MASTODON's BRANN DAILOR On 'Marrow Deep': 'It's The Right Record For Us At This Point In Time'

In a new interview with Brooksy and JD of Australia's Rebel FM, MASTODON drummer/vocalist Brann Dailor spoke about the band's long-awaited new album, "Marrow Deep", which will arrive on August 28 via Loma Vista Recordings. The LP marks MASTODON's first full-length to feature guitarist Nick Johnston alongside significant contributions from keyboardist João Nogueira. "Marrow Deep" was co-produced by MASTODON at the band's own West End Sound in Atlanta with Patrik Berger (Lana Del Rey, Charli XCX) and Kurt Ballou (HIGH ON FIRE, CONVERGE) and was mixed by Andrew Scheps (Adele, BLACK SABBATH, METALLICA).

Brann said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET):  "Yeah, I'm excited [to finally see 'Marrow Deep' released]. We've been sitting on it for a little while, so it'll be nice to get it out there and get it to its first day of school and see if anybody picks on him. Maybe he can sit with the cool kids right off the bat, but we'll see."

Asked if releasing "Marrow Deep" feels "cathartic" or "more anxiety-ridden", considering that the album will arrive a year after the death of MASTODON's founding guitarist Brent Hinds, Brann said: "I'd say it's a bit of both. Just as there's feelings on the other side with the fans that they haven't felt before, there's feelings that we haven't felt before. We haven't released an album without [all] four main [members of MASTODON]. And so there's a little bit of the unknown, which is okay. I don't know how they're gonna react to it. I just know that the only thing that I have ever had any control over is the way I feel about it personally. And then the people in the room who made the record — myself, Bill [Kelliher, guitar], Troy [Sanders, bass/vocals], and then João and Nick sort of came in at the end to help out as well — but when we got it to the finish line of, like, okay, listening from start to finish, all I can do is make sure that I'm in love with everything that is gonna be on the record, and that's all I can really do. So I got it to that point — I got it to the point where I needed it to be, and so that has worked for me for 26 years, and so that's where I'm at. But in the same breath, there's some ground here that hasn't been tread yet, so I guess we'll see what happens. I'm excited, though, because I believe in the record, and I think that it's the right record for us at this point in time."

Last month, Sanders told Jai "Jaimunji" Setright of Australia's Metal On Tap about the making of "Marrow Deep": "We're excited for this thing to come out. It's been maybe five years since our last record, 'Hushed And Grim'. We spent a year working on the demo portions of this, and then another year really honing in, the writing and recording. And we finished it, like, eight or nine months ago, so we've been sitting on it for a while, so we're all very, very excited to let go and get it out there. So anyone that cares can have a listen."

Regarding the songwriting process for "Marrow Deep", Troy said: "Our guitar player, Bill Kelliher, he brings a Pro Tools rig on the road with us, and he is constantly writing. And I think it kind of really picked up around 2024. We did a North American tour with LAMB OF GOD. We called it the 'Ashes Of Leviathan' tour, and during that tour is what I remember, like, starting to really put more attention on writing, 'cause we knew we needed to stop touring on 'Hushed And Grim' and get going with some new stuff. And then, of course, in the first half of 2025, we spent a lot of time demoing songs. We had, like, 32 skeletons of songs, which was awesome, but it was too much. And we're, like, 'How do we dwindle this down?' And we started demoing in Bill's basement. He's got a small studio in his home, and we just demoed a whole bunch of stuff, which led to honing in on that even more. We ultimately started recording the album in September of '25, so it's been nearly a year since we started recording this thing. So the writing was kind of hit or miss. It was constant for the past couple of years, because someone's always collecting riffs, lyrical ideas, et cetera. But the writing really ramps up as you're gearing towards, 'We need to record.'"

Inspired by the Three Fates of Greek mythology and the fragile threads connecting life, loss, and destiny, "Marrow Deep" channels the intense personal experiences of the intervening years into some of the most expansive, adventurous, and emotionally resonant music of MASTODON's storied career.

Troy said: "Our drummer Brann Dailor had the idea to get into some mythology on this record and have the three fates be the overlying theme, if you will. [It's] probably a coincidence that there's the three core guys in myself, Bill and Brann. But it kind of perfectly encapsulates everything that we're feeling and thinking and doing, from the past, the now and the moving forward. So to me, it makes perfect sense, and it's genius the way that Brann kind of put those pieces together. And on top of that, we've got our keyboard player that's been touring with us for five years. His name is João Nogueira. He's all over the new record, and he collaborated on tons of this stuff. And our new guitar player, Nick Johnston, we've been touring the world with him for a year and a half now. He had a lot to contribute to this new record with riffs, solos, full songs. And ultimately it felt very... To me, it felt kind of triumphant that we had five guys in the studio with really a renewed sense of energy and purpose, and all five people very aligned, present in the room, waiting to collaborate or chip in or record this bit or change that, and just be a part of this collective. I do feel like this is obviously a different record in our career because we've been a four-piece forever, and now we're a five-piece with a new guitar player. And just having the energy involved making it was probably my most proud moment of the record. It's not anything per se on the album, but just the energy of making it through all this up and down and all this unknown. I didn't feel that way while it was happening, but it took a little while after to realize, like, 'Oh yeah.' We were all in that studio for the five weeks all together, all on the same page and very aligned. It was pretty special. Ot took me a minute to see that."

After Setright noted that "it's nice" to see MASTODON getting new members Johnston and Nogueira involved in the making of "Marrow Deep", Troy said: "Anyone that's got a good idea and if they're excited about it, then, like, let's explore that, because energy and excitement is where good things can happen.

"Some bands, they can find this really cool formula and they can kind of repeat that, and that's awesome," Sanders explained. "The three of us did not wanna be, like, 'Hey, this is a new album. The three of us are gonna kind of put this album together.' Thankfully it wasn't like that because we want these extra layers and these extra textures and sounds and involvement. So having piano and keys and organ all over the record takes it to another level. Having all the guest vocalists and percussionists on the album helps add these other flavors. Of course Nick's playing, it's very MASTODON-ish, but it's different, and it feels like this next proper step of our own evolution. So it's cool. It was cool to see it unfold, as a member of the band and a fan of the band. It was pretty exciting, actually."

MASTODON will celebrate the "Marrow Deep" release with the upcoming "The Poisonous Weapons Tour", a nationwide run of dates with support from DEAFHEAVEN and ALCEST. Kicking off September 16 in Orlando, the trio of bands will cut their way across the full country before closing out October 24 at Sick New World Dallas.

Hinds departed MASTODON in March 2025. Brent passed away in a motorcycle accident five months later. He was replaced by Johnston.

Since 2000, Hinds had served as lead guitarist and vocalist for MASTODON, alongside Sanders, Dailor and Kelliher.