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Tool

Work On New TOOL Album Is Still Ongoing, Band Says

Manos Spanos
TOOL has released a statement to RollingStone.com explaining how a misunderstanding between the band's guitarist and a fan led to speculation that the group had completed its new studio album. "Last night, Adam Jones, in a private conversation with fans attending the Portland TOOL concert, joked that the band's new album was not only finished but coming out the next day," the statement reads. "Unfortunately, his off-the-cuff joke was taken out of context. Work on the forthcoming album is ongoing and as soon as it is done, trust me, we will be the first to let everyone know." Jones posted a message on his Twitter profile stating, "FYI, 'The record's done and it's coming out tomorrow' is what I said yesterday, followed by 'just kidding. . . '" TOOL kicked off its spring tour at Veterans Memorial Arena in Spokane, Washington on Tuesday (March 4) with a two-hour collection of fan favorites but not a single new tune in sight. According to RollingStone.com, the Los Angeles band opened its set with "Hooker With A Penis" and blasted through hits like "Vicarious", "Schism" and "Jambi" before ending with the triple knockout of "Forty-Six & 2", "Ænema" and "Stinkfist". The instrumental members of TOOL have acknowledged working on new music for a large portion of the past year, but have yet to give any sign that they are ready to hit "record." TOOL's last album, "10,000 Days", came out in 2006. The band has toured a few times since then. Keenan has kept himself busy with his Arizona wine-making business and his band PUSCIFER, along with doing some live work and a little new music with A
01 min read

TOOL Frontman Maps Out Make-Believe Film Festival

Manos Spanos
According to The Pulse Of Radio, TOOL, A PERFECT CIRCLE and PUSCIFER frontman Maynard James Keenan has mapped out his own 24-hour film festival in an interview with link textThe A.V. Club, saying it would include at least one cult classic, some weird arthouse fare and adding that it would have to include something starring Denzel Washington. About his fixation with Washington, Keenan said, "I guess I'm a product of American living. Germans love David Hasselhoff and I just love Denzel Washington. I can't explain it. It's that guilty pleasure. It's almost like when you're a kid and you have your blanket. He's my comfort blanket.” Keenan cited the 1986 David Lynch classic "Blue Velvet" as a must for his festival, saying, "'Blue Velvet' was a game changer for me. It brought out some of the darker sides of my friends. They were more into 'Porky's' and 'Fast Times At Ridgemont High', and then, all of a sudden, they discovered 'Blue Velvet' and it really flipped a switch." The singer also cited two indie titles, 1997's "Gummo" and 2004's "Napoleon Dynamite", explaining, "One is in Ohio and the other is in Idaho, but to me, having grown up in Ohio, there's one side of the tracks where 'Gummo' is happening and on the other side of the tracks, 'Napoleon Dynamite' is happening." Other films on Keenan's make-believe festival schedule include "Happiness", "Videodrome", "Repo Man" and the Vin Diesel sci-fi bomb "The Chronicles Of Riddick", about which he says, "It's sci-fi but you have this one-liner dude that's just awful. It's so great." As for his own acting, Keenan has appeared in a few indie films and as a dog walker in "Crank 2: High Voltage", but has no plans to delve further into that profession. He explained, "I have no experience or natural acting ability, so I would have to stop everything I'm doing to justify being in a film. I'd have to really work at it.” Keenan has hinted in recent months that new music from TOOL is finally coming out in 2014.
02 min read

TOOL’s JUSTIN CHANCELLOR Remembers Christmas At Home

Manos Spanos
TOOL may not be leaving a new record under the tree for fans this holiday season, but that doesn't mean that the band itself won't enjoy the break. The Pulse Of Radio asked bassist Justin Chancellor what Christmas was like around his family's home back when he was younger. "Pretty much a family affair," he said. "We'd always be together as a family and just have too much food and too much port. [laughs] Just kind of very traditional. My mother was sort of mildly religious, but the rest of us, you know, we didn't really have it forced on us. It was more of just a family time to be together that was like designated time that we would all go home." TOOL is reportedly working on its new album, with singer Maynard James Keenan recently telling Rolling Stone that it's been delayed because his bandmates take so long to assemble the music. TOOL's last album, "10,000 Days", came out in 2006. The band has toured a few times since then. Keenan has kept himself busy with his Arizona wine-making business and his band PUSCIFER, along with doing some live work and a little new music with A PERFECT CIRCLE.
01 min read

