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Tool (band)
Encyclopedia
Tool is an American rock
band from Los Angeles, California. Formed in 1990, the group's line-up has included drummer Danny Carey
, guitarist Adam Jones
, and vocalist Maynard James Keenan
. Since 1995, Justin Chancellor
has been the band's bassist, replacing their original bassist Paul D'Amour
. Tool has won three Grammy Awards, performed worldwide tours, and produced albums topping the charts in several countries.
Tool emerged with a unique sound on their first studio album Undertow
in 1993, and later became a dominant act in the alternative metal
movement with the release of their second effort, Ænima
, in 1996. Their efforts to unify musical experimentation, visual arts
, and a message of personal evolution continued with Lateralus
(2001) and the most recent album 10,000 Days
(2006), gaining the band critical acclaim and success around the world.
Due to Tool's incorporation of visual arts and relatively long and complex releases, the band is generally described as a style-transcending act and part of progressive rock
and art rock
. The relationship between the band and today's music industry is ambivalent, at times marked by censorship
and the band members' insistence on privacy
.
During the 1980s, each of the future members of Tool moved to Los Angeles. Both Paul D'Amour
and Adam Jones
wanted to enter the film industry, while Maynard James Keenan
found employment remodeling pet stores after having studied visual arts in Michigan. Danny Carey
performed as a drummer for Wild Blue Yonder, Green Jellÿ
, and Carole King
, and played in the Los Angeles area with Pigmy Love Circus
.
Keenan and Jones met through a mutual friend in 1989. After Keenan played a tape recording for Jones of his previous band project, Jones was so impressed by his voice that he eventually talked his friend into forming their own band. They started jamming
together and were on the lookout for a drummer and a bass player. Danny Carey happened to live above Keenan and was introduced to Jones by Tom Morello
, an old high school friend of Jones and former bandmate of Electric Sheep
. Carey began playing in their sessions because he "felt kinda sorry for them", as other invited musicians were not showing up. Tool's lineup was completed when a friend of Jones introduced them to bassist D'Amour. Early on, the band fabricated the story that they formed because of the pseudophilosophy
"lachrymology". Although "lachrymology" was also explained to be an inspiration for the band's name, Keenan later explained their intentions differently: "Tool is exactly what it sounds like: It's a big dick. It's a wrench.... we are... your tool; use us as a catalyst in your process of finding out whatever it is you need to find out, or whatever it is you're trying to achieve."
After almost two years of practicing and performing locally in the Los Angeles
area, the band was approached by record companies, and eventually signed a record deal with Zoo Entertainment. In March 1992, Zoo published the band's first effort, Opiate
. Described by the band as "slam and bang" heavy music and the "hardest sounding" six songs they had written to that point, the EP
included the singles "Hush
" and "Opiate". The band's first music video, "Hush", promoted their dissenting views about the then-prominent Parents Music Resource Center
and its advocacy of the censorship of music
. The video featured the band members naked with their genitalia covered by parental advisory
stickers and their mouths covered by duct tape. The band began touring with Rollins Band
, Fishbone
, and Rage Against the Machine
to positive responses which Janiss Garza of RIP Magazine summarized in September 1992 as a "buzz" and "a strong start".
The following year, at a time when alternative rock
and grunge
was at its height, Tool released their first full-length album, Undertow
(1993). It expressed more diverse dynamics than Opiate and included songs the band had chosen not to publish on their previous release, when they had opted for a heavier sound. The band began touring again as planned, with an exception in May 1993. Tool was scheduled to play at the Garden Pavilion in Hollywood but learned at the last minute that the Garden Pavilion belonged to L. Ron Hubbard
's Church of Scientology
, which was perceived as a clash with "the band's ethics about how a person should not follow a belief system that constricts their development as a human being". Keenan "spent most of the show baa-ing like a sheep at the audience".
Tool later played several concerts during the Lollapalooza
festival tour, and were moved from the second stage to the main stage by their manager and the festival co-founder Ted Gardner
. At the last concert of Lollapalooza in Tool's hometown Los Angeles, comedian Bill Hicks
introduced the band. Hicks had become a friend of the band members and an influence on them after being mentioned in Undertows liner notes. He jokingly asked the audience of 10,000 people to stand still and help him look for a lost contact lens. The boost in popularity gained from these concerts helped lead Undertow to be certified gold
by the RIAA
in September 1993 and to achieve platinum status in 1995, despite being sold with a censored
album cover by distributors such as Wal-Mart
. The single "Sober" became a hit single by March 1994 and won the band Billboard's "Best Video By A New Artist" award for the accompanying stop motion
music video.
With the release of Tool's follow-up single "Prison Sex
", the band again became the target of censorship. The song's lyrics and video dealt with child abuse
, which sparked controversial reactions; Keenan's lyrics begin with: "It took so long to remember just what happened. I was so young and vestal then, you know it hurt me, but I'm breathing so I guess I'm still alive... I've got my hands bound and my head down and my eyes closed and my throat wide open." The video was created primarily by guitarist Adam Jones, who saw it as his "surrealistic interpretation" of the subject matter. And while some contemporary journalists again praised the video and described the lyrics as "metaphoric", the American branch of MuchMusic
asked Keenan to represent the band in a hearing. It deemed the respective music video too graphic and obscene, and MTV stopped airing it after a few viewings.
In September 1995, the band started writing and recording their second studio album. At that time Tool experienced its only lineup change to date, with bassist D'Amour leaving the band amicably to pursue other projects. Justin Chancellor
, a member of former tourmates Peach
, eventually replaced D'Amour, having been chosen over competitors such as Kyuss
' Scott Reeder, Filter
's Frank Cavanaugh, Pigmy Love Circus
's E. Shepherd Stevenson and ZAUM
's Marco Fox.
On September 17, 1996, Tool released their second full-length album, Ænima
(icon). It was certified triple platinum
by the RIAA
on March 4, 2003. After Paul D'Amour left Tool, Justin Chancellor came on board, and the recording of the already-begun Ænima continued. The band enlisted the help of producer David Bottrill
, who had produced some of King Crimson
's albums while Jones collaborated with Cam de Leon
to create Ænimas Grammy-nominated artwork.
The album was dedicated to satirist
Bill Hicks
, who had died two and a half years earlier. The band intended to raise awareness about Hicks's material and ideas, because they felt that Tool and Hicks "were resonating similar concepts". In particular, Ænimas final track "Third Eye" is preceded by a clip of Hicks' performances, and both the lenticular
casing of the Ænima album packaging as well as the chorus of the title track "Ænema
" make reference to a sketch from Hicks's Arizona Bay
, in which he contemplates the idea of Los Angeles falling into the Pacific Ocean.
The first single, "Stinkfist
", garnered limited and imperfect airplay: It was shortened by radio programmers, MTV (U.S.) renamed the music video of "Stinkfist" to "Track #1" due to offensive connotations, and the lyrics of the song were altered. Responding to fan complaints about censorship
, Matt Pinfield
of MTV's 120 Minutes expressed regret on air by waving his fist in front of his face while introducing the video and explaining the name change.
A tour began in October 1996, only two weeks after Ænimas release. Following numerous appearances in the United States and Europe, Tool headed for Australia and New Zealand in late March 1997. April 1 of that year saw the first of several April Fools'
pranks related to the band. Kabir Akhtar, webmaster of the band's semi-official fanpage, The Tool Page, wrote that "at least three of the band are listed in critical condition" after a tour bus accident on a highway. This hoax gained wide attention and was eventually exposed on radio and MTV. Akhtar later posted an apology, claiming that The Tool Page "will not indulge itself in such outlandish pranks in the future"—a claim that would be belied by later April Fools' pranks. The tour continued the next day as originally announced.
Eventually returning to the United States, Tool appeared at Lollapalooza
'97 in July, this time as a headliner, where they gained critical praise from The New York Times
:
Notwithstanding a decline in popularity of alternative rock music during the mid-90s in the United States, Ænima eventually matched Tool's successful debut in sales. The progressive-influenced Ænima landed the band at the head of the alternative metal
genre: It featured the Grammy Award-winning "Ænema" and appeared on several "Best Albums of 1996" lists, with notable examples being those of Kerrang!
and Terrorizer.
A legal battle that began the same year interfered with the band's working on another release. Volcano Entertainment—the successor of Tool's by-then defunct label Zoo Entertainment—alleged contract violations by Tool and filed suit
. According to Volcano, Tool had violated their contract when the band looked at offers from other record labels. After Tool filed a countersuit stating that Volcano had failed to use a renewal option in their contract, the parties settled out of court. In December 1998 Tool agreed to a new contract, a three-record joint venture deal. In 2000, the band dismissed their long-time manager Ted Gardner, who then sued the band over his commission on this lucrative agreement.
During this time, Keenan joined the band A Perfect Circle
which was founded by long-time Tool guitar tech Billy Howerdel
, while Jones joined The Melvins' Buzz Osborne
and Carey drummed with Dead Kennedys' Jello Biafra
on other side projects. Although there were rumors that Tool were breaking up, Chancellor, Jones, and Carey were working on new material while waiting for Keenan to return. In 2000, the Salival
box set (CD/VHS or CD/DVD) was released, effectively putting an end to the rumors. The CD contained one new original track, a cover
of Led Zeppelin's "No Quarter
", a live version of Peach's "You Lied
", and revised versions of old songs. The VHS and the DVD each contained four music videos, plus a bonus music video for "Hush" on the DVD. Although Salival did not yield any singles, the hidden track "Maynard's Dick" (which dates back to the Opiate era) briefly found its way to FM radio
when several DJs chose to play it on air under the title "Maynard's Dead".
In January 2001, Tool announced a new album, Systema Encéphale, along with a 12-song tracklist containing titles such as "Riverchrist", "Numbereft", "Encephatalis", "Musick", and "Coeliacus". File-sharing networks such as Napster
were flooded with bogus files bearing the titles' names. At the time, Tool members were outspokenly critical of file-sharing networks in general due to the supposedly negative impact on artists that are dependent on success in record sales to continue their career. Keenan had this to say during an interview with NY Rock
in 2000, "I think there are a lot of other industries out there that might deserve being destroyed. The ones who get hurt by MP3s are not so much companies or the business, but the artists, people who are trying to write songs."
A month later, the band revealed that the new album was actually titled Lateralus
and that the name Systema Encéphale and the tracklist had been a ruse. Lateralus and the corresponding tours would take Tool a step further toward art rock
and progressive rock
territory. Rolling Stone
wrote in an attempt to summarize the album that "Drums, bass and guitars move in jarring cycles of hyperhowl and near-silent death march
... The prolonged running times of most of Lateralus thirteen tracks are misleading; the entire album rolls and stomps with suite
like purpose." Joshua Klein of The A.V. Club
in turn expressed his opinion that Lateralus, with its 79 minutes and relatively complex and long songs—topped by the ten-and-a-half minute music video for "Parabola
"—posed a challenge to fans and music programming alike.
The album became a worldwide success, reaching No.1 on the U.S. Billboard 200
albums chart in its debut week. Tool received their second Grammy Award for the best metal performance of 2001 for the song "Schism
". During the band's acceptance speech, drummer Carey stated that he would like to thank his parents (for putting up with him) and Satan
, and bassist Chancellor concluded: "I want to thank my dad for doing my mom."
Extensive touring throughout 2001 and 2002 supported Lateralus and included a personal highlight for the band: a 10-show joint mini-tour with King Crimson
in August 2001. Comparisons between the two were made, MTV describing the bands as "the once and future kings of progressive rock". Keenan stated of the minitour: "For me, being on stage with King Crimson is like Lenny Kravitz
playing with Led Zeppelin
, or Britney Spears
onstage with Debbie Gibson."
Although the end of the tour in November 2002 seemed to signal the start of another dormancy for the band, they did not become completely inactive. While Keenan recorded and toured with A Perfect Circle
, the other band members released an interview and a recording of new material, both exclusive to the fan club. On April 1, 2005, the official Tool website announced that "Maynard has found Jesus" and would be abandoning the recording of the new Tool album temporarily and possibly permanently. Kurt Loder
of MTV contacted Keenan via email to ask for a confirmation and received a nonchalant confirmation. When Loder asked again, Keenan's response was simply "heh heh." However, on April 7 the official site explained, "Good news, April fools fans. The writing and recording is back under way."
