Mastodon have officially addressed founding member Brent Hinds‘ death in a new 35-minute video nearly a year after the tragedy took place.
Hinds was in Mastodon for 25 years before they split in early 2025. He died in a motorcycle crash a few months later in August at the age of 51 and Mastodon mentioned him the very next day during their performance at the Alaska State Fair.
What Did Mastodon Say About Brent Hinds’ Death?
In a video that was just uploaded to their YouTube channel today (July 8) titled “The Mastodon in the Room,” the rest of the band openly spoke about the guitarist’s death.
“As we enter a new chapter of Mastodon we want to do this the right way and talk about Brent. We’ve all seen the clips, headlines and speculations, but we haven’t told our story in our own words about our 25 year relationship,” the video’s description reads.
“It isn’t easy to talk about Brent, he was our family, someone we all loved wholeheartedly. He was a wild man, our wild man and that came with some challenges. Both things are true and we aren’t interested in chasing one truth over the other. Losing him has meant sitting with a type of grief we never expected. No more hugs, no more high fives, no more disagreements, no more making up. That part has been hard, it’s real.”
Brann Dailor up opened the video and reflected on his tribute to Hinds last year at the Alaska State Fair.
“I wasn’t ready to address it. I wasn’t ready to talk about it, I didn’t even know what happened,” he admitted. “And to the fans, I’m sorry I wasn’t able to be more for them when that happened because I couldn’t for myself. I’m still unpacking it.”
What Was the Mastodon Video About?
Dailor and bandmates Troy Sanders and Bill Kelliher attended a private screening at the Plaza Theatre in Atlanta, Ga. to watch archived footage taken of Hinds and Mastodon throughout the years “to finally confront the Mastodon in the room.”
The trio shared their reactions and spoke about the different memories in the footage as they watched. They seemed especially fond looking back on some of Mastodon’s early years where Hinds was full of excitement about the new opportunities they were getting, such as touring with Iron Maiden in the early 2000s.
“All of us really [were] non-stop trying to make each other laugh. I think that that was a big part of the closeness of our relationship early on. We all had a similar sense of humor,” Dailor recalled.
The movie covered the highs and the lows of Mastodon’s career, including the time Hinds wound up in a coma in September of 2007 after a drunken altercation led to him being punched in the head, which caused brain damage.
“We thought the band was over,” Kelliher said of that particular incident.
“I was like, ‘Man he’s crossed the line. He’s gone too far.’ And he was really fucked up for a long time… But then there was the other side of the coin where we got back home and actually went to go see him and he was playing acoustic guitar a lot. He was like, ‘I wrote all these songs’… Then Crack the Skye happened.”
What Did Mastodon Say About Their Split With Brent Hinds?
During the last third of the video, the Mastodon members addressed the downward spiral Hinds started to take in his final years with the band. They noted the guitarist’s frequent outbursts onstage and how often he partied at night and slept during the day.
“I could see the disconnect happening and the enthusiasm getting less and less, overall camaraderie as a four-piece dwindling. It became quite obvious at the time, the onstage energy would just be hit or miss,” Sanders revealed.
He admitted there were times where he, Dailor and Kelliher debated putting an end to what was happening but were hesitant because of the “love and magic” they sometimes felt during their performances.
But it was during the Hushed and Grim era — their final with Hinds — that they felt the effects of Hinds’ behavior and struggles with alcohol the most. Dailor said he was the one that held out the longest hoping that their bandmate would change.
READ MORE: The 13 Most Shocking Lineup Departures in Rock + Metal
Eventually, they held a band meeting and Sanders wrote a letter to them aloud that noted all of the reasons he was unhappy with their dynamic. He said Hinds eventually realized most of the issues were directed at him.
“Before I’m halfway through my letter that I’m reading, the same way I’m speaking right now, he stands up and walks out of the practice space,” the bassist said. “And that’s the last time I ever saw him again.”
Sanders added that he figured there would be a time where Hinds would have a breakthrough and they would reunite and hug and say they loved each other — they all thought it would eventually happen — but they never had the chance.
Watch the full video below.
Mastodon Officially Address Brent Hinds’ Death in 35-Minute Video
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