Mastodon are pretty frequent visitors to Australia, with their 2014 Soundwave appearances and sideshows attaining particularly legendary status among fans. But for all the Antipodean love from the Atlanta, Georgia four-piece, they’ve never actually toured Australia as headliners. That’s about to change with a short run of three headlining shows in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane in support of their latest critically acclaimed album, Once More ’Round The Sun.

“It’s pretty far for us, but we thoroughly enjoy coming to Australia and I’m not just saying that because you come from there,” says guitarist Bill Kelliher. “If I could live anywhere else in the world it would be there, and I tell people who’ve never been there that they need to go. It’s like a really, really nice USA,” he laughs. “Nice people, good food and good times.”

Mastodon are particularly psyched about the opportunity to stretch out with a headlining set. After all, even when they were top of the bill on their Sidewaves last year, it wasn’t quite the same.

“Soundwave and Big Day Out are great, but when we do those sideshows they’re not quite the same as doing a whole headlining tour,” Kelliher says. “To me it’s weird, because Australia is the size of the US but to go over there and do a headlining tour is like three gigs, whereas we can play the States for a full year and still not hit every state, playing every second night. I don’t know why we’re only doing three gigs. We should do ten! I know some other bands have been over there and hit all the major cities and secondary markets, but I don’t know. I think the people who book our band just try to get the biggest shows, but why not hit some of the smaller cities? But I don’t make the rules!”

Indeed, Kelliher isn’t averse to playing some more underground shows Down Under.

“Yeah!” he agrees. “Go play at the Whole Lotta Love bar in Melbourne or something like that. I played there with my other band, Primate, last year. Good stuff. We actually just played a 200-capacity venue here in Atlanta last week right before we went to Mexico. It was for a benefit, kinda like a secret show that we announced a couple of days before the actual gig and sold out in about 30 minutes. And it was fun! It was definitely taking it back to the old-school vibe. We used to play back there when we first started and even back then – ten, 12 years ago – we used to sell it out. It was a hot, sweaty, fun thing to do, for sure.”

On Mastodon’s Australian tour, Kelliher will be bringing a handful of his signature Gibson Halcyon Les Paul guitars with him. The guitars feature a golden sunburst finish and his own Lace Music electronics. He also has a limited edition ‘Golden Axe’ model based on the pointy ‘Explorer’ shape, long hailed as an icon of heavy music – but those buggers are too big to bring to Australia on this run.

“I’m just going to bring three or four Les Pauls over there,” he says. “It’s a nightmare with freight stinging you for every little last thing. And the Explorer is such a big, oddly shaped guitar that it doesn’t fit into the standard three-guitar case we bring outside the country. It just doesn’t fit there, so I have to bring all Les Pauls. And there are certainly worse problems to have in life, but unfortunately that’s all we can bring over there.”

Outside playing the guitar, Kelliher is a huge Star Wars fan, and it seems a shame to have him on the phone and not ask about his enduring love of the original films.

“I’m covered in Star Wars tattoos,” he begins. “Bounty hunters, Princess Leia, a Stormtrooper, a Death Star with Grand Moff Tarkin inside of it. I just love all the imagery of it. It’s great. That’s why I collect all the toys, ships, posters – the artwork and just the way it looks is amazing. So futuristic, and all the characters are so well done and interesting. They make for good tattoos, that’s for sure!

So Bill, what do you think about the forthcoming Episode VII – The Force Awakens? “Hopefully [director] J.J. Abrams will make up for all the shit that George Lucas fucked up during the prequels,” he says. “They were terrible! There was no story there. It was so confusing. What the hell was going on, y’know? I don’t know how any eight- or nine-year-old would be able to tell what the Trade Federation is or what fucking Watto is. It’s terrible! So I think hopefully J.J. Abrams will bring it back into perspective.

Star Wars was a very simple movie, y’know? You could tell the blockade runner was being chased by a giant ship and it was probably the good guy being chased by the bad guy. Like, ‘They’re building a space station, the good guys have stolen the secret plans – let’s find those droids. Hey, this is the old wise man. Let’s rescue a princess.’ How simple is that? And every boy of my generation would be like, ‘That’s what I want to do! Fly the spaceship, use the blaster and rescue the princess.’ Very, very simple.

“But then George Lucas makes the prequel movies and they shove so much CGI down your throat. The original movies took time and artistry. And hopefully J.J. Abrams will keep it old-school. He made Star Trek – a show that I fucking despised – he made that interesting. So I hope with Star Wars he’ll do the same.”

Mastodon appear at the Big Top, Luna Park onSaturday March 28 and their albumOnce More ’Round The Sun out now through Reprise/Warner.

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