The writing and recording proceeded for the follow-up to Lateralus; meanwhile, a Lateralus vinyl edition and two DVD singles were released, and the band's official website received a new splash intro by artist Joshua Davis
. The "double vinyl
four-picture disc" edition of Lateralus was first released as a limited autographed edition exclusively available to fan club members and publicly released on August 23, 2005. On December 20, 2005, the two DVDs were released, one containing the single "Schism
" and the other "Parabola
", a remix by Lustmord
, and the music video with a dual-commentary by David Yow
and Jello Biafra
, respectively.
Fifteen years into the band's career, Tool had acquired what Dan Epstein of Revolver
described as a devoted "cult
" following, and as details about the band's next album emerged, such as the influence of Lateralus tourmates Fantômas
and Meshuggah
, controversy surrounding the new Tool surfaced with speculation over song titles and pre-release rumors of leaked songs. Speculation over possible album titles was dismissed with a news item on the official Tool website, announcing that the new album's name was 10,000 Days
. Nevertheless, speculation continued with allegations that 10,000 Days was merely a "decoy" album to fool audiences until the day of its actual release, which eventually proved false when a leaked
copy of the album was distributed via filesharing networks a week prior to its official release.
The album opener, "Vicarious", premiered on U.S. radio stations on April 17. The record followed on May 2, 2006 in the U.S. and debuted at the top spots of various international charts. 10,000 Days sold 564,000 copies in its opening week in the U.S. and was number one on the Billboard 200 charts, doubling the sales of Pearl Jam
's self-titled album
, its closest competitor. However, 10,000 Days was received less favorably by critics than its predecessor Lateralus
had been.
After the release of 10,000 Days, a tour kicked off at Coachella
on April 30, 2006. The touring schedule was similar to the Lateralus tour of 2001; supporting acts were Isis
and Mastodon
. During a short break early the next year, after touring Australia and New Zealand, drummer Danny Carey suffered a biceps
tear during a skirmish with his girlfriend's dog, casting uncertainty on the band's upcoming concerts in North America. Carey underwent surgery on February 21, and several performances had to be postponed. Back on tour by April, Tool appeared on June 15 as a headliner at the Bonnaroo Music Festival
with a guest appearance from Rage Against the Machine
's Tom Morello
on "Lateralus
". Meanwhile, "Vicarious" was a nominee for Best Hard Rock Performance and 10,000 Days won Best Recording Package at the 49th Grammy Awards. The music video for "Vicarious" was released on DVD on December 18.
, after the 50th Grammy Awards
, while attending a Sony BMG after party at the Beverly Hills Hotel
, Keenan also promised another Tool album. Asked in an early 2009 interview with Guitar World
about the new album, Jones replied, "It's been coming along... great! [laughs] No, we've been on hiatus. I'm writing and Justin's been writing, but Maynard has been working on his wine. We've all just been taking some time away from each other, which has been nice. I've also been working on producing some comics."
On hiatus since early 2008, Tool was expected to begin writing a new album sometime in 2009, according to Keenan, but gave no details on a possible release date. On March 24, 2009, the band's official website confirmed a Tool summer tour. The tour debuted on July 18 in Commerce City
, Colorado
, at the Mile High Music Festival
. The last dates were August 7–9 for Lollapalooza
2009 and a concluding show on August 22 for the Epicenter Festival in Pomona, California. Tool headlined both.
According to the band's webmaster, by March 3, 2010, Tool had begun the writing process "in earnest" for their next album.
In late April and May 2010, Tool announced a series of tour dates across the U.S. and Canada for June and July. In late September 2010, it was revealed that Tool would be headlining New Zealand and Australia's Big Day Out
Festival in early 2011. Meanwhile, Tool members have actively participated in their own personal musical projects. Notably, Keenan has toured extensively with Puscifer
, which he describes as a series of musical ideas he did not have an opportunity to explore with Tool or A Perfect Circle. Keenan later revealed in October 2011, that Jones and Carey were working together on the fifth album while he was touring with Puscifer, stating, "I'm allowing them their space to do what they do, so we're still in that mode...Even if they told me how close they are to being done, I couldn't tell you because if I say 60 percent people will start counting down. When it's done everyone will know. But I haven't done anything yet. They write forever and then we go in and knock it all out. We're writing. We're writing vocals, but nothing's solid".
As of November 2011, according to Tool's website, the band has begun recording their new album.
as "the thinking person's metal band. Cerebral and visceral, soft and heavy, melodic and abrasive, tender and brutal, familiar and strange, western and eastern, beautiful and ugly, taut yet sprawling and epic, they are a tangle of contradictions." Tool has gained critical praise from the International Herald Tribune
's C.B. Liddell for their complex and ever-evolving sound. Describing their general sound, Allmusic refers to them as "grinding, post-Jane's Addiction
heavy metal", and The New York Times
sees similarities to "Led Zeppelin
's heaving, battering guitar riffs and Middle Eastern modes". Their 2001 work Lateralus was compared by Allmusic to Pink Floyd
's Meddle
(1971), but thirty years later and altered by "Tool's impulse to cram every inch of infinity with hard guitar meat and absolute dread". Tool had been labelled as post-metal
in 1993 and 1996, as well as in 2006, after the term came into popularity.
describes the time signature employed on Lateralus
first single, "Schism
", as 13/16 and that it later "goes into all kinds of other times". Further examples include the album's title track
, which also displays shifting rhythms, as does 10,000 Days
"Wings for Marie (Pt 1)" and "10,000 Days (Wings Pt 2)".
Beyond this aspect of the band's sound, each band member experiments within his musical scope. Bass Player magazine
described Chancellor's bass playing as a "thick midrange tone, guitar-style techniques, and elastic versatility". As an example of this, the magazine mentioned the use of a wah effect by hammering
"the notes with the left hand and using the bass's tone controls to get a tone sweep", such as on the song "The Patient", from Lateralus.
Completing the band's rhythm section
, drummer Danny Carey uses polyrhythm
s, tabla
-style techniques, and the incorporation of custom electronic drum pads
to trigger samples, such as prerecorded tabla
and octoban
sounds.
Maynard James Keenan's ability as a vocalist has been characterized more subjectively by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer
: After his performance during an Alice in Chains
reunion concert in 2005, freelancer Travis Hay saw him as "a natural fit at replacing Layne Staley
". Regarding his role in A Perfect Circle and Tool, The New York Times wrote that "both groups rely on Mr. Keenan's ability to dignify emotions like lust, anger and disgust, the honey in his voice adding a touch of profundity".
According to Guitar Player magazine, Adam Jones does not rely on any one particular guitar-playing technique but rather combines many techniques. For example, Allmusic wrote that he "alternately utiliz[es] power chords, scratchy noise, chiming arpeggios, and a quiet minimalism" in "Sober". Additionally, the band uses forms of instrumental experimentation, like the use of a "pipe bomb microphone" (a guitar pickup mounted inside a brass cylinder) and a talk box
guitar solo on "Jambi".
The band puts an emphasis on the sound of their songs and attempts to reduce the effect lyrics can have on the perception of songs by not releasing song lyrics with any album. Lyrical arrangements are often given special attention, such as in "Lateralus". The number of syllables per line in the lyrics to "Lateralus" correspond to an arrangement of the Fibonacci number
s and the song "Jambi" uses and makes a reference to the common metrical foot iamb. The lyrics on Ænima and Lateralus focused on philosophy and spirituality—specific subjects range from organized religion in "Opiate", to evolution
and Jungian psychology in "Forty-Six & 2" and transcendence
in "Lateralus
". On 10,000 Days, Keenan wanted to explore issues more personal to him: the album name and title track refer to the twenty-seven years during which his mother suffered from complications of a stroke until her death in 2003.
. Longtime King Crimson member Robert Fripp
has downplayed any influence his band had on Tool. In an interview with Tool, he touched briefly on how the two bands relate to each other, stating "Do you hear the influence? There's just one figure where I hear an influence, just one. It was a piece we were developing that we dropped. And it's almost exactly the same figure: three note arpeggio with a particular accent from the guitar. So I do not think you could have heard it. That's the only thing." He also revealed, "I happen to be a Tool fan. The members of Tool have been generous enough to suggest that Crimson has been an influence on them. Adam Jones asked me if I could detect it in their music, and I said I couldn’t. I can detect more Tool influence in King Crimson, than I can hear King Crimson in Tool."
In turn, Maloof and Newquists attribute to Tool an influence on modern metal in its own right in their book The New Metal Masters. Sean Richardson of The Boston Phoenix
sees System of a Down
, Deftones
, and Korn
as examples of Tool's "towering influence" on the genre. Moreover, Keenan's unique style of singing has been repeatedly seen as influencing artists such as Pete Loeffler
of Chevelle
and Will Martin of Earshot
.
The band has released nine music videos but made personal appearances in only the first two, which the band states is to prevent people from "latching onto the personalities involved rather than listening to the music." With the exception of "Hush
" and "Vicarious", all of Tool's music videos feature stop motion animation
to some extent. The videos are created primarily by Adam Jones, often in collaboration with artists such as Chet Zar
, Alex Grey
, and Osseus Labyrint
.
The "Sober" music video in particular attracted much attention. Jones explained that it doesn't contain a storyline, but that his intentions were to summon personal emotions with its imagery. Rolling Stone
described this imagery by stating that, in the video, "evil little men dwell in a dark dungeon with meat coursing through pipes in the wall" and called it a "groundbreaking", "epic" clip. Billboard voted it "Best Video By A New Artist".
The video for "Vicarious
" was released on DVD on December 18, 2007. The video is also notable because it is the first Tool video to be produced entirely through the use of CGI
.
, featured a ribcage sculpture by Jones on its cover and photos contributed by the band members. Later albums included artwork by collaborating artists: Ænima
and Salival
featured works by Cam de Leon
; Lateralus
and 10,000 Days
were created with the help of Alex Grey
. The releases garnered positive critical reception, with a music journalist of the Associated Press
attributing to the band a reputation for innovative album packaging.
Both Ænima and 10,000 Days were nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Recording Package
, but while the former failed to win in 1997, the latter did win in 2007. As art director, Adam Jones created packaging for 10,000 Days that features a pair of stereoscopic lenses for viewing 3-D artwork and photos. Jones has been a lifelong fan of stereoscopic photography and expressed a desire for the packaging to be unique and to reflect the '70s artwork he appreciates.
Following their first tours in the early nineties, Tool has performed as a headline act in world tours and major festivals such as Lollapalooza
(1997 and 2009), Coachella
(1999 and 2006), Download Festival
(2006), Roskilde
(2001 and 2006), Big Day Out
(2007 and 2011), Bonnaroo (2007), All Points West Music & Arts Festival
(2009), and Epicenter
(2009). They have been joined on stage by numerous artists such as Buzz Osborne
and Scott Reeder on several occasions; Tom Morello
and Zack de la Rocha
during their 1991 tour; Tricky
, Robert Fripp
, Mike Patton
, Dave Lombardo
, Brann Dailor
of Mastodon
, and experimental arts duo Osseus Labyrint
during their 2001–02 Lateralus tour; and Kirk Hammett
, Phil Campbell
, Serj Tankian
, and Tom Morello during their 2006–07 tour. They have covered songs by Led Zeppelin, Ted Nugent
, Peach
, Kyuss
, and the Ramones
.
Live shows on Tool's headline tour incorporate an unorthodox stage setting and video display. Singer Maynard James Keenan lines up in the back with himself and drummer Danny Carey on elevated platforms, while guitarist Adam Jones and bassist Justin Chancellor stand in the front toward the side edges of the stage. Keenan, despite being the vocalist, often faces the backdrop or the sides of the stage rather than the audience. No followspot
s or live cameras are used; instead, the band employs extensive backlighting to direct the focus away from the band members and toward large screens in the back and the crowd. Breckinridge Haggerty, the band's live video director, says that the resulting dark spaces on stage "are mostly for Maynard". He explains, "[a] lot of the songs are a personal journey for him and he has a hard time with the glare of the lights when he’s trying to reproduce these emotions for the audience. He needs a bit of personal space, and he feels more comfortable in the shadows."
The big screens are used to play back "looped clips that aren’t tracked to a song like a music video. The band has never used any sort of timecode. They’ve always made sure the video can change on-the-fly, in a way that can be improvised. ... The show is never the same twice." As of 2010, Andres Abrego is their new live video director. During the 10,000 Days tour, the video material consisted of over six hours of material, created by Adam Jones, his wife Camella Grace, Chet Zar
, Meats Meier and Breckinridge Haggerty. Some of the material created by Chet Zar has been released on his DVD Disturb the Normal.
