Mastodon Drummer Explains Why Band Decided to Make a Double Album

Double albums are typically a hefty task for bands, especially given the human attention span with music. Mastodon drummer Brann Dailor has explained to Loudwire Nights host Toni Gonzalez why the band decided to make their upcoming release, Hushed and Grim, a double album.

"It's just a feeling, really it came down to having a wealth of material. We ended up with 20-something songs, and not all of them were finished, but the ones that were, we'd gotten to about 15 of them," Dailor said. "After doing demos and having the demos mixed, I had a sequence worked out and I would listen to them start to finish. And probably for the first time, it just felt like the right thing to do."

Dailor admitted that Mastodon used to aim for their albums to be around 45 to 50 minutes long so that listeners wouldn't lose interest in them. According to Medium, various studies show that the human attention span has shortened in recent years — hence platforms such as TikTok have grown so popular, because the content is limited to only 60 seconds.

So while Mastodon's prior strategy actually aligned with that notion, Dailor assured that they've ditched it, and that he didn't feel bored or restless while listening to Hushed and Grim all the way through.

"I felt that they all sort of made sense and worked together as one big piece, and I couldn't imagine getting rid of any of them… Because at this point, we're going to have to cut like seven songs if we're gonna get it down to be 45 minutes long," the drummer continued.

Rather than setting the collection of songs aside for a later release, the band felt it appropriate to just leave them and make it a double album.

"For some bands, I think it makes sense to put out a double album, and I think that we're one of those bands. I think that our fanbase almost expected, at some point, that we would do that," Dailor concluded.

Hushed and Grim will be out Oct. 29 — pre-order it on Mastodon's website. To hear the full interview, tune into Loudwire Nights tonight at 7PM ET.

Loudwire Nights with Toni Gonzalez airs nightly starting at 7PM ET. You can tune in anytime, from anywhere right here or by downloading the Loudwire app.