Both of them are disgusting cockmunching cunts, I'd be surprised if they remembered the name of the band, not to mention the performance. And the real artists must shorten their songs, because the commercials are too important, of course... This really wasn't one of the best "Oblivion" performances, tbh- they should've played "Linoleum Knife", that would crush the whole fuckin' studio for sure!
Everyone surprised by the lacking vocal performance must be new fans. They weren't always the greatest live singers for their first few albums. They have improved greatly since. Much respect
@@NooDLES411911 maybe the secret is indeed to play fills and sing above it, rather than a standard beat, that's more challenging because you gotta hit less times on the drums.
If you've ever played in a band and performed live many times, then you know how difficult it can be when you cannot hear yourself or each other. I feel like that is what was happening here with the vocals. Very hard to harmonize with someone when you are having trouble hearing them. So many things can cause these types of issues live. They weathered the storm and pushed through. It's all that you can do in the moment.
Ive seen them a dozen times the earlier stuff always sounds great live (vox wise) Crack the sky has so much fake tits in its production & ive yet to see them pull it off live, & especially live for broadcast & actually do it justice. That said these guys are fucking awesome. I cant think of a single heavy band that did network broadcast & sound good obv excluding the unplugged series
Drumming while singing is one of the hardest tasks imaginable, he does an excellent job of it. Emotion vs. Technical quality is always a hard dispute with vocals, some people just like singing pitch perfect, in key, hitting the right notes, other people dont care if it has that extra something that comes from putting your soul into it. The vocals were very emotion filled live, as they were on the album.
These guys have waaaaaaaaaay too much talent to not change. Just set back and watch'm evolve. Still the best shit out there and probably will be for the 5 years at least. This is a very rare and special type of band.
Bill sounds so enthusiastic when he says "thank you Dave" at the end. I love these guys, and for once, am happy that a band of their caliber is getting some good exposure to the world. They deserve it.
Now he they aren't. They had vocal help. Troy said they were always about the music first. With Crack the Skye and everything after however that's changed. So they all got vocal lessons
I've only seen Mastodon live once, but their vocal harmonies were dead on in pitch and sounded kickass live. They also added some satisfying growls when they sang "Lost, love". They probably weren't fully warmed up or something in this performance because they're one of the best live bands I've ever seen.
I saw Mastodon perform this song as warmup for Metallica in copenhagen on a round shaped circle. When the guitarist played that awesome solo in the middle of the song he was running around the stage so all of the audience could see him play it. I was fucking amazed, they are AWESOME!!!
You can tell Brent was nervous about this. Watch his body language, he's not the same compared to other live videos and he also has a few vocal/lyric slip-ups. Playing on Letterman is fucking awesome and hard to do especially if you're a metal band. Also, it didn't help that Letterman cracked that little joke before they played, you can tell Brent is probably a fan and it hurt his feelings lol. Plus the song structure was altered, most likely a last minute thing. Mastodon still rocks.
If you have ever played live inside a small area (especially metal), you will have some idea of how hard it is to hear yourself sing unless you isolate. Mastodon are the greatest! Don't judge them on this kind of performance, go check out some live outdoor stuff, soooo much better! Plus I would like to see any of the plebs criticizing here play any of those instruments and sing at the same time... Letterman has a shit setup crew too...
The sad thing is that most people probably judge a performance by its vocals, when in reality the rest of the performance is stellar technically. There's not much you can do with stage presence on that little area when you have technically difficult songs, and you have to focus on making sure the vocals don't fall apart altogether (which they nearly did at times).
People saying this was an off performance. I saw them last fall and Brent was having guitar problems before the show even began, and hardly played anything in the first few songs as a result The vocals were inaudible( except for Brann) and sound was mixed bad. Then Brent had more problems during the last song and walked off stage during last song. So this wasn't that bad
To me it sounded like they were just told to cut up the song for time restraints which is normal cos in America they need ads every fucking 5 minutes on TV. No wonder nobody watches TV anymore.
Flew to Vegas back in November to see these guys, and I'd do it again in a heartbeat. Hell, I'd even fly somewhere awful like Indianapolis to see them again! Amazing show; their drummer did more with a basic kit than most metal drummers do with ten times the drums surrounding them. Truly awesome!
vox were rough....I'm guessing they didn't have enough monitors....brann did great...the only problem was the vocals....music was tight...they killed as usual...
The craziest thing, I saw this when it was live and I had never heard of the band, but the part where David says "I'm frightened" (and then Brent makes a kind of funny face) has stuck with me, and I have used it get out of situations where someone says something I don't comprehend. I just give them that look. I had a mild stroke a few years after this aired and kinda "forgot who I am", and there's a lot of cases where I don't understand what someone says to me (like a new co-worker, or casher, etc.) and they are about to assume me to be an idiot. This buys me a few seconds to collect my thoughts and gives a hint of "every thing will be fine, but yeah, I'm a bad ass".
I love how they've seemingly been instructed to wear long sleeved shirts to cover up all their tattoos in order not to offend Letterman's 50 and 60something year old viewers. I love even more how Brent's face undermines that entire effort.
Letterman notoriously kept the theatre temp cold so people wouldnt get sleepy, so they're trying to stay warm. Soundgarden played Letterman and they wore sweaters and coats while performing.
