We always knew thatMastodon’s Bill Kelliher was awesome but we didn’t know that he was also a massive Star Wars freak! In a recent interview withRolling Stone he talks about wanting to turn his house into aStar WarsMuseumand the time he went to his kid’s school dressed asDarth Vader.Check it out below!
You’ve said that your producer, Nick Raskulinecz, motivated you in the studio by saying, “You guys are Mastodon. You’re one of the biggest bands in metal.” What goes through your mind when someone tells you that?
I think, “What does that mean?” I don’t feel like we are. I just take it with a grain of salt, like, “OK, if you say so.” I don’t know if we’re one of the biggest, but we’re definitely one of the hardest working.
Why did he have to remind you that you were one of the biggest bands in metal anyway?
Maybe we were slacking a little bit to him. He really wanted us to have all our songs done, right down to the singing and guitar solos so we could play them back to back. We were nowhere near there. Half the band can do that, but the other half can’t. Certain people have ADD, and we don’t function like that. When the pressure’s on we really kind of shine.
I guess to deal with it, he said, “Come on, guys, you’re one of the biggest bands in metal right now. You need to shine and pull it together, man.” It was a struggle, but no one’s ever really said that to us before. Normally, we’d get to the studio and just play and make the magic. We just never had a football coach.
You have [a] song on your album called “Halloween.” Who goes the hardest in October?
We all do. A couple years ago we played a float for the Halloween parade in Atlanta, and Brent dressed up like a Hooters girl with real long curly red hair and big ponytails. I had an “old man” costume with a bald wig that had the comb over. Troy was a clown with a big Afro wig. And I think Brann was dressed up like Tony Clifton, which is usually his costume of choice with fake cocaine under his mustache. It was fun.
Yourvideo for “High Road”is basically a LARPer’s fantasy. Do you LARP?
I don’t know what the other guys do in the privacy of their own homes, but I have a Darth Vader costume with a light saber that I dress up in once in a while. I’ve gone to a couple of my kid’s school functions dressed up as Darth and surprised the kids with a little lecture on listening to your teachers and staying in school. I don’t know if that counts, but that’s as far as my LARPing experience has gone.
Is Darth Vader a good role model for children?
Probably not to an adult, because he’s evil, but I think little children look up to any character, good or bad. They don’t really know anything about evil yet good and bad, yes but they all think Darth Vader is pretty damn cool.
You’re a hugeStar Warsfan. Have you acquired any new toys lately?
I haven’t bought anyStar Warsjunk in a long time. I recently built a new house. I used to have aStar Warsroom that my collection totally overgrew, and I had stuff hanging from the ceiling and stuff up on the walls. I’m gonna have my ownStar Warsroom in the basement of the new house and we’re going to be able to display all the stuff. I’m really excited about going through everything and displaying it all and maybe charging an admission fee for coming into the bigStar Warshouse.
Read more at Rolling Stone
