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Troy Sanders | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Sanders performing atRock im Park 2022 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Troy Jayson Sanders[1] |
| Born | (1973-09-08)September 8, 1973 (age 51) Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. |
| 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 ofheavy metal bandMastodon. He is also active in the supergroupsKiller Be Killed andGone Is Gone and is the current touring bassist for rock bandThin Lizzy.
Sanders first played when he had picked up his older brotherKyle'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 thegrindcore 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 metBrann Dailor andBill Kelliher along withBrent Hinds at aHigh 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 supergroupKiller Be Killed, founded byThe Dillinger Escape Plan vocalistGreg Puciato andSoulfly/ex-Sepultura frontmanMax 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 throughNuclear Blast Records on May 13, 2014.[6]
In 2016, Sanders formedGone Is Gone, asupergroup also consisting ofTroy Van Leeuwen, a guitar player forQueens of the Stone Age,Tony Hajjar, the drummer forAt the Drive-In, and Mike Zarin,[7] a multi-instrumentalist who appeared with Van Leeuwen onSweethead'sDescent to the Surface. They released anEP 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.
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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 withBrent Hinds andBrann Dailor. His harsher vocal style is similar toScott Kelly ofNeurosis andBuzz Osborne of theMelvins, utilizing low growls but not low enough to bedeath grunts. His harsh vocalism was largely applied in Mastodon's earlierLifesblood andRemission. In Mastodon's more recent albums,Leviathan throughEmperor of Sand, Sanders utilizes a different range of clean vocals along with his harsher style.
Sanders has citedCliff Burton fromMetallica,Gene Simmons fromKiss, andPhil Lynott fromThin Lizzy as some of the major influences on his bass playing. He has also stated in interviews that his favorite albums areMen at Work'sBusiness as Usual, Neurosis'Times of Grace, andGeorge Jones'Anniversary – 10 Years of Hits. Adding to that list, in a 2005 interview,[9] he also mentionedThrough Silver in Blood by Neurosis,Sailing the Seas of Cheese byPrimus,Melvins'Stoner Witch, Metallica'sRide the Lightning, andWhite Pony byDeftones 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 ofBloodsimple, and is inMonstrO, metal supergroupHellyeah, andKerry King's solo band; while Darren is "a one man road crew" and bass tech for Mastodon.