Wow. people saying it's an off performance. no way. try playing with in ear monitors. not having a proper gig setup stage wise. NO sound eng for the night.,or not the dude that tours with you regularly... playing ONE song. so no time for voice or band to click. AND YOUR WATCHING IT ON RU-vid, AT LEAST, WATCH IT OFF LETTERMAN SITE AND DOWNLOAD IT IN AT LEAST, WAV FORM
all true what you are saying but still, this was an off performance. No shame in that, every band has it sometimes. Singers can lose their voice, guitar players can fuck up a part,.. Shit happens, we're all human here
Vocals a bit out here. Monitor issue ? I'm learning to play this track and doing vocals at the same time as playing has got to be bloody hard. Difficult to play when just playing the guitar.
@K Sk No shit? That's pretty cool. Brann still sounds pretty decent in this video but man. I've seen them live and holy shit one of the best damn performances ever.
intricate vocals intricate music; incredible melodies; it's hard to pull off live IMO without a dedicated singer; I'm 44 and for my money this band is as good as any in history; the Beatles or Zep weren't as good live either
There are way too many better bands that also perform well live. Queens of the Stone Age is the best example, the record as if they are playing at an actual show. Otherwise you get overproduced music with mediocre live performances like this. I love Mastodon, but holy shit, they are crap live, having seen them a few times.
While I can sort of (and i emphasize that) understand why people don't like their singing, I love it because of the authenticity...this is their real vocals, their real voices being heard...not polished, autotuned, or lip-synching. That's a real band, and real talent in my eyes. Mastodon is one hell of a band.
Ruben Mancha I have seen this played better live, but considering they were on a live tv show and all the vocalists play instruments and have to somewhat harmonize on certain parts(one of which is a FUCKING DRUMMER!!!!) I think its pretty damn good!
Troy's off a bit. But it doesn't look like he has a monitor in front of him. Not being able to hear yourself is a sure fire recipe for singing flat. Also the mix is really awful, but that's not their fault. I agree with Ruben. I'd rather listen to less than perfect vocals than watch someone lipsynch and do synchronized kicks. Just me I guess.
Yeah, well, except for Troy's vocals they were fine. Especially since it's usually Brent who's the "problem child" - you never know whether he might be drunk, stoned, trippin or all three at once during a performance.
I just watched "live performances" on New Years Eve TV where the 'artists' had totally rehearsed every single move countless times, where actual singing and music were likely enhanced, and where every stitch of clothing was part of some high-priced deal. These guys are good enough to just play live and deliver. And I suspect the most rehearsal that went on was a few guys thinking for a day or two about which t-shirt they were going to wear on live TV.
I thought it sounded pretty damn good. They nailed the instrumental part and their voices sounded pretty good for the most part, except for Troy who usually sounds much better. It's VERY hard to play the sort of rhythms these guys play and nail the vocals. Add to that the anxiety and nervousness of playing on Letterman. Furthermore, the studio version has that "wall of sound" production to it, which adds to the vocal crunchiness we're so used to hearing nowadays. Overall... B+
Dude, last night's performance was EPIC! My ears are still ringing, but Mastodon and Dethklok were SOOO worth it. The singing in this video was horrible next to what they sounded like last night: Flawless.
was watching a Manchester Orchestra video, and when they performed they said the Letterman studios were freezing. Maybe they were cold? They too are from atlanta. lol
It's pointless to argue tastes like somebodies voice. Look at Thom Yorke. You either hate it or love it usually. I love it when Brent sings so I dig this one personally. So you could say I disagree whole-heartedly, but it's really pointless because it doesn't move you so what wold a few words from me have to do with you liking it? Athough, I think they've generally become better at vocals it seems they were in the zone hear and killing it. Maynards one of my favorite singers too...
I was reading in an interview that the vocals on Crack the Skye were more demanding live. The vocals now sound better than they did then but still can be better but they still are good live.
Full marks to Mr Letterman for having a decent rock / metal / prog band on, then making sure he said thanks to each and every one of them, even the keyboard player who is not technically one of the band.
kyle dunnuck There are countless vocalists that play instruments and sing at the same time who are leagues better than these guys. Vocals have always been the weakest link in the Mastodon chain and there's no point pretending otherwise.
well its whatever. i enjoy listening to mastodon more than alot of many bands i heard and that counts more for me. i like mostly metal. idk what you like. maybe some bands you like ive never heard of i might like more. idk
Mastodon is my favorite band. I hate when people bash their live stuff, saying they are out of tune, or simply not in rhythm. All those people tell me is that the lack the ability to appreciate live music, and they are hungry for all studio shit where all flaws are hidden. In other words, they are fake and don't know how to handle true beauty, which stems from the artists who play their fucking hearts and souls out! Long Live Mastodon!!!!
@TheDramaticSkeleton Feels like they are playing it faster than normal too. Seeing them on the 28th (2 days after my birthday) and I'm pretty stoked for it.
Around 1:52 Brann's brain just can't take the overload of stimulation and fails lol. He says shell instead of hands and ends the fill too early making him enter back into the drum beat at the wrong point. Just goes to show how much coordination is involved in drumming and singing at the same time. What a talent
I love Mastodon, they came out with their own music style that's hard to imitate. But as it is with extreme metal that you cannot play normaly in TV at 12 during lunch, it same with Mastodon you cannot play it infront of bunch people that don't give a shit about this music. They sounds lovely to my ears but if I play this CD to my mom she freaks out and says it's brutal. Anyway they deserve this acknowledgement, because nowdays is hard to get to the top and stay still with your own face!!!
I was fortunate to catch these guys live. Their show was fantastic, with a large screen showing animations of their amazing artwork. I saw this Letterman video and wondered WTF happened, this is nothing at all like what I saw at their concert!! Don't dismiss Mastodon on this performance. Their albums + concert are both musts. Horrible luck on their part, performing this badly on national television. Better luck next time.
