TOOL - C/D!?

best pitchfork review ever!

Dud, incidently.

As far as "electronics and industry," their only song is NOT "Stinkfist". Tell me where they use keyboards and high-pitched squealing. Industry is just one part of the whole. Songs like "46&2" have intros that are industrial ("Useful Idiot"), and Third Eye has a little in the background. They have many different designs to each song. They have originality, and character. I would love to see you compose something as brilliant and definitive as Tool. Have you tried? Have you listened to the lyrics either? How well they match with the music?

As far as "opus," just because they use the whole CD doesn't mean that it's an opus. It's just a CD, like any other CD you pick up. It does not delineate all of their music.

Oh no, you have summoned an angry beast!

Tool

Use the search function please. ;-)

Over thinking, over analyzing separates the body from the mind.
Withering my intuition, missing opportunities and I must
Feed my will to feel my moment drawing way outside the lines.

Black then white are all I see in my infancy.
red and yellow then came to be, reaching out to me.
lets me see there is so much more
and beckons me to look through to these infinite possibilities.
As below, so above and beyond, I imagine
drawn outside the lines of reason.
Push the envelope. Watch it bend.

Over thinking, over analyzing separates the body from the mind.
Withering my intuition leaving all these opportunities behind.

Feed my will to feel this moment urging me to cross the line.
Reaching out to embrace the random.
Reaching out to embrace whatever may come.

I embrace my desire to
feel the rhythm, to feel connected
enough to step aside and weep like a widow
to feel inspired, to fathom the power,
to witness the beauty, to bathe in the fountain,
to swing on the spiral
of our divinity and still be a human.

With my feet upon the ground I lose myself
between the sounds and open wide to suck it in,
I feel it move across my skin.
I'm reaching up and reaching out,
I'm reaching for the random or what ever will bewilder me.
And following our will and wind we may just go where no one's been.
We'll ride the spiral to the end and may just go where no one's been.

Spiral out. Keep going, going...

that said, Aenima is still ok, and so is Undertow...

I feel like this record was made just for me by super-smart aliens or something... It's the best Tool record because it's the longest.

This Pitchfork review is utterly classic in every way. Does Brent D still write record reviews anywhere?

also, i disagree about their live shows. Stinkfist is the only song I remember as being a good live experience. for the most part, you coulda just thrown on the cd and played it really really loudly.

pushit on salival is a huge exception, of course.

this is also another band vs fans group.

That Pitchfork review is hilarious, and in my mind every bit as classic as Dave Q.'s Yes assessment.

Tool helped get me through high school. I'll always love them for that.

That Brent DiCrescenzo Pitchfork review of Lateralus linked above...jesus that's awful. That's wayyyyy more of a wankfest than any Tool record.

The Something Awful Dr. David Thorpe thing, however, is funny. Tool do have some hilariously overzealous fans, that's for sure! But the music's pretty good, if you like proggy metal stuff.

The other day my coworker and I were getting something to eat on a quick break and we heard "Schism" floating from a car stereo. We approved.

But what if you got into them when you were 22 in 1993?

As for being metal or not, my ex said they reminded her of late eighties Metallica most of all.

chuck eddy alert! lol.

anyway, yeah, technically they're more post-"grunge"/Jane's Addiction/Soundgarden/Helmet/alt-rawk or whatever. But seriously if they had first dropped in the 80's they WOULD be called metal, probably lumped in with proggy thrash like Voivod or something.

i've never found Tool 'lifeless' as Siegbran does. i think the main thing with the band is that even though they are a heavy rock band, they are very precise and controlled. there is very little chaos and anarchy in their sound. maybe that is why they can sound 'clinical', and that's probably too stick-up-the-ass for some people. but i think thats underestimating them as they can be surprisingly melodic and cathartic when you least expect them to be (at least for me).

but i enjoy tool probably now a lot more than i did when i was heavily into them as a teenager, because with listening to them now it's not so tied up with them as 'my band' and how that reinforces my identity.

annnnnyhoo, just giving my two cents worth.

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhh, shhhhhhhhhhiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiittt!

(Dud.)

"Well DUH, who wouldn't know the reference by the 19th century Serbo-Croatian author Djilas Vrensic."

"Uh..."

...

It was indeed gone, but now it's back!

03 Mar 06

JUST IN CASE YOU'RE INTERESTED...
The artwork for the upcoming Tool album is going to the separators/printers today, therefore it will eventually be leaked out that the name of the album is (drum roll.......) ' 10,000 days '

... so there it is.

Vicarious
Jambi
Wings For Marie (Pt 1)
10,000 Days (Wings Pt 2)
The Pot
Lipan Conjuring
Lost Keys (Blame Hofmann)
Rosetta Stoned
Intension
Right In Two
Viginti Tres

(Gentlemen, start your speculengines!)

http://rateyourmusic.com/album_images/s527757.jpg

http://www.toolband.com/news/images/xmdays_mini_art.jpg

Plus 10 new promo shots of the band here. (!)

http://toolshed.down.net/pix/10k_promo/02.jpg

tool fans= the uber-dud of all duds! make ICP fans seem like low-key intellectuals.

I enjoy Tool a lot, but I disagree with this statement.

Every Tool fan I've ever met has somehow convinced themselves that Tool are these untouchable musical geniuses.
Also, every Tool fan I've ever met listens to really shitty music.

xpost: (1 YEAR AGO!)
I listened to part of that Mastodon record today

To me, Mastodon and Tool have very little in common,
and Mastodon PWNS

http://www.chartattack.com/pics/2005/12/19-maynard.jpg

true metal awaits

You should join this band! (best band ad ever!)

tool fans would love maynard+co. making farting noises on they're arms if they could get it!

i'd have more love for tool if they're fanbase wasn't so damned rabid and frothing @ the damned mouth! (see also-dave mathews' band)

"46 & 2, motherfucker!"

I'm just not into this kind of sound like I was. I still like heavy stuff, but jesus, are these guys ever stuck ina sonic rut.

Wotevah

Aenima is still totally classic.

Everything else, eh, could take it or leave it as Larry David says.

ever had a song played SO much that you begin to hate hearing it, despite it actually being ok?

yeah, that's how that happens.

tool fans will love it.
i give it a 'meh' and look forward to hearing this ALL over the place in about a month. esp. on the local "X" station!!!
they will play it once an hour, if not twice. yay.

When I saw them they had video screens showing all sorts of crazy shit, so it was the best of both worlds.

Actually, I think they're better live than on record. Maynard can flat-out sing -- he's best heard live.

the biggest surprise is that it's not a concept album, or even cohesive one. first track is about perils of tv, the third/fourth opus is about his mothers ascension to heaven. what?

ok-to-terrible segues, strangely placed back-to-back. but man...

wings pts 1 and 2, right in two, rosetta stoned cannot wait to hear these at coachella!

I do have to vent though: no Sacramento or SF shows? I mean, I like Oakland fine but WTF???

May need a little time/attention/patience, but once you get to know it all a little better: wow. (I can see how people with short attention spans who've gotten used to fast-food-type short and easy music will think this is impenetrably dense selfindulgence, but I think it isn't and these immense movements of atmospheric organic living breathing sound that happen to have titles work very well, so there.) (convert becomes even more converted shocka!)

hmmmm, that's a pretty broad generalization...i take umbrage, sir.

no, i can dig a 'big ol' jam-arama', but Tool's just Tool, and i guess that's all they'll ever be to me. better than alot of stuff, but i'll never cite them as something i'd WANT to listen to...

or maybe i could just make a mix of the songs i DO like!
*ponders*

a strange world indeed!

hmmmm, that's a pretty broad generalization...i take umbrage, sir.

I didn't say that everyone who thinks Tool's stuff is selfindulgence has a short attention span, I only meant that could be the reason for some people's hate. (but I explained it impenetrably densely)

The actual explanation of the title:

As Keenan explains on commentary on aMOTION, his mother suffered a stroke that left her partially paralyzed and wheelchair-bound. The length of time between her paralysis and her death was 27 years, or approximately 10,000 days.

A guy just brough the CD into work...it's absolutely nuts packaging, the stereoscopic lense thing is fucking crazy....alright I love you crazy ass math metal dudes!

