Brann Dailor

Brann Dailor

Dailor performing with Mastodon at the Warsaw student festival in 2012
Background information
Born March 19, 1975
Rochester, New York, United States
Origin Atlanta, Georgia, United States
Genres heavy metal, progressive metal, sludge metal, stoner metal, groove metal, alternative metal, experimental metal, mathcore, technical death metal
Occupation(s) Musician, songwriter
Instruments Drums, vocals, Percussion
Years active 1989–present
Labels Relapse, Reprise, Roadrunner
Associated acts Lethargy, Today Is the Day, Mastodon, Arcadea
Website mastodonrocks.com

Brann Dailor (born March 19, 1975[1] in Rochester, NY) is an American drummer/singer best known as a member of the Atlanta, Georgia metal band Mastodon, in which he is the drummer, backing vocalist, lead vocalist and primary lyricist.[2] Dailor first started playing in a band called Evisceration from 1991 to 1993, when the band broke up.[3] Dailor was also a founding member of mathcore band Lethargy,[4] and the progressive dreamfunk band Gaylord[5][6] and played with Today Is the Day.[7]

In 2015, Brann Dailor announced his side project called Arcadea. The group features Dailor on drums alongside fellow Atlanta musicians Core Atoms and Raheem Amlani.[8]

Personal life

Dailor was born into a musical family. His grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins are all musicians . His mother and stepfather played in a band.

"My parents were hippies, but they were Frank Zappa hippies, you know? They were putting Miles Davis' on my headphones when I was two years old. I grew up listening to The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway, Close to the Edge by Yes, King Crimson's Red. All that stuff was jamming at my house at full volume all the time when I was a baby, along with Coltrane's Love Supreme, Stevie Wonder--Innervisions-- stuff like that. Constantly."

His sister, Skye, committed suicide at age 14. Her death served as an inspiration for Mastodon's fourth studio album, Crack the Skye. Although the album's story line involves the adventures of a paraplegic boy in Tsarist Russia, Dailor told Metal Hammer that many of the songs are fantasy narratives involving him saving his sister from death.

“My sister, Skye’s, suicide is something I’ve been dealing with for 20 years. I wanted to lift her up and put her name out there forever. It was the most deeply emotional moment of my life, and always with suicide there’s a lot of guilt that comes with it. The whole story is my metaphor for if I’d been able to come in and pick her up and save her from that situation...everybody experiences loss. At some point in your life you will lose someone near and dear to you and I’m lucky enough to have some kind of artistic platform to immortalise it, to have some kind of tribute. We owe it as artists to come from the deepest place possible; that’s art."

On limited edition box sets of Crack the Skye, a photo of Dailor's sister can be seen through a tunnel lithograph in the album art.

His fill-heavy drumming style is influenced by jazz and prog-rock, characterized by complex, atypical rhythmic structures (including irregular stopping and starting).

Dailor is married to Susanne, who is the guitarist and singer of Lust, drummer of Catfight, and bassist of Tiger!Tiger!

Discography

Brann Dailor performing live at Rock im Park in 2014.

Evisceration

Lethargy

Main article: Lethargy (band)

Gaylord

Sparkling Cool (1998)

Today is the Day

Mastodon

Main article: Mastodon discography

References

  1. "Brann Dailor profile". Meinl Cymbals. Archived from the original on February 18, 2012. Retrieved July 30, 2013.
  2. Monger, James Christopher. "Biography: Mastodon". Allmusic. Retrieved 31 May 2011.
  3. "Evisceration". Retrieved 4 November 2014.
  4. Rivadavia, Eduardo. "Biography: Lethargy". Allmusic. Retrieved 31 May 2011.
  5. "Brann Dailor - Metal Storm". Retrieved 4 November 2014.
  6. "GAYLORD". Progarchives.com. Retrieved 4 November 2014.
  7. Kennedy, Patrick. "Biography: Today Is the Day". Allmusic. Retrieved 31 May 2011.
  8. http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/news/general_music_news/check_out_8-bit_side-project_from_mastodons_brann_dailor.html