User:Namib dessert/Sandbox3

Formation
Mastodon was formed from two pairs of old friends, guitarist Bill Kelliher and drummer Brann Dailor slogged away in Rochester, New York, while guitarist Brent Hinds and bassist Troy Sanders played together in Atlanta, Georgia.

Hinds and Sanders met in 1994 during a show in Birmingham, Alabama. Sanders was the bassist in a band called Knuckle, and Hinds was in the audience. After the show Hings praised the performance of Sanders. Hings then offered to join Knuckle, claiming he had 100 songs written, hoping it would persuade Sanders. He accepted and the next day Hinds moved from Alabama to Atlanta. Hinds and Sanders jammed for five years, before forming Four Hour Fogger. Meanwhile, Hinds was playing in a band called Fiend without a Face, and Sanders was also playing in a band called Social Infestation.

Dailor had been playing since 1992 in a band called Lethargy, but frustrated by the inability to land a good record deal, the group broke up in 1997. During this time Kelliher also played in two other bands, Butterslax and Lunch Lady. However, he quit them all to try something new in Atlanta in 1997. But over the year he spent there he couldn't find anyone that clicked with what he wanted to do. He decided to move back to Rochester and regroup with Lethargy. Then Dailor got the call to audition for Today Is the Day, and Kelliher offered to go with him. Dailor and Kelliher got the gig with the already established band and moved to Clinton, Massachusetts.

Today Is the Day's frontman Steve Austin controlled every facet of the band, from songwriting to promotion, and his musicians were on a meager retainer. Unhappy with this situation, Dailor and Kelliher left Today Is the Day under acrimonious circumstances. In January 2000, Kelliher relocated to Atlanta from their hometown of Rochester, where his girlfriend was working, and convinced Dailor to come along. Dailor and Kelliher were eager to start a new project, and quickly found a rehearsal space and started writing. Ten days later, Dailor met Hinds at a basement High on Fire show. Hinds explained to Dailor that his band Four Hour Fogger had broken up, knowing that Dailor and Kelliher were looking for musicians to form a group.

They then got to rehearsal, but Hinds turned up completely wasted and couldn't play. Hinds insisted on playing a single, droning chord over and over until everyone unplugged and left. However, in the next day, they gave Hinds a chance to redeem himself. Dailor and Kelliher were impressed with Hinds performance with an acoustic guitar, and the three decided to keep working together. The trio realised they needed a bassist and Hinds said he knew someone, returning with Sanders. The line up was completed when they phoned a friend from New York, Eric Saner, inviting him to be the lead singer of the band. Saner accepted, and shortly thereafter moved to Atlanta. However, a few months after Saner had to leave the band because "he wasn't enjoying it and missed living in Rochester." In two weeks, they jammed and had nine songs written, that would go on to make up their first demo.

The name Mastodon came from one of Kelliher's many Star Wars tattoos, of an elephant-like creature called Bantha. Dailor recalls, "Brent was like, 'What's that other animal, the other elephant thing, not the woolly mammoth but the other one?' He was like, 'The matador?' And Bill was like, 'No, the mastodon.' And it just sounded badass."

Mastodon played its first show shortly thereafter at the Dixie Tavern in New Orleans and started touring immediately.