Tooling Around
“The last time you saw us we were on the Big Day Out, so we get to do our show, which is a completely different thing. I mean, we love playing festivals; they’re a lot of fun."
As learnt from previous experience, obtaining an interview with any member of Tool is not a common occurrence – and even when you do land one it's granted with provisos. Notoriously elusive and often selective in which media they speak to, they've also been known to deliberately feed the media false or conflicting information. They don't concede much ground, either, being typically succinct and considered in their responses. At the time of our conversation in January, we've been instructed not to quiz guitarist Adam Jones or bassist Justin Chancellor (the more outgoing and colourful of the two, even offering his tip of Andy Murray to win the Australian Open), about their next studio album. The much-anticipated new platter will be their first record since 2006's 10,000 Days.
Any awkwardness regarding the proverbial elephant in the room is quickly alleviated though, when the multi-million selling US progressive hard rock outfit informs us of their own accord that they're in their Hollywood studio at the time of our chat, even hinting as to the new material's progress. “Well, we're writing an album and, as you probably know, we've been writing it for a while,” the bassist understates.
“We basically got asked to do the Ozzfest in Japan, so we figured while we're doing that, we'd come down and go to Australia, which is always awesome. Ozzfest asked us to play with Black Sabbath, which we couldn't turn down. So we're just coming to see you lot, Auckland, and then back to the writing, and try and finish our album this year. So it'll be a really welcome break early in the year. But we don't want to do too much more touring this year; we've really got our heads down.”
A “heads down” ethos hasn't always been evident within Tool's output, or at least that's what their sporadic recording history indicates. They're renowned for working at their own glacier-slow pace, often taking time out for other projects. They've been far less prolific than their extraordinarily devoted – not to mention patient – fan-base would have liked.
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They were fractionally more active during their early days, however. This year marks 20 years since debut full-length Undertow's release, although preceding EP Opiate has received the reissue treatment first in honour of its 21st anniversary. Jones reflects on the making of and reception afforded their first album. “It was kind of blurry, but I remember Sober doing well, playing Lollapalooza and really liking all the songs,” he says. “But it was missing one little thing – it was missing the fact that Justin didn't play on it in the first place.”
This was about the time Tool forged a friendship with late US comedy genius Bill Hicks, who even joined them on tour. “I really like his material,” the guitarist recalls. “I think Danny (Carey, drums) found his tape, almost like a bootleg and then we all started liking him. Then Maynard (James Keenan, vocals) hit him up, they talked, and we used to go to his shows. We actually saw the last time he performed. He was an amazing guy and we really miss him.”
What are their thoughts on the upcoming, Russell Crowe-directed Hicks biopic? “I would like to see that,” Jones suggests. “I hope there's a lot of creative control, they're not just gonna give it to Hollywood and let them (do it) starring Brad Pitt,” he says, as they both laugh, and Chancellor jokingly proposes Tom Cruise for the role. “Actually, that would be great,” the axeman continues. “I don't know, I'm just kidding. Let's see what happens.”
As the band prepares to return to Australia – one of their strongest markets – Jones says they have discussed the possibility of also acknowledging Undertow in some official manner, perhaps even by recalling some of said long-since-absent material to their live shows. However, he admits they're yet to solidify a set-list for the tour Down Under. “In the first place, we'll just try to write something we really like, and it will stay interesting if we do something we really like in the first place,” the guitarist offers. “There are inflections over the years, where you just keep adding and improving. So, it's exciting.”
In a roundabout way (we're not meant to be discussing the new record, remember), we enquire as to whether we may get a teaser of new material during the quartet's visit. “It's an opportunity to kind of clear our heads a bit, play old songs and also perhaps incorporate some bits and pieces from new stuff,” Chancellor reveals. “Kind of jam and be creative with the old songs and with the new stuff, we'll use sound-checks to work on stuff that we're writing back here. So it's like it's a head-clearer, and it's also really invigorating to get back together, play in front of a crowd and remember why you do what you do. And to take it as an inspiration; come back home and try and follow through, give us that little bit extra impetus we need.
“The last time you saw us we were on the Big Day Out, so we get to do our show, which is a completely different thing. I mean, we love playing festivals; they're a lot of fun. You get to hang out with all the other people and the crowd's pretty diverse and crazy. But we do our own show; we get to bring all our own little bits and pieces. Do the full show, do a longer show… It's an opportunity to be a little more creative.”
While discussing Australian audiences, they likely encapsulate the primary reason for the band's enduring popularity worldwide. “I think it's the people,” Jones says of our crowds. “If they look at us, they see what we like about it personally, which is kind of a reflective process of liking our own music. I think the culture there is a lot more eclectic and they really kind of look a little deeper.”
“You lot down there love a bit of a mosh around, love the energy of it, and perhaps the heaviness of it,” his band-mate quickly chimes in. “But there's also an appreciation for the more vulnerable, sensitive part of it, which I believe is very present as well. I don't know if you agree, but that's something that people have, that it's fun and energetic, but it's also kind of introspective at the same time.
“I was just talking to Adam about it, that our music, it's a little bit of a freak accident, how successful it is. I can understand why people like it, but the fact that it does really well, I can only really see as that it attracts so many different types of people. That we're four different individuals, we don't appeal to… I would say that the music appeals to individuals, rather than a specific group of people, and it allows it to appeal to a massive cross-section of people. It open ends it, really.”
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