Former members
|rowspan="3"| || "Ænema
" || Best Metal Performance ||
|-
| Ænima
|| Best Recording Package ||
|-
| "Stinkfist
" || Best Music Video, Short Form ||
|-
| || "Schism
" || Best Metal Performance ||
|-
|rowspan="2"| || 10,000 Days
|| Best Recording Package ||
|-
| "Vicarious" ||rowspan="2"| Best Hard Rock Performance ||
|-
| || "The Pot
" ||
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
band from Los Angeles, California. Formed in 1990, the group's line-up has included drummer Danny Carey
Danny Carey
Daniel Edwin "Danny" Carey is an American drummer best known for his work in American Grammy Award-winning rock band Tool...
, guitarist Adam Jones
Adam Jones (musician)
Adam Thomas Jones is a three time Grammy Award-winning Welsh-American musician and visual artist, best known for his position as the guitarist for Grammy-Award winning band Tool. Jones has been rated the 75th Greatest Guitarist of all time by the Rolling Stone and placed 9th in Guitar World's Top...
, and vocalist Maynard James Keenan
Maynard James Keenan
Maynard James Keenan is an American rock singer, songwriter, musician, record producer, winemaker, and actor. Originally from Ohio, Keenan spent his high school and college years in Michigan. After serving in the Army in the early 1980s, he attended Kendall College of Art and Design in Grand Rapids...
. Since 1995, Justin Chancellor
Justin Chancellor
Justin Gunnar Walter Chancellor is an English musician formerly in the band Peach but best known as the bass player for Grammy Award-winning rock band Tool. Chancellor is of Norwegian and English descent...
has been the band's bassist, replacing their original bassist Paul D'Amour
Paul d'Amour
Paul D'Amour was the original bass guitarist for Tool. His bass sound was recognized by the aggressive picked tone he developed with his Chris Squire Signature Rickenbacker 4001CS, which can clearly be heard on Tool's first full length album, Undertow.Originally a guitar player, D'Amour became...
. Tool has won three Grammy Awards, performed worldwide tours, and produced albums topping the charts in several countries.
Tool emerged with a unique sound on their first studio album Undertow
Undertow (Tool album)
"Disgustipated" is track 69 on most pressings in North America . It also appears as track 39, track 10 or as a hidden track following "Flood" on track 9...
in 1993, and later became a dominant act in the alternative metal
Alternative metal
Alternative metal is a genre of alternative rock and heavy metal that gained popularity in the early 1990s. Most notably, alternative metal bands are characterized by heavy guitar riffs and experimental approaches to heavy music.-Origins:...
movement with the release of their second effort, Ænima
Ænima
Ænima is the second studio album by American rock band Tool. The album was released on September 17, 1996 in vinyl format and on October 1, 1996 in Compact Disc format. The album was recorded and cut at Ocean Way, Hollywood, California and The Hook, North Hollywood, California from 1995 to 1996...
, in 1996. Their efforts to unify musical experimentation, visual arts
Visual arts
The visual arts are art forms that create works which are primarily visual in nature, such as ceramics, drawing, painting, sculpture, printmaking, design, crafts, and often modern visual arts and architecture...
, and a message of personal evolution continued with Lateralus
Lateralus
Lateralus is the third studio album by American rock band Tool. The album was released on May 15, 2001, and debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart. On August 5, 2003, Lateralus was certified double platinum by the RIAA. On August 30, 2004 the album was certified Silver by the BPI for...
(2001) and the most recent album 10,000 Days
10,000 Days
10,000 Days is the Grammy Award-winning fourth studio album by American rock band Tool. The album was released on April 28, 2006 in parts of Europe, April 29 in Australia, May 1 in the United Kingdom, and May 2 in North America...
(2006), gaining the band critical acclaim and success around the world.
Due to Tool's incorporation of visual arts and relatively long and complex releases, the band is generally described as a style-transcending act and part of progressive rock
Progressive rock
Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...
and art rock
Art rock
Art rock is a subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom in the 1960s, with influences from art, avant-garde, and classical music. The first usage of the term, according to Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, was in 1968. Influenced by the work of The Beatles, most notably their Sgt...
. The relationship between the band and today's music industry is ambivalent, at times marked by censorship
Censorship of music
Censorship of music is the practice of restricting free access to musical works. This censorship may stem from a wide variety of motivations, including moral, political, military or religious reasons. Censorship can range from the complete government-enforced legal prohibition of a musical work, to...
and the band members' insistence on privacy
Privacy
Privacy is the ability of an individual or group to seclude themselves or information about themselves and thereby reveal themselves selectively...
.
Early years (1988–1992)
Paul d'Amour
Paul D'Amour was the original bass guitarist for Tool. His bass sound was recognized by the aggressive picked tone he developed with his Chris Squire Signature Rickenbacker 4001CS, which can clearly be heard on Tool's first full length album, Undertow.Originally a guitar player, D'Amour became...
and Adam Jones
Adam Jones (musician)
Adam Thomas Jones is a three time Grammy Award-winning Welsh-American musician and visual artist, best known for his position as the guitarist for Grammy-Award winning band Tool. Jones has been rated the 75th Greatest Guitarist of all time by the Rolling Stone and placed 9th in Guitar World's Top...
wanted to enter the film industry, while Maynard James Keenan
Maynard James Keenan
Maynard James Keenan is an American rock singer, songwriter, musician, record producer, winemaker, and actor. Originally from Ohio, Keenan spent his high school and college years in Michigan. After serving in the Army in the early 1980s, he attended Kendall College of Art and Design in Grand Rapids...
found employment remodeling pet stores after having studied visual arts in Michigan. Danny Carey
Danny Carey
Daniel Edwin "Danny" Carey is an American drummer best known for his work in American Grammy Award-winning rock band Tool...
performed as a drummer for Wild Blue Yonder, Green Jellÿ
Green Jellÿ
Green Jellÿ is a Grammy-nominated American comedy rock band formed in 1981. Originally named Green Jellö, the band changed its name due to legal pressure from the owners of the Jell-O trademark, Kraft Foods, who claimed that it was an infringement of their trademark...
, and Carole King
Carole King
Carole King is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. King and her former husband Gerry Goffin wrote more than two dozen chart hits for numerous artists during the 1960s, many of which have become standards. As a singer, King had an album, Tapestry, top the U.S...
, and played in the Los Angeles area with Pigmy Love Circus
Pigmy Love Circus
Pigmy Love Circus is a Los Angeles rock band that has existed since the late 1980s era of the Hollywood underground rock scene.Pigmy Love Circus originally consisted of Shepherd Stevenson on bass, Mike Savage on vocals, Anthony Martinez on drums, with Rand "Pig" Walters and Peter Fletcher on guitars...
.
Keenan and Jones met through a mutual friend in 1989. After Keenan played a tape recording for Jones of his previous band project, Jones was so impressed by his voice that he eventually talked his friend into forming their own band. They started jamming
Jam session
Jam sessions are often used by musicians to develop new material, find suitable arrangements, or simply as a social gathering and communal practice session. Jam sessions may be based upon existing songs or forms, may be loosely based on an agreed chord progression or chart suggested by one...
together and were on the lookout for a drummer and a bass player. Danny Carey happened to live above Keenan and was introduced to Jones by Tom Morello
Tom Morello
Thomas Baptiste "Tom" Morello is a Grammy Award-winning American guitarist best known for his tenure with the bands Rage Against the Machine, Audioslave, his acoustic solo act The Nightwatchman, and his newest group, Street Sweeper Social Club...
, an old high school friend of Jones and former bandmate of Electric Sheep
Electric Sheep (band)
Electric Sheep was a garage band that included Adam Jones and Tom Morello...
. Carey began playing in their sessions because he "felt kinda sorry for them", as other invited musicians were not showing up. Tool's lineup was completed when a friend of Jones introduced them to bassist D'Amour. Early on, the band fabricated the story that they formed because of the pseudophilosophy
Pseudophilosophy
Pseudophilosophy is a term applied to philosophical ideas or systems which are claimed not to meet mainstream academic standards. The term is almost always used pejoratively and is often contentious...
"lachrymology". Although "lachrymology" was also explained to be an inspiration for the band's name, Keenan later explained their intentions differently: "Tool is exactly what it sounds like: It's a big dick. It's a wrench.... we are... your tool; use us as a catalyst in your process of finding out whatever it is you need to find out, or whatever it is you're trying to achieve."
After almost two years of practicing and performing locally in the Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
area, the band was approached by record companies, and eventually signed a record deal with Zoo Entertainment. In March 1992, Zoo published the band's first effort, Opiate
Opiate (album)
Opiate is an EP by American rock band Tool. It was produced and engineered by Sylvia Massy and former Minor Threat bassist Steve Hansgen. Released in 1992, it was the result of some two years of the band playing together after their formation in 1990. "Opiate" preceded Tool's first full-length...
. Described by the band as "slam and bang" heavy music and the "hardest sounding" six songs they had written to that point, the EP
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
included the singles "Hush
Hush (Tool song)
"Hush" is a song by Tool from their 1992 EP Opiate. The song was first recorded on a self-titled demo tape variously known as Toolshed and 72826, recorded in mid-1991...
" and "Opiate". The band's first music video, "Hush", promoted their dissenting views about the then-prominent Parents Music Resource Center
Parents Music Resource Center
The Parents Music Resource Center was an American committee formed in 1985 with the goal of increasing parental control over the access of children to music deemed to be violent, have drug use or be sexual.The committee was founded by four women: Tipper Gore, wife of Senator and later Vice...
and its advocacy of the censorship of music
Censorship of music
Censorship of music is the practice of restricting free access to musical works. This censorship may stem from a wide variety of motivations, including moral, political, military or religious reasons. Censorship can range from the complete government-enforced legal prohibition of a musical work, to...
. The video featured the band members naked with their genitalia covered by parental advisory
Parental Advisory
Parental Advisory is a message affixed by the Recording Industry Association of America to audio and recordings in the United States containing excessive use of profane language and/or sexual references. Albums began to be labeled for "explicit lyrics" in 1985, after pressure from the Parents...
stickers and their mouths covered by duct tape. The band began touring with Rollins Band
Rollins Band
Rollins Band was an American rock band led by singer and songwriter Henry Rollins.They are best known for the songs "Low Self Opinion" and "Liar", which both earned heavy airplay on MTV in the early 1990s...
, Fishbone
Fishbone
Fishbone is a U.S. alternative rock band formed in 1979 in Los Angeles, California, which plays a fusion of ska, punk rock, funk, hard rock and soul. Critics have noted of the band: "Fishbone was one of the most distinctive and eclectic alternative rock bands of the late '80s...
, and Rage Against the Machine
Rage Against the Machine
Rage Against the Machine is an American rock band from Los Angeles, California. Formed in 1991, the group's line-up consists of vocalist Zack de la Rocha, bassist and backing vocalist Tim Commerford, guitarist Tom Morello and drummer Brad Wilk...
to positive responses which Janiss Garza of RIP Magazine summarized in September 1992 as a "buzz" and "a strong start".
Undertow (1993–1995)
Alternative rock
Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...
and grunge
Grunge
Grunge is a subgenre of alternative rock that emerged during the mid-1980s in the American state of Washington, particularly in the Seattle area. Inspired by hardcore punk, heavy metal, and indie rock, grunge is generally characterized by heavily distorted electric guitars, contrasting song...
was at its height, Tool released their first full-length album, Undertow
Undertow (Tool album)
"Disgustipated" is track 69 on most pressings in North America . It also appears as track 39, track 10 or as a hidden track following "Flood" on track 9...
(1993). It expressed more diverse dynamics than Opiate and included songs the band had chosen not to publish on their previous release, when they had opted for a heavier sound. The band began touring again as planned, with an exception in May 1993. Tool was scheduled to play at the Garden Pavilion in Hollywood but learned at the last minute that the Garden Pavilion belonged to L. Ron Hubbard
L. Ron Hubbard
Lafayette Ronald Hubbard , better known as L. Ron Hubbard , was an American pulp fiction author and religious leader who founded the Church of Scientology...
's Church of Scientology
Church of Scientology
The Church of Scientology is an organization devoted to the practice and the promotion of the Scientology belief system. The Church of Scientology International is the Church of Scientology's parent organization, and is responsible for the overall ecclesiastical management, dissemination and...
