Mastodon bassist / vocalist Troy Sanders says that he's “forever indebted” to Slayer. Slayer took Mastodon on tour with them a staggering nine times, so Sanders took a few moments to pay tribute to the soon-to-be-retired thrash icons.

After nearly 40 years as a band, Slayer will say goodbye in 2018, having already announced a run of North American farewell shows. With Mastodon fresh off a Grammy win for Best Metal Performance, Troy stopped by our studio to talk all about it, but we didn’t let him out the door before asking the Masto musician to say a few words about Slayer.

“The first time I heard Slayer, it scared me,” Sanders admits. “Obviously, Slayer has been highly influential on thousands and thousands of people and hundreds and hundreds of bands. The fact that they took us under their wing and did the biggest touring that we had ever seen when Mastodon was relatively young in our careers… They were super cool to us, they got us drunker than we ever intended on being and showed us how to get onstage and just deliver every single night.”

Sanders concludes, “Slayer was super great to Mastodon and I feel like we’re forever indebted to them. They didn’t just take us out for a few shows, it was nine tours. That’s a lot.”

Slayer’s final North American dates will begin this May with support from Lamb of God, Anthrax, Behemoth and Testament.

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