Tool (band)
| Tool | |
|---|---|
 |
|
 Tool live in Barcelona (2006) |
|
| General information | |
| Genre (s) | Progressive metal , alternative metal |
| founding | 1990 |
| Website | toolband.com |
| Founding members | |
| Maynard James Keenan | |
| Adam Jones | |
| Danny Carey | |
| Paul d'Amour (until 1995) | |
| Current occupation | |
singing |
Maynard James Keenan |
Electric guitar |
Adam Jones |
Drums |
Danny Carey |
Electric bass |
Justin Chancellor (since 1995) |
Tool is an American progressive metal or alternative metal band from Los Angeles . Members are singer Maynard James Keenan , guitarist Adam Jones , bassist Justin Chancellor and drummer Danny Carey . Paul d'Amour played bass on the EP Opiate and the first album Undertow .
history
Tool was founded in 1990 and performed with the band Rage Against the Machine , among others . However, she became known through the Lollapalooza tour in 1993. The music videos for "Stinkfist" or "Prison Sex" from the albums Ænima and Undertow as well as " Schism " and "Parabola" from the album Lateralus were broadcast on music channels such as MTV , but in some cases manipulated . The title of the song "Stinkfist" was found to be so offensive that the video ran under the name "Track # 1" on MTV. Nevertheless, the band received a Grammy in the “ Best Metal Performance ” category for the tracks “„nema” and “Schism” by vonnima and Lateralus, respectively .
The Early Years, Opiates and Undertow (1990-1995)
During the 1980s, the later members of Tool, guitarist and bassist Paul d'Amour , drummer Danny Carey , guitarist Adam Jones and singer Maynard James Keenan moved independently to Los Angeles . While d'Amour and Jones wanted to get into the film business, Carey became the drummer for Carole King , Pigmy Love Circus and Green Jellÿ .
In the late 1980s, Keenan formed his own band with d'Amour and Jones. When Carey, whom Jones met through an old friend, became Keenan's neighbor in 1990, he also joined the band that was now called Tool. The following year Tool went on their first tour with Rollins Band , Skitzo , Fishbone , and Rage Against the Machine .
In 1992 Tool were able to make a name for themselves at least in the non-commercial metal scene with their first commercial publication Opiate (EP) , whose name was derived from the well-known quote "Religion is the opium of the people " by Karl Marx . On this EP consisting of six songs , the hardest songs at the time were compiled in order to be able to market Tool as a metal band if possible, although some of the songs that were later released on Undertow were already played live. Singles were "Hush" and "Opiate", with Ken Andrews also filmed a video for "Hush" in which the band members were shown naked with their mouths taped shut as a protest against censorship. This is the only video so far in which members of the band can be seen, except for a few short blurred scenes on "Sober".
With Undertow followed in 1993, the first full album of the band. In the same year Tool was hired to perform on the second stage of Lollapalooza , but due to its increasing popularity with fans, it was temporarily moved to the main stage. This appearance ensured, among other things, to increase the level of awareness in the scene and help Undertow to gold status. It reached double platinum on May 14, 2001.
The first single was Sober , for which a video in stop-motion technology was produced in 1993. Directed by Fred Stuhr (known from Green Jellÿ ), Adam Jones contributed the model of a wooden box.
In May 1993 Tool was supposed to play in the Garden Pavilion in Hollywood. It was not until shortly before the performance that they learned that the place belongs to L. Ron Hubbard's Church of Scientology . In a later interview, Keenan said that for most of the show he bleated at the audience like a sheep.
For the video for the second single Prison Sex , which was produced under Adam Jones' direction in 1994, Tool received mostly negative reviews from the public because it was too disturbing for many. Even MTV took the video fairly quickly from the program. In 1995, however, it was nominated at MTV's Music Awards in the "Best Special Effects" category.
In September 1995, at the beginning of the recording of the second studio album, d'Amour left the band amicably due to musical differences and was replaced in November by the British Justin Chancellor, then bassist of Peach , after Keenan's high school friend Chris Floyd had canceled in October . In addition to Chancellor, u. a. Scott Reeder ( Kyuss , Unida), Frank Cavanagh ( filter ), Marco Fox (bridle) and E. Sheperd Stevenson (Pigmy Love Circus) were shortlisted. Chancellor met Tool in New York in 1991 because his brother, who ran a small label, got the band's demo and both became fans of the band. This contact helped Chancellor's band Peach in 1994 to sign up as opening act on Tools England tour. When Paul d'Amour left the band, Tool asked Chancellor, but were first rejected. After Peach had split up six months earlier, he wanted to start a new band with the Peach guitarist, but ultimately decided on the bassist position at Tool. His complex bass runs shaped the sound of Tool from then on.
