Tool

Description

"TOOL have always relished flouting rock 'n' roll conventions—whether that takes the form of concerts where frontman Maynard James Keenan sings while shrouded in darkness or 11-minute-plus songs released as singles. But like the ambitious groups the quartet count as influences (e.g., King Crimson, Pink Floyd), TOOL have amassed a deeply loyal fanbase and a catalog full of complex, rewarding music and visuals. The band formed in early-'90s Los Angeles after Keenan and guitarist Adam Jones teamed up with drummer Danny Carey. A simmering cauldron of grungy, angst-ridden alt-metal, TOOL's 1993 full- length debut, Undertow, spawned the propulsive hit "Sober," which came paired with a groundbreaking stop-motion video co-directed by Jones. Over time, the band's studio albums emerged less frequently-2020's Fear Inoculum came 13 years after the band's previous album, 10,000 Days-but became more intricate; the music took cues from prog metal, space rock, stoner metal, and post-rock. In TOOL's absence, a cavalcade of alt-metal bands formed and carried on their ambitious legacy by forging their own boundary-pushing paths."
  - Apple Music

Band Members

• Maynard James Keenan - vocals (1990-present)
• Adam Jones - guitars (1990-present)
• Danny Carey - drums, percussion (1990-present)
• Justin Chancellor - bass (1995-present)

Note: Paul D'Amour played bass from 1990-1995 and was replaced by Justin Chancellor.

Discography

• Undertow (1993)
• Ænima (1996)
• Lateralus (2001)
• 10,000 Days (2006)
• Fear Inoculum (2019)

Singles, EPs, and Box Sets

• Opiate (1992 EP)
• Salival (2000 box set)
• Opiate² (2022 single)

My Favorite Songs

1. Tool's Cover of Led Zeppelin's "No Quarter"
• Salival
• The guitar and bass on this song is immaculate.
2. J**k-Off (Live)
• Opiate
• This song is a lot of fun to yell while it's on full blast in your car. My friends love to watch me "perform" this in the car.
3. 7empest
• Fear Inoculum
• One of my favorite parts about tool is the fact that all of their songs have many different ways you can interpret their lyrics. Some people interpret the lyrics as Maynard talking about politicians, global waming, and the future. There's others that interpret the song as being about farts.
4. H.
• Ænima
• I love singing this one.
5. Rosetta Stoned
• 10,000 Days
• Another fun one to yell in the car. It's pretty funky and unique.

My Take on Tool

I have been a fan of tool for a few years now and every time I mention it to any of my friends, 95% of the time they have no idea who I am talking about. When I mention Tool to anyone over the age of 30, most of the time they know exactly who I am talking about. I think that Tool is a band that is not for everyone, but for those who do enjoy their music, they are a band that is hard to forget. I have seen them in concert one time and it was my favorite concert ever. It was an experience like no other and words cannot describe how amazing it was. It makes me sad when I think about the fact that they won't be around forever and will eventually stop making music. They have a tendancy to wait a while between albums, but when they do release one, it is always worth the wait. I would bet that, and they have hinted towards this, they will release one more album before they call it quits.

Fun Facts

• Tool refused to add any of their music to streaming platforms until 2019. This was in the same month that they released their last album, Fear Inoculum.
• Tool's first music videos were made by Adam Jones, Tool's guitarist. He used stop-motion to make a pretty unique set of music videos for the band to put online.
• One thing that makes Tool unique is their use of time signatures. Most of their songs are not in the "usual" 4/4 time and use multiple different time signatures at once like in one of their songs Rosetta Stoned Danny (drummer) is in 4/4, 3/4, 5/8, and 3/8 all at the same time with different drums.
• In the interlude Mantra, (from Lateralus) the whole track is Maynard squeezing his cat and putting it in slow motion.
• Adam Jones did special effects in Jurassic Park.
• Danny was born in Lawrence, KS and frequently wears KU jerseys at his concerts.
• Message to Harry Manback is an actual recording that the band got on their answering machine after they kicked someone out of a party.