Mastodons and Mastodon'ts: plus Bronx and Converge at the Palladium

All photos (c) Aaron & Returntothepit.com. More here.

OTD caught a ride out to Worcester last night with our old friends Chris Jackson, his lovely wife Kristen Day, and Jimmy Driscoll, two of whom got shout-outs from the stage from their old pals the Bronx. The Bronx dudes, heirs to the Los Angeles punk throne, smashed through a focused 30-minute set that mostly flew right over the heads of metal nation, then were nice enough to share beer, merch, and perch space with us in the Palladium penthouse, which means we missed most of Converge -- from what little we saw they were, uh, typically Convergey, i.e. awesome -- but we slipped downstairs to catch a few songs by Mastodon, at whose altar we have been known to worship. Their new "Capillarian Crest" is already destroying, "Blood and Thunder" still kills. (Mastodon set list below, along with crappy OTD cameraphone snaps.) Mastodon's Blood Mountain and Converge's No Heroes are due out soon (or, in the case of Blood Mountain, it's out now if you live on the internet). Go buy the Bronx's self-titled Island debut on vinyl. Shit's bananas. Some things we learned poking around backstage:

- Mastodon's drummer has a purple polka dot drum kit with a Randy Rhodes tribute photo on the kick drum.

- That gorgeous six-foot black girl busting out those amazing go-go moves at the side of the stage? Rumor has it one of the Mastodon dudes picked her up in a bathroom in NYC.

- If you leave before the encore, you will always miss the full 15-minute version of "Hearts Alive."

- Mastodon's drum tech used to be in the Raging Teens.

- Mastodon are 100-percent dude.