Ænima , A Perfect Circle and Salival (1995–2001)
After Chancellor started as the new bass player, the recordings for Ænima , a portmanteau word made up of "Anima" (Latin for soul ) and "Enema" (English for enema ), were completed. With the single Stinkfist Tool caused a stir again. MTV played the video this time though, but changed the name to "Track # 1", many radio stations shortened the song or the lyrics changed, since the title and the text to be associated with Faust traffic allowed (Engl. Fisting). With the single Ænema , Tool won their first Grammy Award in 1998 for the best metal performance.
In 1997 there was a dispute between the band and their record label Volcano Records , which interrupted and disrupted work on the third album. During this phase, Keenan founded the side project A Perfect Circle with Billy Howerdel, who was responsible for guitar technology for a long time .
At this point rumors arose that the band would split up in the near future, but they ended in 2000 with the release of the Salival box set . In addition to cover versions of Led Zeppelin's “No Quarter” and Peach's “You Lied”, the new song “Merkaba”, this box set contains older live recordings as well as an alternative version of “Pushit” that is now very popular with fans. Also part of the box was either a VHS cassette or a DVD with all the videos published by Tool so far, although the video for “Hush” is only included on the DVD version.
Lateralus (2001-2006)
In January 2001 Tool announced an alleged album called Systema Encéphale , the titles of which have esoteric and occult names such as "Numbereft", "Encephatalis", "Musick" and "Celiacus". Within a very short time, the numerous file sharing offers were inundated with files with these names. At this time, the band members began to express themselves critically about the illegal distribution of MP3 files on the Internet, especially via file sharing programs such as Napster , since it is especially important for the even more insignificant artists to make money through CD sales .
Just a month later, Tool announced that the new album would be called Lateralus and that Systema Encéphale and its track list were just a fake in order to deceive the public and especially the Internet with its illegal possibilities. The songs on this album were almost all over six and a half minutes long, apart from the interludes , the video for “Parabol / Parabola” even lasted over ten minutes.
The album was a success and rose to number 1 in the Billboard Top 200 album charts in the first week . For the single Schism they got their second Grammy in 2002 for best metal performance.
After an extensive world tour in 2001/2002, including a small tour of 10 appearances with King Crimson , the final concert took place on November 24, 2002 in the Long Beach Arena in LA. In the following time, Keenan was busy again with his side project A Perfect Circle.
Two DVDs were released on December 20, 2005, one containing the "Schism" video and the other containing the "Parabol / Parabola" video. There are also remixes of these two songs by Lustmord .
10,000 days (2006-2011)
After a lengthy hiatus during which Keenan toured with A Perfect Circle, Tool began productions for their new album 10,000 Days . Two weeks before it was published on April 28, 2006, an illegally published version appeared in various file-sharing networks. Despite this incident, the album sold 564,000 times in the first week and entered the top 10 charts in most of the world, in many countries even directly at number 1. The album was awarded the Best Recording Package at the 2007 Grammy Awards (Best packaging of a recording) excellent. The CD cover has been designed in a very artistic and extraordinary way by Alex Gray . a. a kind of “glasses” ( stereoscope ) is integrated into the cover , with which the images in the booklet can be viewed three-dimensionally.
On April 30, 2006, the band started their 10,000-day tour, performing at concerts and festivals in the United States, Great Britain and other European countries. Tool also played in New Zealand , Australia and Japan in early 2007 , and will continue touring North America and Europe through the end of the year. In 2009 and 2010 the band played a few concerts in the USA and 2011 in Australia.
Fear Inoculum (since 2011)
Danny Carey and Justin Chancellor spoke briefly to the Australian radio station triple j in January 2011 about the work on a fifth Tool studio album, which could be released in 2011. In April 2012, Danny Carey stated in an interview with Vic Firth that the recording for this album had not yet started, which he confirmed in July 2013. In July 2014, drummer Danny Carey and guitarist Adam Jones announced to the press that a legal dispute with an insurance company that had been ongoing since 2007 was the reason for the delay in album production. They hope to have recorded “something tangible” by the end of the year.
From 2012 to 2017 Tool also played on smaller tours in North America and the Pacific (Australia, New Zealand, Japan). In 2018, the “Tour” Tool Music Clinic , limited to a few tickets , followed, where guitarist Adam Jones, bassist Justin Chancellor and drummer Danny Carey played, analyzed and entered into dialogue with fans in eight US cities. This also included excerpts from new, previously unreleased songs. In October 2018 it was announced that Tool would go on tour again from May 5, 2019 and will also play in Europe from June 2 to July 2.