The reactions, however, are exactly as low as expected: http://www.10000-days.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1851 :
"that guy's a cocksucking dipshit."

"I agreed with him mostly, but i don't know what histrionic means so maybe i don't."

I still think it's their best album (only a couple of tracks on AEnima and Lateralus have remained interesting, now I've checked them out again after a couple of years, while this one has completely taken over my stereo over the last couple of weeks, not a bad track on there, even the fillers are necessary resting moments), but after a brief internal struggle I've been able to emotionally detach enough to objectively read it and agree with Ned: it's a great review.

But anyway - this whole meta thing (fans vs. reviewers) is old and pointless, so I'll shut up about it.

definitely an improvement over brent d's wankfest of a review for Lateralus.

But hey, the next time you're sneering at someone in a Tool shirt, just remember how retarded you look walking down the street with the words "The Boy Least Likely To" or "Clap Your Hands Say Yeah" across your chest.

Dude, that Wolfmother LP rocks way harder than the new Tool does.

Crack a beer, smoke a joint (you ARE a Tool fan after all) and give it another listen, it's fuckin' great.

The tool I find to be a bit like a more adventurous "Lateralus".

For me, "Aemima" was tops for them. Such a great fucking album.

But anyway, to each their own, but Wolfmother rocks.

And I wouldn't sneer at a Tool fan, I'd just remember how much I used to like them

It might.

-- Erock LAzron (erockzombi...), May 3rd, 2006.

OK, who's trolling at my expense here?

though i must say: upon only two listens to "10,000 days" i can't say that i'm all that impressed. i heard the first single a month ago and could predict every chord change. but it must grow on me, i suppose.

What exactly is "nu-metal" and how does it relate to Tool? I thought "nu metal" basically related to rap-metal, which doesn't seem related to Tool in the slightest. Tool always seemed more aligned with Progressive Metal or Art Metal or Alt Metal or whatever empty moniker you choose for it. It has nothing to do with Korn or Linkin Park.

I've been slowly sinking into the album on and off for the last week and a half -- it's taken more time for me to get into than Lateralus but I think I've 'got' the album now, in my own sense of it, and it goes like this: the equivalent of the dramatic closing triptych on Lateralus are the two parts of "10,000 Days" itself, which are placed much earlier in the album. In otherwards, in a weird way, this is less an album that builds up to an explosive ending/epilogue than it is one detailing an extended aftermath, thanks to its sequencing. More thoughts later.

Meantime, though, I'm tickled to have noticed this:

According to Neilsen SoundScan, "10,000 Days" sold a whopping 564,000 copies in its first week here in the US, landing at #1 in the Billboard Top 200 and outselling Pearl Jam's new album (#2) by a little more than 2-to-1.

It seems right.

Hmm, now the Lollapalooza 1993 flashbacks are kicking in (Maynard backed up Layne pretty well on "Rooster," it has be said).

Are they scared to write a memorable song?

Desperate but not serious, I see.

I like it too! I have my parallels. ;-)

-- Alex in Baghdad (fdslk...), May 4th, 2006.

so, Primus and Tool started nu-metal. Wow. I can see how Rage are linked but if you can say just because the band members of Korn and Linkin Park admire Tool, that they were the god fathers, you'd be a ratard. They probably also like the agression in bands like Pantera, doesn't mean they're god fathers to such a god'forsakin' horrid genre though.

My friend Tom out here says that when he went to get the album on the day of release, they had already sold out at the Best Buy he was at, and the various fans there forlornly looking for a record and commiserating with him on the state of affairs included a Mexican-American woman in her late forties and a biker dude in his late twenties or so. Tool, the band that brings everyone together (when the uberfans don't get in the way).

"Its sound can change because of technology, but most of the time you can´t guess the release year of a song you don´t know. It doesn´t follow trends."

"Its music does not have lyrics with common topics you can found in radio"

A Perfect Tool among many!

maybe it's the political climate, or perhaps it's the effect of the internet becoming more pervasive and ubiquitous than ever. perhaps it is the entering of saturn into uranus, activating thelemic archetypes on the third level of the etheric plane. perhaps i am tired and trying too hard.

so: did it grow? because after one listen i'm not sure when i'll go back. surprisingly dull. but i have this sneaking suspicion i need to put more time in with it; that i missed something.

OTM. Seen them in Düsseldorf last week, they're pretty amazing.

Keep at the vineyard, Keenan, don't mind the studio.

"Tool's dense, often quasi-religious lyrics have always been among the most overwrought in mainstream metal -- no small feat. But the music has such anthemic power that even the most cynical listener can find himself chanting along to lines like "To ascend, you must die!/You must be crucified!"

On 10,000 Days, their fourth album, Tool maintain a level of craftsmanship and virtuosity unparalleled in metal. On the opener, "Vicarious," the quartet reprises its primary formula, which dates back to the 1993 debut, Undertow: Each player keeps his own syncopated version of the central groove until they unite for the first of many spine-tingling crescendos -- then, just as sharply, the foursome de-crescendos into a brooding instrumental jam, as the rhythmic and melodic lines meander and cross until the next explosion. The web of shifting dynamics and time signatures sounds so primal, so visceral, that any lyrical message seems incredibly important.

Singer Maynard Keenan's operatic vocals, alternately simmering and shrill, are more personal and less pretentious here than ever before. The album title refers to the time between when Keenan's mother became paralyzed in the 1980s and when she died, in 2003, an experience that inspires some of Keenan's most poignant lyrics yet ("10,000 days in the fire is long enough/You're going home"). More than fifteen years into Tool's career, he has composed words with the depth and resonance to match the music."

no comment.

Simon: I really kinda mainline Tool at this point -- I hesitate to say they do no wrong, but anyway. Like I mentioned above, my initial listens were a bit deflating, but then I caught the 'mood' of the album, for lack of a better term, and it all made sense.

Whatever your feelings towards them that description is just wrong. I would have thought The Guardian could afford to employ more kowledgable writers.

It's worse than the rest of their authorial voice, if that's possible.

Whereas I think a lot of people noticed the dead rat. It's just that most of us don't find it at all pleasant or interesting, and even most of the rest of us never thought to use it as an excuse to feel superior to people. People don't need to be felt superior to. We're just over there doing a thing, okay, Tool? You can leave us alone now.

You have your dead rat to occupy you, right?

And maybe you can hold up the rat as though it were a puppet and, apropos of nothing, deliver a monologue in a fake rat voice about God and turnips or something else which is OMG Completely Random. That will show people that you are Well-Rounded and Not Too Serious. Nice work, Tool.

http://toolshed.down.net/pix/10k_promo/02.jpg

THEY ARE A BAND BRO. GOD U R DUMB.

How about this for an exercise. Give me the lyrics of one Tool song. Any Tool song. Then try to act like they're defensible.

"Du Cotton-Eyed Liquid Leiben...BUT WHO'S BUYING?"

How about this for an exercise. Give me the lyrics of one Tool song.

You fail. (We're here to talk about music, not your fucking poetry slams.)

"IF THERE'S NO REAL MEANING IN THE LYRICS THEN IT MEANS NOTHING! AND NO REAL HUMOR EITHER!"

"..."

Tool - Hooker With a Penis

I met a boy wearing vans, 501s, and a
Dope beastie t, nipple rings, and
New tattoos that claimed that he
Was ogt,
From 92,
The first ep.

And in between
Sips of coke
He told me that
He thought
We were sellin out,
Layin down,
Suckin up
To the man.

Well now Ive got some
A-dvice for you, little buddy.
Before you point the finger
You should know that
Im the man,

And if Im the man,
Then youre the man, and
Hes the man as well so you can
Point that fuckin finger up your ass.

All you know about me is what Ive sold you,
Dumb fuck.
I sold out long before you ever heard my name.

I sold my soul to make a record,
Dip shit,
And you bought one.

So Ive got some
Advice for you, little buddy.
Before you point your finger
You should know that
Im the man,
If Im the fuckin man
Then youre the fuckin man as well
So you can
Point that fuckin finger up your ass.

All you know about me is what Ive sold you,
Dumb fuck.
I sold out long before you ever heard my name.

I sold my soul to make a record,
Dip shit,
And you bought one.

