Marauda Explains the Shift from Mastadon [Interview]

Marauda Explains the Shift from Mastadon

9/11/2019

In August, just days before his neck-breaking, sold out show with Hekler at Believe Music Hall in Atlanta, the Australian heavy dubstep producer formerly known as Mastadon updated his social media and web presence with a big rebrand that had his fandom buzzing with curiosity. Now officially rebranded as Marauda, we caught up with Hamish Prasad in the green room at Believe before he took the stage to get more details on the abrupt name change:

So, everyone is curious, why the sudden rebrand? Did it have anything to do with the Atlanta metal band of a similar name?
Yes, unfortunately the name was challenged in court by the band Mastodon. I was forced to change it a few days ago.

Were you aware that the band Mastodon existed when you picked the name?
Honestly, when I first started I hadn't heard of them. And then when things got going, since I wasn't ever trying to copy anything, I'd hoped I could just change the spelling. But they proved they weren't about that and I get it.

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A post shared by MARAUDA (@maraudamusic) on Jun 9, 2019 at 8:08pm PDT

What was it about the name that originally appealed to you as a good fit for your music and brand?
I've always felt a kinship or something for elephants. (Prasad is wearing a T-shirt with an elephant on it as he speaks) My first stuff was actually released under Elephant. Mastadon was a more intense or epic form of that.

The new name fits your sound well too - it's very aggressive. What was your inspiration to rebrand as Marauda?
There wasn't really a plan to it, the name just came to me.

Special thanks to Hamish Prasad for taking a few minutes to satisfy our curiosity, and to the staff of Iris Presents at Believe Music Hall and Zubah for the introduction!