‘Bill & Ted Face the Music’ producers enlist Mastodon for soundtrack

Bill & Ted Face the Music may feature music from Mastodon, according to one of the members of the heavy metal band.

During a guest appearance on the Rock n’ Roll Beer Guy podcast on Tuesday, May 26, guitarist Bill Kelliher revealed that he and his bandmates “wrote a killer f—ing song” for the upcoming third installment of the comedy film franchise.

“We got asked a couple months ago to be a part of the new Bill & Ted movie,” he said with a laugh. “So we wrote a song to be in the movie.”

Though he expressed excitement for the highly anticipated film starring Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves, Kelliher, 49, suggested that the process of recording the song was slightly tedious.

“Working with Hollywood is always an adventure,” said the Mastodon co-founder.

In the past, the Crystal Skull rockers have created original music for Adult Swim‘s Aqua Teen Hunger Force and HBO‘s Game of Thrones, in which the four-piece made multiple cameos as villainous White Walkers.

“They think that when you’re a musician, it’s like going to McDonald’s,” Kelliher said of industry executives. “They (think they) can just order what they want, get it (their) way and then there it is.

“It doesn’t (work like that) … at least with our band,” he added. “To write it, arrange it, record it, mix it and then master it? That’s gonna take a month — at least.

“You can’t just write a good song in a day and have it recorded. It doesn’t work that way. It’s not gonna have any soul.”

Though the “music director” for the long-awaited Bill & Ted film reportedly hand-picked the band, Kelliher revealed it was a mere “20-second clip” that director Dean Parisot didn’t “really like.”

The guitarist said that the producers wanted “an AC/DC-style” song.

“I was like, ‘Then f—ing call AC/DC,’” he added. “I was p—ed.”

Furthermore, upon being asked if the band could change the song, Kelliher recounted saying: “No, I can’t. I’m not changing this, sorry. Just don’t use the song.”

“(They) obviously asked for Mastodon because (they) wanted to hear a Mastodon-style riff,” Kelliher said to the host. “(And) we wrote a killer f—ing song.

“The music director loved the song, but the director was like, ‘This is clashing with that.’”

“(They’ve) had it for months. Why didn’t you tell us that months ago?” Kelliher said. “Especially now, with the pandemic, nobody can be in the same room together.

“It’s not like we live in the same studio and can pull stuff out of our a– all day long.”

Despite the supposed altercation, Kelliher said Mastodon was in the stages of “wrapping” the song now ⁠— in the midst of the global coronavirus crisis ⁠— suggesting they may have since made some adjustments for the director.

Global News has reached out to a representative of Parisot seeking additional comment.

Additionally, Kelliher revealed that Mastodon was working on the followup to its Grammy Award-winning album Emperor of Sand (2017) before the novel coronavirus hit.

“We were kind of right in the middle of it … we had about 20 rough songs recorded right before this (pandemic) hit, and it just totally put the brakes on it,” he said.

“I’m actually leaving tomorrow for Atlanta. We’re gonna get back together and try to get back into finishing a few things that we started and see where we get.”

As of this writing, the release date for Bill & Ted Face the Music has not been affected by COVID-19. It is currently scheduled for an Aug. 21 release worldwide.