Mastodon


First song with Brent's (temporary?) replacement; Ben Eller a.k.a. your biological step-dad Uncle Ben, YouTube guitarist.

Really pleased for Ben, I've been following him for a while. Most YouTube guitarists are insufferable pricks but Ben seems very genuine, funny, informative and is an awesome player and a big Mastodon fan. I wonder if he might be too busy with his YouTube stuff to join full-time, but he did a great job here.
 

Ben discusses the Mastodon gig. He goes into a bit of detail over the guitar gear he used, your mileage may vary on how interesting you find that but I thought it was a fun and interesting watch. The feedback to him has also been incredibly positive and supportive, which is great to see and hear.

He also wasn't asked to learn seventeen Mastodon songs in two days... it was over twenty songs in two days, and he didn't know many of them beforehand. That's impressive.
 
I see a Dream Theater kind of scenario. Brent will be back within a few years. They won’t be able to fine a remplacement with the background and the same songwriting abilities.
 
It’s possible. I've given this some thought and ultimately it is a bigger blow than Portnoy leaving Dream Theater, although I think it's an open question as to how the band will fare without him. Right now it feels like Brent is burning a lot of bridges but it felt that way about Portnoy as recently as 2018 or so, so a lot can change in a short period. Regardless, I think we need to wait and see how the next album and touring turns out.
 
Yes, the big difference with Portnoy is that he was their main (and best I think) songwriter. Their will be a lot of anger and bitterness, but I hope they will reconcile
 
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