FUCK YEAH MASTODON!

Doro here. I’m one of four lovely people who runs FuckYeahMastodon. I’m the 2nd oldest Admin (I joined in November 2009), and I’m also the admin who lives the closest to Atlanta (Chattanooga, TN is about a 2-hour drive). Normally I just have fun posting goodies for everyone, but today I feel the need to do more than just be the woman behind the curtain.

A few weeks ago, I made a trip to Atlanta with a friend to attend a show. One of the bands on the bill, Lust, is fronted by Brann’s wife, Susanne. After seeing Lust’s set (and they put on one hell of a show), I got to talk to Mrs. Dailor. I didn’t want to approach her as “Oh, I run such-and-such site”, because gloating is not my style. I just told her that she and her band mates did a really great job up there. After saying this, out of nowhere, she hugged me. I should have known something was up then, but I thought nothing of it.

After some drinks, photos, and chatter, we went to catch another band’s set. I had to work the next day so my friend and I were planning on leaving. When we told Susanne this, she asked if we could stay a little longer. Now I’m not going to go into any big details about what was said or done, but in short, she knew who I was and what I had been doing for this site.

According to her, Brann is a big fan of FuckYeahMastodon and visits the site “all the time” when he’s not touring. She also said that the reason he’s never tried to communicate with anybody through FYM or other sites is because he feels like his busy schedule wouldn’t allow for him to keep up-to-date on our lives. You hear that? He feels like he would fall behind on our news, not the other way around. Seriously.

It was during this conversation that Susanne showed me and my friend a photo of Brann dressed as Mr. Rogers. She didn’t provide a back story to the photo, it was just there for us to laugh at. Now I know it was made on the set of “Deathbound”. Pretty cool, right? Also, she knew in advance that I would be attending that show and had texted Brann (who was in Germany at the time) that I was going to be there. Talk about being made to feel special!

What happened that night has kind of taught me two important things. The first thing I learned is to always do what you can to respect the artists you cover. That means not spreading rumors and not leaking/giving out information or content that isn’t appropriate, even if some members don’t have an issue with it initially.

The second and more personal lesson that I learned is that the only thing negative in my life is my own train of thought. There have been times that I’ve beaten myself up over issues with this website, thinking it wasn’t good enough, accurate enough, professional enough, or generally this-or-that enough. I even almost resigned my post earlier this year over a site issue that really upset me; it was something I blamed myself for. All this time, I had no idea that the approval Brann gave of this site when I met him last year still held up to this day (read more about my encounter with Brann HERE).

At first I didn’t want to tell anyone here about meeting Brann’s wife or what happened, simply because I felt like it was nobody’s business. However, I decided to talk about that experience anyway just to let our followers know that this site is the real deal. As Susanne put it, “you’re the only Mastodon fan site left”. I’ve managed to make friends with people in Mastodon’s circle, and they respect the work I’ve done.

Also, for those of you who haven’t met Brann or his wife in person, they are honestly two of the nicest people you will ever come across. Some rock stars act as though there’s an invisible barrier between themselves and their fans, but Brann is not one of those guys. He really cares about the people whose lives have been touched by his music, and apparently so does his missus. They treat you like friends, not strangers.

Thanks for reading this…and look for many more surprises in the near future. FYM loves you :)

Doro here. I’m one of four lovely people who runs FuckYeahMastodon. I’m the 2nd oldest Admin (I joined in November 2009), and I’m also the admin who lives the closest to Atlanta (Chattanooga, TN is about a 2-hour drive). Normally I just have fun posting goodies for everyone, but today I feel the need to do more than just be the woman behind the curtain.

A few weeks ago, I made a trip to Atlanta with a friend to attend a show. One of the bands on the bill, Lust, is fronted by Brann’s wife, Susanne. After seeing Lust’s set (and they put on one hell of a show), I got to talk to Mrs. Dailor. I didn’t want to approach her as “Oh, I run such-and-such site”, because gloating is not my style. I just told her that she and her band mates did a really great job up there. After saying this, out of nowhere, she hugged me. I should have known something was up then, but I thought nothing of it.

After some drinks, photos, and chatter, we went to catch another band’s set. I had to work the next day so my friend and I were planning on leaving. When we told Susanne this, she asked if we could stay a little longer. Now I’m not going to go into any big details about what was said or done, but in short, she knew who I was and what I had been doing for this site.

According to her, Brann is a big fan of FuckYeahMastodon and visits the site “all the time” when he’s not touring. She also said that the reason he’s never tried to communicate with anybody through FYM or other sites is because he feels like his busy schedule wouldn’t allow for him to keep up-to-date on our lives. You hear that? He feels like he would fall behind on our news, not the other way around. Seriously.