, which was perceived as a clash with "the band's ethics about how a person should not follow a belief system that constricts their development as a human being". Keenan "spent most of the show baa-ing like a sheep at the audience".
Tool later played several concerts during the Lollapalooza
Lollapalooza
Lollapalooza is an annual music festival featuring popular alternative rock, heavy metal, punk rock and hip hop bands, dance and comedy performances, and craft booths. It has also provided a platform for non-profit and political groups. The music festival hosts more than 160,000 people over a...
festival tour, and were moved from the second stage to the main stage by their manager and the festival co-founder Ted Gardner
Ted Gardner
Ted Gardner is an Australian-born artist manager, entrepreneur and company owner. Gardner began his career in Melbourne in 1977, then relocated to Sydney in 1980 and on to United States from 1982...
. At the last concert of Lollapalooza in Tool's hometown Los Angeles, comedian Bill Hicks
Bill Hicks
William Melvin "Bill" Hicks was an American stand-up comedian, social critic, satirist, and musician. His material largely consisted of general discussions about society, religion, politics, philosophy, and personal issues. Hicks' material was often controversial and steeped in dark comedy...
introduced the band. Hicks had become a friend of the band members and an influence on them after being mentioned in Undertows liner notes. He jokingly asked the audience of 10,000 people to stand still and help him look for a lost contact lens. The boost in popularity gained from these concerts helped lead Undertow to be certified gold
RIAA certification
In the United States, the Recording Industry Association of America awards certification based on the number of albums and singles sold through retail and other ancillary markets. Other countries have similar awards...
by the RIAA
Recording Industry Association of America
The Recording Industry Association of America is a trade organization that represents the recording industry distributors in the United States...
in September 1993 and to achieve platinum status in 1995, despite being sold with a censored
Corporate censorship
Corporate censorship is censorship by corporations, the sanctioning of speech by spokespersons, employees, and business associates by threat of monetary loss, loss of employment, or loss of access to the marketplace.- TV Guide debate :...
album cover by distributors such as Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. , branded as Walmart since 2008 and Wal-Mart before then, is an American public multinational corporation that runs chains of large discount department stores and warehouse stores. The company is the world's 18th largest public corporation, according to the Forbes Global 2000...
. The single "Sober" became a hit single by March 1994 and won the band Billboard's "Best Video By A New Artist" award for the accompanying stop motion
Stop motion
Stop motion is an animation technique to make a physically manipulated object appear to move on its own. The object is moved in small increments between individually photographed frames, creating the illusion of movement when the series of frames is played as a continuous sequence...
music video.
With the release of Tool's follow-up single "Prison Sex
Prison Sex (song)
"Prison Sex" is a song by American rock band Tool. The song was released as their first single from their debut album Undertow. The song is unique for its use of modified drop-B tuning.-Music video:...
", the band again became the target of censorship. The song's lyrics and video dealt with child abuse
Child abuse
Child abuse is the physical, sexual, emotional mistreatment, or neglect of a child. In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Children And Families define child maltreatment as any act or series of acts of commission or omission by a parent or...
, which sparked controversial reactions; Keenan's lyrics begin with: "It took so long to remember just what happened. I was so young and vestal then, you know it hurt me, but I'm breathing so I guess I'm still alive... I've got my hands bound and my head down and my eyes closed and my throat wide open." The video was created primarily by guitarist Adam Jones, who saw it as his "surrealistic interpretation" of the subject matter. And while some contemporary journalists again praised the video and described the lyrics as "metaphoric", the American branch of MuchMusic
MuchMusic
MuchMusic is a Canadian English language Category A specialty channel owned by Bell Media. MuchMusic is dedicated to music-related programs, pop and youth culture.-History:...
asked Keenan to represent the band in a hearing. It deemed the respective music video too graphic and obscene, and MTV stopped airing it after a few viewings.
In September 1995, the band started writing and recording their second studio album. At that time Tool experienced its only lineup change to date, with bassist D'Amour leaving the band amicably to pursue other projects. Justin Chancellor
Justin Chancellor
Justin Gunnar Walter Chancellor is an English musician formerly in the band Peach but best known as the bass player for Grammy Award-winning rock band Tool. Chancellor is of Norwegian and English descent...
, a member of former tourmates Peach
Peach (band)
Peach was a band from England that originally recorded between 1991 and 1994. They played metal music of a progressive style. The original line-up consisted of Simon Oakes, Rob Havis, Ben Durling and Justin Chancellor...
, eventually replaced D'Amour, having been chosen over competitors such as Kyuss
Kyuss
Kyuss is a rock band, originally from Palm Desert, California. After forming in the late 1980s and releasing an EP under the name Sons of Kyuss in 1990, the band shortened its name to Kyuss. Over the next five years the band released four full-length albums, and one last split EP in 1997 with...
' Scott Reeder, Filter
Filter (band)
Filter is a rock group formed in 1993 in Cleveland by singer Richard Patrick and guitarist/programmer Brian Liesegang. Filter has released five studio albums, the most recent being The Trouble with Angels, which was released on August 17, 2010....
's Frank Cavanaugh, Pigmy Love Circus
Pigmy Love Circus
Pigmy Love Circus is a Los Angeles rock band that has existed since the late 1980s era of the Hollywood underground rock scene.Pigmy Love Circus originally consisted of Shepherd Stevenson on bass, Mike Savage on vocals, Anthony Martinez on drums, with Rand "Pig" Walters and Peter Fletcher on guitars...
's E. Shepherd Stevenson and ZAUM
ZAUM
Zaum was an electronica project band that includes Tool drummer Danny Carey, along with Tool associates Chris Pitman, Vince DeFranco, and Marko Fox.The official Tool newsletter of April 2000 had the following to say the about the project:...
's Marco Fox.
Ænima (1996–2000)
Ænima
Ænima is the second studio album by American rock band Tool. The album was released on September 17, 1996 in vinyl format and on October 1, 1996 in Compact Disc format. The album was recorded and cut at Ocean Way, Hollywood, California and The Hook, North Hollywood, California from 1995 to 1996...
(icon). It was certified triple platinum
Music recording sales certification
Music recording sales certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped or sold a certain number of copies, where the threshold quantity varies by type and by nation or territory .Almost all countries follow variations of the RIAA certification categories,...
by the RIAA
Recording Industry Association of America
The Recording Industry Association of America is a trade organization that represents the recording industry distributors in the United States...
on March 4, 2003. After Paul D'Amour left Tool, Justin Chancellor came on board, and the recording of the already-begun Ænima continued. The band enlisted the help of producer David Bottrill
David Bottrill
David Bottrill is a Canadian record producer. He has won three Grammys. Currently, he owns Rattlebox Studios in Toronto, Ontario with producer Brian Moncarz...
, who had produced some of King Crimson
King Crimson
King Crimson are a rock band founded in London, England in 1969. Often categorised as a foundational progressive rock group, the band have incorporated diverse influences and instrumentation during their history...
's albums while Jones collaborated with Cam de Leon
Cam de Leon
Cam de Leon is an American artist who specialises in surreal darkly fantastic imagery. He created some of the band Tool's early artwork, as well as working as a digital illustrator, doing concept and visual development and character design for the feature animation industry...
to create Ænimas Grammy-nominated artwork.
The album was dedicated to satirist
Satire
Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...
Bill Hicks
Bill Hicks
William Melvin "Bill" Hicks was an American stand-up comedian, social critic, satirist, and musician. His material largely consisted of general discussions about society, religion, politics, philosophy, and personal issues. Hicks' material was often controversial and steeped in dark comedy...
, who had died two and a half years earlier. The band intended to raise awareness about Hicks's material and ideas, because they felt that Tool and Hicks "were resonating similar concepts". In particular, Ænimas final track "Third Eye" is preceded by a clip of Hicks' performances, and both the lenticular
Lenticular printing
Lenticular printing is a technology in which a lenticular lens is used to produce images with an illusion of depth, or the ability to change or move as the image is viewed from different angles...
casing of the Ænima album packaging as well as the chorus of the title track "Ænema
Ænema
"Ænema" is a Grammy Award-winning song by rock band Tool, released as the third single from their second album Ænima. Adam Jones made a video for the song using stop-motion animation that appears on Salival. The song reached number twenty-five on the U.S...
" make reference to a sketch from Hicks's Arizona Bay
Arizona Bay
Arizona Bay is an album by comedian Bill Hicks, posthumously released in 1997. It was released alongside Rant in E-Minor, marking three years since his death. The album's title refers to the hope that Los Angeles will one day fall into the ocean due to a major earthquake...
, in which he contemplates the idea of Los Angeles falling into the Pacific Ocean.
The first single, "Stinkfist
Stinkfist
"Stinkfist" is a song by American rock band Tool. It is released as the first single and first music video from their second album Ænima. Due to its name and perceived subject, the song had its lyrics altered and its title changed by TV and radio programmers, who also shortened the track...
", garnered limited and imperfect airplay: It was shortened by radio programmers, MTV (U.S.) renamed the music video of "Stinkfist" to "Track #1" due to offensive connotations, and the lyrics of the song were altered. Responding to fan complaints about censorship
Censorship of music
Censorship of music is the practice of restricting free access to musical works. This censorship may stem from a wide variety of motivations, including moral, political, military or religious reasons. Censorship can range from the complete government-enforced legal prohibition of a musical work, to...
, Matt Pinfield
Matt Pinfield
Matt Pinfield is a music personality and TV host, best known for being a video deejay on MTV and VH1. He currently lives in Harrison, New Jersey having previously resided in East Brunswick Township...
of MTV's 120 Minutes expressed regret on air by waving his fist in front of his face while introducing the video and explaining the name change.
A tour began in October 1996, only two weeks after Ænimas release. Following numerous appearances in the United States and Europe, Tool headed for Australia and New Zealand in late March 1997. April 1 of that year saw the first of several April Fools'
April Fools' Day
April Fools' Day is celebrated in different countries around the world on April 1 every year. Sometimes referred to as All Fools' Day, April 1 is not a national holiday, but is widely recognized and celebrated as a day when many people play all kinds of jokes and foolishness...
pranks related to the band. Kabir Akhtar, webmaster of the band's semi-official fanpage, The Tool Page, wrote that "at least three of the band are listed in critical condition" after a tour bus accident on a highway. This hoax gained wide attention and was eventually exposed on radio and MTV. Akhtar later posted an apology, claiming that The Tool Page "will not indulge itself in such outlandish pranks in the future"—a claim that would be belied by later April Fools' pranks. The tour continued the next day as originally announced.
Eventually returning to the United States, Tool appeared at Lollapalooza
Lollapalooza
Lollapalooza is an annual music festival featuring popular alternative rock, heavy metal, punk rock and hip hop bands, dance and comedy performances, and craft booths. It has also provided a platform for non-profit and political groups. The music festival hosts more than 160,000 people over a...
'97 in July, this time as a headliner, where they gained critical praise from The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
:
Alternative metal
Alternative metal is a genre of alternative rock and heavy metal that gained popularity in the early 1990s. Most notably, alternative metal bands are characterized by heavy guitar riffs and experimental approaches to heavy music.-Origins:...
genre: It featured the Grammy Award-winning "Ænema" and appeared on several "Best Albums of 1996" lists, with notable examples being those of Kerrang!
Kerrang!
Kerrang! is a UK-based magazine devoted to rock music published by Bauer Media Group. It was first published on June 6, 1981 as a one-off supplement in the Sounds newspaper...
and Terrorizer.
A legal battle that began the same year interfered with the band's working on another release. Volcano Entertainment—the successor of Tool's by-then defunct label Zoo Entertainment—alleged contract violations by Tool and filed suit
Lawsuit
A lawsuit or "suit in law" is a civil action brought in a court of law in which a plaintiff, a party who claims to have incurred loss as a result of a defendant's actions, demands a legal or equitable remedy. The defendant is required to respond to the plaintiff's complaint...
. According to Volcano, Tool had violated their contract when the band looked at offers from other record labels. After Tool filed a countersuit stating that Volcano had failed to use a renewal option in their contract, the parties settled out of court. In December 1998 Tool agreed to a new contract, a three-record joint venture deal. In 2000, the band dismissed their long-time manager Ted Gardner, who then sued the band over his commission on this lucrative agreement.
