\n<\/p>\n
Mastodon<\/a><\/strong> released their landmark album Leviathan<\/em> (the one with “Blood And Thunder”) on August 31, 2004, meaning it’ll celebrate its 20th<\/sup> birthday this year and you’re old.<\/p>\n As Mastodon<\/a><\/strong> gears up for a 20-year anniversary tour featuring Leviathan<\/em> played in full, vocalist and bassist Troy Sanders<\/strong> sat down with Heavy Consequence<\/em> to explain how the band got prepared to record such a behemoth of a record.<\/p>\n Long story short, Mastodon<\/a><\/strong> quite literally played Leviathan<\/em> every single night on tour with Clutch<\/a><\/strong> as they headed out west to record it with Matt Balis<\/strong>. And if that type of rigorous practice doesn’t prepare you for the studio, then I dunno \u2013 maybe rethink your career.<\/p>\n “We had put out Lifesblood<\/em> [in 2001] on Relapse and then Remission<\/em> [in 2002], and we were just toured basements and VHF halls and boat sheds and, you know, we lived by BookYourOwnLife.com,” said Sanders<\/strong> as transcribed by Metal Injection<\/em>. “Our friends in Clutch<\/a><\/strong> invited us to open for them in 2003, and we decided that we were an unknown band and we had all this new material for a new record which was going to be Leviathan<\/em>.<\/p>\n “So we played Leviathan<\/em> pretty much start to finish opening for Clutch<\/a><\/strong> for an entire month. The tour was East Coast all the way through the US, and wound up in Seattle where we recorded Leviathan<\/em> with Matt Balis<\/strong> at Litho Studios. So we rehearsed Leviathan<\/em> in front of a crowd that had never heard any of those songs ever, in the time where no one had a phone recording all the stuff \u2013 all your new stuff, not that it would meant much to us at the time, anyway.<\/p>\n “But we were a relatively unknown band playing a whole record of unfamiliar material to an entire run opening for Clutch<\/a><\/strong>, for thousands of people collectively. We got to Seattle and sure enough we were pretty damn well rehearsed on the material. We recorded Leviathan<\/em> and it came out\u2026 you know, we really stretched ourselves doing the Moby Dick story, and thankfully it worked out well because a month later we were on tour with Lamb Of God<\/a><\/strong> and Slayer<\/a><\/strong>.”<\/p>\n Mastodon<\/a><\/strong> and Lamb Of God<\/a><\/strong> will hit the road this July and August to play their 2004 albums Leviathan<\/em> and Ashes Of The Wake<\/em> in full. All dates will be opened by Kerry King<\/a><\/strong> and Malevolence<\/a><\/strong>, except for a few in the middle featuring Kerry King<\/a><\/strong> and Unearth<\/a><\/strong>. Get the full list of dates below and get your tickets here<\/a>.<\/p>\n 7\/19 Grand Prairie, TX Texas Trust CU Theatre \n
7\/20 Austin, TX Germania Insurance Amphitheater
7\/21 Houston, TX 713 Music Hall
7\/23 Jacksonville, FL Daily\u2019s Place
7\/24 Orlando, FL Orlando Amphitheater
7\/25 Alpharetta, GA Ameris Bank Amphitheatre
7\/27 Raleigh, NC Red Hat Amphitheater
7\/28 Richmond, VA Virginia Credit Union LIVE!
7\/30 Pittsburgh, PA Stage AE
7\/31 London, ON Budweiser Gardens
8\/1 Montreal, QC Bell Centre
8\/3 Uncasville, CT Mohegan Sun Arena
8\/4 Manchester, NH SNHU Arena
8\/6 Bangor, ME Maine Savings Amphitheatre
8\/8 Reading, PA Santander Arena (w\/ Unearth<\/a><\/strong>, no Malevolence<\/a><\/strong>)
8\/9 Cleveland, OH Jacobs Pavilion (w\/ Unearth<\/a><\/strong>, no Malevolence<\/a><\/strong>)
8\/10 Sterling Heights, MI Michigan Lottery Amphitheatre @ Freedom Hill (w\/ Unearth<\/a><\/strong>, no Malevolence<\/a><\/strong>)
8\/13 Moorhead, MN Bluestem Center For The Arts Amphitheater
8\/15 Calgary, AB Scotiabank Saddledome
8\/16 Penticton, BC South Okanagan Events Centre
8\/17 Kent, WA accesso ShoWare Center
8\/18 Portland, OR Theater of the Clouds
8\/21 Los Angeles, CA The Kia Forum
8\/23 Phoenix, AZ Arizona Financial Theatre
8\/24 Rio Rancho, NM Rio Rancho Events Center
8\/25 El Paso, TX El Paso County Coliseum
8\/27 Magna, UT The Great Saltair
8\/29 Morrison, CO Red Rocks Amphitheatre
8\/31 Omaha, NE The Astro Amphitheater<\/p>\n