All you read and
Wear or see and
Hear on tv
Is a product
Begging for your
Fatass dirty
Dollar

So...shut up and

Buy my new record
Send more money
Fuck you, buddy.

Two of them are by Elvis Costello.
(sorry for the cheapshot i am just kidding)

Now, if you don't want to argue with me on that level, that's your right. But your cheap, stupid mockery is more or less exactly the sort of flashy, unpleasant, and unsound thing I am criticizing in Tool. You're not doing yourself any favors, guys.

Are you a Scientologist?

a) arguing with an incoherent dyed in the wool tool fool is a waste of time.

b) arguing that you can't look past lyrics will get you nowhere fast - every time!

c) ned is right

2A) You're probably right.

2B) Is it better if I argue that I can't look past lyrics? (Not that I'd be inclined to enjoy Tool's sort of heavy guitar-sludge anyway.)

2C) Maybe Ned has been right on occasion. I don't know Ned. Doesn't change the fact that Tool are a lot of compassionless, self-satisfied bastards. (Or, alternately, one compassionless, self-satisfied bastard fronting some guys with musical instruments.) Was probably not entirely wise for me to say it, of course.

Surely Pessimist has some kind of affection for Brian Eno, easily the best exemplar of this school of lyric-writing I can come up with off the top of my head. Beck maybe? A lot of people seem to hate him though. Point is;

Ned Is Right

(Which is not meant to imply that Pessimist might not also be right on some of that, particularly the idea of using a dead rat as a ventriloquist's dummy?)

The thing that separates Tool from them, I think, is Tool's relentless anger and negativity. Yes, it is all right if your lyrics don't do much in and of themselves -- and I didn't say "lyrics" so much as "authorial voice", which is partially semantic, but it's worth pointing out that -- lyrics or no -- you, and I, and everyone else has at least a general sense of what Eno and Beck's aesthetics are about.

I think the difference with Tool is that they're claiming more than that -- they're claiming to have something to say that justifies the deeply unpleasant, violently angry nature of their music (both lyrically and, to a lesser extent, sonically). And when you ask them what it is, it comes out, "bluh bluh corporations bluh the government bluh bluh non-tradional sex acts and/or images of feces bluh!" Don't go all vague on me, Tool, is what I'm saying. Don't show me a lot of disgusting things unless you can justify my unsettlement -- otherwise it's just shock for shock's sake.

And as far as I'm concerned, Tool don't even come close to justifying it -- their message, as it were, is a bunch of empty and bitter cliches. And if I wanted empty cliches, well, there are a lot of empty cliches out there that don't harangue me about ridiculous conspiracy theories or force me to contemplate the image of a man sucking his own dick. I'll probably listen to them, then.

And yeah, I understand that I privilege lyrics more than most people. We may be arguing at cross purposes from the beginning, really.

I tend to judge lyrics on how well the suit the song's mood and meter; Tool rates pretty highly on that scale for me. "Meaning" is a bonus.

Don't just call me pessimist
Try and read between the lines
I can't imagine why you wouldn't
Welcome any change, my friend

That doesn't seem relentlessly negative to me. Also, did you have no metal as a child? I'm getting that feeling.

But perhaps it's more relevant to the question that I hate conspiracy theorists in general, and have the same violently negative reaction to Bill Hicks? I just think their (Hicks'/Tool's) modus operandi -- alleging frequently-unspecified and always-unverified misdeeds on the part of likewise-vague Large and Monolithic Cultural Forces, spuriously connecting said forces to repugnant/scatological images, and slapping a veneer of quasi-mystical overtones on the whole thing -- is both intellectually dishonest and incredibly tiresome.

And what kind of dick musician refers to the listener as "my friend"? Talk about a thing you only do if you have an impractical haircut!

- Do you realize you still haven't even tried to argue against me?

- I like some rap music; I can't say I'm well-versed in the field. What does that have to do with anything?

Don't give me "sense of humor". Have you been reading any of my posts? Way funnier than anything you're coming up with. And the kind of embarrassing, childish dick-and-poo talk Tool engage in is basically the antithesis of humor. (There's something else I could say here, but I won't.)

*blinks*

Look, maybe you really think you're funny -- hey, I often have the same affliction (but I don't AUTOMATICALLY assume I'm funny). All you're doing is coming across as one of the most tendentiously dull writers I've read in a long time (and believe me, when you work even slightly in academia, you get to know the type). There's nothing funny in your posts -- intentionally, at least. But if your goal is deep satire, then congratulations, you really capture the mode of suicidal boredom with aplomb.

I'll also admit this whole thing has upset me more than it probably should. There's something about conspiracy theorists in general, and Bill Hicks/his followers in particular, that just angers me uncontrollably. Sorry about that!

Whatever; this discussion isn't worth anyone's time or anger. No matter what either of us says, I'm going to continue to think Tool are paranoid, arrogant, crass, and inhumane, the worst sort of self-important shock-for-shock's-sake-masquerading-as-Deep nonsense -- as I said, no better than Bill Hicks. Meanwhile, the rest of you are either going to disagree (for various reasons) or not care. Nothing's going to change much.

But enough. I really should stop this.

OMG pessimist IS maynard james keenan

(I'm not from England.)

(Yeah, I think the rat bit might've been better if I ended it after the first paragraph.)

LOL

Nevertheless, it is perhaps fair to say that I have never had any reason to expect to enjoy the works of Tool. I will grant that point.

anyway, here is my aenema review from spin (i had no idea it was on line):

http://toolshed.down.net/articles/index.php?action=view-article&id=December_1996--Spin.html

Belle and Sebastian vs Tool, let's discuss

i had the excuse of being 14, though.

MY LIFE WHERE HAS IT GONE?

I suppose I have nothing to say about tool.

Belle and Sebastian need more songs about fisting.

10,000 days has grown on me a little bit, actually. it's not quite as solid as lateralus, but its got its own thing going.

Personally, lyrics don't matter that much to me when it comes to whether or not I like a song but I believe they should matter more to me and to other people. I recently came across this Eric Hoffer quote the other day and it makes a good point of saying that there might be hidden costs for a society that doesn't really care at all about the meanings behind their art...

"More significant than the fact that poets write abstrusely, painters paint abstractly, and composers compose unintelligible music is that people should admire what they cannot understand; indeed, admire that which has no meaning or principle."

I think a question that needs to be asked more often is "Why do people desire their lyrics to have meaning?" Why do people get disappointed when they find out that a song is only "catchy" and doesn't serve any larger purpose than that? Is it okay that most of us would have no qualms loving music with abhorrent messages, if they have any discernable messages at all?

The point at which I first heard "Editions of You" by Roxy Music coincides with the point at which I discovered that great lyrics and great music need not go hand in hand.

I like those lyrics!

Second of all, and perhaps way more important, while Radiohead's lyrics are generally suspicious of government et al. in a non-specific way, they rarely (never? probably not never, but I'm too tired to think) make overt reference to specific/established conspiracy theories. Whereas Tool, of course, buys into it wholesale, and says so directly.

Which is where I draw the line -- I have no problem with plausible suspicions of government -- what, somebody might lie about a war, or take bribes? Really? -- but to me, the hardcore conspiracy-theory guy, the kind of guy who's always talking about the Kennedy assassination or UFOs or the moon landing being fake, etc., against all the available evidence, is guilty of libel not only against the participants in said events, but against history itself -- against the notion that historical truth can be legitimately recorded and accountable to evidence.

So, to me, that kind of thing is abhorrent. I'm not saying this to debate the merits of conspiracy theory; I'm just saying that, for me, this is an ethical issue even if it weren't a musical one. (And I reiterate that I don't like Tool musically either, but that one wouldn't expect me to, because I don't like anything that sounds like Tool.)

I might compare it to religion -- practically everyone likes at least one band that happens to be religious, and maybe alludes to it glancingly from time to time. But if proselytizing becomes the focus of the music, well... maybe you can endure it if you happen to be of that religion to begin with. I wouldn't know.

http://toolshed.down.net/tour/

Unless there's more to it than that, chaki?

Still album of the year for me. Dear god I do love this band. Ended up relistening to all four full albums over Labor Day weekend.

has anyone else said the la-da-da-dee-da-da part on vicarious is fucking fantastic?

