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That amphitheatre in Dallas is pretty big, would be nice to see them start selling out the bigger arenas in the States.

Even though Iron Man is a pioneering metal song, The Trooper is more fun to listen to.

Last Baron. That manic instrumental break in the middle seals it for me.

Well enough to fly home, but more telling IMO, sick enough to cancel not one but two two shows. I imagine it's a big decision to cancel a headlining gig, especially in places you've never played before, disappointing a crowd that's been waiting to see you (unless you're Axl Rose and don't give a shit).

I saw clips from one of the Brazil shows. They drew the daytime slot and there wasn't a huge crowd there for them. Those Argentina shows look much better.

I didn't mind the whisper-singing at the beginning of the song, but I kinda wanted to hear her start belting it a bit as the song went on. That's my only complaint.

I like it, it's melodically interesting, and Alex sounds like Alex.

This is one of the new songs mentioned in the interview. I like this one.

That's a good point about Howe, he's pretty much the same player now as he was in 1972, whereas Fripp has several different versions of himself. I like Howe better, and he has the skills to pull off very difficult guitar parts, but is Fripp better? Need to think about this one.

I see what you did there. I didn't know you were such a Meg White fan.

I avoid most reaction videos as well, the only ones I tend to watch are by musicians and music teachers. This guy is a vocal coach so his comments on Pau's singing while drumming are interesting.

“After Neil passed, it didn’t take more than a few minutes before we started getting e-mails from all kinds of drummers who wanted to audition for the band..." I'm going to assume Alex didn't mean "a few minutes" literally. But still, point taken. if you're a pro drummer and a big Rush fan, actually landing that gig would be beyond a dream come true, but give the guys some time to collect themselves and actually announce plans to move forward before spamming their inboxes.

Exactly, he just turned 80 a few days ago, and he looks it. Then you hear him play and he sounds as young as his bandmates. You watch him in interviews and he's still sharp as a tack.

I think Brent is more into the proggy side of the band, like on Blood Mountain and Crack The Skye. They started to stray away from that on subsequent albums. They started doing shorter songs, started writing songs with hooks, and had Brann singing more lead as his voice lent itself to more melodic singing. I think Brent missed the old days of Mastodon. I do too.

There's not a lot there as far as why Brent left. Creative differences?

Dang. Shoulda called you a month ago when this shit started going south on us. But we did get it eventually -- this board have never run this good.

I saw him 5-6 years ago, he's lost nothing over the years.

Here's our current server configuration.

That and Crack The Skye can be put on repeat for days.

Exactly what I was thinking. I'm betting the band was giving the situation every chance to work itself out. In the meantime, Uncle Ben looks right at home here.

We don't use the upload function here. If you have the photos online you can link to them. You can use an image hosting service like https://imgbb.com/ I've used that one for years, it's easy and free.

Brent's unique voice, playing and writing style are near impossible to replace. But, we have this. https://www.forbes.com/sites/quentinsinger/2025/03/10/who-is-masodons-new-guitarist-ben-eller/ I've been subscribed to Ben's YouTube channel for years He's a killer player and a huge Mastodon fan. He's the guy you watch when you want to know how to play a song the right way.

Kossoff left us way too soon, but even if he were still around, Iommi is the godfather of metal.

That's exactly what I'm afraid of, especially since my cable provider has no competition in my area and they know it. I'm now spending $300 for TV/internet/phone, and we're talking lower tiers for those -- not super-fast internet and normal cable with the sports package and no premium movie channels. I was overpaying before the $40 price increase.