Brent Hinds, former lead guitarist for the heavy metal band Mastodon, died in a motorcycle crash late Wednesday night in Atlanta. His death was confirmed by the band and to Atlanta’s WANF by the Fulton County medical examiner’s office; he was 51.
Hinds was killed while riding a Harley Davidson when the driver of a BMW SUV failed to yield, police told the publication.
Hinds co-founded the long-running band in 2000 with bassist Troy Sanders, guitarist Bill Kelliher and drummer Brann Dailor, although he parted ways with the group earlier this year amid some controversy. While the band wrote in a social media post last March that his departure was a mutual decision and they wished him “nothing but success and happiness in his future endeavors,” in response to a fan’s comment on the post Hinds claimed he had been ejected from the group and called his former bandmates “horrible humans.”
The band posted a heartfelt statement on its social media accounts on Thursday, writing: “We are in a state of unfathomable sadness and grief… last night Brent Hinds passed away as a result of a tragic accident. We are heartbroken, shocked, and still trying to process the loss of this creative force with whom we’ve shared so many triumphs, milestones, and the creation of music that has touched the hearts of so many. Our hearts are with Brent’s family, friends, and fans. At this time, we please ask that you respect everyone’s privacy during this difficult time. RIP Brent.”
Actor Norman Reedus also addressed Hinds’ death on social media, writing that they were friends and beseeching “people driving cars please for the love of god watch out for f motorcycles!”
Hinds was born William Brent Hinds in 1974 in Helena, Alabama, and moved to Atlanta in the late 1990s. He joined Sanders in the band Four Hour Fogger, and the two formed Mastodon with Dailor and Kelliher around the turn of the century.
Mastodon quickly became one of the more innovative and successful metal bands to emerge in the era, creating an unusual combination of grunge, prog-rock and Southern rock influences amid the precision of Hinds’ lead guitar. The band’s unusual song structures emanated at least in part from Hinds’ early years playing the banjo, which he’d said his dad had made him learn prior to the guitar.
The band rose to prominence and increased respect within the metal scene on the strength of its second album for the Relapse label, “Leviathan,” in 2004. The group signed with Warner Music’s Reprise imprint in 2005 in part on the strength of that record, releasing its debut for the label, “Blood Mountain,” in 2006.
The band went on to release eight studio albums, the most recent being 2021’s “Hushed and Grim.” Between 2009 and 2021 it placed five albums in the top 20 of the Billboard 200 chart, and won a Grammy in 2018 for Best Metal Performance behind the track “Sultan’s Curse.”
Hinds was involved with several music projects apart from Mastodon, including the group Giraffe Tongue Orchestra – alongside members of Dillinger Escape Plan and Jane’s Addiction – as well as Legend of the Seagullmen and the long-running project Fiend Without a Face. He also appeared with Mastodon members in an episode of “Game of Thrones.”
Recently, Hinds was developing and selling guitar pedals; he also had a tour, An Evening With Brent Hinds, set for Nov. and Dec. throughout Europe.
“I’m a free spirit,” Hinds says in the Mastodon documentary “The Workhorse Chronicles.” “I enjoy life and I live it to the fullest.”