Yes. Or for instance when the whole band winds everything up perfectly on "Jambi" on the "I-might-as-well-be-Goooooooooooooonnnnnneee..." part (and, in complementary fashion, when Maynard returns suddenly with the 'shine on' bits).

No Opiate or Salival? I never did get ahold of a copy of Salival. Am I missing much, anyone?

when Fantomas blows yr ass off stage, ya might wanna think about the meaning of that...

don't cry for me, StanM! i'm doin just fine w/o em!
i FULLY realize that people DO ,not only, like em, but live/breathe/sleep/hypothosize/screw/eat cereal to em!!!

i simply don't see it...and man, i've tried.
lord knows, if one were to go by sheer volume of exposure, i should be a fan-o-matic. but, them, as with radiohead have not yielded fruits upon repeat ventures. they're all you, stanny boi!

The stage production on the next TOOL jaunt will be "more intense" than the band's last trip, with computer animation and props possibly being included.

The band is supporting its fourth album, "10,000 Days", which has sold 1.4 million copies since arriving last May. The CD's next single is "Jambi".

TOOL is currently headlining the Big Day Out festival tour in Australia and New Zealand.

Confirmed TOOL North American tour dates:

Mar. 15 - Las Vegas, NV - The Pearl
Mar. 16 - Las Vegas, NV - The Pearl
Mar. 18 - Reno, NV - Reno Events Center
Mar. 20 - San Diego, CA - Cox Arena
Mar. 21 - Tucson, AZ - TCC Arena - REV
Mar. 23 - Albuquerque, NM - Tingley Coliseum - REV
Mar. 24 - El Paso, TX - Don Haskins Center - REV
Mar. 26 - San Antonio, TX - AT&T Center
Mar. 27 - Corpus Christi, TX - American Bank Center

well performed and tight, but it all seemed a bit poorly paced. wings I and II were the definite lowlight. nice to see that aenima and lateralus got a fair serve though plus, danny carey always keeps things interesting

HI DERE

http://myspace-240.vo.llnwd.net/01230/04/25/1230135240_l.jpg

This band's fans crap their pants over them ENTIRELY too much. Calling a bunch of average soulless radio grunge that all sounds the same "the best music they've ever heard"... that's too much.

well

yes.

but opiate and parts of lateralus are dope imo.

Man, this StanM character you've got on here is annoying.

xxp: grunge?

average soulless radio grunge that all sounds the same

I suppose this makes sense if you think all grunge sounds like "Spoonman"

i like tool, but i think the deftones have eclipsed them as my "thinking man's guitar center" band of choice

i don't know why, i guess a slightly larger emotional range than tool, and chino's goth/new wave/post-punk vibe too

Traitor oh wait. (Both bands are great.)

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1372/1104831475_63cbc05ddc.jpg?v=0

Bump for the Toolbaby.

That's a dope baby.

Gonna try to see them when they roll through Austin next time.

i hope they get back on the album bandwagon sooner than later. but i suppose another tour would suffice.

I think that's the only happy baby I've ever seen, no joke.

I can't speak for every Tool song, but this one is classic.

Saw them last night here in Sacramento: always surprises me how great Maynard still sounds, after 21 (!) years.

Jello Biafra's band opened (Guantanamo School of Medicine, I think?) - the drummer & bass player sat in for epic Lateralus session, which was pretty cool. Short setlist on paper, but they played for 2 and a half hours. Was a little disappointed at no Sober or Opiate on the setlist, but it didn't ruin my night or anything. As we were walking out someone was saying 'Wish Maynard wasn't hiding in the back in the dark'...and I thought, 'When is he ever not hiding?' I mean, even if he's up front, and he hasn't done that for a while I don't think, he's always in a wig or a catsuit or body paint. Oh and he was passing around a bottle of wine...guessing it's from the private stash, lol.

Honestly, as a concert venue Arco arena is a smoking crater of suck. Acoustics in there are awful.

He wore huge bunny slippers here in Austin a few weeks ago. And drank a bottle of wine by himself.

man I had forgotten what a massive tune "Sober" is

On the Lollapollooza tour in like 2003, he came out in a blond cornrow wig, and those horrible Adidas sweats with the button snaps down the legs.

I love this band, and I always thought as I grew up maybe I would get tirred of them. Hasn't happened yet. Blasting sober right now.

I got back into them this year. 10,000 Days was new to me. It's a funny album - mostly uninteresting except for this one massive song, "Wings for Marie"/"10,000 Days", which goes beyond anything they've done previously.

I suspect we'd have a new album by now if Maynard wasn't interested in doing ten million things at once. (Which I'm fine with -- do what makes ya happy.)

This is a band that 'real' music fans love to sneer at but I love 'em. Lateralus blew my mind when I was 15 so I'll always have a soft spot. I think 10, 000 days isn't as bad as a lot of people think (though not as good as Lateralus/Aenima obviously), but if they keep us waiting for a decade and release just more of the same I'll feel a little bit let down.

I suspect we'd have a new album by now if Maynard wasn't interested in doing ten million things at once. (Which I'm fine with -- do what makes ya happy.)

it's my impression from recent interviews that he's down to do another record, it's the rest of the band that has to finish composing it

anyway i revisited lateralus the other week and i still have it mostly memorized which i guess is a consequence of falling hard for this band at 12

What was disturbing for me, when I went back and reread it a few weeks ago, was discovering that I still remember almost every sentence in Spin's June 2001 Tool feature. Why would my brain have committed that to memory??

Ha! I think I've purchased exactly one copy of Spin in my life and it was that TOOL issue.

Yeah, it's the other dudes who take a long time, which makes sense, considering they're the ones writing and arranging all that stuff. Maynard I imagine is the last ingredient.

http://consequenceofsound.net/2015/03/tool-wins-multi-year-lawsuit-ramps-up-production-of-new-album/

Already? It hasn't been 10,000 days yet!

Wasn't a lawsuit behind the Lateralus delay too?

Two of them!

A legal battle that began the same year interfered with the band's working on another release. Volcano Entertainment—the successor of Tool's by-then defunct label Zoo Entertainment—alleged contract violations by Tool and filed a lawsuit. According to Volcano, Tool had violated their contract when the band looked at offers from other record labels. After Tool filed a countersuit stating that Volcano had failed to use a renewal option in their contract, the parties settled out of court. In December 1998 Tool agreed to a new contract, a three-record joint venture deal.[41][42] In 2000, the band dismissed their long-time manager Ted Gardner, who then sued the band over his commission on this lucrative agreement.[43]

Last summer, the band revealed one of the major reasons for the delay was a multi-million dollar lawsuit involving their insurance company suing them over “technicalities” in a copyright case

The Gaye estate can't win them all.

lol i didn't know ned liked 10,000 days so much at the time. i revisited it today and it turns out i haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaate "rosetta stoned"

wish ilx had pre-covered it

I remember listening to it when it first leaked and thinking it was at least half-hoaxed, never got into that one at all

Wings for Marie is great. I never got into the rest. Rosetta Stoned is really bad.

yeah "wings for marie/10,000 days" is wonderful. so is "right in two." rest of it is ehhhhhhhhhh

Well you're all wrong. (Or something.) I was thinking about the album recently, probably just because they're still in this netherworld of 'well there are eight million sideprojects but...," and I admit I can't even remember "Rosetta Stoned" at this point. Lateralus might remain my general high point for the band but then again that hasn't changed for fourteen years now. (14!)

D

I'm still Team Opiate EP & Undertow, although Lateralus and Aenima are great. I have no recollection of anything on 10,000 Days

I remember loving Aenima and being really disappointed at how dull and humourless Lateralus was by comparison

that was a common reaction. but i think 10,000 days tried to reemploy their sense of humor to their new knottier, proggier song structures, and the effect is even duller

I've only heard 10,000 Days once and wasn't impressed but it probably deserves another listen or too. I like the early stuff OK but Aenima and Lateralus are what I love Tool for.