During this time, Keenan joined the band A Perfect Circle
A Perfect Circle
A Perfect Circle is an American rock supergroup formed in 1999 by guitarist Billy Howerdel and Tool vocalist Maynard James Keenan. The original incarnation of the band also included Paz Lenchantin on bass, Troy Van Leeuwen on guitar, and Tim Alexander on drums...
which was founded by long-time Tool guitar tech Billy Howerdel
Billy Howerdel
Billy Howerdel is the founding member, guitarist, songwriter, and producer for the bands A Perfect Circle and Ashes Divide. He has recorded three acclaimed studio albums with the former, and in 2008, Ashes Divide released their debut album, Keep Telling Myself It's Alright.-Early life:Howerdel was...
, while Jones joined The Melvins' Buzz Osborne
Buzz Osborne
Roger "Buzz" Osborne , also known as King Buzzo, is the guitarist/vocalist/songwriter and technically the only remaining founding member of the Melvins...
and Carey drummed with Dead Kennedys' Jello Biafra
Jello Biafra
Jello Biafra is an American musician, spoken word artist and leading figure of the Green Party of the United States. Biafra first gained attention as the lead singer and songwriter for San Francisco punk rock band Dead Kennedys...
on other side projects. Although there were rumors that Tool were breaking up, Chancellor, Jones, and Carey were working on new material while waiting for Keenan to return. In 2000, the Salival
Salival
Salival is a limited edition box set in CD/VHS and CD/DVD formats released in 2000 by American rock band Tool. It includes a 56-page book of photos and stills from their music videos. As the box set has now been out of print for some time, it can only be found secondhand, usually at a price...
box set (CD/VHS or CD/DVD) was released, effectively putting an end to the rumors. The CD contained one new original track, a cover
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
of Led Zeppelin's "No Quarter
No Quarter (song)
"No Quarter" is a song by Led Zeppelin that appears on their album, Houses of the Holy, released in 1973. It was written by bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, guitarist Jimmy Page and singer Robert Plant.- Overview :...
", a live version of Peach's "You Lied
You Lied
"You Lied" is a track originally performed by British progressive rock band Peach. It was notably covered live by Tool and released on their Salival live DVD/CD box set...
", and revised versions of old songs. The VHS and the DVD each contained four music videos, plus a bonus music video for "Hush" on the DVD. Although Salival did not yield any singles, the hidden track "Maynard's Dick" (which dates back to the Opiate era) briefly found its way to FM radio
FM broadcasting
FM broadcasting is a broadcasting technology pioneered by Edwin Howard Armstrong which uses frequency modulation to provide high-fidelity sound over broadcast radio. The term "FM band" describes the "frequency band in which FM is used for broadcasting"...
when several DJs chose to play it on air under the title "Maynard's Dead".
Lateralus (2001–2005)
Napster
Napster is an online music store and a Best Buy company. It was originally founded as a pioneering peer-to-peer file sharing Internet service that emphasized sharing audio files that were typically digitally encoded music as MP3 format files...
were flooded with bogus files bearing the titles' names. At the time, Tool members were outspokenly critical of file-sharing networks in general due to the supposedly negative impact on artists that are dependent on success in record sales to continue their career. Keenan had this to say during an interview with NY Rock
NY Rock
NY Rock is a music website that covers the New York City music scene. Founded in 1996, it contains music and movie news, interviews, concert reviews, a gig guide, feature articles and blogs....
in 2000, "I think there are a lot of other industries out there that might deserve being destroyed. The ones who get hurt by MP3s are not so much companies or the business, but the artists, people who are trying to write songs."
A month later, the band revealed that the new album was actually titled Lateralus
Lateralus
Lateralus is the third studio album by American rock band Tool. The album was released on May 15, 2001, and debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart. On August 5, 2003, Lateralus was certified double platinum by the RIAA. On August 30, 2004 the album was certified Silver by the BPI for...
and that the name Systema Encéphale and the tracklist had been a ruse. Lateralus and the corresponding tours would take Tool a step further toward art rock
Art rock
Art rock is a subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom in the 1960s, with influences from art, avant-garde, and classical music. The first usage of the term, according to Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, was in 1968. Influenced by the work of The Beatles, most notably their Sgt...
and progressive rock
Progressive rock
Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...
territory. Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
wrote in an attempt to summarize the album that "Drums, bass and guitars move in jarring cycles of hyperhowl and near-silent death march
Death march
A death march is a forced march of prisoners of war or other captives or deportees. Those marching must walk over long distances for an extremely long period of time and are not supplied with food or water...
... The prolonged running times of most of Lateralus thirteen tracks are misleading; the entire album rolls and stomps with suite
Suite
In music, a suite is an ordered set of instrumental or orchestral pieces normally performed in a concert setting rather than as accompaniment; they may be extracts from an opera, ballet , or incidental music to a play or film , or they may be entirely original movements .In the...
like purpose." Joshua Klein of The A.V. Club
The A.V. Club
The A.V. Club is an entertainment newspaper and website published by The Onion. Its features include reviews of new films, music, television, books, games and DVDs, as well as interviews and other regular offerings examining both new and classic media and other elements of pop culture. Unlike its...
in turn expressed his opinion that Lateralus, with its 79 minutes and relatively complex and long songs—topped by the ten-and-a-half minute music video for "Parabola
Parabola (song)
"Parabola" is a song by the American rock band Tool, the song was released as the second single from their third studio album Lateralus. It was released in 2002 as a promo only, however, on December 20, 2005, the single was re-released, which includes the song and a DVD containing the music video...
"—posed a challenge to fans and music programming alike.
The album became a worldwide success, reaching No.1 on the U.S. Billboard 200
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
albums chart in its debut week. Tool received their second Grammy Award for the best metal performance of 2001 for the song "Schism
Schism (song)
"Schism" is a song by American rock band Tool. It was the first single and music video from their third full-length album, Lateralus. In 2002, Tool won the Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance for the song....
". During the band's acceptance speech, drummer Carey stated that he would like to thank his parents (for putting up with him) and Satan
Satan
Satan , "the opposer", is the title of various entities, both human and divine, who challenge the faith of humans in the Hebrew Bible...
, and bassist Chancellor concluded: "I want to thank my dad for doing my mom."
Extensive touring throughout 2001 and 2002 supported Lateralus and included a personal highlight for the band: a 10-show joint mini-tour with King Crimson
King Crimson
King Crimson are a rock band founded in London, England in 1969. Often categorised as a foundational progressive rock group, the band have incorporated diverse influences and instrumentation during their history...
in August 2001. Comparisons between the two were made, MTV describing the bands as "the once and future kings of progressive rock". Keenan stated of the minitour: "For me, being on stage with King Crimson is like Lenny Kravitz
Lenny Kravitz
Leonard Albert "Lenny" Kravitz is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and arranger, whose "retro" style incorporates elements of rock, soul, R&B, funk, reggae, hard rock, psychedelic, folk and ballads...
playing with Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin were an English rock band, active in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s. Formed in 1968, they consisted of guitarist Jimmy Page, singer Robert Plant, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham...
, or Britney Spears
Britney Spears
Britney Jean Spears is an American recording artist and entertainer. Born in McComb, Mississippi, and raised in Kentwood, Louisiana, Spears began performing as a child, landing acting roles in stage productions and television shows. She signed with Jive Records in 1997 and released her debut album...
onstage with Debbie Gibson."
Although the end of the tour in November 2002 seemed to signal the start of another dormancy for the band, they did not become completely inactive. While Keenan recorded and toured with A Perfect Circle
A Perfect Circle
A Perfect Circle is an American rock supergroup formed in 1999 by guitarist Billy Howerdel and Tool vocalist Maynard James Keenan. The original incarnation of the band also included Paz Lenchantin on bass, Troy Van Leeuwen on guitar, and Tim Alexander on drums...
, the other band members released an interview and a recording of new material, both exclusive to the fan club. On April 1, 2005, the official Tool website announced that "Maynard has found Jesus" and would be abandoning the recording of the new Tool album temporarily and possibly permanently. Kurt Loder
Kurt Loder
Kurt Loder is an American film critic, author, columnist, and television personality. He served in the 1980s as editor at Rolling Stone, during a tenure that Reason later called "legendary". He has contributed to articles in Reason, Esquire, Details, New York, and Time. He has also made cameos on...
of MTV contacted Keenan via email to ask for a confirmation and received a nonchalant confirmation. When Loder asked again, Keenan's response was simply "heh heh." However, on April 7 the official site explained, "Good news, April fools fans. The writing and recording is back under way."
The writing and recording proceeded for the follow-up to Lateralus; meanwhile, a Lateralus vinyl edition and two DVD singles were released, and the band's official website received a new splash intro by artist Joshua Davis
Joshua Davis (web designer)
Joshua Davis is an American web designer, author and artist in new media. He was an early pioneer in the use of Macromedia Flash as a tool to generate Art...
. The "double vinyl
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
four-picture disc" edition of Lateralus was first released as a limited autographed edition exclusively available to fan club members and publicly released on August 23, 2005. On December 20, 2005, the two DVDs were released, one containing the single "Schism
Schism (song)
"Schism" is a song by American rock band Tool. It was the first single and music video from their third full-length album, Lateralus. In 2002, Tool won the Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance for the song....
" and the other "Parabola
Parabola (song)
"Parabola" is a song by the American rock band Tool, the song was released as the second single from their third studio album Lateralus. It was released in 2002 as a promo only, however, on December 20, 2005, the single was re-released, which includes the song and a DVD containing the music video...
", a remix by Lustmord
Lustmord
Brian Williams is a British electronic musician often credited for creating the dark ambient genre with albums recorded under the name Lustmord.- History :Williams started recording as Lustmord in 1980 before joining SPK in 1982...
, and the music video with a dual-commentary by David Yow
David Yow
David Yow is an American musician born in Las Vegas, Nevada and best known as the vocalist for the noise rock bands Scratch Acid and The Jesus Lizard.-Biography:...
and Jello Biafra
Jello Biafra
Jello Biafra is an American musician, spoken word artist and leading figure of the Green Party of the United States. Biafra first gained attention as the lead singer and songwriter for San Francisco punk rock band Dead Kennedys...
, respectively.
10,000 Days (2006–2007)
Revolver (magazine)
Revolver is a bi-monthly rock and heavy metal magazine published by Future US. Before covering heavy metal, rock & hard rock solely, it was a more mainstream oriented magazine. The magazine is structured in a manner similar to publications such as Spin while covering many avenues within the heavy...
described as a devoted "cult
Cult following
A cult following is a group of fans who are highly dedicated to a specific area of pop culture. A film, book, band, or video game, among other things, will be said to have a cult following when it has a small but very passionate fan base...
" following, and as details about the band's next album emerged, such as the influence of Lateralus tourmates Fantômas
Fantômas (band)
Fantômas is an avant-garde metal supergroup formed in 1998 in California, United States. The band is named after Fantômas, a supervillain featured in a series of crime novels popular in France before World War I and in film, most notably in the 60s French movie series.-History:Fantômas began just...
and Meshuggah
Meshuggah
Meshuggah is an extreme metal band from Umeå, Sweden, formed in 1987. Meshuggah's line-up has primarily consisted of founding members vocalist Jens Kidman and lead guitarist Fredrik Thordendal, drummer Tomas Haake, who joined in 1990, and rhythm guitarist Mårten Hagström, who joined in 1992...
, controversy surrounding the new Tool surfaced with speculation over song titles and pre-release rumors of leaked songs. Speculation over possible album titles was dismissed with a news item on the official Tool website, announcing that the new album's name was 10,000 Days
10,000 Days
10,000 Days is the Grammy Award-winning fourth studio album by American rock band Tool. The album was released on April 28, 2006 in parts of Europe, April 29 in Australia, May 1 in the United Kingdom, and May 2 in North America...
. Nevertheless, speculation continued with allegations that 10,000 Days was merely a "decoy" album to fool audiences until the day of its actual release, which eventually proved false when a leaked
Internet leak
An Internet leak occurs when a party's confidential information is released to the public on the Internet. Various types of information and data can be, and have been, "leaked" to the Internet, the most common being personal information, computer software and source code, and artistic works such...
copy of the album was distributed via filesharing networks a week prior to its official release.
The album opener, "Vicarious", premiered on U.S. radio stations on April 17. The record followed on May 2, 2006 in the U.S. and debuted at the top spots of various international charts. 10,000 Days sold 564,000 copies in its opening week in the U.S. and was number one on the Billboard 200 charts, doubling the sales of Pearl Jam
Pearl Jam
Pearl Jam is an American rock band that formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1990. Since its inception, the band's line-up has included Eddie Vedder , Jeff Ament , Stone Gossard , and Mike McCready...
