BRENT HINDS TAKES A STROLL BACK TO THE WEST END MOTEL

When the dudes in Mastodon are not busy being the dudes in Mastodon (which is, like, never) Brent Hinds just can’t put that damn guitar down, keeping himself entertained with two side projects, both of which actually pre-date Mastodon: mask-wearing, surf-rockabilly sleazers Fiend Without a Face and creepy Twilight Zone lounge act West End Motel. The latter have a new album on the way, their second, called Only Time Can Tell, coming out on October 30th, and Rolling Stone is streaming the album’s opening track “Burn it Down.”

If given the choice I’d take the guitar histrionics of Fiend Without a Face (listen) over the vaudevillian West End Motel, but Hinds’ voice here has a certain comforting, familiar quality to it… it’s just good to hear the guy singing again, and yup, there it is front and center on the new track. Listen here.

Fun fact: one of the tracks on the new album, “El Myr,” is named after the Atlanta dive bar Hinds often frequents and shot a television commercial for last year.

-VN