Mastodon look to have ended speculation over the identity of their new full-time guitarist by confirming that their next album will feature parts written and recorded by Nick Johnston.
The Canadian prog shredder joined the band as a touring guitarist earlier this year, following the shock departure of founding riff-wizard Brent Hinds.
The announcement came just days before they were due to play at the Tool in the Sand festival in the Dominican Republic, with YouTuber and Mastodon superfan Ben Eller drafted in as a last-minute stand-in.
Afterwards, the band’s other guitarist, Bill Kelliher, told Guitar World that they wouldn’t be rushing to find a replacement and revealed what the Atlanta Grammy winners were looking for in their next guitarist.
Fans didn’t have to wait long to see who was next in line, with Schecter signature artist Nick Johnston tapped up for their tour with Periphery and Coheed & Cambria.
However, it seems he’s here to stay, with Kelliher revealing that Johnston has become involved with the writing process for the follow-up to 2021 double album, Hushed and Grim.
“Even before Hushed And Grim was finished, I still had extra songs, and then I just kept writing more and more and more,” he tells Blunt Mag. “So now we’ve got, like, 20-some ideas.
“I own a studio, so we’ll demo the stuff at my house, and we'll bring it to my studio with my engineer. Then we bring in Nick and João [‘Rasta’ Nogueira], the keyboard player, and we start jamming the songs and say, ‘You wanna add something? Please add whatever you want in here.’”
He adds that the material that has been written thus far is “mostly Brann [Dailor, drums/vocals] and me.” Yet, he reveals he's outwardly looking to both Johnston and Nogueira for contributions. He also hints that Johnston is part of the long-term picture.
“It still needs the touch of the other guys, but there are also these whole new songs that Nick is bringing in,” he develops. “So it’s a combination of both. It won’t be until the next record, after this one, I think, where it really will be more Nick being in there. He’s gonna be on the new record, for sure, yes. He’s writing like crazy. I’m writing like crazy.
“We’re so full of energy. We just don’t wanna get lost. I’m, like, ‘Let’s concentrate on the songs that we have that we had before Nick joined and get those out with their help.’ It’s a little lopsided still, because he’s only just joined the band. But it’s still gonna be fucking awesome. I’m so excited. Everything that we’ve been demoing is incredible.”
As things stand, there has been no official confirmation of Johnston’s position in the band beyond what we’ve seen him do on stage, but Kelliher’s words seem to all but confirm his permanent place in the band.
The band's former guitar player Brent Hinds tragically passed in a motorbike accident in August. Brann Dailor led the tributes to the man they wrote “beautiful music” with for a quarter of a century.
Talking to Guitar World in 2022, Hinds said he was the “oddball” of the metal scene, highlighting country players who have had the biggest influence on his one-of-a-kind playing style. Johnston has big shoes to fill, but it sounds like there is harmony in the Mastodon camp, something the band have been desperate for in recent months.
