Remember what we found during our Storage Wars and Pawn Star exploration? Well, it’s happened again.
Yep, I was stoked to discover more fodder for our concert treasures and Little Things experiments while watching my other guilty pleasure TV series Oddities.
As you know we’re big fans of heavy-metal band Mastodon and I was surprised when their guitarist Brent Hinds stopped by the Obscura shop in search of something strange that he could put on his rig during a NYC show.
As most customers who walk into the Oddities shop, Hinds came in asking for something odd.
The Oddities crew began by offering Hinds a big prehistoric-looking giraffe skull that he said would be really cool to put on stage but unfortunately he had to pass on the skull because it wouldn’t fit on the tour bus.
In the end, Hinds ended up buying a small Shriner figure.
I was curious about why Hinds went with the figure. Was there an emotional inspiration or personal significance?
So I did a little digging to see if there was. And it turns out that there is.
According to this interview with Invisible Oranges, Hinds here’s the backstory:
I’ve now seen you in a fez in one band [Fiend Without a Face] and also in the Blood and Thunder music video. What’s the fascination with the Shriner imagery?
My grandfather was a Shriner. He drove the go-karts, he wore the fezzes. When I was a kid, we would go watch parades and see him driving the go-kart in the get-up. It was super awesome. He died when I was about seven. That image just stuck with me. I also love the Egyptian connotation as well. It has a mystique. I love all that Illuminati shit, but at the end of the day, it’s my grandfather. You always pay tribute to those you loved and lost. I’m not a Shriner, but I have a lot of Shriner hats! I’ve even got a Shriner tattoo.
After reading this interview and watching the Oddities show I’ve been taking a closer look at Mastodon’s stages and wondering if Brent will have the Shriner figure with him during the band’s current tour with Opeth. I would expect Hinds to have it with him but I haven’t seen it pop up yet anywhere.
All this said, I’m wondering what you think about the curious and weird things artist have on stage with them. Do these momentos help guide and support them through the show? Do these small things play a bigger role during the concert than we realize?
What about you?
What odd and curious things have you seen on stage during your favorite shows?
Go ahead and post your stories in the comments below and we’ll share your story on a future episode of Live Fix Radio.