Mastodon dedicated their new single, Your Ghost Again, to late founding guitarist Brent Hinds as they performed it live for the first time ever last week.
At the first date of their ongoing European tour at the O2 Universum in Prague, Czech Republic, on June 3, the Atlanta progressive sludge metal band’s singer/bassist Troy Sanders highlighted a sign from a fan which he said read, “He will forever be in our hearts. Brent Hinds.”
“You’re right,” he added. “That brings us to something we don’t do very often. We’d like to play a brand-new song for you guys. […] This is the first song of our entire career that wasn’t worked on with our friend Brent. He passed away last year, so we’d like to do a new song and dedicate it to Brent because we miss him and we love him, also.”
Watch Sanders’ speech and the performance below.
Hinds died on August 20, aged 51, after his motorcycle collided with an SUV in his adopted hometown of Atlanta. He’d previously parted ways with Mastodon in March. Your Ghost Again was released on June 2 and was written about the late guitarist.
Drummer/vocalist Brann Dailor explained the meaning behind the song in a statement, saying, “Your Ghost Again is about being in those familiar places you used to be with people, which for us is in the studio. I just kept seeing [Hinds] out of the corner of my eye, where he would normally be with his guitar.”
He added: “It’s about that: your mind plays tricks on you, especially so soon after someone dies and you’re in the places where they always were. You just see them.”
Sanders said that his lyrical portion of the track was “all about Brent, and for Brent. The bridge lyrics are two lines of pure gratitude towards Brent.”
Your Ghost Again was the follow-up to 2024’s Floods Of Triton, which was made in collaboration with fellow US metal heavyweights Lamb Of God. The new song is likely to appear on Mastodon’s upcoming and as-yet-unannounced ninth studio album, which has been completed.
On August 23, three days after Hinds’ death, Dailor paid tribute to the guitarist onstage during a concert in Alaska.
“We loved him so, so, so very much,” he told the live audience. “And we had the ups and downs of a 25-year relationship. You know what I mean? It’s not always perfect, it’s not always amazing, but we were brothers to the end. And we really loved each other and we made a lot, a lot of very beautiful music together. And I think that that’s gonna stand the test of time, evidenced by you people here tonight.”
Mastodon have played live with guitarist Nick Johnson since Hinds’ exit. Kelliher has previously hinted that Johnson was involved in the writing and recording of their upcoming album. The band’s European tour continues on Tuesday (June 9) at Komplex in Zurich, Switzerland, and they will take the stage at Download festival in Donington, UK on June 14.
