Progressive heavy rock act Mastodon has written and recorded a new song for inclusion in the upcoming movie Bill & Ted Face The Music. The movie, which reunites Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves in the title roles for the first time since 1991's Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey, is scheduled for an August 21st release, although that could change.
Guitarist Bill Kelliher said on the “Rock and Roll Beer Guy” podcast, “They were, like, 'We want a song for the movie, and this is the description of the part.' So we wrote something, and we turned it in, and we don't hear back for weeks, for months.”
Kelliher continued, “And then they're, like, 'Yeah, well, the director doesn't really like this part' — I guess like a 20-second clip — and he's, like, 'Yeah, he doesn't like this. Can you change this?' And I'm, like, 'No. I can't. I'm not changing it. I'm sorry. Don't use the song then.' I was pissed. They were, like, 'They wanted more like an AC/DC style,' and I'm, like, 'Then f**king call AC/DC.'”
Kelliher also revealed that the band has also been working on music for its next album, with “20 rough songs” recorded before the pandemic hit. The new Mastodon LP will follow up 2017's Grammy-nominated Emperor Of Sand.
Drummer Brann Dailor told us that Mastodon is always looking to progress as a band: “That's what we need as people, like, we need to change and we need to feel like we're progressing in a forward motion. Even if us progressing sort of mimics what a lot of other bands do — they don't make concept records, they do have three minute long songs — that's a big change for us, you know what I mean?”