Yeah Aenima seemed to hit the right spot and it was my intro to the band. Lateralus (IIRC) came out just as nu-metal was starting to saturate the market, and I remember the production being very much a part of that ilk, as in nu-metal filtered through prog structures. Aenima, to me, had more in common with industrial music; stuff like Ministry etc. I've not heard any other Tool.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_SG41-MKTc

you're welcome

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRwWucCZpLg

you're still welcome

i revisited the tool catalog this weekend and tbh i don't like a lot of opiate and undertow at this point in my life

this point in your life totally sucks IMO

I mean, "Sober" and "Swamp Song" and "Intolerance" still super rule, is what I'm trying to convey here

Opiate, Undertow, Aenima and Lateralus are all great, 10,000 Days still sucks.

xp: also "Undertow" and "4 Degrees" btw

those are my two favorite tracks on the record

I'm with DJP when it comes to Tool, things went way downhill when they got that bass player who plays writes them awful pedal note sections where he plays too many open strings with a ton of phasing or flanging, bleargh.

I can do without an awful lot of Tool from all of their eras. I feel like there's so much filler there. But I'll listen to Opiate til I die.

I am being reminded right now of how much I enjoy "Eulogy" on Aenima

https://vimeo.com/167665228 - they apparently played a new song during their last tour (Nov/Dec 2015) called Descending?

It's been over a decade now, christ. I used to love this band and they were very formative for my tastes, I still like them but all enthusiasm for anything new has evaporated. I'll still listen to a new album when it does eventually appear though.

While listening to aenima now I keep thinking, cheer up dude! Still great riffs though.

Riffs are great, drums are all-time, lyrics are dumb and one-note, competing with the song titles. But I can't imagine them without Maynard, dumb or no.

Danny Carey has been playing the drums on Seth Meyers all week & apparently there is a new album coming up.

I heard there was a new album coming up last year. Any details on when?

I care less about when the album arrives and more about it being better than the last record they put out, tbh!

well yeah, but you can't make that determination until an actual album has dropped

Well yeah, but if they don't have another great record in 'em then we won't be missing out on anything if it doesn't come out.

i really love "jambi" and "wings/10,000 days" and would like the new record to resemble those

oh also "right in two." been reaching for 10,000 days a lot lately

Undertow is still a beautiful, wonderful album.

it is

Undertow, AEnima and particularly Lateralus = a trilogy of high quality albums.

yup, I loved them from the EP though. Back when they got labelled 'Grunge' as everything did at that time

Opiate and Undertow are my favorite releases of theirs still.

In order of preference for me: Lateralus > Undertow > AEnima.

Tool are classic

Aenima > Undertow > Lateralus > Opiate

Great band. But are you all forgetting 10,000 Days on purpose? 'Vicarious', the 'Wings for Marie' suite and especially 'Intension'/'Right in Two' are classics that would have fit nicely on the two earlier albums.

AEnima > Lateralus > 'Sober' > 10,000 Days >>> Undertow-'Sober' > Opiate

Can't say I really listen to these guys anymore, but Sober remains a great single that I'm always happy to hear.

the 'Wings for Marie' suite and especially 'Intension'/'Right in Two'

these are great songs, some of the best of their career but imo they're the only great songs on 10,000 days

a little over a year ago, i pitched a ranking of every tool song including the more unmusical interludes, mostly to make fun of bill wyman lists) but it fell through bc writing a blurb for every song seemed exhausting and the pitch was at least 70 percent a joke anyway

'Throw that Bob Marley wannabe motherfucker outta here'.

I'd love a Tool track poll. I'd probably go for Pushit. Or Third Eye. Or Lateralus. Or Crawl Away. Or...

Anyone else read the Lilith Fair oral history where Maynard claims he had Tool's manager request a slot on the bill, just so that he could frame the thanks but no thanks letter?

Anyway, I would listen to Tool even if it was just isolated drum tracks.

I have a weird recurring dream about Danny Carey where I'm in a distant part of a venue and I need to get him a message. It's definitely him (or someone copying him) as it's the 'bouncing tennis ball' thing from the start of Disposition.

Was actually on a Tool kick after attending a goth themed birthday party where, by the end of it, the DJs just kept dropping Tool and NIN tracks. 10,000 days surprised me - I recalled liking it more than Lateralus. Felt more emotionally charged. Aenima + Lateralus + 10,000 Days is a hell of a trilogy with the latter album being a solid "Eulogy" for the band. Probably fitting they don't release any more music at this point.

'Throw that Bob Marley wannabe motherfucker outta here'.

I'd love a Tool track poll. I'd probably go for Pushit. Or Third Eye. Or Lateralus. Or Crawl Away. Or...

― The shard-borne beetle with his drowsy hums (Chinaski), Thursday, July 6, 2017 8:21 AM (thirty-three minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

listen, i went through everything, and "jimmy" is the best tool song

I'm not gonna argue (well, I am). Just a thought, but Eleven off Stranger Things isn't an oblique Tool reference, is it?

Or a Dead reference. Or Primus.

I assume they are working on a new album. they've been touring and Maynard is going to tour A Perfect Circle, so either they are getting their voice and chops in order, or they've just been sharpened and they want to show them off.

I really should catch them live again, been too long.

One of favourite gig memories is them opening with Third Eye at the old Astoria, with Maynard painted entirely blue and eyes drawn all down his spine.
In that same gig, someone charged the stage and Maynard threw him, pinned him to the deck and didn't miss a note.

I took my dad to see Tool.

My preferred 10,000 Days tracklist:

1. Vicarious
2. Wings for Marie, Part 1
3. 10,000 Days (Wings, Part 2)
4. Lipan Conjuring
5. Jambi
6. Intension
7. Right in Two

This keeps the original structure of two almost-equal halves divided by that little rain dance, but loses the silly 'The Pot', 'Lost Keys' and the very boring 'Rosetta Stoned' which just goes on and on but never goes anywhere.

Pretty much a perfect album in this configuration.

i like that a lot!

I think I'd cut it down more than that, maybe

1. Wings for Marie, Part 1
2. 10,000 Days (Wings, Part 2)
3. Lipan Conjuring
4. Intension
5. Right in Two

That would make a consistent 37-minute psychedelic Tool album and be kind of like one long piece.

[Waiting for the joker who only wants to keep 'Lipan Conjuring'...]

don't cut "jambi"!

Or 'Vicarious'. Their best single since 'Stinkfist'.

Great band. But are you all forgetting 10,000 Days on purpose?

Nah, I don't really consider it in the same league as their other work.

it's time now, give me my wiiiiiiiiiiiiings

SHIT THE BED AGAIN

Tool is fine, but Puscifer is Fun!

10,000 Days rules. I saw them a year after it came out, it was sick, they opened with "Jambi" and Melt Banana opened.

think I'd cut it down more than that, maybe

1. Wings for Marie, Part 1
2. 10,000 Days (Wings, Part 2)
3. Lipan Conjuring
4. Intension
5. Right in Two

That would make a consistent 37-minute psychedelic Tool album and be kind of like one long piece.

― jmm, Sunday, July 9, 2017 8:28 AM (seven hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i do love that you sort of made the ambient tool album here

Maynard on the Joe Rogan podcast - http://podcasts.joerogan.net/podcasts/maynard-james-keenan-2

The Tool writing process was new to me, in that Danny, Adam and Justin clearly take aaages to write, and this clearly frustrates Maynard - to the point that he basically leaves them to it, and waits until the foundations are laid before adding his writing. Also didn't know he'd had a new hip. And owned a restaurant.

I love how he was talking about EMP bombs/asteroids in the context of preferring vinyl to CD/digital lmao

Watched part of this really crappy cheap-o Amazon Prime Tool documentary last night

https://www.amazon.com/Tool-Ultimate-Review-MVD/dp/B003D0BZQC

anyway, super low budget, obv nobody talked to them except these LA scenester dudes

but anyway big thing I didn't know was that Tool grew out of Green Jelly???

it actually makes a weird kind of sense

some serious accusations against Maynard

Deep breath. I have to anonymously tell this story because I tried to tell it from my real account and couldn't name him directly out of fear, so I deleted the tweets. Here goes: I was 17 and he was 36. 1/

— Iwas17HeWas36 (@IWas17HeWas36) June 23, 2018

"Later on, I heard from a male friend that he did this in every city, at every show."

Horrifying.

