Bill Kelliher is Mastodon's founding guitarist and the author of most of the riffs that hold the band up. Born in Rochester, New York, in 1971, he played in Today Is the Day with Brann Dailor before the two moved to Atlanta, where they met Brent Hinds and Troy Sanders and formed the group in 2000. His function within the guitar pairing was structural. While Hinds brought slide, bluegrass phrasing and psychedelic solos, Kelliher built the foundation: heavy riffs with rhythmic displacements that seem irregular but resolve, and layers that give Mastodon's long tracks their architecture. He is the element that keeps the band from turning into improvisation — someone has to hold the building up while everything else shifts. That division of temperaments is what made Mastodon sound the way it does, from Remission (2002) to Hushed and Grim (2021). With Hinds's departure in 2025 and his death a few months later, it fell to Kelliher to lead the rebuilding: the band expanded to five members, with the arrival of guitarist Nick Johnston and the Brazilian keyboardist João Nogueira. Away from music, Kelliher has spoken publicly about his recovery from alcoholism.
Metalicks is a community-run informational and cultural portal. The information on this page — texts, images, logos, cover art and other materials — is credited to their respective authors, artists, bands, labels and rights holders. Metalicks does not claim ownership over any of the works portrayed here, and all rights remain with their rightful owners. Content is gathered from public sources and community contributions; any inaccuracies can be corrected using the button below. Rights holders who wish to request a correction or removal of any content may do so at any time.