It was during this conversation that Susanne showed me and my friend a photo of Brann dressed as Mr. Rogers. She didn’t provide a back story to the photo, it was just there for us to laugh at. Now I know it was made on the set of “Deathbound”. Pretty cool, right? Also, she knew in advance that I would be attending that show and had texted Brann (who was in Germany at the time) that I was going to be there. Talk about being made to feel special!

What happened that night has kind of taught me two important things. The first thing I learned is to always do what you can to respect the artists you cover. That means not spreading rumors and not leaking/giving out information or content that isn’t appropriate, even if some members don’t have an issue with it initially.

The second and more personal lesson that I learned is that the only thing negative in my life is my own train of thought. There have been times that I’ve beaten myself up over issues with this website, thinking it wasn’t good enough, accurate enough, professional enough, or generally this-or-that enough. I even almost resigned my post earlier this year over a site issue that really upset me; it was something I blamed myself for. All this time, I had no idea that the approval Brann gave of this site when I met him last year still held up to this day (read more about my encounter with Brann HERE).

At first I didn’t want to tell anyone here about meeting Brann’s wife or what happened, simply because I felt like it was nobody’s business. However, I decided to talk about that experience anyway just to let our followers know that this site is the real deal. As Susanne put it, “you’re the only Mastodon fan site left”. I’ve managed to make friends with people in Mastodon’s circle, and they respect the work I’ve done.

Also, for those of you who haven’t met Brann or his wife in person, they are honestly two of the nicest people you will ever come across. Some rock stars act as though there’s an invisible barrier between themselves and their fans, but Brann is not one of those guys. He really cares about the people whose lives have been touched by his music, and apparently so does his missus. They treat you like friends, not strangers.

Thanks for reading this…and look for many more surprises in the near future. FYM loves you :)

Doro here. I’m one of four lovely people who runs FuckYeahMastodon. I’m the 2nd oldest Admin (I joined in November 2009), and I’m also the admin who lives the closest to Atlanta (Chattanooga, TN is about a 2-hour drive). Normally I just have fun posting goodies for everyone, but today I feel the need to do more than just be the woman behind the curtain.

A few weeks ago, I made a trip to Atlanta with a friend to attend a show. One of the bands on the bill, Lust, is fronted by Brann’s wife, Susanne. After seeing Lust’s set (and they put on one hell of a show), I got to talk to Mrs. Dailor. I didn’t want to approach her as “Oh, I run such-and-such site”, because gloating is not my style. I just told her that she and her band mates did a really great job up there. After saying this, out of nowhere, she hugged me. I should have known something was up then, but I thought nothing of it.

After some drinks, photos, and chatter, we went to catch another band’s set. I had to work the next day so my friend and I were planning on leaving. When we told Susanne this, she asked if we could stay a little longer. Now I’m not going to go into any big details about what was said or done, but in short, she knew who I was and what I had been doing for this site.

According to her, Brann is a big fan of FuckYeahMastodon and visits the site “all the time” when he’s not touring. She also said that the reason he’s never tried to communicate with anybody through FYM or other sites is because he feels like his busy schedule wouldn’t allow for him to keep up-to-date on our lives. You hear that? He feels like he would fall behind on our news, not the other way around. Seriously.

It was during this conversation that Susanne showed me and my friend a photo of Brann dressed as Mr. Rogers. She didn’t provide a back story to the photo, it was just there for us to laugh at. Now I know it was made on the set of “Deathbound”. Pretty cool, right? Also, she knew in advance that I would be attending that show and had texted Brann (who was in Germany at the time) that I was going to be there. Talk about being made to feel special!

What happened that night has kind of taught me two important things. The first thing I learned is to always do what you can to respect the artists you cover. That means not spreading rumors and not leaking/giving out information or content that isn’t appropriate, even if some members don’t have an issue with it initially.

The second and more personal lesson that I learned is that the only thing negative in my life is my own train of thought. There have been times that I’ve beaten myself up over issues with this website, thinking it wasn’t good enough, accurate enough, professional enough, or generally this-or-that enough. I even almost resigned my post earlier this year over a site issue that really upset me; it was something I blamed myself for. All this time, I had no idea that the approval Brann gave of this site when I met him last year still held up to this day (read more about my encounter with Brann HERE).

At first I didn’t want to tell anyone here about meeting Brann’s wife or what happened, simply because I felt like it was nobody’s business. However, I decided to talk about that experience anyway just to let our followers know that this site is the real deal. As Susanne put it, “you’re the only Mastodon fan site left”. I’ve managed to make friends with people in Mastodon’s circle, and they respect the work I’ve done.

Also, for those of you who haven’t met Brann or his wife in person, they are honestly two of the nicest people you will ever come across. Some rock stars act as though there’s an invisible barrier between themselves and their fans, but Brann is not one of those guys. He really cares about the people whose lives have been touched by his music, and apparently so does his missus. They treat you like friends, not strangers.

Thanks for reading this…and look for many more surprises in the near future. FYM loves you :)