Troy Sanders | |
---|---|
Background information | |
Birth name | Troy Jayson Sanders [1] |
Born | Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. | September 8, 1973
Genres | |
Occupation(s) | Musician, songwriter |
Instrument(s) | Bass guitar, vocals |
Years active | 1990–present |
Member of | Mastodon, Killer Be Killed, Gone Is Gone, Social Infestation, Thin Lizzy |
Website | mastodonrocks |
Troy Jayson Sanders (born September 8, 1973) is an American musician, best known as the bassist and one of the vocalists of heavy metal band Mastodon. He is also active in the supergroups Killer Be Killed and Gone Is Gone and is the current touring bassist for rock band Thin Lizzy.
Sanders first played when he had picked up his older brother Kyle's bass and decided to try it out, even though the bass was strung for a lefty, and he was right-handed. A few months later, he had talked his dad into buying him a bass. He started first playing in such bands as Four Hour Fogger, Knuckle and Puaka Balava. [2] In 1995, Sanders joined the grindcore band Social Infestation as the bass player. Social Infestation has released one EP and two full-length albums. The band hasn't released any material since 2000 and are seemingly taking a long hiatus or the band has split. [3]
In 2000, Sanders met Brann Dailor and Bill Kelliher along with Brent Hinds at a High on Fire show and later formed Mastodon. The four began a new musical venture with then singer Eric Saner, touring the Southern United States, working 40-hour weeks and committing to the band in their spare time. The band's mainstream success would ensue after Saner left the band, pushing Sanders to the forefront not just as a bassist, but as a vocalist also, the duties of which he would share with Hinds and Dailor.
In 2012, Sanders joined the supergroup Killer Be Killed, founded by The Dillinger Escape Plan vocalist Greg Puciato and Soulfly/ex-Sepultura frontman Max Cavalera. The band had been working on a lineup and material before announcing their name in October 2013. [4] [5] They released their self-titled debut record through Nuclear Blast Records on May 13, 2014. [6]
In 2016, Sanders formed Gone Is Gone, a supergroup also consisting of Troy Van Leeuwen, a guitar player for Queens of the Stone Age, Tony Hajjar, the drummer for At the Drive-In, and Mike Zarin, [7] a multi-instrumentalist who appeared with Van Leeuwen on Sweethead's Descent to the Surface . They released an EP in the summer of 2016, shortly followed by a studio album, Echolocation, the following year. [8] Since then, the band has continued to record together, releasing singles in 2018 and 2019.
Sanders plays primarily fingerstyle, although he sometimes uses a pick, and usually steps out of the guitar parts in Mastodon, and composes his basslines on his own. He has shown a wide variety of playing styles and techniques, so he is known as a very flexible player.
Sanders performs clean and harsh vocals in Mastodon, where he shares lead vocal duties with Brent Hinds and Brann Dailor. His harsher vocal style is similar to Scott Kelly of Neurosis and Buzz Osborne of the Melvins, utilizing low growls but not low enough to be death grunts. His harsh vocalism was largely applied in Mastodon's earlier Lifesblood and Remission . In Mastodon's more recent albums, Leviathan through Emperor of Sand , Sanders utilizes a different range of clean vocals along with his harsher style.
Sanders has cited Cliff Burton from Metallica, Gene Simmons from Kiss, and Phil Lynott from Thin Lizzy as some of the major influences on his bass playing. He has also stated in interviews that his favorite albums are Men at Work's Business as Usual , Neurosis' Times of Grace , and George Jones' Anniversary – 10 Years of Hits . Adding to that list, in a 2005 interview, [9] he also mentioned Through Silver in Blood by Neurosis, Sailing the Seas of Cheese by Primus, Melvins' Stoner Witch , Metallica's Ride the Lightning , and White Pony by Deftones as some of his favorites.
Sanders is married and has two children, a son and a daughter. [10] Sanders has two brothers, Kyle and Darren, who are both involved in music. Kyle was the bassist of Bloodsimple, and is in MonstrO, metal supergroup Hellyeah, and Kerry King's solo band; while Darren is "a one man road crew" and bass tech for Mastodon.
Mastodon is an American heavy metal band from Atlanta, Georgia. Formed in 2000, the band's lineup of Troy Sanders (bass/vocals), Brent Hinds, Bill Kelliher and Brann Dailor (drums/vocals) has remained unchanged since 2001. Mastodon has released eight studio albums, as well as a number of other releases. The band's 2002 debut album, Remission, garnered significant critical acclaim for its unique sound. Mastodon's second full-length release, Leviathan, is a concept album based on the novel Moby-Dick by Herman Melville. Three magazines awarded the record "Album of the Year" in 2004: Revolver, Kerrang! and Terrorizer.
Remission is the debut album by American heavy metal band Mastodon. It was released on May 28, 2002 through Relapse Records. A deluxe edition was released on October 21, 2003.
Call of the Mastodon is a compilation album of early recordings from the American metal band Mastodon. It was released on February 7, 2006, by Relapse Records.
Blood Mountain is the third full-length studio album and major label debut by American heavy metal band Mastodon. The recording of the album finished in April 2006 and it was released on September 12 in the UK and September 12, 2006 in North America through Reprise Records. The album in full could be streamed at the band's MySpace page a few days prior to the release.
William Brent Hinds is an American musician best known as the lead guitarist of the Atlanta, Georgia metal band Mastodon, in which he shares guitar duties with Bill Kelliher and vocal duties with Troy Sanders and Brann Dailor.
