Tool (band)

• 1. Introduction

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  Tool, the American rock band from Los Angeles, once announced an album that did not exist. In January 2001, the group revealed a record called Systema Encéphale and published a twelve-song track list. The titles included "Riverchrist", "Numbereft", "Encephatalis", "Musick" and "Coeliacus". File-sharing networks such as Napster promptly filled with bogus files carrying those names. A month later, the band said the real album was called Lateralus, and that the earlier announcement had been a ruse. The prank suited a group that treats mystery as part of the work. Tool has won four Grammy Awards. Before its fifth album was released, it had sold more than 13 million albums in the United States alone. The records behind those numbers are long, complex and hard to file under any single genre. How did four musicians find one another in Los Angeles? Why did broadcasters keep balking at their videos? What did a famous comedian, a progressive rock legend and a pair of lawsuits have to do with the band's story? And why did fans wait so long for new music?

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• 2. A Wrench in Los Angeles

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  Paul D'Amour and Adam Jones both moved to Los Angeles in the 1980s hoping to break into the film industry. Maynard James Keenan, who had studied visual arts in Michigan, paid his bills by remodeling pet stores. Danny Carey had played with Carole King and with Pigmy Love Circus. He had also performed alongside Keenan in Green Jellÿ.

  In 1989, a mutual friend introduced Keenan to Jones. Keenan played him a tape of an earlier project, and Jones liked the voice so much that he talked Keenan into starting a new band. The two began jamming while they searched for a drummer and a bass player. Carey happened to live in the apartment above Keenan. Tom Morello, an old high school friend of Jones and a former member of Electric Sheep, put Carey in touch with Jones. Other musicians who were invited to the sessions kept failing to turn up, so Carey started playing because he "felt kinda sorry for them". A friend of Jones then brought in D'Amour on bass, and the lineup was complete.

  The early band told people it had formed around a pseudophilosophy called lachrymology, which was also offered as an inspiration for the name. Keenan later gave a blunter account. "Tool is exactly what it sounds like," he said, meaning a wrench. In his telling, the members wanted to be an instrument that listeners could use as a catalyst while working out whatever they needed to figure out for themselves.

  After almost two years of rehearsing and local shows, record companies came calling, and the band signed with Zoo Entertainment. In March 1992, Zoo released Opiate, an EP of six songs. The band called it "slam and bang" music and the "hardest sounding" material it had written so far. Its singles were "Hush" and "Opiate". The video for "Hush" was the band's first, and it took aim at the Parents Music Resource Center and its campaign for music censorship. The members appeared naked, with Parental Advisory stickers covering their bodies and duct tape over their mouths.

  Touring partners that year included Rollins Band, Fishbone, Rage Against the Machine, White Zombie and Corrosion of Conformity. Janiss Garza of RIP Magazine, writing in September 1992, summed up the response as a "buzz" and "a strong start".

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• 3. Censors and a Comedian

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  Undertow, Tool's first full-length album, arrived in 1993, when alternative rock and grunge were at their height. It showed a wider range of dynamics than Opiate. It also gathered songs the band had set aside on the EP, when it had chosen to sound as heavy as possible.

  In May 1993, Tool was booked at the Garden Pavilion in Hollywood. At the last minute, the members learned that the venue belonged to the Church of Scientology. That clashed with the band's belief that nobody should follow a belief system that limits their growth as a person. Keenan spent most of the show baa-ing at the audience like a sheep.

  That summer, Tool played several dates on the Lollapalooza tour. Ted Gardner, the band's manager and a co-founder of the festival, moved the group from the second stage to the main stage. At the final Lollapalooza show in Los Angeles, the comedian Bill Hicks introduced the band. Hicks had become a friend and an influence after the members mentioned him in the liner notes of Undertow. In front of an audience of 10,000 people, he joked that everyone should stand still and help him find a lost contact lens.

  The exposure paid off. The RIAA certified Undertow gold in September 1993 and platinum in 1995. This happened even though distributors such as Wal-Mart sold it with censored artwork. By March 1994, "Sober" was a hit, and its stop-motion video won a Billboard award for best video by a new artist.

  The next single, "Prison Sex", brought censorship back. Its lyrics and video dealt with child abuse, and reactions were sharply divided. Jones made most of the video himself and described it as his surrealistic interpretation of the subject. Some journalists of the time praised the clip and called the lyrics metaphoric. The American branch of MuchMusic judged it too graphic and obscene, and it asked Keenan to represent the band at a hearing. MTV stopped showing the video after only a few airings.

  Hicks died, and the band did not forget him. When Tool made its second album, it dedicated the record to him.The band wanted more people to know his material, because it felt that Tool and Hicks were resonating similar concepts. A clip of his performance leads into the album's last track, "Third Eye". The lenticular case and the chorus of the title track both point to a Hicks sketch, from his Arizona Bay material, in which he imagines Los Angeles sliding into the Pacific Ocean.

