fuckyeahmastodon - Tumblr blog

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The first of these posters goes on sale in a few hours! Grab yours here 

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Cold Dark Place is gonna kick ass!

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Here’s the new music video for “Steambreather”!

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Brann with Dixie Dave and Shep from Weedeater

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IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT

Hey everyone, this is Dora.

For the past eight years, I've been an admin at Fuck Yeah Mastodon. We were the first real Mastodon fan site, the first one to get the band's recognition, and I've had Brann's support for this site and its content. Also in the past eight years I have grown up, changed my life, and have fought to be somewhat mentally and emotionally sane despite all the hurdles along the way.

In the past I have taken sabbaticals from FYM to focus on school, work, or other responsibilities. Sadly, this time my sabbatical is likely going to be permanent. As of September 2nd, 2017, I will no longer be the admin for Fuck Yeah Mastodon.

There are multiple reasons why I have made the decision to leave. First of all, I have accepted an important internship connected to my local law enforcement agency that requires a lot of strict confidentiality. Secondly, my job and my grad school expectations keep me from having enough time to run a fan site properly. FYM has other mods, but they too are very busy and can't always be online to help me out. We're all adults with adult responsibilities that often hinder our ability to have an up-to-date fan source for info, news, and the like.

The third and final reason why I am stepping down - and this is really difficult to write - is that I don't feel like there is a safe place for me in that little Mastodonian world anymore. There are people currently a part of Mastodon's road crew that I do not feel comfortable being around and want no association with, and I will not elaborate on who it is in this post, but nonetheless I have to do a bit of distancing for the sake of my emotional well-being. The last Mastodon show I attended made for an undesirable experience in some ways. This is not the band's fault, but I still feel how I feel.

Let's also be real here: FYM is not the Mastodon fan site anymore. We've fallen way off of the radar since both Mastodon Fan Club and Mastodon Mayhem surpassed us in popularity. They have thousands of followers on multiple social media platforms and admins who update the living shit out of both sites every day, and FYM can't compete. As much encouragement and support as Brann has given me time and time again, my passion for running an orderly fan site has run out.

I can't really pretend anymore. It's not just Brent's dislike of me, it's not just being too busy with life responsibilities, it's not Mastodon's sound changing in a way I don't enjoy quite as much. I have to take care of myself. I have to take care of me. That involves removing myself from people, places, and things that feel like a threat or a painful reminder of my failures. The most important things in my life right now revolve around graduating with my MSCJ, becoming an investigator, and doing rewarding work that I can love myself for. That kind of wholeness and self-acceptance can’t come from chasing bands around.

With all this being said though, I feel blessed by Brann's kindness. Even during bad times I kept going and kept trying to be okay for him, as stupid as that sounds. Kindness from someone you love and look up to can do wonders. I'm not the same person I was when I was 21. I'm almost 30 now. Life has beaten a lot of the stars out of my eyes and made me realize what the music industry is too often full of. For every decent person like Brann, you get about 50 other people who are disgusting and untrustworthy. A lot has been weighing on my conscience and I need to seek peace on my own.

Skye Dailor Remembrance Day will still happen as scheduled this year. FYM will be turned over to new management and will likely only stay updated regularly on our Facebook page. I have made a conscious decision not to attend any future shows at this time, only for the sake of putting school and work first.

Anybody reading this - band members, friends of the band, and our followers - I'm really sorry if this seems like a letdown. When I tried to leave at the end of 2014, Brann sought me and talked me out of it. I hope that this time around he'll understand why I need to go. I am thankful for how Mastodon's music has impacted me on a personal level and kept me going through some harrowing trials. This site was always a vehicle for giving back. I hope that our other admins and mods will continue giving back to Mastodon fans and to the band directly, even if it's only a small little bit of what other sites do. Thank you for all the love and support.

If you need to talk to me about anything pertaining to FYM, have any concerns, or just want to vent, My main account is @leperwitch​ and my email is codeaires@gmail.com.

See you on the other side...

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Album art for Cold Dark Place, the new Brent Hinds/Mastodon album coming out on the 22nd of September!

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Brent with Kim Thayil and Sean Kinney. Wonder what kind of supergroup those three could form...

