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In March 2025, Mastodon announced the separation from her founding member Brent Hinds, who died on August 20, 2025. After “25 monumental years together”, mutually decided to go separate ways, it said at the time. But as Brent Hinds made it clear several times on social media in the months before his death, the separation was probably anything but mutual.
Public billing after separation of mastodon
Hinds did not leave good hair about his ex-colleagues. “I will not miss to be in a shitty band with terrible people,” he wrote about his verified Instagram account on the announcement of a fan that he will be missed.
But it went much further. In the summer of 2025 he commented on an Instagram post on the Hard Rock Files page, which had shared a video of a mastodon live performance by “Crack the Skye” from 2012. Under the clip, which Hinds’ guitar solo emphasized, the musician initially reacted ironically: “Not saying i can sing tho.” (“I’m not saying that I can sing.”)
Shortly afterwards, an angry billing followed: “My guitar sounds great, but Troy and Brann sound absolutely terrible … they are completely wrong … embarrassing. And they thrown me out of the band because I was supposedly embarrassed – but what about them?”, Wrote Hinds.
Then he became even more drastic: “These are two people who can neither sing live nor somewhere … Everything they try in the studio is manipulated by autotune because they are unable to sing clean.”
Brent Hinds about Mastodon: “Fuck Thesis Guys”
In the end, he increased into a personal all -round: “Fuck Thesis Guys … only I know who they are … they are their own biggest fans … I have never seen someone who looks in the mirror as often as Troy Sanders. He believes that he is God’s gift to everything. I have never met three people who are so full of themselves. It is just disgusting.”
His former bandmate Bill Kelliher chose a completely different tone. In a conversation with Guitar World, the rhythm guitarist remembered the time together: “What can you say about the legacy of the first 25 years of mastodon with Brent? It was a damn wild journey, that is certain. We have achieved things that I could never have imagined in life. There were grammys, tours with our heroes like Iron Medica, Motörhead and Tool. very.”
And further: “As in a marriage, it is sometimes the case that people develop and have different interests. We wish Brent nothing but the best while he is doing his dreams.”
The official’s official separation statement had previously been conciliatory: “Friends and fans, after 25 monumental years together, Mastodon and Brent Hinds decided to mutually go.
We are still inspired and full of anticipation to tackle this next section of Mastodon with you. All tour plans for 2025 remain – we look forward to seeing you on the go. ”
Mastodon: Statement on the death of Brent Hinds
However, it never came to reconciliation: Brent Hinds died on August 20, 2025 in a traffic accident. The band mourned in a moving statement.
“We are in a state of immeasurable grief and deep pain … last night Brent Hinds died as a result of a tragic accident. We are destroyed, shocked and still try to understand this loss – the loss of a creative force with which we have shared so many triumphs, milestones and the creation of music that has touched the hearts of countless people. Our thoughts are at Brent’s family and his friend Fans.