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• 4. Ænima and the Courts

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  In September 1995, Tool began writing and recording its second studio album, and it also faced its only lineup change so far. D'Amour left on friendly terms to pursue other projects. Carey said the reason was that D'Amour wanted to play guitar rather than bass. Justin Chancellor, from the band Peach, which had toured with Tool, took over during the recording sessions. He was chosen over several rivals, including Scott Reeder of Kyuss, Frank Cavanaugh of Filter, Eric Avery of Jane's Addiction and Marco Fox of ZAUM.

  Ænima came out on the 17th of September 1996. The band hired David Bottrill, who had produced some King Crimson albums. Jones worked with Cam de Leon on the artwork, which earned a Grammy nomination. The first single, "Stinkfist", got little airplay. Radio programmers shortened it and its lyrics were altered. MTV in the United States retitled the video "Track No. 1" because the name offended some viewers. Matt Pinfield of MTV's 120 Minutes answered fan complaints by waving his fist in front of his face on air while he introduced the clip.

  A tour began in October 1996, two weeks after release. The band covered the United States and Europe, then reached Australia and New Zealand in late March 1997. At Lollapalooza '97 in July, Tool returned as a headliner and won praise from The New York Times. Ænima matched the sales of the debut and placed the band at the head of alternative metal. "Ænema" won a Grammy, and the album appeared on best-of-1996 lists in Kerrang! and Terrorizer. The RIAA certified it triple platinum on the 4th of March 2003.

  In 1998, Tool joined the Ozzfest tour in the United States as co-headliner ahead of Ozzy Osbourne. The band agreed only on the condition that the Melvins be added to the bill. Buzz Osborne, the Melvins' frontman, said Tool wanted at least one band on the tour that they liked, despite the organizers' attempts to talk them out of it.

  Two legal fights then stalled the next record. Volcano Entertainment, the successor to the defunct Zoo, sued Tool, claiming the band had broken its contract by considering offers from other labels. Tool countersued, saying Volcano had failed to use a renewal option, and the parties settled out of court. In December 1998, the band agreed to a new three-record joint venture deal. In 2000, Tool dismissed Gardner, its long-time manager, and he sued over his commission.

  During the stalemate, Keenan joined A Perfect Circle, a band founded by Billy Howerdel, who had long been Tool's guitar tech. Jones played with Buzz Osborne of the Melvins, and Carey drummed with Jello Biafra of the Dead Kennedys. Rumors of a breakup spread, though Chancellor, Jones and Carey were writing new material while they waited for Keenan. The Salival box set, released in 2000, ended the rumors. It came on CD with either VHS or DVD. The CD held one new original track, a cover of Led Zeppelin's "No Quarter", a live version of Peach's "You Lied" and revised older songs. A hidden track called "Maynard's Dick" dated from the Opiate era. Several DJs briefly played it on FM radio under the title "Maynard's Dead".

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• 5. Number One Twice Over

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  Rolling Stone tried to capture Lateralus in a sentence about drums, bass and guitars moving in cycles of "hyperhowl" and near-silent death march. Joshua Klein of The A.V. Club noted that its 79 minutes and long songs posed a challenge to fans and music programmers alike. The video for "Parabola" ran ten and a half minutes.

  The album was a worldwide success and reached number one on the U.S. Billboard 200 in its first week. Tool won its second Grammy Award, for best metal performance of 2001, with "Schism". In the acceptance speech, Carey thanked his parents and Satan, and Chancellor finished with a joke about his own parents.

  In August 2001, the band played a ten-show mini-tour with King Crimson, which the members counted as a personal highlight. MTV called the two groups "the once and future kings of progressive rock". Keenan said: "For me, being on stage with King Crimson is like Lenny Kravitz playing with Led Zeppelin, or Britney Spears onstage with Debbie Gibson."

  The tour ended in November 2002, and another quiet period seemed to follow. Keenan went back to recording and touring with A Perfect Circle. The other three members released an interview and a recording of new material, available only through the fan club. The fan club also received the first copies of a double vinyl, four-picture-disc edition of Lateralus, a limited autographed run. It reached the public on the 23rd of August 2005.

  By the time 10,000 Days approached in 2006, Dan Epstein of Revolver described a devoted "cult" following. Rumors multiplied about song titles and leaks. A news item on the official website revealed the album's title, but some fans insisted it was a decoy. The theory collapsed when a leaked copy circulated on file-sharing networks a week before release.

  The opener, "Vicarious", reached U.S. radio on the 17th of April 2006. The album followed on the 2nd of May and topped several international charts. It sold 564,000 copies in its first U.S. week and took number one on the Billboard 200, doubling the sales of Pearl Jam's self-titled album. Critics were less warm than they had been toward Lateralus.