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Quirky and awesome Mastodon poster from their 2015 US tour, by Keepsake Designs (check out their other amazing posters here)

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💝💝💝💝💝

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My curiosity is getting the better of me, is there context on why Brent blocked you?

To make a long story short, Brent got his feelings hurt over a meme that FYM shared quite a bit in the early days about how he was secretly a cat. A Polish fan started the meme with a YouTube video of Brent singing with a throat infection and it became a running joke among some Mastodon fans, just because his voice has a catlike quality to it to some listeners. For a time I was friends with Brent on Facebook and he even wished me well once before I had to be hospitalized for mental health issues in 2011...and then he just blocked me over a meme. I’m not shitting you. 

At first I didn’t know why he blocked me and was acting so cold around me at shows, and it took a few close friends of his (not naming names) to tell me that even they don’t even understand why Brent suddenly dislikes people, he just does. He has his own internal values and framework for evaluating whether someone is okay or if they’re shit, and it’s not my fault. Brann told me once that Brent is just a weird dude and he’s in his own world where people are what he designates them to be. Another mutual friend we share told me once “Trust me, if Brent had a real problem with you, he’d tell you”.

I kept to myself, but then at a charity event in 2015 Brent just came up and hugged me out of the blue and was all “Heyyyy, it’s Dora the Internet Explorer!”. It was so weird and unexpected. I asked him why he blocked me and had been angry with me and he told me about the cat thing. “Don’t fuckin’ tell me I’m a cat. I’m a fuckin’ lion” - he said that like four times. He also said he wasn’t cool with a couple of personal photos posted here ages ago, and I told him all he had to have done was message me on Facebook about it. We hugged it out and I thought all was good between us again, but I’m still blocked and he still ignores me at shows and parties around Atlanta.

Brent’s confusing dislike of me has been a real sore spot when running this site and it’s something that makes me feel like a slight failure as an admin. It’s frustrating too because I’m still on good terms with most of Brent’s friends. They appreciate me and this site. Troy and his wife know about FYM and think we do a good job. Troy’s daughter Haley used to follow us when she was on Tumblr. Bill, although we’ve only spoken a few times, doesn’t think ill of me. Of course Brann and Susanne have been incredibly supportive of me and this site too, going as far as to “steer the course” with certain site content. Sometimes it’s like Brann and Brent have polar opposite opinions of who I am as a person. 

So as a general warning to fans, be wary of joking about Brent’s voice, even if you mean no harm. I found out the hard way that Brent is super, SUPER sensitive about comments regarding his vocal style and people who make fun of it get on his shitlist. Even at the EOS release party, Brent was in a foul mood and didn’t stay very long, and I was told it was because Rolling Stone said in their review of EOS that his vocals on “Jaguar God” were “out of tune”, making the song a “weak spot” on the album. Brent really tried to sound his best on that song and I personally think he did a great job. I was going to tell him that but there’s too much bad blood still. I kept my distance.

Anyway, What I thought was a harmless meme was something that bothered him a great deal and he just blocked me everywhere.

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Did you see Brent's instagram story where he's walking with his wife and listening to "Crack the Skye"? So cute.

No, because Brent still has me blocked on all his social media.

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Troy Sanders from Mastodon parked too close to my Boyfriend's Car

A couple of years ago my boyfriend and I went to see Neurosis live in Atlanta. We got there an hour before doors opened and decided to wait inside my boyfriend’s car with the heat on blast since it was freezing cold outside. A few minutes later, a large pickup truck pulled up next to us.

The driver, a tall bearded man with a beanie on his head, barely could get out because of the narrow space between his truck and my boyfriend’s car. I took a good look at him, and sure enough, it was Troy Sanders of Mastodon. He tapped on our window and apologized for parking so close to us and then hopped back in his truck, pulling a couple of spaces over. I didn’t see him again for the rest of the night.

by codeaires

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Dailor and Taylor

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Drummers who can sing while they play drums are not to be fucked with.

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This is an awesome Mastodon-inspired painting by Julie Baptise. To see more of her work, check out her Facebook page :) She makes jewellery and painted vinyls as well

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Probably how Troy looks when he sees this blog.

He sees food.

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From a few years back