I posted about this on rolling metal but probably best to discuss here - couldn't bump it on Flagging

I actually got in an argument with someone re: groupies or alleged-groupies in the MeToo era, and she for some reason differentiated them from the abuses of power in the news. I think her argument was that groupies aren't being taken advantage in the same way because they have nothing to gain, nothing professional at stake. And I said that's bullshit, because it's still a matter of men using their power to take advantage of girls and women, however "consensual" it may appear in the abstract.

Anyway, this does not sound remotely consensual, and sounds as horrifying as it seems entirely plausible.

Sadly related, but I just went back and brushed up on the allegations made about Isaac Brock and Conor Oberst and, though the allegations were eventually dropped/recanted in both cases, I wonder if things would be different in 2018 vs. 1999 and 2014 respectively.

What do you think would have happened differently, based on how those cases played out?

(I don’t recall many specifics of either case, which is why I ask)

I just wonder if the onus would have shifted to Brock and Oberst to prove concretely that the incidents did not happen (or happen the way they were portrayed) instead of just the general assumption by fans/etc from day one that the allegations were false (especially Brock's allegations in 1999, which now is almost 20 years ago).

The oberst one was a rare case that iirc was more or less debunked

Brock's a little hazier, not a lot of specifics I've seen

Based on what little information has survived about the Brock story, it resembles the Aziz Ansari story from a few months ago, but taken further.

The onus was on Oberst, wasn't it? And it was totally debunked, iirc, and also fucked him up for a couple of years, and forever ties him to the allegation. But yeah, that sort of revelation is a rarity. Brock, yeah, I'm not even sure what happened there, what the ultimate outcome was. He talks about it here:

https://www.avclub.com/modest-mouse-1798208359#

It affected both of them a fair deal when it happened & would destroy their careers today

Whether or not they were innocent

The good news is that Tool fans will now have a whole new way to be the fucking worst.

Allegations against Paul Weller and Mick Hucknall were treated like PR blips at the time and are largely forgotten

Legit media doesn't seem to be picking up on this yet.

Still a relatively now number of RTs - notably, for whatever reason, she neglected to use the MeToo hashtag, which probably would have made it a bigger deal faster.

yea I'm kinda surprised this hasn't picked up but I assume later today it probably will

The fact that it is anonymous may limit the degree to which it is reported.

...But it may lead to others coming forward with similar stories (like the one on Reddit).

David letterman seems to have got away with this bullshit pretty good

?

https://www.google.ca/amp/s/amp.pastemagazine.com/articles/2018/01/why-does-david-letterman-get-a-pass-despite-past-s.html

In re to earlier discussion itt

You know - David Lettercomebackstagewithoutherboyfriendman.

I'm not really surprised this hasn't picked up, if only because it almost definitely happens with many, MANY musicians

a lot of these stories about musicians were getting picked up for a while

true, but they are almost certainly a fraction, and not a large one. musicians targeting underage women as groupies didn't die out in the '70s, not by a long shot.

katherie otm

katherine *

absolutely. just surprised this has flown under the radar so far. I can't imagine it would've gone this way if this came out last fall.

i'm guessing the caution has to do with the fact that this is some anonymous Twitter account ? I mean this seems pretty believable to me, I don't really know jack about Tool but even I know the stories surrounding Maynard which are very very similar to this one.

Yeah, it's possible some outlets are trying to get in touch, hear from MJK's reps, whatever. I noticed Kim Kelly mentioned it on her feed so it's definitely getting out there.

also that, plus the fact that tool is kind of outside the purview of a lot of music sites these days

(in the way that a lot of rock bands are)

A reporter would probably want to speak to the tweeter (even if agreeing to keep her anonymous) before writing it up. The fact that she doesn't name the city also complicates things, as a reporter can't put the musician's reps on the spot re: what he remembers doing during NiN's set that year in that particular city, etc. But, again, this may also inspire others to come forward (on the record).

Also maybe someone in his organization, who was aware of the behavior, will come forward.

a lot of this is playing out on reddit fwiw and even the "he did nothing wrong" defenses contain some questionable behavior

(there are earlier threads on this kind of thing too, both on the old internet and reddit. like this one -- obviously, as an anonymous reddit thread, a lot of what's in this earlier thread is probably BS, but probably not *all* of it https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/1qs3yr/former_groupies_of_reddit_what_was_your/ )

Darius Rucker story checks out

A woman I knew in college talked about how the guitar player of a well-known band hit on her when she was a high-school senior visiting the college, and the band was there playing Spring Weekend. She was still pretty disgusted by it, a few years later. (And this band was as far as it's possible to get from a swaggering, cock-rock type band... not that that matters.)

the "he did nothing wrong" defenses contain some questionable behavior

jesus some of those are horrifying in how matter-of-factly they describe some pretty gross, at best, behavior.

those defenses also made me recall Iwas17HeWas36 writing "I’m sure to some this doesn’t sound like rape." i wonder how many of her readers said "yup" to that.

I just realized that reddit thread is 4 years old. It's due for an update.

xp this thread is a different, older thread than the thread about the guy from Tool (where the "he did nothing wrong" stuff was coming from)

ah, thanks. i was thinking specifically of this comment on the maynard reddit thread

https://www.reddit.com/r/ToolBand/comments/8trvn3/woman_on_twitter_accuses_maynard_of_sexually/e1a50qc/

Passes for Maynard are different than the normal backstage pass for the show. A couple examples I can think of (and one I own that I received personally when they were out of normal ones) has a collage of women in KISS makeup sucking dick or other sexual acts. An APC one had a picture of Maynard in Roman garb that said "Have you serviced your gladiator today?" or something similar. There are no illusions about what you are there for.

and

Maynard makes an appearance in the room, might make some chitchat, and then leaves. His security staff will then approach whichever 1 or 2 women that Maynard has selected for the night

I was thinking more about accounts of former groupies in general (not necessarily Tool fans). I wonder whether redditors' reactions would be the same now.

xp

yeah that comment is both a) gross and b) consistent with stories I've heard about other musicians

most groupies aren't getting raped though. some people are just down to fuck a famous person.

some people are also in their teens

As if (s)Tool couldn't be any more repulsive.

This is not surprising in the least, but reprehensible all the same.

I won't be checking notifications or DMs here anymore. If Maynard James Keenan sexually assaulted you, please get in touch: cclipper✧✧✧@gm✧✧✧.c✧✧
A few have already shared. The list is growing. #MeToo #TimesUp https://t.co/dtsKimQuLH

— Iwas17HeWas36 (@IWas17HeWas36) June 27, 2018

Fucking scumbag.
He owns an osteria in my town (good pasta but I hated seeing his stupid po' face staring out at me from a wall of his books behind the bar) and a wine tasting room plus Puscifer shop in next town. Wonder if this it'll hurt them.

A line about the accusations had been added to the "Personal Life" section of his Wikipedia page when I checked it out earlier this week, but I see it has since been removed.

fuck men tbh

Maynard keeps it classy.

Many thanks to those of you who saw right through this despicable false claim that only does damage to the #metoo movement. And shame on those of you who perpetuate this destructive clickbait. As for my delayed but un-required response, I had my phone off. You should try it.

What an arrogant cunt.

I’m sure JMK is a creep but those anonymous tweets are just her word against his. If that really happened she should go to the police, and the ex-bf could confirm his side of things.

As for the reddit post, as icky as it all sounds and big if true, , it doesn’t sound like sexual abuse? Makes it seem like they go there willingly and upright knowing it’s for sex.

I don’t doubt that it could all be true but really, not only tweet about it, go to the fucking authorites and sue this assholes.

Statute of limitations.

Oh, that makes sense. Either way this way has toured all over the US and there are states where it’s up to 30 years for rape allegations. If he’s actually raped someone 20 years ago and got away with it, I suppose it wasn’t a one time thing.

I don’t know enough about US law but even if theres stature of limitations could her testimony help a more recent case against him?

Hrm. The whole thing is gross and sad but several people have pointed this out:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DgwSiMKWsAAEWh5.jpg

So basically someone (also anonymous) responded to the Keenan accuser’s Twitter claiming they were raped by Trent Reznor in 1994. Thing is, both accounts were created within an hour of each other. And strangely the Reznor accuser’s account (which has no other tweets) was actually created just *before* the Keenan one.

