Mastodon- Summer Live Dates Cancelled

Yesterday, Mastodon officially announced all their upcoming summer tour dates are being cancelled after news of their guitarist Bill Kalleher’s diagnosis of pancreatitis. Most notably, the dates at the Sonisphere Festivals are affected as well as several other tours and events. With the doctors outlook on the situation “optimistic”, the band has not cancelled and is in fact excited to play the BlackDiamondSkye tour with Alice In Chains and Deftones in September.

Pancreatitis is an inflammation of the pancreas that can rear its ugly head in two forms, one being acute and the other chronic. Anything from alcohol abuse (as little as 2 oz. a day) to the mumps can attribute to the development of pancreatitis. The death rate for mild acute pancreatitis is about <5% while the more severe cases can be as high as 50%.  Most often, the person diagnosed with the illness will need short-term hospitalization while they are given intravenous fluids and pain medication while they fast to rest the pancreas. Otherwise, there are no medications that can aid in the recovery of the pancreas and it may take months of recovery for the patient to avoid further complications.

Metal Call-Out wishes Bill Kalleher a quick recovery of this ailment and a speedy return to music and good health.