“We Were Brothers to the End”

Mastodon had the daunting task of playing a concert on Friday night (August 22nd) at the Alaska State Fair, just a day after learning that their longtime bandmate Brent Hinds had died in a motorcycle accident on Wednesday night (August 20th).

At the end of the set, drummer-singer Brann Dailor stepped to the front of the stage to deliver a speech about Hinds on behalf of the band. He said the following (as transcribed by Blabbermouth):

“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. 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.

So, we will continue to play Brent’s beautiful, beautiful music that he helped us make, that we formed this band together and traveled the world together, slept in a van together, laid our heads down on beds of fucking 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 okay for us to come on stage and do this tonight. So that was for fucking Brent, okay?! Thank you guys so much. We will see you real soon. Okay? I’m gonna give you guys some fucking pieces of wood, okay? We love you.”

Hinds co-founded Mastodon in 2000, and remained in the lineup until earlier this year, when the band parted ways with the singer-guitarist. In recent weeks, he had expressed anger about being let go from the acclaimed metal act.

In a statement posted to their social media accounts on Thursday morning (August 21st), Mastodon wrote that they were in a “state of unfathomable sadness” over Hinds’ death.

Watch Mastodon’s tribute to Brent Hinds in the video clip below.