After people started noticing this the Reznor accuser account deleted their comment. Not definitive proof but it seems fishy and indicates an attempt to create an impression of support and to sow further chaos.

I’ve heard rumblings about this being 4chan related—the Keenan account wasn’t noticed by most people for days but supposedly there was stuff about it in 4chan almost immediately after it went up. If you’re wondering about the kind of sick fucks who actually would go out of their way to set all this up, there’s your answer.

In any case it’s ugly business all around.

Even if the allegations are false, Maynard's response couldn't be more defensive and dickish.

^^^

I mean that kind of shit destroys careers I’d be pretty mad too if I didn’t do it.

Maybe something more like: "I didn't do it. I never did anything like it. Nobody else will come forward with evidence that I did" would have been more appropriate.

Continuing to believe the victims, as always, but even if it’s not what’s going on here the idea of 4chan goons making false accusations to poison the well is so out of my frame of reference, and yet so immediately plausible as something they’d do, that I’m suddenly kind of nauseous.

xposts
Or anything that didn’t make him sound guilty as f.

Here’s the thing — if he has truly had as many “consensual” (or so he believed) backstage encounters as seems to be whispered/alleged, I bet he has been wondering if an allegation like this would surface at some point, and he’s sweating it now. Just conjecture, of course.

even if he did nothing wrong, he's a fucking moron at best if he thinks that statement was an appropriate response

michael gira is also a fucking tool

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JWdh-F1xdQ

know who seems like he's never raped anyone and probably never will? that Neil DeGrasse Tyson.

TOOL EUROPE TOUR 2019

New album August 30. They've been playing two new songs live.

Anybody feel like taking odds that their conspiracy-theory/Bill Hicks-superfan BS will have curdled into full-on Joe Rogan-ism? CTRL-F the lyrics for the word "snowflake" and I bet you come up a winner.

yeah pretty safe bet there'll be a "Hooker With a Penis II" but for bloggers

You could always listen to the Wheel album instead -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwzkhM0SRQ8

what, new album already?

I still give Lateralus the occasional spin but it's about ten years too late for me to give that much of a shit about this one.

My prediction is that it will be acceptable but easily forgotten like the FNM reunion album

wow that Wheel track really is Tool cosplay huh

all metal is cosplay tbf

what, new album already?

Album has a title: Fear Inoculum

https://preview.redd.it/n4ftezr7x4e31.jpg?width=811&auto=webp&s=aa84b17bb0834927e22d9b9c83ac7222cdb0d42e

(just in case: it's a joke obv) - their 5 albums are all in the iTunes top 10 right now though: https://loudwire.com/tool-itunes-top-10-albums-songs/

"hilarious" joke

Anybody feel like taking odds that their conspiracy-theory/Bill Hicks-superfan BS will have curdled into full-on Joe Rogan-ism?

mjk was just on joe rogan

He's been doing interviews with Rogan since at least 2013

I mean these guys are pretty much scumbags no?

definitely the dumbest/worst band that I like

It's just the singer who is a roof, though. right?

doof, not roof. autocorrect!

Danny the drummer seems like a nice enough guy, totally based on this Youtube video tho'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JWdh-F1xdQ

"doof" might be...understating things

https://www.google.com/amp/s/consequenceofsound.net/2018/06/maynard-james-keenan-sexual-assault-allegations/

Thought that was disproven?

I recall he issued a sneering denial, and there were some inconsistencies in the timeframe of the anonymous tweets, and that was the end of it.

https://www.theprp.com/2018/06/29/news/suspicious-findings-suggest-anonymous-maynard-james-keenan-trent-reznor-rape-allegations-may-be-a-hoax/

Nothing totally conclusive, but yeah

Tbh I’m surprised there hasn’t been a rash of 4chan-y creeps making bogus accusations to intentionally muddy the waters for #metoo, but that’s for another thread.

yeah I think he's a doof but those allegations didn't hold much water and i'd have expected more to be made of them if there was some truth behind them.

drummer is supposed to be a good guy.

drummer definitely had the best bio on their website in early 2000s

The one good thing I can say about Tool is that their drummer quietly plays jazz gigs in L.A. A friend of mine, organist Brian Charette, has played with him several times out there.

MJK is far from the biggest asshole mentioned on this board, and yet this band's music is far far better than given credit for here.

I like Tool! they are pretty dumb though

but the riffs.... can't help myself

Or not dumb, but that type of semi-smart that holds itself in high regard that can play out worse than dumb....maybe I relate

the problem with them is that you can never tell whether they figured out the dumbest possible way to be smart or the smartest possible way to be dumb but which one it is will ultimately determine whether or not you are dumb or smart for liking it

the problem with them is that you can never tell whether they figured out the dumbest possible way to be smart or the smartest possible way to be dumb but which one it is will ultimately determine whether or not you are dumb or smart for liking it

― j., Sunday, August 4, 2010

we talking Tool now, or Black Eyed Peas?

By dumb you all are talking about the lyrics right? I never listen to the lyrics. But there is nothing dumb about that drummer. His skills are sick.

yeah, he is amazing

Their lyrics aren't any more or less dumb than most NIN lyrics, which is about where I'd group them overall in terms of comparable execution, nostalgia and atmosphere. Only difference being Tool is way more consistent, where as NIN has slightly better peaks and much deeper valleys.

BTW a Tool & NIN combined tour would instantly have throwing money

I mean....any less or more dumb than NIN lyrics, well your honor the prosecution rests

like I said I do like Tool but musically they are dumb/smart too. they are very skilled at riffs and stuff but I dunno

every musician in the band is skillful at his task and does enjoyable work but their overall musical vision seems to play it very safe, plowing the same furrow in a predictable way

they're fussy and cautious kind of in the way rush is, with the same sort of reputation for / pride in the intelligence of their art, but without even the kind of willingness to evolve and go their own way that rush showed over various short segments of their career

lil too edgelordy for their own good too

i never paid that much attention to their lyrics until a legitimate college English professor handed the students in a class i was in the lyrics to “Aenema” and he proceeded to read them aloud like it was a literary classic.

"Try to read between the lines" or the longwinded "think about it"

i never paid that much attention to their lyrics until a legitimate college English professor handed the students in a class i was in the lyrics to “Aenema” and he proceeded to read them aloud like it was a literary classic


oooohh boy...that sounds painful

painful enough that i sold off my cd collection of theirs not long after! and this is coming from someone that during the video editing of their high school class graduation video in 2001 was trying till the last minute to sneak in snippits from the lateralus album into the tape.

I really like Opiate. Everything after that, I've liked one or two songs but can't listen to the next hour of it.

I love the song Aenema, but literary classic it ain't and I would be so bummed if assigned it in college.

“fuck these dysfunctional insecure actresses” poetry

Opiate and Undertow are great. Everything after ranges from good to dude no

the lyrics are dumb on purpose

"the pot" is an instance where the lyrics are "purposely dumb" enough that it actually ruins the song imo

any time this thread is bumped, it's from people who don't like tool. fun times.

https://static.spin.com/files/2019/07/RRRT_408_GuyFieriMaynardJamesKeenan02_HighRezCrop_CourtesyAXSTV-1562084753-640x457.jpg

fuck marry kill

Honestly thought Guy (that is him, isn't it?) was wearing a Sisters of Mercy T-shirt there.

This new lineup of Chickenfoot blows...

Guy Fieri is actually good

Flavortown is his penis. I get it now

https://media.giphy.com/media/uPfXDfm2QrACk/giphy.gif

Lol

Amazingly powerful Rigs of Dad energy coming from that pic of Guy F Sam H and MJK

Christ I read that as MLK for a second and was wondering what goddamn universe I was in.

Here in the darkest timeline anything is possible

any time this thread is bumped, it's from people who don't like tool. fun times.

I freaking love Tool, and they're one of my favorite rock/metal bands. But I don't have the energy to defend their musicality and artistic merit against the barrage of constant criticism here. They're pop at their core, and write music no more or less "intellectual" than most other pop bands or groups catering to specific audiences and emotional frequencies.

Dozens of other acts are lauded here unironically and enthusiastically with equal or far worse lyrical content. I think perhaps they might not be "fashionable" enough anymore for ILM (if they ever were?)

