Modern blues rock star Marcus King and the late Brent Hinds (ex-Mastodon/West End Motel/Fiend Without A Face) became close friends amid the last decade or so of Hinds‘ life. King recently spoke of how close to the two had become in a new piece published by Guitar World. King went on to say of Hinds:
“Man, I had Brent in my life for the better part of a decade. We became really good friends really quickly. And something indicative of his character is that anybody who knew him knew that if you were going to be friends with Brent, you knew it very quickl [laughs.] And we did become really good friends really quickly. He was a groomsman at my wedding, and just a good friend to talk to. He was a brother.”
He later continued on to say:
“…We never really spent much time talking about playing per se, but every now and then we’d nerd out about a Mark Knopfler solo. We’d just sit outside, get really stoned, and nerd out about a solo or two. But his playing style and his ability to bring chicken pickin’ into the metal realm… I was always really inspired by that. He also has a really good sense of melody and was just a beautiful composer.”
King has previously shared praise for Hinds, who laid down one of his final performances on King‘s track, “Red Door“. That cameo proved challenging for Hinds‘ perfectionism, with Hinds having laid down 278 takes before being happy with his part, according to King.
Of course, Hinds was also a notorious free spirit and didn’t shy from indulging in some chaotic behavior from time to time. King previously spoke this past spring about how a urine-soaked incident involving Brent led to King having to send Brent home early from a tour they were on together.
Tragically, Hinds passed away in a motorcycle accident on August 20th, 2025 at the age of 51.
