about six months, I think, before [it took place]. Maybe there was an original six bands that got chosen or whatever before some other bands got added later. And so we got an e-mail asking about it, if we were interested. And at first it was, like, 'Are you sure? Are you sure you don't have the wrong people or something?' Our manager actually joked that it was the fastest reply that they had ever gotten from us collectively." Bill quipped: "We replied, like, I think 0.10 seconds before they actually asked us to do it. We had already replied 'yes.'"

Brann went on to say that it was "the honor of a lifetime" to be asked to perform at "Back To The Beginning". "It's better than a Grammy," he said. "It's better than anything that anybody could ever bestow upon you to be called upon by the giant oak tree that is BLACK SABBATH. In other genres of music, the founders, they're not alive. So it was really, really an incredible honor just to picked to do it. And, yeah, so then it was the arduous task of picking the [SABBATH] song [to play at the event]."

Regarding how MASTODON ended up choosing "Supernaut" to play at "Back To The Beginning", Bill said: "'Supernaut', I've loved that song. I mean, all their songs are great, but that one I couldn't imagine coming to practice one day as [SABBATH guitarist] Tony Iommi and saying, 'I've got a good riff, man. You guys wanna see what I've got', and playing that riff, and just being like… You must have sold your soul to learn that riff. The devil gave you that riff. So to see that it wasn't chosen yet was — 'That's the one. Let's do that.'"

Added Brann: "So, obviously, there was the songs that SABBATH themselves were gonna do. And so they were doing their biggest hits and their biggest songs. Initially I wanted to do 'Children Of The Grave' just 'cause our band, we live in 6/8 [tempo], that heavy metal shuffle that that 'Children Of The Grave' invented for us. We have a lot of songs that are in that; that's a very, very comfortable wheelhouse for us. But I saw LAMB OF GOD had already picked that, which I figured it would be scooped up — that one — pretty quickly, being such an amazing song. But then [we saw] 'Supernaut' [was available], and I was, like, 'What about 'Supernaut'?' I felt like I could sing it, so it was kind of gonna kind of maybe come down to that, if I could pull it off, playing drums and singing it. And then when we got picked to open, I was, like, 'Man, I think if we crush this, it's gonna be the perfect opening kind of song.' It's a high-energy one. Some of the doomier ones might have been a little too slow to really kick things off. But this was the perfect one, I think."

Asked if MASTODON has recorded a studio version of "Supernaut", Bill said: "Not yet, but we've been talking about it, for sure. We have to. We've been playing it every night. We've recorded it a few times live, and it's come out… Who knows? Maybe we'll do a live version, do a studio version." Brann added: "We're definitely recording it."

Three days after MASTODON performed at "Back To The Beginning", Dailor took to his social media to share a few photos from the event, and he included the following message: "Such an unbelievable outpouring of love, friendship and gratitude. We were so honored to be asked to perform.

"For months I've been trying to conjure up in my mind what it was going to be like, but it ended up being unlike anything I had ever experienced in my life, a new feeling. It was such a beautiful experience. From the stage, the side stage, the dressing room and out in the audience, the love was just pouring out of everyone for the last time that we will all be able to let [BLACK SABBATH] and [Ozzy Osbourne] know just how very much they mean to every one of our lives.

"All the performers gave their all trying to make Dad SABBATH proud! When Ozzy hit the stage, there wasn't a dry eye in the stadium. It stayed like that until the fireworks went off after SABBATH.

"What an incredibly emotional day for everyone. I'll be riding this high for a long time and I will cherish these memories for the rest of my life. I'm so very grateful for this life experience.

"Thank you BLACK SABBATH for giving us a space to be creative and the greatest genre of music there is, heavy metal. Ozzy Osbourne, I love you, thank you for everything!! You mean the world to me. Also a major thank you to Mario Duplantier [GOJIRA], Eloy Casagrande [SLIPKNOT] and Danny Carey [TOOL] for jamming with me during 'Supernaut', three of the best drummers in the world and some of the finest human beings, you made the day even more special, I love you. Thank you Bill Ward for showing us the way. You're my greatest inspiration!

"What a day! Music never felt so powerful. Going to carry this into our next recording coming up soon!"

According to The Guardian, "Back To The Beginning" was livestreamed to more than five million fans worldwide (with peak audience of 5.8 million fans watching the livestream).

Ozzy played a five-song set with his solo band — consisting of guitarist Zakk Wylde, bassist Mike Inez, keyboardist Adam Wakeman and drummer Tommy Clufetos — before being joined by fellow original BLACK SABBATH members Tony Iommi (guitar),Geezer Butler (bass) and Bill Ward (drums) for four classic SABBATH songs: "War Pigs", "Iron Man", "N.I.B." and "Paranoid".

Ozzy's solo set consisted of four songs from Osbourne's 1980 solo debut album "Blizzard Of Ozz" — "I Don't Know", "Mr. Crowley", "Suicide Solution" and "Crazy Train" — along with his 1991 "No More Tears" ballad "Mama, I'm Coming Home".

The 76-year-old heavy metal singer sang while seated on a black throne and appeared overcome with emotion at times. "You have no idea how I feel. Thank you from the bottom of my heart," he told the crowd.

At the end of SABBATH's set, Ozzy said: "It's the last song ever. Your support has enabled us to live an amazing lifestyle, thank you from the bottom of our hearts." Osbourne was then presented with a cake, while fireworks lit up the stadium from overhead.

A message on screen then read, "Thank you for everything, you guys are fucking amazing. Birmingham Forever," before the sky lit up with fireworks.

More than 40,000 fans attended the event, which also saw performances from METALLICA, SLAYER, PANTERA, LAMB OF GOD and ANTHRAX, among others. Profits from the show will be shared equally between the charities Cure Parkinson's, Birmingham Children's Hospital and Acorn Children's Hospice.

There was also an online auction benefiting those charities. Items up for bid included two Gibson guitars signed by performers, a GUNS N' ROSES pinball machine, several gold record and CD displays including BLACK SABBATH's "Paranoid", LED ZEPPELIN's "Physical Graffiti" and METALLICA's "Master Of Puppets", plus more than a dozen travel packages.

A livestream of the daylong event was announced in June. While it was called a livestream, the video was delayed two hours from the in-arena start time.

The all-day event at Villa Park, produced by Live Nation, was hosted and compered by American actor Jason Momoa.

Curated by RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE guitarist Tom Morello, the event featured arguably the greatest lineup of rock and metal bands ever assembled on one day.

Two hastily assembled supergroups — dubbed Supergroup A and Supergroup B — performed at the event, with EXTREME's Nuno Bettencourt taking part in a five-song set of covers, while ex-Ozzy guitarist Jake E. Lee made an appearance for covers of "The Ultimate Sin" and "Shot In The Dark". Former JUDAS PRIEST guitarist K.K. Downing joined Morello, Billy Corgan (SMASHING PUMPKINS) and Adam Jones (TOOL) for a rendition of PRIEST's "Breaking The Law", while LIVING COLOUR's Vernon Reid hopped onstage for a cover of Ozzy's "Bark At The Moon", with GHOST's Papa V Perpetua (a.k.a. Tobias Forge) handling lead vocals.