When Brent Hinds left Mastodon after 25 years, Marcus King stepped up to help one of his guitar heroes get back on the road. Months later, King says he was forced to kick Hinds off the tour as the guitarist's increasingly erratic behavior spiraled into backstage chaos.
Hinds co-founded the Atlanta progressive metal outfit alongside Bill Kelliher and Brann Dailor in 2000. Then, to the shock of the band’s fanbase, Mastodon announced its split with Hinds after 25 years together in March 2025. At the time, Kelliher described it as “a hard decision we all had to make.”
Following his departure, Hinds focused on his solo work, and King — a longtime admirer of his genre-blurring talents — invited him out on tour.
Speaking during a recent appearance on the Joe Rogan Experience, King hailed Hinds as “the fucking man,” but admitted their time working together was regretfully short-lived.
“Brent and Mastodon kind of had a mutual agreement that he would leave the band, so he was doing his solo thing, and he’s one of my heroes,” King explained. “I was like, ‘I’ll take you out, sure,’ and he just threw it together somehow.
“Then I ended up having to kick him off the tour, which broke my heart,” he added. “But he kind of forced my hand.”
King, who has been candid about his own struggles with alcohol and substance abuse — he once got so drunk he doesn’t remember buying a vintage electric guitar — said he could relate to some of Hinds’ behavior during that period.
The split from Mastodon had clearly been difficult. Several months after leaving the band, Hinds publicly blasted his former bandmates, calling them “horrible humans,” before later claiming that “they kicked me out of the band for embarrassing them for being who I am.”
Still, King had a tour to run.
I walked into the dressing room, and Brent was peeing on the floor. I said, ‘No, no, you have to stop.’”
— Marcus King
According to the guitarist, the breaking point came after an incident involving a member of Hinds’ touring camp.
“The night in question, I walked outside, and he had this tour manager named Angela, and she was crying, and my tour manager was holding her, and she was crying,” King recalled. “I was like, ‘What happened?’ She said, ‘I walked into the dressing room, and Brent was peeing on the floor. I said, “No, no, you have to stop.” So then he peed in his mouth.’”
King laughed as he recounted the story, calling the incident “hilarious,” but acknowledged that it had deeply upset the tour manager.
After that, he said, Hinds’ place on the tour became increasingly difficult to justify.
“I was ready to fix it,” King continued. “But his whole band and crew were like, ‘It’s not working.’ He was just, just partying a little too much.”
Despite the chaos, King’s recollections were ultimately affectionate. Following Hinds’ death in a motorcycle crash in August 2025, he attended the guitarist’s funeral, where the story took on a life of its own.
“At his funeral, I told Matt Pike that story,” King said. “He was like, ‘Yeah … and? That’s normal.’”
Hinds would later contribute what is believed to be his final recorded guitar solo to The Marcus King Band’s “Red Door,” playing his trusted Banker Ironman SG-style guitar on the track.
“He slept on the living room couch for a week (or two, who’s counting) with the Marcus King Band at the house they rented down in Macon, Georgia, while they were writing and recording their latest record, Darlin’ Blue, at Capricorn Studios,” Banker Guitars wrote on Instagram.
“Ever the stubborn perfectionist, he managed to do 278 takes before landing on the one he liked best.”
In the months since Hinds’ death, his former Mastodon bandmates have also spoken openly about the difficulty of moving forward without their longtime friend and collaborator. The band’s recent single, “Your Ghost Again,” marks its first release since his passing.
“I understand that, from a fan’s perspective, we never really addressed it. We just couldn’t; it was too much,” Dailor said in an interview shared on the band’s social channels. “I know Brent’s not there, and I know it’s weird, and it’s hard, and 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.”