  The tour opened at Coachella on the 30th of April, with Isis and Mastodon as support. Early in 2007, after shows in Australia and New Zealand, Carey tore a biceps in a scuffle with his girlfriend's dog. He had surgery on the 21st of February, and several concerts were postponed. By April he was back, and on the 15th of June Tool headlined Bonnaroo, with Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine joining them on "Lateralus". At the 49th Grammy Awards, "Vicarious" was nominated for best hard rock performance, and 10,000 Days won best recording package.

  The 2009 summer tour began on the 18th of July at the Mile High Music Festival in Commerce City, Colorado. Tool headlined Lollapalooza 2009, then played the Epicenter Festival in Pomona, California on the 22nd of August.

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• 6. Sound and Influences

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  Patrick Donovan of The Age once called Tool "the thinking person's metal band", a group of contradictions that is both cerebral and visceral. Critics have filed the band under alternative metal, art rock, post-metal, progressive rock, progressive metal and heavy metal. AllMusic described the general sound as grinding, post-Jane's Addiction heavy metal. The New York Times heard echoes of Led Zeppelin's battering guitar riffs and Middle Eastern modes.

  Unusual time signatures run through the repertoire. Chancellor describes the meter of "Schism" as "six" and "six-and-a-half", and says it later moves through many other times. The title track of Lateralus shifts rhythm too, as do "Wings for Marie (Pt 1)" and "10,000 Days (Wings Pt 2)".

  Each member experiments on his own instrument. Bass Player magazine praised Chancellor's thick midrange tone and guitar-style techniques. On "The Patient", he hammers the notes with his left hand and sweeps the tone controls to imitate a wah effect. Carey uses polyrhythms and tabla-style technique, along with custom electronic pads that trigger samples such as prerecorded tabla and octoban. Jones, according to Guitar Player, relies on no single technique. He mounted a guitar pickup inside a brass cylinder to make a "pipe bomb microphone", and he plays a talk box solo on "Jambi". The New York Times wrote that the honey in Keenan's voice lends profundity to emotions such as lust, anger and disgust.

  The band deliberately plays down its lyrics by not printing them with its albums. The exception was the CD of Fear Inoculum. The words still get careful attention. The syllables per line in "Lateralus" follow the Fibonacci numbers, and "Jambi" refers to the metrical foot called the iamb. Ænima and Lateralus focus on philosophy and spirituality, from organized religion in "Opiate" to evolution and Jungian psychology in "Forty-Six & 2". On 10,000 Days, Keenan turned personal. The title counts the twenty-seven years his mother lived with the effects of a stroke before she died in 2003.

  Robert Fripp of King Crimson has a surprising view of the band's most famous influence. "I can detect more Tool influence in King Crimson than I can hear King Crimson in Tool," he said. He could hear one shared figure, a three-note arpeggio with a particular accent, and he added that he happens to be a Tool fan. Tool's members disagree. Carey said that hearing Discipline on its release in 1981 revolutionized his thinking about polyrhythm and balance. Jones said Fripp made him "wake up" to music as a teenager. In 1997, Keenan said King Crimson's habit of listening to one another mirrors Tool's way of writing. On stage with the older band, he joked that now everyone knew who Tool had ripped off.

  Other names recur. Danny Carey cited Neil Peart of Rush, along with Bill Bruford and Alan White of Yes. In 1993, Jones mentioned Joni Mitchell, Depeche Mode and country music. The Melvins inspired the band's long build-ups of intensity, most clearly on Undertow. Keenan, who had spent his twenties immersed in world music, found a revelation in Peter Gabriel's soundtrack for The Last Temptation of Christ, which mixed traditional musicians with modern ambient sound.

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• 7. Shadows and Screens

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  Adam Jones works as Tool's art director and also directs its music videos. The band has released eight of them, and its members appear in only the first two. The reason is to stop viewers from "latching onto the personalities involved rather than listening to the music." All but "Hush" and "Vicarious" use stop-motion animation to some degree. Jones often works with artists such as Chet Zar, Alex Grey and Osseus Labyrint.

  The video for "Sober" drew special attention. Jones says it has no storyline and was meant to summon personal emotions. Rolling Stone described evil little men in a dark dungeon, with meat coursing through pipes in the wall, and called it a "groundbreaking", "epic" clip. "Vicarious" reached DVD on the 18th of December 2007 and was the band's first video made entirely with computer-generated imagery.

  Album packaging gets similar care. Jones put a ribcage sculpture of his own on the cover of Undertow. Cam de Leon contributed to Ænima and Salival, and Alex Grey helped create Lateralus and 10,000 Days. A music journalist at the Associated Press credited the band with a reputation for innovative packaging.

