This week, members of Tool are getting together for their first and only performance of 2015, and as the ten year anniversary of the band’s last album nears, fans are understandably chomping at the bits for any hint of a new album. But alas, frontman Maynard James Keenan has no words of comfort to said fans, he just wants them to lighten the hell up.
While it hasn’t exactly been 10,000 days since Tool unveiled their last album 10,000 Days, it has been around 3,467 days since the album’s 2006 release. A myriad of legal dramas has held back any hope of a new album over the past 10 years, but fans were treated to a brief moment of hope when actual photographic evidence of the band in the studio emerged earlier this year.
If you were hingeing your bets on that though, MJK is here to go all Godzilla on your dreams.
In a broad interview with the Phoenix New Times about the new album from Keenan’s other project Puscifer, the Arizona wine scene (¯\_(ツ)_/¯) as well as Tool’s upcoming show, the frontman was asked just a handful of questions about Tool, and by writer David Accomazzo’s account, he was not too pleased about it.
“But as with any time he’s asked about Tool, his answers quickly become curt,” Accomazzo writes, “A hint of exasperation creeps into his voice and he exhales heavily through his nose.”
When asked about if there was inherent humour in Tool’s music, Keenan said, “Yeah, it’s there, but people miss it because they’re so focused on the other bullshit.”
“It’s lost,” he added. “Insufferable people … It’s just ridiculous, retards. I’m sorry. Can’t help them. Way too serious. Too much. Lighten up.”
Keenan also said that the rest of Tool “had to con me into” playing this week’s performance, and, again, when pressed for any light on Tool’s long-awaited new album, he replied simply, “There’s nothing to say. I can’t.”
If you can stand one last Tool burn, it was also recently confirmed that the band have been ruled out of Soundwave 2016. We all thought we were so smart.
Why not wipe those tears on a limited edition Tool blanket?
UPDATE 29/10/15: Maynard James Keenan has taken to Twitter to further clarify his comments.
Watch: Tool – Schism
