Mastodon, Gojira, & Kvelertak On Metallica

New York, NY (Top40 Charts/ Roadrunner Records) The third and final part of ArtistDirect's three-way interview with Bill Kelliher of Mastodon , Joe Duplantier of Gojira , and Erlend Hjelvik of Kvelertak is up now. In this installment, the three all talk about their encounters with Metallica, the members of whom are fans of all three bands.

Says Joe, "I met them in Paris. I went to see the show. I knew the promoter. He got me a ticket. When I arrived, he said, "You'll never believe this. Robert Trujillo wants to see you so he gave me this pass for you". I was like, "What?!" I was not there to meet them. I was just there to see the show. After the show, I went backstage, and I met the whole band. They said they loved our band and wanted to bring us on tour. That's how it happened for us. It was not a management thing or anything like that. It was directly from them. They handpick the bands they want to tour with, which I think is great. They still have their eyes and ears open. They're on their toes all the time, and they want to bring out bands that make sense. It was great."

Says Erlend, "When we played in San Francisco, James Hetfield called the promoter and wanted to be on the guest list. I thought, 'Yeah, right!' I was playing the show, and there he was standing on the side of the stage. That was the most amazing thing I'd seen. It was so cool. He was such a down-to-earth guy."

Read the whole thing here: https://bit.ly/1dpEVXr

The Mastodon / Gojira / Kvelertak tour begins April 28 - find a show near you!