Mastodon recently did a cover of Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven” as a tribute to their late manager Nick John and have now shared the recording with their fans. The heavy metal band released the cover, titled “Stairway to Nick John,” as a single on Record Store Day.
The single came as a 10″ vinyl featuring a live version of the cover on the B-side and was made available in just 1,500 copies. All of the copies sold out quickly, with all the proceeds going to Hirshberg Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer Research.
“In early September 2018 we lost one of our closest friends and our biggest fan, our manager Nick John,” said the band in a statement. “He was essentially the band’s Dad. From our highest highs to our lowest lows he was always there. Every single move we made went through him first as our trust in him was marrow deep. His favorite band besides us and Gojira, was Led Zeppelin. We were asked to perform “Stairway to Heaven” at his funeral. Afterwards, finding out that someone had recorded it, we figured we should record a studio version and release it on RSD as a tribute to Nick with all the proceeds to be donated to pancreatic cancer research. We would not be the band we are today without the help of Nick John. We miss him dearly and think of him always. We love you buddy!”
You can hear Mastodon’s “Stairway to Nick John” below.
Mastodon most recent studio release came in 2017 when they presented Emperor of Sand. The album met with positive reviews from the critics while reaching No.7 on US Billboard 200 charts.