  Jones is a lifelong fan of stereoscopic photography, and he wanted the 10,000 Days package to recall the 1970s artwork he admires. It includes a pair of stereoscopic lenses for viewing 3-D images. The Fear Inoculum CD went further, with a rechargeable 4-inch HD video screen, a speaker that played a hidden track, and a 36-page booklet.

  On stage, Keenan and Carey stand on elevated platforms at the back, while Jones and Chancellor take the front, near the sides. Keenan often faces the backdrop or the stage sides. There are no followspots or live cameras. Heavy backlighting pushes attention toward the big screens and the crowd. Breckinridge Haggerty, the live video designer, says the dark spaces are mostly for Keenan, who finds the glare hard while reproducing personal emotions and is more comfortable in shadow.

  Haggerty says the screens show looped clips, not videos tied to a song. The band has never used timecode, so the video can change on the fly and no show is ever the same twice. On the 10,000 Days tour, the footage ran to more than six hours. Jones, his wife Camella Grace, Zar, Meats Meier and Haggerty all contributed to it. Some of Zar's work later appeared on his DVD Disturb the Normal.

  Guests have joined the band on stage. During the 2001-02 Lateralus tour, they included Tricky, Robert Fripp, Mike Patton, Dave Lombardo and Brann Dailor of Mastodon. Tool has also covered songs by Led Zeppelin, Ted Nugent, Peach, Kyuss, the Dead Kennedys and the Ramones.

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• 8. The Long Wait

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  On the 15th of July 2014, Carey and Jones told Rolling Stone that family commitments and an ongoing lawsuit explained the delay of the fifth album. In March 2015, Jones said the suit had been settled in the band's favor. He added that the band would not rush to meet an arbitrary deadline. The next years brought a tour of the United States in January 2016 and a report in February 2017 that Keenan was working on vocals. A month after a May 2017 North American tour was announced, Chancellor called the album "about 90-percent there". Carey insisted it would "definitely" come out in 2018.

  It did not. In June 2018, Keenan accepted the Icon Award at the Metal Hammer Golden Gods Awards and promised new music the following year. On the 11th of September 2018, he said on Twitter that vocals had been written. In January 2019, he said he had finished recording them months before. Carey aimed for mid-April, but Keenan said the period between May and July was more realistic. On the 5th of May 2019, the band debuted two songs, "Descending" and "Invincible", at the Welcome to Rockville Festival in Jacksonville, Florida. Three days later, the release date of the 30th of August was confirmed.

  On the 29th of July 2019, Keenan confirmed the title Fear Inoculum. The title track appeared as a single on the 7th of August, the band's first release in 13 years. Just days earlier, on the 2nd of August, Tool's catalogue, except Salival, reached streaming services. The group had been among the last major holdouts, because its record deal predated streaming and was not revisited until just before Fear Inoculum. Every Tool release entered several international charts, and several Billboard records fell. Keenan later said he regretted not joining streaming sooner, since it limited the band's exposure to new listeners.

  Fear Inoculum was Tool's third U.S. number one. On the 26th of January 2020, "7empest" won best metal performance at the 62nd Grammy Awards. The title track lost the best rock song category to Gary Clark Jr.

  In June 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic led Tool to cancel its North American tour after postponing a handful of dates. That August, Carey said the band had entered a hiatus, though he hoped for an EP later. With no record label, the band would have more freedom in releasing it. On the 27th of October 2020, an instrumental called "The Witness" appeared, played by Jones, Chancellor and Carey and produced with Barresi. It was credited to Jones rather than the band. On the 1st of March 2022, the band released a re-recorded "Opiate²", almost twice as long as the original and with an extended instrumental midsection. A video directed by Dominic Hailstone followed on the 18th of March, for the EP's 30th anniversary.

  Writers have already weighed the band's mark on metal. HP Newquist and Rich Maloof credit Tool with influencing modern metal in The New Metal Masters. Sean Richardson of The Boston Phoenix points to System of a Down, Deftones and Korn. Keenan's singing has been tied to Pete Loeffler of Chevelle, Benjamin Burnley of Breaking Benjamin and Fred Durst of Limp Bizkit. Lauryn Schaffner of Loudwire placed Tool among the "Big Four" of 1990s heavy metal, with Sepultura, Korn and Pantera.

  In March 2022, Carey said work on a sixth album was under way and that it would not take as long as the last one. He noted that they had head starts on three or four songs. In January 2024, he suggested shorter tracks, saying the band could go back to an Undertow type of record. In February 2025, Chancellor said the band would spend three months in the studio organizing ideas. In September 2025, Keenan described the plans for 2026 as "Writing, I guess". In early 2026, Carey named 2027 as the goal, possibly alongside a residency at the Sphere in Las Vegas. Jones revealed that Tool had been asked to open the venue in 2023, but band politics got in the way, and U2 went first.

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