Guitar World magazine interviewed MASTODON's Brent Hinds and Bill Kelliher for its November 2006 issue. An excerpt from the chat follows:
Guitar World: Let me posit something: You guys definitely have prog elements to your sound, and yet you're exciting and valid you're cool. Why do you think you're cooler than a band like, say, DREAM THEATER?
Hinds: "Because we don't have a little Chinese girl playing bass! [laughs]"
Guitar World: Yikes!
Hinds: "And they dress all gay, too. I mean, look at them: they wear those cheesy leather pants. The lead singer especially: he's got that really gay thing going on with his hair. Plus, he sings like a fucking opera singer and shit. Their hair, their clothes, their music...They're gay."
Guitar World: Now, wait a second. Are you calling DREAM THEATER a "Brokeback" band? Not that there's anything wrong with that.
Hinds: "No, I don't mean 'gay' like that. I just mean...gay. [laughs]"
Kelliher: "I think what might make us 'cool' and them 'uncool' is the lack of egos in our band. We don't try to show off our amazing versatility every second."