Mastodon’s Bill Kelliher and Brann Dailor have opened up about the difficult circumstances surrounding guitarist and co-founder Brent Hinds’ departure from the band. The group held a formal meeting to address his behavior before ultimately parting ways. During the meeting, the band members read Hinds a list of issues that were deeply troubling them. Hinds walked out halfway through the conversation—a moment that would prove to be the last time some bandmates saw him alive.
Kelliher reflected on the emotional toll of Hinds’ struggles, describing him as a “tortured soul” who couldn’t escape the grip of addiction. “I tried to talk to Brent, like, ‘Dude, just be appreciative that you’re doing what you love.’ He was such a tortured soul, tortured artist, he couldn’t see the light. He wanted to fight everything all the time,” Kelliher explained. He characterized Hinds’ behavior as rooted in addictive patterns. The musician would oscillate between moments of clarity and destructive cycles. “To me, that’s addictive behaviour, because when you’re f*cked-up all the time, you feel like shit, and then you always have people like, ‘You’re the best! F*ck everybody else, take these drugs, drink this booze, get up there and f*cking shred.’ It gets in your head.”
Kelliher emphasized that the band members were not enablers. They tried to set boundaries with Hinds, much like one would with a rebellious child. “We were not yes men – that’s why he stopped hanging around with us as a band, because we were telling him, ‘No, you can’t do that!’ like a kid. But he was a rebel in every way.” Despite their efforts, Kelliher expressed deep regret about how the situation concluded. “I feel terrible how it [the meeting where they listed all of his issues] ended. I wish he could be alive, and that someday we could have mended our ways.”
Kelliher acknowledged that Hinds would recognize his mistakes after a few days had passed. “If he fucked up, he would always admit it a couple days later, like, ‘I was being a dick. I drank too much, I’m really sorry. I love you guys,’ and he came back around as a human. But those demons would get him the next day. He would just get back into the booze and be a dick.” This cycle of remorse and relapse defined much of the band’s relationship with their troubled bandmate.
Drummer Brann Dailor echoed Kelliher’s sentiments, emphasizing that the decision to part ways came from a place of care rather than malice. “Things got shitty towards the end, but [him leaving] was out of love, and I really wanted him to be happy. None of us thought it was going to end in his demise. We thought at some point we were going to bury the hatchet, have a hug and be like, ‘That was some dumb shit…'” Dailor’s words reveal the band’s hope that reconciliation would eventually be possible.
Hinds and Mastodon officially parted ways in March 2025. The split was initially described as a mutual decision, though Hinds later disputed this characterization and claimed he had been fired from the band. The guitarist accused his former bandmates of using autotune and being “full of themselves,” marking a bitter public dispute that seemed to close the door on any possibility of reconciliation.
The band’s struggles with Hinds had been building for years, particularly during the recording of their 2021 album “Hushed and Grim.” His alcohol addiction and mental health challenges created severe tension within the group. The formal meeting where they addressed his behavior was ultimately an attempt to set boundaries for their own mental health and wellbeing. This difficult but necessary step came after years of escalating conflict.
Tragically, just five months after his departure from Mastodon, Hinds’ life came to a sudden and devastating end on August 20, 2025. His Harley Davidson motorcycle collided with a BMW SUV at the intersection of Memorial Drive and Boulevard in Atlanta, Georgia. The 51-year-old guitarist was pronounced dead at the scene. The collision occurred when the SUV driver failed to yield while making a turn, though authorities later determined that Hinds bore responsibility for the fatal crash. His death sent shockwaves through the metal community and left his former bandmates grappling with profound grief and the weight of their final interactions.
Mastodon responded to Hinds’ passing with a statement expressing their “unfathomable sadness and grief.” They called the motorcycle accident a tragic loss. During their first concert after the crash at the Alaska State Fair on August 22, 2025, just two days after his death, the band paid tribute to their fallen co-founder. The tragedy underscored the complexity of their relationship—a mix of deep care, frustration, and ultimately, unresolved pain that would never have the chance to heal.