Crack the Skye is the fourth studio album by American heavy metal band Mastodon, released on March 24, 2009, through Reprise, Sire and Relapse Records. The album debuted at number 11 on the Billboard 200, selling 41,000 copies in its first week. In Australia, the album debuted at number 19. It had sold 200,000 copies in the US as of September 2010, making it one of their highest-selling albums to date.
Oblivion is the second single from Crack the Skye by American progressive metal band Mastodon. It is their second-most successful single and song from Crack the Skye, reaching #30 on the Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart; however, it has since been surpassed by "Curl of the Burl," which peaked at #16. It is the opening track on the band's live album Live At The Aragon.
Live at the Aragon is a live CD/DVD by the metal band Mastodon. It was released on March 15, 2011. It was filmed on October 17, 2009 during a Mastodon live show in the historic Aragon Ballroom of Chicago, part of their world tour to support their fourth album, Crack the Skye. It features Crack the Skye at its entirety as well as other Mastodon songs from Remission, Leviathan and Blood Mountain, their first, second and third records respectively. To promote the album the band released the live versions of "Oblivion", "Ghost of Karelia" and "Crack the Skye" on YouTube. The DVD also features the Crack the Skye film, which is the album in video format, in its entirety.
The Hunter is the fifth studio album by American heavy metal band Mastodon. Released through Roadrunner Records on September 26, 2011, in the UK and one day later in the US via Reprise Records, The Hunter is their first release with producer Mike Elizondo. In its first week of release in the UK, the album reached number 19 on the UK Albums Chart and position number 10 on the Billboard 200 chart selling over 39,000 copies in the first week. As of December 2011, The Hunter has sold over 75,133 copies in the United States.
"Curl of the Burl" is a single by American heavy metal band Mastodon from their fifth studio album, The Hunter. It was released August 16, 2011, as the second single from the album. The single was the band's most successful song on the Mainstream Rock Songs chart at release, peaking at No. 15. It would eventually lose its title to Emperor of Sand's "Show Yourself". It was nominated for a 2011 Grammy award in the category Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance.
Killer Be Killed is an American heavy metal supergroup founded by Dillinger Escape Plan vocalist Greg Puciato and Soulfly frontman Max Cavalera in early 2011. The lineup also features Mastodon bassist and co-vocalist Troy Sanders and Converge drummer Ben Koller. The band had slowly been working on material before announcing its name in October 2013, along with their signing to Nuclear Blast. The group's self-titled debut record was released in 2014. In September 2020, the group returned with a new single, and released their second album Reluctant Hero in November of that year.
Killer Be Killed is the debut studio album by American heavy metal supergroup Killer Be Killed featuring Greg Puciato of the Dillinger Escape Plan, Max Cavalera of Soulfly/ex-Sepultura, Troy Sanders of Mastodon, and Dave Elitch of the Mars Volta. It was recorded in September 2013 at Fortress Studio in Los Angeles and released May 9, 2014 via Nuclear Blast Records. The album reached No. 58 on the U.S. Billboard 200 during its first week of release and sold around 5,500 copies.
Once More 'Round the Sun is the sixth studio album by American heavy metal band Mastodon. It was released on June 24, 2014, via Reprise Records. On April 17, 2014, Mastodon released the album's first single, "High Road". On June 16, 2014, the album was made available for streaming on iTunes. Once More 'Round the Sun sold around 34,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to land at position No. 6 on the Billboard 200 chart, making it the band's highest-peaking album on the chart and their second consecutive Top 10 debut after their previous album, The Hunter, peaked at No. 10.
March of the Fire Ants EP is a promotional EP by American heavy metal band Mastodon. The song "March of the Fire Ants" is the second track of the band's debut studio album, Remission (2002).
Live at Brixton is the second live album by metal band Mastodon. It was released in December 2013 as a digital only release, and on April 19, 2014, as a Record Store Day exclusive Vinyl.
"Show Yourself" is a single by American progressive metal band Mastodon, off of their studio album Emperor of Sand. It peaked at number 4 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Songs chart in 2017, making it their highest-charting song to date.
Cold Dark Place is an EP by American metal band Mastodon. It was released digitally and on CD on September 22, 2017 via Reprise Records, and a limited-edition ten-inch vinyl followed on October 27. Three of the tracks were recorded during the recording sessions of 2014's Once More 'Round the Sun, while "Toe to Toes" was recorded during the recording sessions of 2017's Emperor of Sand.
Metal Allegiance is an American thrash metal supergroup formed on Long Island, New York, in 2014 by bassist and songwriter Mark Menghi. Shortly after, he recruited bassist David Ellefson, guitarist Alex Skolnick, and drummer Mike Portnoy. Though the group does not have an official lead singer, they usually hire guest musicians to contribute vocals and/or guitar parts to their studio recordings and live shows, including Andreas Kisser of Sepultura and Mark Osegueda of Death Angel. To date, Metal Allegiance has released two studio albums and one EP.
Medium Rarities is a compilation album by American metal band Mastodon. It was released digitally and on limited edition vinyl on September 11, 2020 via Reprise Records. The album is a collection of rare tracks that include covers, instrumental versions of previous songs, and live recordings. Its opening track, a new song titled "Fallen Torches", was released on July 31, 2020. The song features Scott Kelly from Neurosis for his final guest appearance with Mastodon before his withdrawal from the public eye that was not announced until August 2022.
Reluctant Hero is the second studio album by American heavy metal band Killer Be Killed. It was released on November 20, 2020, by Nuclear Blast.