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Drummer

Brann Dailor: Mastodon's drummer + vocalist, decoded

Brann Dailor co-founded Mastodon in 2000 and continues drumming + sharing lead vocals across the band's catalog. Tama Starclassic kit, Meinl cymbals, the modern sludge + prog-metal canon.

Mastodon · reviewed by the Change Your Strings editorial team ·

Brann Dailor (born March 19, 1975) co-founded Mastodon in 2000 and continues to drum + share lead vocals across the band's catalog. Tama Starclassic kit, Meinl signature cymbals, Vater drumsticks. Modern Drummer's Drummer of the Year multiple times in the 2010s; the modern sludge + prog-metal drumming canon, complex polyrhythmic + linear hand-foot vocabulary across Mastodon's eight studio records (Remission through Hushed and Grim). Lead vocalist on songs like 'The Czar' (Crack the Skye, 2009) and 'Curl of the Burl' (The Hunter, 2011).

At a glance

Role

Drummer

Also known as

Brann Timothy Dailor

Active

1990s–present

Based

Atlanta, Georgia

Genres

Affiliations

Notable credits

  • Mastodon, Remission (2002)
  • Mastodon, Leviathan (2004)
  • Mastodon, Blood Mountain (2006)
  • Mastodon, Crack the Skye (2009)
  • Mastodon, The Hunter (2011)
  • Mastodon, Once More 'Round the Sun (2014)
  • Mastodon, Emperor of Sand (2017)
  • Mastodon, Hushed and Grim (2021)
Sourcing4 citations · reviewed 2026-04-27· by Change Your Strings editorial team

Who Brann Dailor is

Brann Timothy Dailor, born March 19, 1975, co-founded Mastodon in Atlanta, Georgia in 2000 with Troy Sanders, Brent Hinds, and Bill Kelliher. Across the band's eight studio records (Remission, 2002, through Hushed and Grim, 2021), his drumming + co-lead vocal contributions define what modern sludge + prog-metal sounds like.

Before Mastodon he played in Today Is the Day (1999-2002) alongside future Mastodon bandmate Bill Kelliher; they left Today Is the Day together to form Mastodon.

Modern Drummer's Drummer of the Year multiple times in the 2010s.

Style signatures

Three things across Mastodon's catalog you can identify as Brann's:

  1. Polyrhythmic patterns inside long-form arrangements. Kick + snare hold one time signature while hi-hat or ride plays another; the technique gives Mastodon's records their layered rhythmic complexity.

  2. Linear hand-foot interplay at velocity. Kick + snare + hi-hat alternate in linear sequences rather than vertical stacks; the post-Gadd technique applied to extreme-metal contexts.

  3. Drumming + lead vocals simultaneously. Mastodon's rotating-vocalist approach lets Dailor sing leads on multiple songs while drumming; the technical demand is significant, and the songs that feature him as vocalist (notably 'The Czar' on Crack the Skye) showcase his range.

Related

The catalog. Mastodon, Remission (2002) through Hushed and Grim (2021).

Drummer hub. Drummers index.