MASTODON's BILL KELLIHER Opens Up About Economics Of Touring: 'The Band Is The Last Person To Get Paid'

In a new interview with The Break Down With Nath & Johnny, Bill Kelliher of world-renowned American metal band MASTODON opened up about the realities of post-pandemic touring, including increased travel expenses — gas, tour buses, hotels and flight costs. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Well, honestly, it's a few different moving parts, because during COVID no one toured and a lot of places shut and a lot of people changed careers, like techs that work for bands went into the real estate business or got regular jobs. Everyone was scrambling for money. And it was a fucking disaster. So, the trickle-down effect of supply and demand, getting places. For instance, petrol, gas, it trickles down when the price of gas… People can't get gas, there's lines, it's all economics. Everything relies on transportation, especially our band. And we had turned down a couple tours in Europe just because we were gonna basically break even. And there's a few different reasons for that, because on one hand, we have the biggest production we've ever had in our careers, which is great. But trying to pull that off in Europe is much harder. First of all, gas is way more expensive. The lorries, the trucks, they're smaller, so we'd have to get a few more trucks, double the amount of trucks we have over here. And the drivers are hard to find. Brexit happening, where… Usually we rent from the U.K., and the drivers, there were a lot of times we could find the vehicles, but we didn't have drivers, or vice versa — lots of drivers, but no vehicles. 'Cause everybody's back on tour trying to make up that lost money during COVID, and it's still happening. Even though the last U.S. tour we did with LAMB OF GOD was a huge success — it was great — best ever. But we can't have the huge production that we have in the States, go over to Europe and not do the same thing. If you go over there with a backdrop, you could make some money, but if you bring lasers, video wall, all your crew and techs, the fire and all this, you can't do that. And the crowds are gonna be, like, 'Oh, what the fuck? Why don't you have that here?' And they're not gonna comprehend what I just told you… We can't go to Europe for a month and not make any money, just to play shows. Everyone else gets paid. The band is the last person to get paid."

Bill continued: "I think it was two years ago in August, we went to Japan, and we barely get to Japan, either just because the economy and the cost. And Japan's very — the cities are kind of spread out and it's difficult to maneuver sometimes logistically, even though they're the best crowds. Every time we go over there, they're so precise. If you borrow amps or rent amps there, hire equipment stuff, they're amazing. They pay attention to detail, and they're just amazing. We went over there, and a lot of the fans, I mingled in the crowd a little bit, and we played just one festival over there. I was, like, 'Why can't we play, like, three or four shows while we're here?' We just can't. Talking to people, they were, like, 'Japan just started letting people congregate in groups now.' This is two and a half years ago, whatever.

"Things are bouncing back, but there was definitely irreparable damage done to the whole industry," Kelliher added. "People are just — they're finding different ways to make money. Like hustling. That's me. I've always been a hustler, even before MASTODON. I was, like, I don't have a college education. I never took guitar lessons. I'm just a fucking dude from the streets. And it's, like, how do we make money? Sell stuff, sign stuff, play guitar on stage, sell it. Those are things musicians are doing now. And a lot of people don't understand that are out in the audience. They go to the merch stand and they're, like, 'Oh, their fucking t-shirts are sixty dollars. They're just raking us over the coals.' It's, like, let me explain the details. Venues, they take 20 to 30 percent sometimes — most of the time — of your merch money, when they have nothing to do with merch money. And they shouldn't. If you play with a bigger band like SLAYER, METALLICA, IRON MAIDEN, you have to price match with their shirts. So there's a lot of things that are hidden from the general public."

Addressing the merchandise cuts that the promoters are taking from artists, Bill said: "It's pretty standard. We've been fighting it for years. In the contracts, we'd cross that part out. Like, 'No, we're not gonna do that. Why should we do that?' We have a merch company. We have a merch person that comes on the road with us. They're an extra body. They fly where we fly, we pay their ticket, they stay in hotels, they're an extra body, they get a per diem. You go to the venue that day, and the venue says, 'No, we have our own people that [sell the merchandise].' And we're, like, 'Hey, we have our own credit card machine.' They're, like, 'Nope. You're gonna use ours, and we're gonna charge you to use it.' So it's, like, you're just getting fucked everywhere."

MASTODON performed its entire "Leviathan" album on the recent "Ashes Of Leviathan" co-headlining tour with LAMB OF GOD.

"Leviathan", released on Relapse Records, was MASTODON's first concept album, loosely based on the 1851 novel "Moby-Dick" by Herman Melville.

MASTODON's latest album, "Hushed And Grim", was a double LP recorded at the band's Atlanta studio, West End Sound. The effort was produced by David Bottrill (TOOL, RUSH, MUSE, PETER GABRIEL) and was MASTODON's most expansive song cycle to date, featuring 15 distinct tracks. It achieved the band's third consecutive No. 1 debut on the Billboard Hard Rock Albums chart and earned MASTODON a Grammy Award nomination for the track "Pushing The Tides". Additionally, the album's single "Teardrinker" secured a top 10 position on the rock radio charts, a further testament to the band's widespread acclaim.

Last month, MASTODON and LAMB OF GOD shared a collaborative new single called "Floods Of Triton". The track, which was recorded prior to the launch of the "Ashes Of Leviathan" tour, was made available via Loma Vista Recordings.

"Floods Of Triton" was recorded at MASTODON's own West End Sound in Atlanta and was produced by MASTODON and Tyler Bates, highly regarded in his own right for his scores for "Guardians Of The Galaxy", "John Wick", "MaXXXine" and more.