When Mastodon released their latest single, “Your Ghost Again”, last month, drummer Bran Dailor hit the band’s relative silence regarding the passing of former guitarist, Brent Hinds, head-on.
“I understand that, from a fan’s perspective, we never really addressed it, he said in an interview promoting the track. “We just couldn’t; it was too much. Some people might be like, ‘Well, I don’t want to listen to it because Brent’s not there, and I’m hurting about that,’ but we are too. I’m still unpacking it.”
Hinds and Mastodon had split in March 2025, with YouTuber and Mastodon superfan Ben Eller drafted in at the last minute for the Tool in the Sand festival, before recruiting Canadian prog fusion ace Nick Johnston permanently. Six months later, Hinds was killed in a motorcycle crash in his hometown of Georgia.
The band paid a brief tribute to him following their next show, in Alaska, with Dailor’s voice breaking as he spoke of the “beautiful and creative” Hinds. But otherwise, Mastodon have been quiet about the virtuoso with whom they spent 25 years, writing eight albums, and scoring a Grammy win for the 2017 track “Sultan’s Curse.”
Now, as the first anniversary of his passing at 51 draws near, the band has released a short film addressing Hinds’ shock departure from the group and his subsequent and untimely death.
“I wasn’t ready to address it,” Dailor says of his speech at the Alaska State Fair. “I didn’t even know what happened. But I also feel like doing all this will hopefully be really beneficial for a lot of the people that are looking at us and being like, ‘Yo, you’re leaving us hanging.’ I totally understand that, and to the fans, I’m sorry that I wasn’t able to be there for them when that happened because I couldn’t for myself.”
The film sees Dailor, alongside guitarist Bill Keliher and bass player and vocalist Troy Sanders, sitting in an Atlanta movie theater, watching archival footage of the band, including a “bright-eyed, busy-tailed” Hinds as they got their big break supporting Iron Maiden in Scandinavia in 2005.
Vitally, they also address his demons, and how he was never able to “switch off” his destructive tendencies.
“There was a certain level that Brent would get to where I just had to excuse myself,” Dailor says. “He wanted you to come into the abyss.”
It was this part of Hinds’ demeanor, they said, that forced the band’s hand. A band meeting was called.
“I had written a very long letter of all the reasons why I’m unhappy. And all the reasons that we’ve tried and pleaded and begged and tried to keep this together, being forever hopelessly optimistic, but to no avail,” says Sanders.
“I started reading my letter, and not even halfway through, Brent realized that all of my issues were directed at him. And it’s the same stuff we’ve had dozens of band meetings about in the past. Before I’m halfway through, he stands up and walks out of the practice space. And that’s the last time I ever saw him.”
Following his departure from Mastodon, Hinds was taken on tour by Marcus King and even recorded a guitar solo with the group. But once more, his wild antics became his undoing. He was reluctantly kicked off the tour.
“We really were coming from a place of love, like maybe if we maybe this will be like some kind of bottom for him; we had to set some boundaries,” says Dailor. “We just wanted that beautiful, amazing creature, Brent, who played incredibly ripping and beautiful solos back. We desperately wanted that guy. But, he showed us time and time again that that person wasn’t coming back without some kind of dramatic change.”
