Rockers have been recording movie soundtracks for years. Some, like Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood, dabble in the occasional orchestral score while others, like Dire Straits frontman Mark Knopfler, make it a second career. So it really should come as no surprise that metal upstarts Mastodon will release the soundtrack to DC Comics film Jonah Hex on June 29th. Somehow, though, it still seems strange. Mastodon? Really? It’s difficult to imagine notoriously wild frontman Brent Hinds sitting down with a pen and paper in a screening room.
Well, it’s true. The band’s website reports that a six-track EP of new Mastodon songs drops June 29th. Movie director Jimmy Hayward apparently enlisted the band personally. “Jimmy called us out of the blue as a fan,” bassist Troy Sanders told Paste magazine when the news first dropped. “It was the most beautiful, authentic way to collaborate.” Hayward had apparently used the band’s 2006 album Blood Mountain as inspiration in finishing the original script.
“I guarantee an incredibly popular misconception will be, ‘Oh my god, they’re selling out doing a fucking comic-book movie,” Sanders said in the same interview “They probably got a huge paycheck and don’t give a shit about integrity,’ The fact is the exact opposite. We sacrificed another two weeks away from home to give away an album’s worth of material for nothing in return but satisfaction in being a part of something incredible.”
The movie, starring Josh Brolin and Megan Fox, hits theaters today. Watch the trailer below. Hopefully the band will play some of these songs on their fall tour with Alice in Chains and Deftones.
Jonah Hex Soundtrack EP Tracklist:
01. Death March (film version)
02. Clayton Boys (film version)
03. Indian Theme (film version)
04. Train Assault (film version)
05. Death March (alternate version)
06. Clayton Boys (alternate version)