's self-titled album
Pearl Jam (album)
Pearl Jam is the eighth studio album by the American alternative rock band Pearl Jam and its debut and only release for J Records...
, its closest competitor. However, 10,000 Days was received less favorably by critics than its predecessor Lateralus
Lateralus
Lateralus is the third studio album by American rock band Tool. The album was released on May 15, 2001, and debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart. On August 5, 2003, Lateralus was certified double platinum by the RIAA. On August 30, 2004 the album was certified Silver by the BPI for...
had been.
After the release of 10,000 Days, a tour kicked off at Coachella
Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival
The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival is a three-day annual music and arts festival, organized by Goldenvoice and held at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, in the Inland Empire's Coachella Valley...
on April 30, 2006. The touring schedule was similar to the Lateralus tour of 2001; supporting acts were Isis
Isis (band)
Isis was a Los Angeles, California-based post-metal band, founded in Boston, Massachusetts, with a career spanning from 1997 to 2010...
and Mastodon
Mastodon (band)
Mastodon is an American heavy metal band from Atlanta, Georgia, formed in 1999. The band is composed of bassist/vocalist Troy Sanders, guitarist/vocalist Brent Hinds, guitarist Bill Kelliher and drummer/vocalist Brann Dailor...
. During a short break early the next year, after touring Australia and New Zealand, drummer Danny Carey suffered a biceps
Biceps brachii muscle
In human anatomy, the biceps brachii, or simply biceps in common parlance, is, as the name implies, a two-headed muscle located on the upper arm. Both heads arise on the scapula and join to form a single muscle belly which is attached to the upper forearm...
tear during a skirmish with his girlfriend's dog, casting uncertainty on the band's upcoming concerts in North America. Carey underwent surgery on February 21, and several performances had to be postponed. Back on tour by April, Tool appeared on June 15 as a headliner at the Bonnaroo Music Festival
Bonnaroo Music Festival
The Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival is an annual four day music festival created and produced by Superfly Productions and AC Entertainment, held at Great Stage Park on a 700-acre farm in Manchester, Tennessee. It hosted its tenth annual event June 9–12, 2011...
with a guest appearance from Rage Against the Machine
Rage Against the Machine
Rage Against the Machine is an American rock band from Los Angeles, California. Formed in 1991, the group's line-up consists of vocalist Zack de la Rocha, bassist and backing vocalist Tim Commerford, guitarist Tom Morello and drummer Brad Wilk...
's Tom Morello
Tom Morello
Thomas Baptiste "Tom" Morello is a Grammy Award-winning American guitarist best known for his tenure with the bands Rage Against the Machine, Audioslave, his acoustic solo act The Nightwatchman, and his newest group, Street Sweeper Social Club...
on "Lateralus
Lateralus (song)
"Lateralus" is a song by American rock band Tool. The song is the third single and title track of their third studio album Lateralus.-Overview and background:...
". Meanwhile, "Vicarious" was a nominee for Best Hard Rock Performance and 10,000 Days won Best Recording Package at the 49th Grammy Awards. The music video for "Vicarious" was released on DVD on December 18.
Hiatus and fifth studio album (2008–present)
In an interview conducted in May 2007, Justin Chancellor stated that the band would probably continue their tour until early 2008 and then "take some time off". He qualified this statement by adding that the band has already written new material and would surely release another album at some point down the road. A possible project until a next album is to make a "band movie", a possibility the band has reportedly considered for a long time. The ideas range from "a narrative story in a surreal fashion with as much money and special effects as possible" to "pockets of all of that or something that's live or the band playing". Although Carey stated that the necessary know-how was at hand due to the many relations to artists working in the movie business, Jones dismissed the idea saying, "It's just talk right now." According to Rolling StoneRolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
, after the 50th Grammy Awards
50th Grammy Awards
The 50th Annual Grammy Awards took place at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California, on February 10, 2008. Kanye West received the most nominations, with eight. Amy Winehouse was the big winner, winning a total of five awards. Herbie Hancock's River: The Joni Letters won Album of the Year,...
, while attending a Sony BMG after party at the Beverly Hills Hotel
Beverly Hills Hotel
The Beverly Hills Hotel is a hotel on Sunset Boulevard in Beverly Hills, California. It was opened on May 12, 1912 by Margaret J. Anderson and her son, Stanley S. Anderson, who had been managing the Hollywood Hotel. The original main building of The Beverly Hills Hotel was designed by Pasadena...
, Keenan also promised another Tool album. Asked in an early 2009 interview with Guitar World
Guitar World
Guitar World is a monthly music magazine devoted to guitarists. It contains original interviews, album and gear reviews and guitar and bass tablature of approximately five songs each month. The magazine is published 13 times per year...
about the new album, Jones replied, "It's been coming along... great! [laughs] No, we've been on hiatus. I'm writing and Justin's been writing, but Maynard has been working on his wine. We've all just been taking some time away from each other, which has been nice. I've also been working on producing some comics."
On hiatus since early 2008, Tool was expected to begin writing a new album sometime in 2009, according to Keenan, but gave no details on a possible release date. On March 24, 2009, the band's official website confirmed a Tool summer tour. The tour debuted on July 18 in Commerce City
Commerce City, Colorado
The city of Commerce City is a Home Rule Municipality located in Adams County, Colorado, United States. Commerce City is a northern suburb of Denver and now the 18th most populous municipality in the state of Colorado...
, Colorado
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
, at the Mile High Music Festival
Mile High Music Festival
The Mile High Music Festival is an annual two-day concert held in Commerce City, Colorado at Dick's Sporting Goods Park, first done on July 19 and 20, 2008...
. The last dates were August 7–9 for Lollapalooza
Lollapalooza
Lollapalooza is an annual music festival featuring popular alternative rock, heavy metal, punk rock and hip hop bands, dance and comedy performances, and craft booths. It has also provided a platform for non-profit and political groups. The music festival hosts more than 160,000 people over a...
2009 and a concluding show on August 22 for the Epicenter Festival in Pomona, California. Tool headlined both.
According to the band's webmaster, by March 3, 2010, Tool had begun the writing process "in earnest" for their next album.
In late April and May 2010, Tool announced a series of tour dates across the U.S. and Canada for June and July. In late September 2010, it was revealed that Tool would be headlining New Zealand and Australia's Big Day Out
Big Day Out
The Big Day Out is an annual music festival held in several cities in Australia and New Zealand in late January. It started in Sydney in 1992, spread to Adelaide, Melbourne and Perth by 1993, with the Gold Coast and Auckland joining in 1994...
Festival in early 2011. Meanwhile, Tool members have actively participated in their own personal musical projects. Notably, Keenan has toured extensively with Puscifer
Puscifer
Puscifer is a side project of Maynard James Keenan from the bands Tool and A Perfect Circle. As Keenan is the only permanent member and he considers the project to be his "creative subconscious", Puscifer could also be considered a pseudonym for his solo work....
, which he describes as a series of musical ideas he did not have an opportunity to explore with Tool or A Perfect Circle. Keenan later revealed in October 2011, that Jones and Carey were working together on the fifth album while he was touring with Puscifer, stating, "I'm allowing them their space to do what they do, so we're still in that mode...Even if they told me how close they are to being done, I couldn't tell you because if I say 60 percent people will start counting down. When it's done everyone will know. But I haven't done anything yet. They write forever and then we go in and knock it all out. We're writing. We're writing vocals, but nothing's solid".
As of November 2011, according to Tool's website, the band has begun recording their new album.
Musical style and influences
Tool was described by Patrick Donovan of The AgeThe Age
The Age is a daily broadsheet newspaper, which has been published in Melbourne, Australia since 1854. Owned and published by Fairfax Media, The Age primarily serves Victoria, but is also available for purchase in Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory and border regions of South Australia and...
as "the thinking person's metal band. Cerebral and visceral, soft and heavy, melodic and abrasive, tender and brutal, familiar and strange, western and eastern, beautiful and ugly, taut yet sprawling and epic, they are a tangle of contradictions." Tool has gained critical praise from the International Herald Tribune
International Herald Tribune
The International Herald Tribune is a widely read English language international newspaper. It combines the resources of its own correspondents with those of The New York Times and is printed at 38 sites throughout the world, for sale in more than 160 countries and territories...
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction is an American alternative rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1985. The band's original line-up featured Perry Farrell , Dave Navarro , Eric Avery and Stephen Perkins . After breaking up in 1991, Jane's Addiction briefly reunited in 1997 and again in 2001, both times...
heavy metal", and The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
sees similarities to "Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin were an English rock band, active in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s. Formed in 1968, they consisted of guitarist Jimmy Page, singer Robert Plant, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham...
's heaving, battering guitar riffs and Middle Eastern modes". Their 2001 work Lateralus was compared by Allmusic to Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd were an English rock band that achieved worldwide success with their progressive and psychedelic rock music. Their work is marked by the use of philosophical lyrics, sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows. Pink Floyd are one of the most commercially...
's Meddle
Meddle
Meddle is the sixth studio album by English progressive rock group Pink Floyd. It was released in October 1971.The album was recorded at a series of locations around London, including Abbey Road Studios...
(1971), but thirty years later and altered by "Tool's impulse to cram every inch of infinity with hard guitar meat and absolute dread". Tool had been labelled as post-metal
Post-metal
Post-metal is a music genre, a mixture between the genres of post-rock and heavy metal.Hydra Head Records owner and Isis frontman Aaron Turner originally termed the genre "thinking man's metal", demonstrating that his band was trying to move away from common metal conventions...
in 1993 and 1996, as well as in 2006, after the term came into popularity.
Musical style
A component of Tool's song repertoire relies on the use of odd time signatures. For instance, bassist Justin ChancellorJustin Chancellor
Justin Gunnar Walter Chancellor is an English musician formerly in the band Peach but best known as the bass player for Grammy Award-winning rock band Tool. Chancellor is of Norwegian and English descent...
describes the time signature employed on Lateralus
Lateralus
Lateralus is the third studio album by American rock band Tool. The album was released on May 15, 2001, and debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart. On August 5, 2003, Lateralus was certified double platinum by the RIAA. On August 30, 2004 the album was certified Silver by the BPI for...
first single, "Schism
Schism (song)
"Schism" is a song by American rock band Tool. It was the first single and music video from their third full-length album, Lateralus. In 2002, Tool won the Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance for the song....
", as 13/16 and that it later "goes into all kinds of other times". Further examples include the album's title track
Lateralus (song)
"Lateralus" is a song by American rock band Tool. The song is the third single and title track of their third studio album Lateralus.-Overview and background:...
, which also displays shifting rhythms, as does 10,000 Days
10,000 Days
10,000 Days is the Grammy Award-winning fourth studio album by American rock band Tool. The album was released on April 28, 2006 in parts of Europe, April 29 in Australia, May 1 in the United Kingdom, and May 2 in North America...
"Wings for Marie (Pt 1)" and "10,000 Days (Wings Pt 2)".
Beyond this aspect of the band's sound, each band member experiments within his musical scope. Bass Player magazine
Bass Player (magazine)
Bass Player is a popular magazine for bassists. Each issue offers a variety of artist interviews, lessons, equipment reviews, and a complete transcribed bass line from a popular song...
described Chancellor's bass playing as a "thick midrange tone, guitar-style techniques, and elastic versatility". As an example of this, the magazine mentioned the use of a wah effect by hammering
Hammer-on
Hammer-on is a stringed instrument playing technique performed by sharply bringing a fretting-hand finger down on the fingerboard behind a fret, causing a note to sound. This technique is the opposite of the pull-off...
"the notes with the left hand and using the bass's tone controls to get a tone sweep", such as on the song "The Patient", from Lateralus.
Completing the band's rhythm section
Rhythm section
A rhythm section is a collection of musicians who make up a section of instruments which provides the accompaniment section of the music, giving the music its rhythmic texture and pulse, also serving as a rhythmic reference for the rest of the band...
, drummer Danny Carey uses polyrhythm
Polyrhythm
Polyrhythm is the simultaneous sounding of two or more independent rhythms.Polyrhythm in general is a nonspecific term for the simultaneous occurrence of two or more conflicting rhythms, of which cross-rhythm is a specific and definable subset.—Novotney Polyrhythms can be distinguished from...
s, tabla
Tabla
The tabla is a popular Indian percussion instrument used in Hindustani classical music and in popular and devotional music of the Indian subcontinent. The instrument consists of a pair of hand drums of contrasting sizes and timbres...
