Cracking The Coney Island Skye: An Interview with Brann Dailor

If you haven’t heard already, it’s been ten years since Crack The Skye has blessed our ears. So I sat down, and had an enlightening conversation with Brann Dailor, drummer and co-vocalist of the anomaly that is Mastodon, as well as the synth-driven band Arcadea. We talk about the visual elements that uncover certain albums, music (duh), clowns, and of course, memes. Ya’ know, just normal things. And thankfully, he agrees that New York pizza is superior. 

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Dailor’s approach to each album, namely Crack The Skye, is strikingly perceptive in every sense of the word. He’s not only visually conscious, but is able to showcase his emotionally driven side as well with their fourth album. And considering the subject matter of this innovative, yet poignant departure, it is surprisingly slow-burning and unapologetically in your goddamn face.

From beginning to end, he delivers the most powerful, yet refined vocals, all while maintaining impressive stamina on the drums. Crack The Skye not only presents an engaging storyline in which listeners can live vicariously through, but presents captivating aesthetics as well. It’s important to note that Paul Romano, who has worked on a majority of Mastodon’s album art, brilliantly captures the characteristics of an outer-body experience and the fascinating elements of Tsarist Russia. It all ties in pretty well, and also serves as a fitting, yet moving tribute to his late sister, Skye.

“There’s lots of symbolism, it goes pretty deep especially with the Crack The Skye stuff. We did a tunnel book edition with it, and if you stretched out the accordion of the tunnel book it revealed my sister’s face. And also there was one, where if you put a tube on top of it and looked down into it, then you’d see my sister’s face as well,” he said.

For their first album, Remission, which arguably inaugurated Mastodon into a more heavier scene, it features the decaying state of a horse that dominates the cover. (Paul Romano produced the artwork, as well.) Dailor then provides further context, and explains, “It came from a dream I had that my sister was in, of this burning horse that I couldn’t get out of my head. And I told the guys about it, (Mastodon) like I wanted it to look like a beautifully painted horse on fire with its eyeballs bulging out, in terrible pain. I thought it would be cool to have this devastatingly heavy album but the artwork be sort of ambiguous to that.” As a fan, the progression in both tonality and visuals is made clear, especially as they flourish with time. Each album is distinct, and different from the last. Especially with their album Once More ‘Round the Sun, which features album art by Skinner. It’s obscure, to say the least, and the vibrant, oozing surrealism of this “botanical monster” that Dailor described only draws the eyes, and ears in.

Growing up, music was an essential, yet vital aspect in the Dailor household, and his musical tastes gradually changed into adulthood. He boldly stated he likes “a little bit of everything” when it comes to music, but then I pondered, was that really true? Where is the line actually drawn? The question then dawned upon me. Does Brann Dailor like country? And he pretty much answered, yes.

“When I met the other two guys in my band, (Mastodon) Troy and Brent, they grew up in the south, and they grew up listening to country. And so, some of the older, the classic stuff, like some old Willie Nelson, John Prine, and George Jones is one of Troy’s favorites. So when we started our band together, we would drive around our van and go play basement shows, and whoever was driving got to pick the music that was on the stereo, so we all started sharing our musical catalogs together. So that’s when I started getting into that stuff.”

He also fondly added, “The center of the universe was music”, in regards to his childhood. Mastodon themselves derive influences from not only each other, but of course, family.

“Both of my parents were really into heavy doses of Stevie Wonder, old Genesis, King Crimson. But then also my Mom listened to Judas Priest, Black Sabbath, and Iron Maiden. My Mom was in a band when I was a kid. She was a singer. My Dad moved out when I was like 3. And then her boyfriend moved in, and he was the drummer in her band, and so they practiced like every night.” 

I asked him if his Mom’s band would practice in their house, which, c’mon, would be pretty awesome for almost any kid. He then nodded and said, “My sister and I, (Skye) we would just run in a circle, (when his Mom’s band would rehearse) and our house was like a big circle, you could go around in every room, and we would just scream at the top of our lungs because no one could hear us, and it was so loud in the basement! But then we would go down and sit on the steps and just watch them, and we’d call out requests.” 

When asked about particular album covers that may have inspired his creative and writing process, Dailor replies “There’s a couple I used to stare at as a kid; Bitches Brew by Miles Davis. That’s a beautiful piece, and I remember looking at that forever when I was a kid. Also, all of the Iron Maiden records. Especially Somewhere In Time, and there’s so many little easter eggs that ties into their older stuff.”

Since the beginning of Mastodon, they’ve also had the ability to collaborate with amazing artists who have produced some rad imagery along the way. For each show on The Unheavenly Skye Tour this summer, they’ve even recruited artists such as Tara McPherson to design posters, which she created for the Coney Island show on the current tour. Dailor even teased at venturing into the art world, which would, quite frankly, be a staggering feat. “I’m getting there, ya’ know, with my digital art. At least an EP or single. C’mon guys!” He chuckled.

Speaking of art, if your eyes ever have the absolute privilege of perusing through Dailor’s Instagram feed, (which, I’ll let you see for yourself, just search up @creamale and oh boy, it’s a doozy) you would immediately notice the beautiful array of imagery, which is best described as nonsensical and off-the-wall. These days, he’s mostly posting expertly edited photos of himself alongside other relevant subject matters, plus the city he’ll be in that day, where he’s currently performing with Mastodon. I asked him how he comes up with each image, and how us fans could follow in his footsteps, (or become potential meme lords) and he tells me, “I make some weird stuff on there. I just got that Pixomatic, and I figured out some tricks with it.”

Unlike some users on it, who might utilize the platform for more serious purposes, he states “It kills the boredom sometimes. That’s all I want to use it for. I really don’t wanna pour out my soul, or give a big, long-winded speech about anything at all. I just wanna put clowns, funny stuff, and things to make me laugh, ‘cause I’m just entertaining myself, and then I can share with everybody.” 

Also, being a New Yorker myself, and the fact that they were playing in New York, I had to ask if New York pizza was the better pizza out of Chicago style. It was a burning question of the utmost priority, and by the end of the interview, it almost ignited a hole in my brain because it was SO important. “New York!”, he exclaimed.

And there you go, folks.

Catch them on tour and listen to the absolute banger that is Crack The Skye in its entirety, along with Coheed and Cambria and Every Time I Die.