During a recent interview with Ultimate Guitar, Mastodon guitarist Bill Kelliher discussed his move from Gibson to ESP last year. Following is an excerpt:

"I think they're on their way downhill honestly. Every guy I talk to - I mean, look at James Hetfield. He was at Gibson, played Gibson stuff and they didn't want to work with him, so he went to ESP. And he's one of the biggest fucking guitar players in our kind of music. It seems like there are a lot of bad decisions being made over there. But ESP is really great. They treat me really well. I love my Sparrowhawk that I designed. It's the best playing guitar that I own.

I don't know why, but they treat their artists like shit, basically. ESP doesn't. So I do a lot of stuff for ESP, I do clinics and whatever they want because they're good and they're good to their artists and that's how you keep business going - you're good to your employees and you're good to the people who bring you success or money or your shit's going to go down the drain."

Read more here.

Mastodon recently announced the release of a new collection of unreleased tracks. The band’s Cold Dark Place EP will be released digitally and on CD on September 22nd via Reprise Records. A limited edition 10” vinyl picture disc will be available on October 27th. An in-studio performance video for the EP track “Toe To Toes” is now available for streaming below.

Cold Dark Place EP tracklisting:

“Not Side Star”
“Blue Walsh”
“Toe To Toes”
“Cold Dark Place”

“Toe To Toes” in-studio video:

“Toe To Toes”:

Artwork trailer:

Mastodon extended their US headline tour starting on September 26th in Orlando, FL at Hard Rock Live with continued support from Eagles Of Death Metal and Russian Circles. The tour also includes stops at several festivals, including the High Elevation Fest in Denver, CO and Louder Than Life Festival in Louisville, KY.

Mastodon will also be playing a series of headline shows in the UK this December including Brixton Academy in London, England on December 10th. Tickets can be purchased at mastodonrocks.com/tour.

Tour dates:

October
7 - Camden, NJ - Rock Allegiance Festival #
9 - Montreal, QC - Metropolis
10 - Rochester, NY - The Armory
11 - Grand Rapids, MI - 20 Monroe Live
13 - Oklahoma City, OK - Diamond Ballroom *
14 - San Antonio, TX - Aztec Theater
15 - Houston, TX - Houston Open Air #
17 - Albuquerque, NM - Historic El Rey Theater
19 - San Diego, CA - House of Blues
21 - Sacramento, CA - Aftershock Festival #
23 - Boise, ID - Revolution Center
24 - Spokane, WA - Knitting Factory
25 - Vancouver, BC - Orpheum Theatre

# indicates festival date. All other dates are headline shows
* without Eagles Of Death Metal

UK Tour Dates:

December
2 - Cardiff, Wales - Great Hall
4 - Wolverhampton, England - Civic Hall
5 - Nottingham, England - Rock City
6 - Newcastle, England - Northumbria University
7 - Glasgow, Scotland - Barrowland
9 - Manchester, England - Academy
10 - London, England - Brixton Academy

UK tour trailer: