I've seen them three times, and you never hear a word out of their mouth that isn't a song lyric or some atonal scream. The opening acts always praise them and give them love, but Mastodon doesn't return the favor. They just show up, belt out a few tunes, throw a bunch of drum sticks and guitar picks and shit at the audience (I swear the drummer guy want to put someones eye out) and then they leave before we can so much as ask them to surprise us with a live rendition of Pendulous Skin.

They don't even give the audience so much as a "Oh my god, we just love *insert city name here* so much! You guys are the only reason we decided to go on tour this year." to boost our spirits and let us know how special we are compared to some of the shit-holes they're stuck playing at in North Korea during the off-season. Couldn't they at least introduce themselves at the end of the show or something so we're in on the joke one day when it turns out Braun and Billy switched places/instruments for a whole set and didn't tell us?

I'm starting to think they're scared of speaking in public.

I love that they don't say anything. A lot of the talking in between songs can ruin my 'vibe.' This is especially true for singers that say some very dumb things. Example? Phil Anselmo. Love Pantera and Down a lot, but just talk less sometimes.

Less banter more intensity. Heads down, riffs out. The way it should be.

would you rather them be like metallica and talking about their next song being from guitar hero?

That would be a lie. Personally I prefer silence over shit.

Who the fuck are 'Braun and Billy'?

it's a bit odd that they don't speak to the crowd, but I've gotten used to it over the yrs

Shut up.

i would do anything for love
and i would do anything for love
i would do anything for love

BUT I WON"T DO THAT

It's actually one of the coolest things about Mastodon.

I've got a live filming of a show they did in Nottingham where Brent goes on about a matey from High On Fire's wrist being fucked up, hence them not playing.

I asked Brent to dedicate "March of the Fire Ants" to me, and he said some guff about them not really being about talking between songs, and I respect that.
It'd ruin the atmosphere if they started chattering away or cracking jokes.

Some bands just dont go for that kinda "no one rocks like.... Springton" stuff. Deftones are the same. Like Jon said: "Heads down, riffs out".

It's just the way they roll, deal with it.

haha im so excited to seem this friday.

Who really cares if they talk or not? Maybe a joke here or there would be nice, but it's honestly the least of my worries when I'm seeing them. More time for them to play music. If you want to talk to them, go meet 'em after the set or something.

The way I see it, they are musicians, not stand up comedians. Most stand up comedians don't sing a song in between jokes...

They've talked the few times I've seen them. They always thank Detroit (at least Brann) though I wish Bill would say something; he looks so lonesome.

he's just busy thinking about star wars, he's doing just fine.

i like how they don't talk, it adds to the stage show. brent did talk a little bit at the end of the second boston show though, before they played emerald.

I like when bands interact with the audience. Being quiet is nice because of the added time and shit, but interaction is cool too because it makes things feel more "real" in a sense. Hearing a band play straight through with no talking gets kinda boring, it's like listening to a record being mimed in a way. With interaction things get to be on a more connected level. Like during Converge the singer talked to a few people in the audience and said some things, and it really showed that they love their fans and truly enjoy being up there performing for the audience. Luckily Mastodon's non-verbal stage presence takes care of that.

We got a nice "Thank you Toronto" from Brann after the set which was awesome. In all honestly, I don't pay to see a show for the band to talk. I want to see them belt their fucking songs out. If they do a little bit of talking between songs, it would take away from the whole feel and atmosphere of the set which is very dark.

id love the introducing of naked burn tho;

"And this song's all about catholic priests fucking small boys in the butthole."

sounds just like brent right there.

Mastodon ISN'T real.

boom. Discussion killed.

I saw them in NYC Friday night and they talked between songs. not every song. everyone was drunk though that night. Brent was dressed up in tights and wore an afro the whole night, im pretty sure he was thin lizzy. instead of the bit for the last song, they played the emerald which was pretty awesome. They got the bassist from converge to sing.

I wish Converge would just talk through their whole set because their "music" is awful.

And what exctly have you based that on?

To me, there is nothing worse than bad stage banter. Some people just never get comfortable with it. At least they are sociable to their fans before and after the shows.

I will say Troy having a few thousnad people wish me a happy birthday in Worcster Mass, on the Jager tour with Slayer while we all did a shot was pretty fucking cool. I drove up to drop off some merch and I was so fucked up by the time I left that I had to leave my van at the venue and took a cab to my hotel.

You should go to a Minsk gig... Tony's Deadly Throws are TDT... The dude hit two foes of mine in the face last sunday... Brian says he hates people xD



And that's what we all should do... Everyone should care of himself... It's THEIR show, their decisions.

Actually Mikael Akerfeldt does it quite well without ruining the mood of the concert, but then again... He's a fucking legend.

I've seen Mikael be VERY uncomfortable with addressing the crowd, especially on those first couple of U.S. tours.

I don't mind them not talking much on stage, but the whole clapping thing right before Colony Of Birchmen I find really, really lame (especially because it's done in such a half-assed way)
I think it's better to either do the things you feel comfortable with and put your all into them, than force yourself to talk to people (or make them clap) when you're obviously not very comfortable with doing that... that's only detrimental to the whole atmosphere

I attended a Mastodon show the day before Blood Mountain was to be released. It was in Cleveland at the House of Blues and for some reason Brent kept fucking up. I'm not sure if it was because he couldn't hear himself in the monitor or what, but towards the last quarter of the set Brent would stop playing altogether intermittently during certain parts. After one of the songs he botched (Megalodon) he threw his water bottle as hard as he could at the wall behind the stage. And then finally, at the end of the set Brent flipped off the crowd and stormed off stage! And they did not do the Hearts Alive encore that night (even though they did it virtually everywhere else on that tour).

My story doesn't pertain to the guys talking on stage, I just thought I'd share...

But the next time I saw them Brent was totally fuckin' FLAWLESS!!!

Converge is terrible! It was painful to see them. The old lady ushers all had very sour faces when that fucking knob of a 'singer' started doing whatever the fuck he was trying to do.

Mastodon are for the most part a professional and serious band. They obviously know how to have fun but take music very seriously on most occasions from what I gather, so why dumb it down with bullshit 'put ups' for the hometown? It's all facetious shit bands say anyway.

I thought you were dead, wanker.

But yeah, you pretty much nailed it.

The music does the talking.

Our singer is under strict instructions to keep banter to a minimum. Ruins the mood sometimes.

When bands do the whole 'We love you *insert city name here*!', it always sounds like they say it to every town. And guess what, they do. It's lame.

I love how they don't speak much, Brent sometimes does, when he's in the mood. When Troy does speak, you'll know it's special, like with Doobler's mom.

Bill does wave from stage, so it's all good.