Yeah, it's probably telling that when I saw this thread at the top of the New Answers page for a few days in a row I just naturally assumed one of the members had done or said something very unwoke

i was a big tool fan before maynard’s response to the sexual assault accusation. i even think some of his lyrics are good (“jimmy”). “aenema” is still pretty dumb

i actually do like tool but only for an hour or so every year or two

New song is pretty damn Tool-y.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7DfQMPmJRI

the lack of evolution is almost impressive

Yeah, that's not great - written by a Tool app.

I'm not a Tool connoisseur by any stretch of the imagination, but this sounds gentler, proggier and (in the intro, at least) more reliant on superannuated electronica and 'exotic' downtempo tropes, which is fine by me.

Thievery Corporation is the name I was looking for.

I don't know how many times I need to say I like Tool octobeard

but also they are ridiculous and annoying

like Zappa, who I'm sure they are big fans of

as far as evolution, eh I don't know, they have a distinct sound and they put an album out maybe once a decade at best so why not give people Tool?

I can't really imagine this band evolving in any way that would be good

just like....get a new guitar tone or find a different way to end a song.

lol I'm not sure how any of their songs end!

Band name implies that if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

i would like to recommend everyone in this thread listen to the new slipknot record instead (out friday)

i listened to the new song twice and it got "the pot" stuck in my head instead

as far as evolution, eh I don't know, they have a distinct sound and they put an album out maybe once a decade at best so why not give people Tool?

But you've got to give people a least a slight variation or what's the point? There was a definite if not dramatic evolution with each of their albums up to Lateralus (the purest expression of their aesthetic imo), but they seem to have stopped there.

Tool have also announced details on a deluxe, limited-edition CD version of Fear Inoculum that “features a 4-inch HD rechargeable screen with exclusive video footage, charging cable, 2 watt speaker, a 36-page booklet and a digital download card.” A vinyl release is supposedly forthcoming as well.

Having said that the new song is in no way bad, and maybe the album includes like a Trap experiment or something.

xpost to self

there are some beautiful stretched out moments on 10,000 days that i don't think they were capable of on lateralus—eternal looping groove of "jambi," the "wings for marie" suite being this constant build out of and back into silence, "right in two" is just a very nice song—but otherwise otm. new song is evidence of what the last perfect circle record suggested—that maynard's vocal melodies have gotten awfully static, and i can't tell if that's something i'd like if i adjusted to it more or if it's actually boring

xp to chap

It's likely this is the final Tool album.

But you've got to give people a least a slight variation or what's the point?

Maybe the point is that you've honed an aesthetic and are exploring different corners/edges of it. Maybe Tool really wants to be the progressive metal version of Huey Lewis and the News and the wider fandom is okay with that.

they say the heart of rock n' roll's in your anus

If this is shit
Please let me go

xpost I thought that's where our third eye was?

squeegee your third eye. i get it now.

I am just a worthless liar
I am just an imbecile
I will only complicate you
Trust in me and fall as well

We are bound by all the rest
Like the same phone number
All the same friends
And the same address

i'd love to hear a Tool album that is a lot less /r/im55andthisisdeep/ and a lot more /r/collapse

Slightly NSFW album cover

lol

Haha.

like Zappa, who I'm sure they are big fans of

I can't stand Zappa. This might sound shallow, but the fact he has never had a psychedelic experience certainly plays out in his music, at least to my ears. His entire oeuvre just sounds so try hard and hollow. Tool is nothing like Zappa, but I see where you're coming from.

Echoing others here, new song sounds like less intense, more nicely produced Tool, and recycles a number of musical tropes both vocally and instrumentally that have been used in the past on various albums. Was hoping for something a little more original or a progression of their sound (a la Slowdive or Portishead or how 10,000 Days progressed after Lateralus) but I'm afraid it's gonna turn out to be more of a "Syro". The song is still good though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7EpUu2ROsU

I can't stand Zappa. This might sound shallow, but the fact he has never had a psychedelic experience certainly plays out in his music, at least to my ears. His entire oeuvre just sounds so try hard and hollow.

Yes, where would music be without psychedelic experiences? Why, we'd only be left with people like James Brown, Ravi Shankar, and Sun Ra, and we certainly wouldn't have all those Blue Cheer-lite private press LPs no one ever listens to twice. The horror!

Also--and not accusing you of having a knee jerk response to Zappa, who you may legitimately hate--but I have found that a lot of people who view Zappa this way tend to have a very shallow impression of his work. Not to derail here, but how much of it have you heard?

You have fallen into (or set?) the most common Zappa trap. If you don't like it, you just haven't listened to the right things, or listened to it right. And if you *do* like it, well, the joke's on you, because he's not taking it very seriously, hence all the stupid humor. It's double secret ironic. My most musically adept friend posits that Zappa knew he didn't have the chops for jazz or classical, and resented the realization that mere rock was his strong suit (whether or not you think he's good at it). Hence the cynicism and seething contempt Zappa had for everything and everybody.

You have fallen into (or set?) the most common Zappa trap. If you don't like it, you just haven't listened to the right things, or listened to it right. And if you *do* like it, well, the joke's on you, because he's not taking it very seriously, hence all the stupid humor. It's double secret ironic. My most musically adept friend posits that Zappa knew he didn't have the chops for jazz or classical, and resented the realization that mere rock was his strong suit (whether or not you think he's good at it). Hence the cynicism and seething contempt Zappa had for everything and everybody.

― Josh in Chicago, Monday, August 19, 2019 12:04 PM (one minute ago) bookmarkflaglink

That's not the trap. The trap is believing a person with the work ethic and catalog of Zappa could ever possibly be "not taking it very seriously" despite what he wants you to believe

I also won't try to claim that Zappa's jazz-y or modern classical stuff rivals either the work of Wayne Shorter or Pierre Boulez, but to say he "didn't have the chops" for either is absurd

He had chops, or could compose chops, galore. But he never could have, er, swung it as a jazz leader a la Miles or whomever. And I don't know what his reputation is among classical cats, but I can't believe they take him seriously. (Maybe some do?) My "not taking it very seriously" jibe is him applying all that intellectual rigor and work ethic to songs called "Lick My Love Pump" with goofy singing and sound effects and really, really shallow satire or whatever. But obviously he's got his fans!

lol work ethic

Yes, where would music be without psychedelic experiences? Why, we'd only be left with people like James Brown, Ravi Shankar, and Sun Ra, and we certainly wouldn't have all those Blue Cheer-lite private press LPs no one ever listens to twice. The horror!

Yeah yeah I knew this would be the blow back. I guess my point, now that I think about it more, is that Zappa always seemed like a supremely gifted virtuoso, but a profoundly lacking composer - ersatz even. I really don't feel he's done anything musically original. I've listened to a number of releases across the 60's-80's. His best song IMHO is Valley Girl and the closest thing he ever got to defining culture rather than reflecting it back in his sonic image. Joe's Garage was funny for a bit on first listen, but is incredibly disposable, which given its sprawling self indulgent execution, is kinda sad.

I'm also not much of a fan of Ravi Shankar and Sun Ra for what its worth, and listen more to James Brown's disciples than the man himself.

We're getting a bit off topic here though

True. Happy to discuss further on one of the many Zappa threads. But before we get back to Tool, I can't let this slide:

I really don't feel he's done anything musically original

What music do you know of that sounds anything like this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zprYyWMcUGY

What music do you know of that sounds anything like this?

The only thing that makes that piece interesting is the instrumentation and the treatments of the sounds. The actual melodies and rhythms are super basic; any halfway decent large jazz ensemble of note stomps that shit into the ground. Especially since there's no counterpoint or melodic criss-crossing; it's a sequence of discrete musical events.

And yes, I have listened to a shit-ton of Zappa. I even saw him live on his final tour.

Maynard and Zappa share many lyrical unfunny-joke tropes, but I hear zero other similarities.

If Zappa wrote Ozzy's lyrics in a Sabbath/King Crimson supergroup they might sound like Tool.

It apparently leaked in a pretty public way on the Toolband subreddit (someone from a distributor (or Amazon?) smuggled out a copy, realized he didn't know how to rip the CD, then met with a guy in Las Vegas who ripped it for him, and now it's out in the open)

The Tool album that is (didn't realize this was now a Zappa discussion, sorry)