TOOL: New Album Update

Panagiotis Karagiannidis
According to The Pulse Of Radio, there's been some movement on the TOOL front regarding the band's long-awaited fifth studio album. The person inside the TOOL circle who usually posts news at the band's official web site has published a somewhat lengthy new update, in which he writes, "A couple of weeks ago I visited the TOOL loft to try and get some kind of idea as to how things were progressing with the writing sessions now that the band was back hard at it. Well, I am happy to report that there has indeed been a lot of progress as far as new material goes, especially with the lengthy so-called 'epic' piece that the guys have been arranging for quite some time now."
02 min read

TOOL Planning New Video From 2006 Album

Manos Spanos
According to The Pulse Of Radio, TOOL guitarist Adam Jones has revealed that he is working on a new music video from the group — for a song off its last album, 2006's "10,000 Days". During an online chat with Guitar World, Jones — who created most of TOOL's videos — was asked why he did not direct any for songs from "10,000 Days". He replied, "We just haven't finished them yet. We ran into a really big snag because the first video is all CGI and we had some vicious production problems. The company we started with kinda screwed us, but luckily my friend's company is bailing us out. Since he's helping us, they can only work on it when their schedule is clear. But it's gonna be great. When I go home, practically all my time is spent on it." Jones added, "I thought the CGI process would be a lot easier than physically filming something, which is what we've always done in the past. But it's actually a lot harder to get action down and get it moving and looking right . . . We're also doing pre-production on the second video, which will be all stop-motion." Jones did not direct the sole video released to date from the "10,000 Days" album, for the song "Vicarious", although he has directed many of the band's creepiest and most popular clips. Jones, who worked as a visual effects artist before TOOL took off, told The Pulse Of Radio a while back how visuals have always played a major role in the band's music. "I've just always thought in vision, I mean, just, like, putting on headphones when I was a kid and trying to dream stuff while I was listening to music," he said. "I guess I still do that today when I play. But it's a lot more emotional than visual and I know that sounds pretentious, but it really is, what the four of us do. The visuals just kind of, like, bring themselves in it." The guitarist also spoke about long-awaited plans for TOOL to make a live DVD, saying, "Yeah, we've talked about it. We had shot a bunch of live concert footage and were going to put out a DVD, but it turned out to not sit very well with our band. We were like, What can we do that's more epic than just a live DVD? I think we're just going to keep shooting stuff, and when we're ready, we'll put something out. Of course, we'd like to do something really epic, like the movie version of 'The Wall', but movie deals are really tough." Jones and the rest of the members of TOOL are reportedly working at last on the follow-up to"10,000 Days", although, as usual, information on that remains murky.
02 min read

Has MAYNARD JAMES KEENAN Secretly Been At Work On TOOL Album?

Manos Spanos
Has TOOLsinger Maynard James Keenan secretly been working on lyrics for the band's long-awaited fifth album since the spring? According toThe Pulse Of Radio, Keenanappeared on comedianMarc Maron's "WTF"podcast and, when asked about new TOOL music, replied, "I'm gonna stop by the rehearsal space today. In theory, having beaten them up going, 'Please give me music, please give me music, please give me music, please give me music,' they have a CD for me today. They're like, 'Look, listen to some jams so we can get this thing going.'" What's interesting, however, is that while the podcast was broadcast last Sunday (August 18), the interview itself was recorded in March — withKeenaneven making a reference to his 49th birthday happening in April. So hasKeenanbeen working on the newTOOLrecord since last March? Keenansaid he needed to hear music before he could begin to formulate lyrics, explaining, "I can't write words 'til I hear the sounds, and I haven't heard the sounds . . . I've gotta listen to the sounds and go from the sounds." The vocalist toldThe Pulse Of Radioa while back that he gets restless atTOOL's slower pace of doing things. "I can't sit still, so when those guys hesitate, it takes us so long to do stuff, and it's like a snake eating its own tail situation, 'cause then I get distracted and I go off and do a thing, and then I get blamed for not being around to do the (TOOL) thing," he said. "But nothing was getting done when I was standing there, so I got bored and left. It's just an endless cycle."
02 min read