Mastodon have paid tribute to former guitarist Brent Hinds following his tragic death in a motorcycle accident.
The musician passed away aged 51 following a collision in Atlanta on Wednesday (20.08.25) and the heavy metal rockers remembered him at their gig at the Alaska State Fair on Friday (22.08.25).
Drummer Brann Dailor told the crowd: “We lost somebody very special to us yesterday. Brent Hinds, 25 years with us as our guitar player, one of the most creative, beautiful people that we’ve ever come across in this world, tragically left us. Very, very unfortunate.”
Hinds claimed that he had been “kicked out” of Mastodon – also made up of Bill Kelliher and Troy Sanders – earlier this year but Dailor insists that there was a lot of “love” for him in the band.
The 50-year-old drummer said: “We loved him so, so, so very much. And we had the ups and downs of a 25-year relationship, you know what I mean? It’s not always perfect, it’s not always amazing, but we were brothers to the end.
“And we really loved each other and we made a lot, a lot of very beautiful music together. And I think that that’s gonna stand the test of time, evidenced by you people here tonight.”
Dailor continued: “So we will continue to play Brent’s beautiful, beautiful music that he helped us make, that we formed this band together and travelled the world together, slept in a van together, laid our heads down on beds of f****** kitty litter, got way too drunk to remember anything the next day about a thousand, million times over and over again with the love that we shared and the beauty, all the audiences that we played for, all the stages we stepped on.
“I don’t know. We’re just at a loss for words. We’re absolutely devastated and crushed to lose him and to be able to never have him back again. But you guys made it OK for us to come on stage and do this tonight. So that was for f****** Brent, OK? Thank you guys so much.”
The drummer concluded: “Thank your for helping us get through that one, it was f****** tough for us. But you guys are f****** amazing, so thank you.”