MASTODON singer/guitarist Brent Hinds recently spoke to Revolver magazine about how he was jumped following the band's performance at the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards and suffered a blow that nearly ended his life.

He had just attended an MTV Music Video Awards after-party, where he hung out and drank with members of MOTÖRHEAD, QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE and FOO FIGHTERS. As Hinds walked down the sidewalk outside the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino wasted and elated, SYSTEM OF A DOWN bassist Shavo Odadjian and singer-songwriter William Hudson trailed close behind. According to Hinds, when he removed his wet T-shirt and triumphantly swung it over his head, he accidentally thwacked Hudson. The singer-songwriter punched Hinds in the face as hard as he could, and the guitarist's nose exploded, his head smacking the concrete.

"Shavo said it sounded like someone had hit a homerun," Hinds said. "I went into convulsions and seized out. Blood was coming out my ears and mouth. My brain basically hemorrhaged, and I was holding the fuckin' Grim Reaper's hand."

He added, "Man, that fucked had rings on his finger and he broke my nose so bad I had to wait eight months until the vertigo stopped so I could go back into the hospital under anesthesia and have them re-break my nose again so I could breathe."

(The Las Vegas Weekly, via Metro Police reports collected from firsthand accounts and hotel-security video footage, reported in September 2007 that "an inebriated Hinds was leaving Mandalay Bay around 3 a.m. when he encountered Odadjian and William Hudson at the hotel's west valet area. Hinds took off his shirt and hit Odadjian with it, then struck Hudson in both the face and chest, prompting Odadjian to advise Hinds 'to relax' several times." "The police report then indicates both Odadjian and Hudson punched Hinds in the face, knocking him to the ground. An unidentified friend of Hinds, who reportedly witnessed the event, rushed to the musician's aid and apologized to Odadjian and Hudson, saying Hinds was 'just drunk,' according to the police report. Odadjian and Hudson were both questioned by police on the scene.")

"When anybody pisses me off nowadays, all I do is start thinking of [Hudson] and hurt the next person twice as bad. Any time anyone gets in my face now, I'm just like, dude, uh-uh. I'm not getting destroyed again. I'm looking around me going, 'Where's your friend? Where's your fuckin' fried that's gonna hit me out of nowhere? I'm really paranoid, and it's made me a much better fighter."

In September 2008, Hinds got into an altercation with R&B garage rocker Arish "King" Khan, the Indian guitar guru who cut his teeth playing guitar in the sloppy Canadian punk band the SPACESHITS and who currently fronts his own band called KING KHAN & THE SHRINES. The guitarist was attending a benefit for BJ Womack, a local musician who had just been diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. Before King Khan's set, Khan asked Hinds if he would step onstage during the band's last song, grab Khan's guitar, and play a ripping solo. Only, there was something Khan didn't tell him.

"I was soloing away, and he turns around and gets a 16-ounce Pabst Blue Ribbon off his amp and pours it on my head," said Hinds. "So after the song, I smashed the guitar on the ground, then I went and found the guy and I said, 'You made me fightin' mad. You made me so mad I wanna punch you in the face.' And he goes, 'Whatever, man, get over it.' I hit him so hard he's got a cleft lip for the rest of his life."

Revolver's May 2009 issue is available on newsstands now.

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