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Brent Hinds, who sang and played guitar in the Grammy-winning metal band Mastodon until he left the group this year, died Wednesday night in a motorcycle crash in Atlanta. He was 51.<\/p>\n
His death was reported<\/a> by Atlanta\u2019s WANF, which cited a police report that said Hinds was riding a Harley-Davidson motorcycle when he was struck by an SUV whose driver had failed to yield while making a turn. Hinds was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.<\/p>\n In an Instagram post, Hinds\u2019 former bandmates said they were \u201cin a state of unfathomable sadness and grief\u201d and that they were \u201cstill trying to process the loss of this creative force with whom we\u2019ve shared so many triumphs, milestones, and the creation of music that has touched the hearts of so many.\u201d<\/p>\n Known for its complicated riffs and its high-concept storytelling, Mastodon built a large and devoted audience with intricately plotted albums about illness, suicide and \u201cMoby-Dick.\u201d The band\u2019s music drew clear inspiration from Black Sabbath and Slayer and influenced subsequent metal acts like Baroness and Pallbearer.<\/p>\n Yet Bill Kelliher, Mastodon\u2019s other guitarist, said, \u201cWe\u2019re not really a metal band,\u201d during an interview<\/a> with The Times in 2017. \u201cI feel we\u2019re more like a really heavy, groovy rock band with some prog elements and some pretty deep emotional lyrics. They\u2019re loosely based on tragedy and things that really shake up human beings in real life.\u201d<\/p>\n Mastodon formed in 2000 and made two albums for the respected indie label Relapse Records \u2014 including 2004\u2019s \u201cMoby-Dick\u201d-steeped \u201cLeviathan,\u201d which Hinds told<\/a> the New York Times allegorized \u201cthe struggle between man and music\u201d \u2014 before signing to the Warner Music imprint Reprise for 2006\u2019s \u201cBlood Mountain,\u201d which earned a Grammy nomination for best metal performance.<\/p>\n The band \u2014 in which Hinds, bassist Troy Sanders and drummer Brann Dailor took turns as lead singer \u2014 made five more LPs for Reprise; \u201cSultan\u2019s Curse,\u201d from 2017\u2019s \u201cEmperor of Sand,\u201d won a Grammy for best metal performance. Mastodon\u2019s most recent album, \u201cHushed and Grim,\u201d came out in 2021.<\/p>\n Read more:<\/b> The 10 essential Ozzy Osbourne songs<\/a><\/p>\n Hinds grew up in Birmingham, Ala., where he learned to play the banjo before turning to guitar. In a 2009 interview<\/a> with the Guardian, he described his younger self as \u201ca total hellion\u201d and said he was \u201cvery dysfunctional at school.\u201d He added that he would \u201ctake LSD and come to class still tripping. I was too creative, never doing my homework, just filling my notepad up with drawings of skulls.\u201d<\/p>\n He met Sanders when the latter came to Birmingham to play with an earlier band; Hinds soon moved to Atlanta to make music with Sanders, then the two formed Mastodon with Kelliher and Dailor. In 2009, Mastodon played the Coachella festival and toured with Metallica; six years later, Hinds appeared as an extra in an episode of HBO\u2019s \u201cGame of Thrones.\u201d<\/p>\n In March, Mastodon announced that Hinds had left the band in a statement that said they\u2019d \u201cmutually decided to part ways.\u201d Yet Hinds later wrote on Instagram that his former bandmates, whom he called \u201chorrible humans,\u201d had fired him \u201cfor embarrassing them for being who I am.\u201d He went on to accuse them of using Auto-Tune in the studio and said he had \u201cnever met three people that were so full of themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n Information on Hinds\u2019 survivors wasn\u2019t immediately available.<\/p>\n