Mastodon Will Release a Cover of Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven” in Honor of Late Manager Nick John

Although there’s still no word on that “brutal” new song that was supposed to come out earlier this year, fans can expect to hear some new Mastodon soon… kind of.

The band has announced that for this April’s Record Store Day, they’re going to release a 10″ cover of Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven” in honor of their late manager, Nick John. John, who managed other notable bands like Gojira as well, passed away last September from pancreatic cancer. Appropriately, Mastodon will donate the proceeds from this release to research for that very disease.

Here’s the announcement from the band:

“In early September 2018, we lost one of our closest friends and our biggest fan, our manager Nick John. He was essentially the band’s Dad. From our highest highs to our lowest lows he was always there. Every single move we made went through him first as our trust in him was marrow deep. His favorite band besides us and Gojira, was Led Zeppelin. We were asked to perform ‘Stairway to Heaven’ at his funeral. Afterward, finding out that someone had recorded it, we figured we should record a studio version and release it on Record Store Day as a tribute to Nick with all the proceeds to be donated to pancreatic cancer research. We would not be the band we are today without the help of Nick John. We miss him dearly and think of him always. We love you buddy.

“The limited edition 10-inch vinyl features the Studio Version on Side A and a Live Version on Side B. It will be available in participating independent retailers on Saturday, April 13, 2019.

“All of the proceeds benefit the Hirshberg Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer Research.”

Meanwhile, the band begins a tour with Coheed and Cambria and Every Time I Die at the end of May. Get dates here.

[via Lambgoat]