-style techniques, and the incorporation of custom electronic drum pads
Electronic drum
An electronic drum is an electronic synthesizer which mimics an acoustic drum kit.The electronic drum usually consists of a set of pads mounted on a stand in a disposition similar to an acoustic drum kit. The pads are discs with a rubber or cloth-like coating. Each pad has a sensor which generates...
to trigger samples, such as prerecorded tabla
Tabla
The tabla is a popular Indian percussion instrument used in Hindustani classical music and in popular and devotional music of the Indian subcontinent. The instrument consists of a pair of hand drums of contrasting sizes and timbres...
and octoban
Octoban
Octoban drums, also known as tube toms and quarter toms, are tom-toms grouped in melodically-tuned sets of eight, hence the reference to octave, from octo meaning "eight". Octobans have 15 cm diameter drum shells, and range in length from 280 millimeters to 600 millimeters...
sounds.
Maynard James Keenan's ability as a vocalist has been characterized more subjectively by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer is an online newspaper and former print newspaper covering Seattle, Washington, United States, and the surrounding metropolitan area...
: After his performance during an Alice in Chains
Alice in Chains
Alice in Chains is an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1987 by guitarist and songwriter Jerry Cantrell and original lead vocalist Layne Staley. The initial lineup was rounded out by drummer Sean Kinney, and bassist Mike Starr...
reunion concert in 2005, freelancer Travis Hay saw him as "a natural fit at replacing Layne Staley
Layne Staley
Layne Thomas Staley was an American musician who served as the lead singer and co-lyricist of the rock group Alice in Chains, which was formed in Seattle, Washington in 1987 by Staley and guitarist Jerry Cantrell. Alice in Chains rose to international fame as part of the grunge movement of the...
". Regarding his role in A Perfect Circle and Tool, The New York Times wrote that "both groups rely on Mr. Keenan's ability to dignify emotions like lust, anger and disgust, the honey in his voice adding a touch of profundity".
According to Guitar Player magazine, Adam Jones does not rely on any one particular guitar-playing technique but rather combines many techniques. For example, Allmusic wrote that he "alternately utiliz[es] power chords, scratchy noise, chiming arpeggios, and a quiet minimalism" in "Sober". Additionally, the band uses forms of instrumental experimentation, like the use of a "pipe bomb microphone" (a guitar pickup mounted inside a brass cylinder) and a talk box
Talk box
A talk box is an effects unit that allows a musician to modify the sound of a musical instrument. The musician controls the modification by lip syncing, or by changing the shape of the mouth...
guitar solo on "Jambi".
The band puts an emphasis on the sound of their songs and attempts to reduce the effect lyrics can have on the perception of songs by not releasing song lyrics with any album. Lyrical arrangements are often given special attention, such as in "Lateralus". The number of syllables per line in the lyrics to "Lateralus" correspond to an arrangement of the Fibonacci number
Fibonacci number
In mathematics, the Fibonacci numbers are the numbers in the following integer sequence:0,\;1,\;1,\;2,\;3,\;5,\;8,\;13,\;21,\;34,\;55,\;89,\;144,\; \ldots\; ....
s and the song "Jambi" uses and makes a reference to the common metrical foot iamb. The lyrics on Ænima and Lateralus focused on philosophy and spirituality—specific subjects range from organized religion in "Opiate", to evolution
Evolution
Evolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth...
and Jungian psychology in "Forty-Six & 2" and transcendence
Transcendence (philosophy)
In philosophy, the adjective transcendental and the noun transcendence convey the basic ground concept from the word's literal meaning , of climbing or going beyond, albeit with varying connotations in its different historical and cultural stages...
in "Lateralus
Lateralus (song)
"Lateralus" is a song by American rock band Tool. The song is the third single and title track of their third studio album Lateralus.-Overview and background:...
". On 10,000 Days, Keenan wanted to explore issues more personal to him: the album name and title track refer to the twenty-seven years during which his mother suffered from complications of a stroke until her death in 2003.
Influences
The band has named Melvins amongst others that have influenced their development, but the most-publicized influence are progressive rock pioneers King CrimsonKing Crimson
King Crimson are a rock band founded in London, England in 1969. Often categorised as a foundational progressive rock group, the band have incorporated diverse influences and instrumentation during their history...
. Longtime King Crimson member Robert Fripp
Robert Fripp
Robert Fripp is an English guitarist, composer and record producer. He was ranked 42nd on Rolling Stone magazine's 2003 list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" and #47 on Gibson.com’s "Top 50 Guitarists of All Time". Among rock guitarists, Fripp is a master of crosspicking, a technique...
has downplayed any influence his band had on Tool. In an interview with Tool, he touched briefly on how the two bands relate to each other, stating "Do you hear the influence? There's just one figure where I hear an influence, just one. It was a piece we were developing that we dropped. And it's almost exactly the same figure: three note arpeggio with a particular accent from the guitar. So I do not think you could have heard it. That's the only thing." He also revealed, "I happen to be a Tool fan. The members of Tool have been generous enough to suggest that Crimson has been an influence on them. Adam Jones asked me if I could detect it in their music, and I said I couldn’t. I can detect more Tool influence in King Crimson, than I can hear King Crimson in Tool."
In turn, Maloof and Newquists attribute to Tool an influence on modern metal in its own right in their book The New Metal Masters. Sean Richardson of The Boston Phoenix
The Phoenix (newspaper)
The Phoenix is the name of several alternative weekly newspapers published in the United States by Phoenix Media/Communications Group of Boston, Massachusetts including the Boston Phoenix, the Providence Phoenix, the Portland Phoenix and the now-defunct Worcester Phoenix...
sees System of a Down
System of a Down
System of a Down, also known by the acronym SOAD and often shortened to System, is a rock band from Southern California. The band was formed in 1994. It consists of Serj Tankian , Daron Malakian , Shavo Odadjian and John Dolmayan...
, Deftones
Deftones
Deftones are an American alternative metal band from Sacramento, California, founded in 1988. The band consists of Chino Moreno , Stephen Carpenter , Chi Cheng , Frank Delgado , and Abe Cunningham . Currently Sergio Vega is standing in on bass while Cheng recovers from a car accident...
, and Korn
Korn
Korn is an American nu metal band from Bakersfield, California, formed in 1993. The current band line up includes four members: Jonathan Davis, James "Munky" Shaffer, Reginald "Fieldy" Arvizu, and Ray Luzier. The band was formed as an expansion of L.A.P.D.The band released their first demo album,...
as examples of Tool's "towering influence" on the genre. Moreover, Keenan's unique style of singing has been repeatedly seen as influencing artists such as Pete Loeffler
Pete Loeffler
Pete Loeffler is the lead guitarist and lead singer for the Chicago alternative metal band Chevelle. His vocal delivery varies from clean melodic singing to a gut-wrenching scream....
of Chevelle
Chevelle
Chevelle is an American alternative metal trio that formed in 1995 in Grayslake, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. The band was originally composed of two brothers and a local friend: Pete Loeffler , Sam Loeffler , and Matt Scott . Matt was later replaced by brother Joe Loeffler...
and Will Martin of Earshot
Earshot
Earshot is a hard rock/alternative metal band from Los Angeles, California. The band has released three albums: Letting Go, Two, and most recently, The Silver Lining on August 26, 2008.-Formation and Letting Go:...
.
Visual arts
Part of Tool's work as a band is to incorporate influences of other works of art in their music videos, live shows, and album packaging. In particular, Adam Jones doubles as the band's art director and director of their music videos. Another expression of this is an official website "dedicated to the arts and influences" on the band.Music videos
Hush (Tool song)
"Hush" is a song by Tool from their 1992 EP Opiate. The song was first recorded on a self-titled demo tape variously known as Toolshed and 72826, recorded in mid-1991...
" and "Vicarious", all of Tool's music videos feature stop motion animation
Stop motion
Stop motion is an animation technique to make a physically manipulated object appear to move on its own. The object is moved in small increments between individually photographed frames, creating the illusion of movement when the series of frames is played as a continuous sequence...
to some extent. The videos are created primarily by Adam Jones, often in collaboration with artists such as Chet Zar
Chet Zar
Chet Zar is an American artist notable for his dark visual art, make-up effects, and digital animation. He is most widely known for his work with Tool's music and live videos. He is the stepson of American fantasy artist James Zar.-Life:Zar was born in San Pedro, California...
, Alex Grey
Alex Grey
Alex Grey is an American artist specializing in spiritual and psychedelic art that is sometimes associated with the New Age movement. Grey is a Vajrayana practitioner. His body of work spans a variety of forms including performance art, process art, installation art, sculpture, visionary art, and...
, and Osseus Labyrint
Osseus Labyrint
Osseus Labyrint is an experimental arts entity which has been working in multiple disciplines and forms of media since 1989.The group describes its work as "a manifestation of accumulated data from billions of years of evolving and recombining of matter and energy." Founded and directed by Hannah...
.
The "Sober" music video in particular attracted much attention. Jones explained that it doesn't contain a storyline, but that his intentions were to summon personal emotions with its imagery. Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
described this imagery by stating that, in the video, "evil little men dwell in a dark dungeon with meat coursing through pipes in the wall" and called it a "groundbreaking", "epic" clip. Billboard voted it "Best Video By A New Artist".
The video for "Vicarious
Vicarious (song)
"Vicarious" is a song by American rock band Tool. The song is the first single released from their fourth full-length studio album 10,000 Days. Debuting on April 17, 2006 on commercial radio, the seven-minute song entered the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart at #2...
" was released on DVD on December 18, 2007. The video is also notable because it is the first Tool video to be produced entirely through the use of CGI
Computer-generated imagery
Computer-generated imagery is the application of the field of computer graphics or, more specifically, 3D computer graphics to special effects in art, video games, films, television programs, commercials, simulators and simulation generally, and printed media...
.
Album artwork
Adam Jones is responsible for most of the band's artwork concepts. Their first album, UndertowUndertow (Tool album)
"Disgustipated" is track 69 on most pressings in North America . It also appears as track 39, track 10 or as a hidden track following "Flood" on track 9...
, featured a ribcage sculpture by Jones on its cover and photos contributed by the band members. Later albums included artwork by collaborating artists: Ænima
Ænima
Ænima is the second studio album by American rock band Tool. The album was released on September 17, 1996 in vinyl format and on October 1, 1996 in Compact Disc format. The album was recorded and cut at Ocean Way, Hollywood, California and The Hook, North Hollywood, California from 1995 to 1996...
and Salival
Salival
Salival is a limited edition box set in CD/VHS and CD/DVD formats released in 2000 by American rock band Tool. It includes a 56-page book of photos and stills from their music videos. As the box set has now been out of print for some time, it can only be found secondhand, usually at a price...
featured works by Cam de Leon
Cam de Leon
Cam de Leon is an American artist who specialises in surreal darkly fantastic imagery. He created some of the band Tool's early artwork, as well as working as a digital illustrator, doing concept and visual development and character design for the feature animation industry...
; Lateralus
Lateralus
Lateralus is the third studio album by American rock band Tool. The album was released on May 15, 2001, and debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart. On August 5, 2003, Lateralus was certified double platinum by the RIAA. On August 30, 2004 the album was certified Silver by the BPI for...
and 10,000 Days
10,000 Days
10,000 Days is the Grammy Award-winning fourth studio album by American rock band Tool. The album was released on April 28, 2006 in parts of Europe, April 29 in Australia, May 1 in the United Kingdom, and May 2 in North America...
were created with the help of Alex Grey
Alex Grey
Alex Grey is an American artist specializing in spiritual and psychedelic art that is sometimes associated with the New Age movement. Grey is a Vajrayana practitioner. His body of work spans a variety of forms including performance art, process art, installation art, sculpture, visionary art, and...
. The releases garnered positive critical reception, with a music journalist of the Associated Press
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
attributing to the band a reputation for innovative album packaging.
Both Ænima and 10,000 Days were nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Recording Package
Grammy Award for Best Recording Package
The Grammy Award for Best Recording Package is one of a series of Grammy Awards presented for the visual look of an album. It is presented to the art director of the winning album, not to the performer, except if the performer is also the art director....
, but while the former failed to win in 1997, the latter did win in 2007. As art director, Adam Jones created packaging for 10,000 Days that features a pair of stereoscopic lenses for viewing 3-D artwork and photos. Jones has been a lifelong fan of stereoscopic photography and expressed a desire for the packaging to be unique and to reflect the '70s artwork he appreciates.
