During a recent interview with Drumeo, Mastodon’s Brann Dailor opened up about the profound impact Metallica’s Lars Ulrich had on his journey as a drummer. Dailor spoke about his drumming influences, revealing that Ulrich’s style offered a tangible role model for aspiring drummers, unlike some more technically demanding drummers he admired.
Growing up, Dailor idolized drummers like Mikkey Dee of King Diamond (later of Motörhead) and Simon Phillips of Judas Priest, drawn to their complex rhythms and explosive performances. However, it was Ulrich’s accessible style that resonated deeply with him and many other young drummers.
“When you try to play Angel of Death at the age of 12, you think it’s really difficult”says Dailor. “I’m not saying that what Lars was doing was easy, far from it, but we could create a workable version of it that at least allowed us to learn the structure of the song.”
For Dailor and countless others, Metallica’s music served as a training ground, with tracks like For Whom the Bell Tolls and One becoming staples of their repertoire.
Discussing his broader musical influences, Dailor also expressed admiration for Phil Collins and Genesis, noting Collins’ talent for creating complex rhythms within traditional pop music.
“I love Phil Collins”enthuses Dailor. “The early work he did with Genesis, and even in the pop realm, was cleverly disguised pop music with weird time signatures. I felt like their mission was to write really popular music, but to disguise it with prog.”
 talks about the importance of Lars Ulrich (Metallica) and Phil Collins (Genesis) in his musical life){kind=link}