Speaking to Kerrang! for this week’s Cover Story, the band explained the difference between getting together for their debut album, and making a second.
“First time, it was a fun novelty that would be interesting even if we didn’t like [the music we’d made],” Greg told us. “But, when you do another record, you’re saying to people, ‘This is a fuckin’ band!’ You better bring your A-game. At that point, it needs to be good no matter whether the individual players are known.
“I want people to hear this and be like, ‘Who the fuck are Mastodon?’ or, ‘Who the fuck are Dillinger Escape Plan?’” he continues. “I want it to appeal to people who’ve heard our other bands but never really liked them. I want these songs to reach beyond our existing fans and superfans, to people who people who don’t know who we already are. I want this record to be part of the heavy fucking lineage of metal history.”
“I always hope that people will love my work, but I never expect it,” adds Troy. “I’ll just say that I’ve never listened to an album 24 times before it’s been released before this one. When the four of us listen back to this record, we’re super in love with it. We’re banging our heads, smashing our feet, rolling the windows down and driving a little faster. It’s about finding that pleasurable energy. I hope that people find something in the record that’s as pleasurable to their ears as it is to ours.”
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