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Troy Sanders of Mastodon (someone we’ve dubbed one of the Best Bassists of All Time!) sits down with Kyle Meredith to reflect on celebrating the 20th anniversary of Leviathan on their recent co-headlining tour with Lamb of God — a tour that felt like a reunion of old friends. Listen above or wherever you get your podcasts.
“Co-headlining works for us,” Sanders explains, still in that post-tour haze. “It’s teamwork — no competition. We’ve been talking about doing this for years, and it finally came together.” The two bands were out marking 20 years since their respective Leviathan and Ashes of the Wake albums dropped, both record redefining what heavy music could be. The tour wasn’t just nostalgia; Sanders says it was about honoring an era when both bands took major leaps: “We weren’t afraid to distance ourselves from the bands we were touring with. It was about being bold.”
Boldness is something Mastodon knows well. When they dropped Leviathan, a conceptual metal album built around Herman Melville’s Moby Dick, it was an all-in risk that could have sunk them. Instead, it blew open the doors. “It was a leap, but we truly believed in it,” Sanders says. The reward for that leap? Crack the Skye — a sprawling, astral concept album that took things even further. The record, which is getting a 15th anniversary edition, brought in a mix of astral projection, Rasputin, and personal heartbreak to create something that straddled the line between concept and catharsis. “It sounds insane when you say it out loud,” Sanders laughs, “but it worked.”
The 15th-anniversary edition of Crack the Skye includes a look behind the scenes and a silent film that accompanied their live shows, visuals Sanders says were always integral to the record. “The whole package is huge for us: album art, stage visuals. It’s always about the complete experience.” It’s that commitment to the totality of their art that’s kept Mastodon evolving. “Every album, we challenge ourselves. Art has to be selfish; you’ve got to love it first,” Sanders says.
Now that the tour’s behind them, Sanders is looking ahead to new material, including the recently released collaboration with Lamb of God, “Floods of Triton.” “We’ve got a lot of loose demos, and we’re ready to dive in. Nothing is off-limits,” he adds, smiling at the thought of what’s next. For Mastodon, there’s no formula — just the thrill of finding the next creative edge and jumping in headfirst.
Listen to Mastodon’s Troy Sanders discuss the 15th anniversary edition of Crack the Skye above, or watch the interview below. Keep up on all the latest episodes by following Kyle Meredith With… on your favorite podcast platform; plus, check out all the series on the Consequence Podcast Network.