Live shows
Lollapalooza
Lollapalooza is an annual music festival featuring popular alternative rock, heavy metal, punk rock and hip hop bands, dance and comedy performances, and craft booths. It has also provided a platform for non-profit and political groups. The music festival hosts more than 160,000 people over a...
(1997 and 2009), Coachella
Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival
The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival is a three-day annual music and arts festival, organized by Goldenvoice and held at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, in the Inland Empire's Coachella Valley...
(1999 and 2006), Download Festival
Download Festival
The Download Festival is a three day rock music festival held annually at Donington Park, England . It usually takes place in June...
(2006), Roskilde
Roskilde Festival
Roskilde Festival is a festival held south of Roskilde in Denmark and is one of the six biggest annual music festivals in Europe . It was created in 1971 by two high school students, Mogens Sandfær and Jesper Switzer Møller, and promoter Carl Fischer...
(2001 and 2006), Big Day Out
Big Day Out
The Big Day Out is an annual music festival held in several cities in Australia and New Zealand in late January. It started in Sydney in 1992, spread to Adelaide, Melbourne and Perth by 1993, with the Gold Coast and Auckland joining in 1994...
(2007 and 2011), Bonnaroo (2007), All Points West Music & Arts Festival
All Points West Music & Arts Festival
The All Points West Music & Arts Festival was an annual music and arts festival held at Liberty State Park in Jersey City, New Jersey. First held in August 2008, it is hosted by Goldenvoice/AEG Live events, the same company that hosts the similar annual Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival...
(2009), and Epicenter
Epicenter (music festival)
Epicenter is an annual music festival in Southern California presented by Right Arm Entertainment and features acts on multiple stages.-External links:** at MySpace* at Twitter*...
(2009). They have been joined on stage by numerous artists such as Buzz Osborne
Buzz Osborne
Roger "Buzz" Osborne , also known as King Buzzo, is the guitarist/vocalist/songwriter and technically the only remaining founding member of the Melvins...
and Scott Reeder on several occasions; Tom Morello
Tom Morello
Thomas Baptiste "Tom" Morello is a Grammy Award-winning American guitarist best known for his tenure with the bands Rage Against the Machine, Audioslave, his acoustic solo act The Nightwatchman, and his newest group, Street Sweeper Social Club...
and Zack de la Rocha
Zack de la Rocha
Zacarías Manuel "Zack" de la Rocha is an American rapper, musician, poet, and activist best known as the vocalist and lyricist of Rage Against the Machine.-Early life and childhood:...
during their 1991 tour; Tricky
Tricky
Tricky is an English musician and actor. As a producer and a musician, he is noted for a dark, rich and layered sound and a whispering sprechgesang lyrical style. Culturally, Tricky encourages an intertwining of societies, particularly in his musical fusion of rock and hip hop, high art and pop...
, Robert Fripp
Robert Fripp
Robert Fripp is an English guitarist, composer and record producer. He was ranked 42nd on Rolling Stone magazine's 2003 list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" and #47 on Gibson.com’s "Top 50 Guitarists of All Time". Among rock guitarists, Fripp is a master of crosspicking, a technique...
, Mike Patton
Mike Patton
Michael Allan "Mike" Patton is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer, and actor, best known as the lead singer of the metal/experimental rock band Faith No More. He has also sung for Mr...
, Dave Lombardo
Dave Lombardo
Dave Lombardo is a Cuban American heavy metal drummer best known for his work with American thrash metal band Slayer. He has performed with Slayer on seven albums, including their groundbreaking 1986 release Reign In Blood and their 2006 release Christ Illusion, for which he received critical praise...
, Brann Dailor
Brann Dailor
Brann Dailor is a drummer, best known as a member of Mastodon, a progressive metal band based in Atlanta, Georgia. Dailor was also a founding member of mathcore band Lethargy, and played with grindcore bands Discordance Axis and Today is the Day.-Personal life:Dailor was born into a musical family...
of Mastodon
Mastodon (band)
Mastodon is an American heavy metal band from Atlanta, Georgia, formed in 1999. The band is composed of bassist/vocalist Troy Sanders, guitarist/vocalist Brent Hinds, guitarist Bill Kelliher and drummer/vocalist Brann Dailor...
, and experimental arts duo Osseus Labyrint
Osseus Labyrint
Osseus Labyrint is an experimental arts entity which has been working in multiple disciplines and forms of media since 1989.The group describes its work as "a manifestation of accumulated data from billions of years of evolving and recombining of matter and energy." Founded and directed by Hannah...
during their 2001–02 Lateralus tour; and Kirk Hammett
Kirk Hammett
Kirk Lee Hammett is the lead guitarist and a songwriter in the heavy metal band Metallica and has been a member of the band since 1983. Before joining Metallica he formed and named the band Exodus. In 2003, Hammett was ranked 11th on Rolling Stones list of The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time...
, Phil Campbell
Phil Campbell (musician)
Philip Anthony Campbell has been the lead guitarist of the British heavy metal band Motörhead since 1984. He is also the former guitarist of Persian Risk.-Early life and career:...
, Serj Tankian
Serj Tankian
Serj Tankian is a Lebanese-born Armenian-American singer–songwriter, composer, multi-instrumentalist, playwright, record producer, poet, and political activist...
, and Tom Morello during their 2006–07 tour. They have covered songs by Led Zeppelin, Ted Nugent
Ted Nugent
Theodore Anthony "Ted" Nugent is an American guitarist, musician, singer, author, reserve police officer, and activist. From Detroit, Michigan, he originally gained fame as the lead guitarist of The Amboy Dukes, before embarking on a lengthy solo career...
, Peach
Peach (band)
Peach was a band from England that originally recorded between 1991 and 1994. They played metal music of a progressive style. The original line-up consisted of Simon Oakes, Rob Havis, Ben Durling and Justin Chancellor...
, Kyuss
Kyuss
Kyuss is a rock band, originally from Palm Desert, California. After forming in the late 1980s and releasing an EP under the name Sons of Kyuss in 1990, the band shortened its name to Kyuss. Over the next five years the band released four full-length albums, and one last split EP in 1997 with...
, and the Ramones
Ramones
The Ramones were an American rock band that formed in the New York City neighborhood of Forest Hills, Queens, in 1974. They are often cited as the first punk rock group...
.
Live shows on Tool's headline tour incorporate an unorthodox stage setting and video display. Singer Maynard James Keenan lines up in the back with himself and drummer Danny Carey on elevated platforms, while guitarist Adam Jones and bassist Justin Chancellor stand in the front toward the side edges of the stage. Keenan, despite being the vocalist, often faces the backdrop or the sides of the stage rather than the audience. No followspot
Followspot
A followspot, sometimes known as a spot light, is a powerful stage lighting instrument which projects a bright beam of light onto a performance space. Followspots are controlled by a spotlight operator who follows actors around the stage...
s or live cameras are used; instead, the band employs extensive backlighting to direct the focus away from the band members and toward large screens in the back and the crowd. Breckinridge Haggerty, the band's live video director, says that the resulting dark spaces on stage "are mostly for Maynard". He explains, "[a] lot of the songs are a personal journey for him and he has a hard time with the glare of the lights when he’s trying to reproduce these emotions for the audience. He needs a bit of personal space, and he feels more comfortable in the shadows."
The big screens are used to play back "looped clips that aren’t tracked to a song like a music video. The band has never used any sort of timecode. They’ve always made sure the video can change on-the-fly, in a way that can be improvised. ... The show is never the same twice." As of 2010, Andres Abrego is their new live video director. During the 10,000 Days tour, the video material consisted of over six hours of material, created by Adam Jones, his wife Camella Grace, Chet Zar
Chet Zar
Chet Zar is an American artist notable for his dark visual art, make-up effects, and digital animation. He is most widely known for his work with Tool's music and live videos. He is the stepson of American fantasy artist James Zar.-Life:Zar was born in San Pedro, California...
, Meats Meier and Breckinridge Haggerty. Some of the material created by Chet Zar has been released on his DVD Disturb the Normal.
Band members
Current members- Danny CareyDanny CareyDaniel Edwin "Danny" Carey is an American drummer best known for his work in American Grammy Award-winning rock band Tool...
– drums, percussion (1990–present) - Adam JonesAdam Jones (musician)Adam Thomas Jones is a three time Grammy Award-winning Welsh-American musician and visual artist, best known for his position as the guitarist for Grammy-Award winning band Tool. Jones has been rated the 75th Greatest Guitarist of all time by the Rolling Stone and placed 9th in Guitar World's Top...
– guitar (1990–present) - Maynard James KeenanMaynard James KeenanMaynard James Keenan is an American rock singer, songwriter, musician, record producer, winemaker, and actor. Originally from Ohio, Keenan spent his high school and college years in Michigan. After serving in the Army in the early 1980s, he attended Kendall College of Art and Design in Grand Rapids...
– lead vocals (1990–present) - Justin ChancellorJustin ChancellorJustin Gunnar Walter Chancellor is an English musician formerly in the band Peach but best known as the bass player for Grammy Award-winning rock band Tool. Chancellor is of Norwegian and English descent...
– bass (1995–present)
Former members
- Paul D'AmourPaul d'AmourPaul D'Amour was the original bass guitarist for Tool. His bass sound was recognized by the aggressive picked tone he developed with his Chris Squire Signature Rickenbacker 4001CS, which can clearly be heard on Tool's first full length album, Undertow.Originally a guitar player, D'Amour became...
– bass (1990–1995)
Discography
Studio albums- UndertowUndertow (Tool album)"Disgustipated" is track 69 on most pressings in North America . It also appears as track 39, track 10 or as a hidden track following "Flood" on track 9...
(1993) - ÆnimaÆnimaÆnima is the second studio album by American rock band Tool. The album was released on September 17, 1996 in vinyl format and on October 1, 1996 in Compact Disc format. The album was recorded and cut at Ocean Way, Hollywood, California and The Hook, North Hollywood, California from 1995 to 1996...
(1996) - LateralusLateralusLateralus is the third studio album by American rock band Tool. The album was released on May 15, 2001, and debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart. On August 5, 2003, Lateralus was certified double platinum by the RIAA. On August 30, 2004 the album was certified Silver by the BPI for...
(2001) - 10,000 Days10,000 Days10,000 Days is the Grammy Award-winning fourth studio album by American rock band Tool. The album was released on April 28, 2006 in parts of Europe, April 29 in Australia, May 1 in the United Kingdom, and May 2 in North America...
(2006)
Grammy awards and nominations
|-|rowspan="3"| || "Ænema
Ænema
"Ænema" is a Grammy Award-winning song by rock band Tool, released as the third single from their second album Ænima. Adam Jones made a video for the song using stop-motion animation that appears on Salival. The song reached number twenty-five on the U.S...
" || Best Metal Performance ||
|-
| Ænima
Ænima
Ænima is the second studio album by American rock band Tool. The album was released on September 17, 1996 in vinyl format and on October 1, 1996 in Compact Disc format. The album was recorded and cut at Ocean Way, Hollywood, California and The Hook, North Hollywood, California from 1995 to 1996...
|| Best Recording Package ||
|-
| "Stinkfist
Stinkfist
"Stinkfist" is a song by American rock band Tool. It is released as the first single and first music video from their second album Ænima. Due to its name and perceived subject, the song had its lyrics altered and its title changed by TV and radio programmers, who also shortened the track...
" || Best Music Video, Short Form ||
|-
| || "Schism
Schism (song)
"Schism" is a song by American rock band Tool. It was the first single and music video from their third full-length album, Lateralus. In 2002, Tool won the Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance for the song....
" || Best Metal Performance ||
|-
|rowspan="2"| || 10,000 Days
10,000 Days
10,000 Days is the Grammy Award-winning fourth studio album by American rock band Tool. The album was released on April 28, 2006 in parts of Europe, April 29 in Australia, May 1 in the United Kingdom, and May 2 in North America...
|| Best Recording Package ||
|-
| "Vicarious" ||rowspan="2"| Best Hard Rock Performance ||
|-
| || "The Pot
The Pot
"The Pot" is a song by American rock band Tool, released as the second single from their fourth album 10,000 Days. The song was their first #1 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. In 2008, the song received a Grammy nomination for Best Hard Rock Performance. According to The Rock Radio, a...
" ||