It has been nearly one full year since the death of Mastodon guitarist/vocalist Brent Hinds. Now, his former bandmates are speaking out.
In a newly shared documentary, surviving Mastodon members Brann Dailor, Bill Kelliher, and Troy Sanders discuss their collective relationship with Hinds. They do so while watching old footage of themselves from across the many years of their career. The doc spans Mastodon’s early days, their rise to heavy-metal acclaim, and the souring between Hinds and the band.
At one point in the documentary, Mastodon began talking about Hinds’ substance abuse issues. It all came to a head when he got into an altercation in Vegas, some years back. The incident left him seriously injured. In his own words, Hinds said he had been in a pool with Jackass star Steve-O and Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl.
Brent Hinds died in a motorcycle accident in August 2025
While “running around this casino,” he accidentally hit someone with his wet shirt that he had been swinging around. That person punched him in the face and caused him to go into a “coma.” For the rest of the band, this was “the first time Mastodon felt real fragile.”
During the touring cycle for their next album, Crack The Skye (2009), the band began noticing that Hinds was having “performance fatigue.” It was clear that his onstage responsibilities and his nightly “partying” routine were at odds with one another. This led the musician to “cave in on himself,” and sparked “onstage outbursts.”
“I could see the disconnect happening and the enthusiasm getting less and less,” Sanders confessed of the band as the years went on. “[Our] overall camaraderie as a four-piece [was] dwindling. It became quite obvious at that time that the onstage energy would just be hit or miss.”
The remaining members of Mastodon cited substance abuse issues leading to tension in the band
The members of the band began to recognize that things were disjointed between themselves and Hinds. “When it was great, it was great,” said Kelliher. “When it was horrible, it was really f**king horrible.”
Hinds’ “dissociation was very evident” by the time the band went into recording for their 2021 double album, Hushed and Grim. “The dark tones and the alcohol and the things that had grips had their nails in him harder than ever before,” Sanders said. “It has always been ups and downs for the 25 years of our band, but I think it was at its peak, unfortunately, during [those] past five years.”
Ultimately, the band felt like they were “throwing all this love” at Hinds to try to help “turn it around,” but they felt their efforts made no impact. “I was sort of the last holdout,” Dailor admitted. “I kind of was thinking he would be able to turn it around at some point, but I mean, how many times can you get up on stage with somebody and go out there and the person is just you can tell they’re just inebriated, you know, and you’re like, this performance might fall apart.”
Hinds exited Mastodon just five months before his death
After discussing it among themselves, Sanders, Dailer, and Kelliher sat down with Hinds to directly confront his issues. They alleged that as they began to talk, Hinds stood up “and walked out of the practice space.” Dailor explained, “We had to set some boundaries, and we had to take care of our own sort of mental health.”
In the wake of his exit from Mastodon, Hinds made some pretty critical comments about the band on social media. Finally, addressing this, all three members indicated that they always believed they would get a chance to reconcile with Hinds and are heartbroken that he died before they could.
You can watch the full “The Mastodon in the Room” documentary below.
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