Tool is a lot of things — Platinum-certified, Grammy-winning, arena-headlining rock stars — but they haven’t exactly been prolific when it comes to releasing new music. They finally put out an album, Fear Inoculum, in 2019, a full 13 years after their last record, 10,000 Days, dropped in 2006.
Speaking with Metal Hammer about the band’s recording process, frontman Maynard James Keenan shares, “Tool is a more complicated beast with a lot of egos and a lot of other things going on in our lives.”
“All the creativity’s there, the songs and the ideas can flow and the arguments ensue,” Keenan says. “As soon as we get past the arguments, we can get s*** done!”
“I think we could do it more efficiently,” he continues. “And I think everyone’s on the same page that we have to get through that, because we can’t drag this out another 14 years.”
Guitarist Adam Jones adds that Tool has a “very selfish approach to art.”
“It’s our rules,” Jones says. “When you start trying to make people happy, you’re losing yourself. You’re losing that burn inside you of why you do what you do.”
Tool launches a European tour in May.