Mastodon, At The Drive-In, QOTSA members form Gone Is Gone

Troy Sanders
Troy Sanders (Image credit: Getty)

Members of Mastodon, At The Drive-In and Queens Of The Stone Age have teamed up to form the band Gone Is Gone.

The supergroup consists of Mastodon singer and bassist Troy Sanders, At The Drive-In drummer Tony Hajjar, Queens Of The Stone Age guitarist Troy Van Leeuwen, and guitarist and keyboardist Mike Zarin.

The band will release an EP this summer on their own label in conjunction with Rise Records/BMG – and they’ve issued a teaser of their track Violescent. Hear it below.

Gone Is Gone have also outlined plans for their first live show – they’ll play the Dragonfly, Los Angeles, on April 27, with tickets available from 10am PST on April 15 (Friday).

The project is the brainchild of Hajjar, who recruited Van Leeuwen and then began looking for a singer.

Hajjar tells Rolling Stone: “When thinking of singers, a few came to mind, but Troy Sanders’ voice and presence kept on coming up in conversations. Both Troys had always talked about doing something together, so it was an easy connection. Sanders flew in and tracked some demos to the finished music, and it went from there.

“Mike and I have had the privilege of being part of some amazing movie trailer campaigns and scored the game Splinter Cell: Blacklist together as well. Our goal is to be able to do more of this within this project.”

Sanders reports the band were conceived years ago and adds: “We have been holding on to this music far too long. The gestation period has to end. Doctor’s orders, we must birth this band into the world now.”

He continues: “The vibe from day one was, and has been, very therapeutic and refreshing for me. The chemistry was immediate. I can only dedicate myself to something that rewards me purely, and we are all in this for the right reasons.”

Further details on the as-yet-untiled EP will be released in due course.

Scott Munro
Louder e-commerce editor

Scott has spent more than 30 years in newspapers, magazines and online as an editor, production editor, sub-editor, designer, writer and reviewer. Scott joined our news desk in the summer of 2014 before moving to the e-commerce team in 2020. Scott maintains Louder’s buyer’s guides, scouts out the best deals for music fans and reviews headphones, speakers, books and more. He's written more than 11,000 articles across Louder, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and Prog and has previous written for publications including IGN, the Sunday Mirror, Daily Record and The Herald, covering everything from daily news and weekly features, to video games, travel and whisky. Scott's favourite bands are Fields Of The Nephilim, The Cure, New Model Army, All About Eve, The Mission, Cocteau Twins, Drab Majesty, Marillion and Rush.