Adam Jones released a one-minute sound snippet from the new album on May 2, 2019. On May 5th, Tool played the two previously unreleased songs Descending and Invincible in full length for the first time at their appearance at the Welcome to Rockville Festival in Jacksonville, Florida , the first concert of their 2019 tour . Three days later, on May 8, the band announced that their fifth studio album, entitled Fear Inoculum , would be released on August 30, 2019. All Tool albums have been available on music streaming platforms since August 2, 2019 , after which none was previously available via digital distribution channels.
The first single Fear Inoculum from the album of the same name was released on August 7, 2019. The album was nominated for a Grammy, the song 7empest brought them the third award in the category of best metal performance .
style
Musically, there are influences from bands like Meshuggah , King Crimson , Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd . Tool are characterized by complex, unfamiliar song structures and mostly inscrutable, often spiritually influenced lyrics. In addition to the mostly melancholy singing of Keenan, the frequent use of unusual rhythms and time signature changes is significant for the music . 4/4 bars are used comparatively rarely. Pieces in 5, 7, 9, 11 and 13 time signature dominate, but even the potentially even-numbered are still divided asymmetrically. For example, the time signature in the song “Schism” changes constantly. Over long distances, bars with five beats and seven beats alternate so that these parts could be formally notated in 12/8 time. But there are also passages with 6/8 bars.
In live shows, Maynard James Keenan almost always sings sideways or with his back to the audience and dances a kind of rhythmic expressive dance during longer passages without singing. A communication with the audience or an animation of the same rarely takes place.
The graphic work, mainly by Adam Jones and the stop-motion music videos he designed, as well as the visually sophisticated live performances are an important trademark of the band. Jones plays on three guitar amplifiers at the same time - a modified Marshall Vintage bass head with Marshall 4 × 12 guitar cabinet and two Diezel VH-4s (Jones only plays the third channel) with two Mesa / Boogie 4 × 12 vintage 30s each Guitar boxes. The electronic elements are never playback , but always produced by the band itself, for example by means of controllable pedal synthesizers and electronic percussion elements ( trigger pads ).
A controversial topic among fans is the classification of the band in a musical genre . However, some styles are mentioned particularly frequently in connection with Tool. These include u. a. Art rock , progressive rock , progressive metal and alternative metal . In an interview at the time, Keenan himself described his own style called "Thinking Man's Metal" (metal of the thinking man).
Side projects
During the long breaks between album recordings, the band members devote themselves to various other projects. Danny Carey plays drums at Pigmy Love Circus and Volto (the bands appear more or less regularly in smaller clubs in LA), Justin Chancellor was a member of the band Peach (version of the Peach song "You Lied" on the live album Salival ), Adam Jones was also touring guitarist for the Melvins , while Maynard James Keenan along with (ex-tool guitar technician) Billy Howerdel, Troy Van Leeuwen (second guitar), Josh Freese (drums) and Paz Lenchantin (bass, violin and Piano) founded the band A Perfect Circle . Keenan also has a solo project called Puscifer .
Origin of name
Although there has been much speculation about the ambiguous name of the band, the band itself has put forward two explanations. While one of the explanations uses the pseudo-philosophy "Lachrymology", the other explanation aims at a more direct interpretation of the name:
“Tool is exactly what it sounds like: It's a big dick. It's a wrench. It's also what it sounds like: It's a verb, it's a digging factor. It's an active process of searching, as in use us, we are a shovel, we are the match, we're the blotter of acid, 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. "
“Tool is exactly what it sounds like: it's a big dick. It's a wrench. It is a verb, an active process of searching, of digging, if we are used, we are the shovel, the match, the LSD blotter , your tool; use us as a catalyst in your process in search of whatever you may be looking for or whatever you want to achieve. "
Discography
Studio albums
| year | title |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 DE
|
 AT
|
 CH
|
 UK
|
 US
|
|||
| 1993 | Undertow | - | - | - |
UK-  |
US19 1  × 2
(64 weeks)US |
First published: April 6, 1993
|
| 1996 | Ænima |
DE75 (6 weeks) DE |
- |
CH79 1 (1 week) CH |
- |
US2 × 3
(110 weeks)US |
First published: September 17, 1996
|
| 2001 | Lateralus |
DE5 (15 weeks) DE |
AT9 (13 weeks) AT |
CH31 (10 weeks) CH |
UK16  (5 weeks)UK |
US1 × 2
(45 weeks)US |
First published: May 15, 2001
|
| 2006 | 10,000 days |
DE2 (13 weeks) DE |
AT1 (11 weeks) AT |
CH3 (13 weeks) CH |
UK4th (5 weeks)UK |
US1 (64 weeks)US |
First published: May 2, 2006
|
| 2019 | Fear inoculum |
DE2 (12 weeks) DE |
AT3 (5 weeks) AT |
CH2 (7 weeks) CH |
UK4 (2 weeks) UK |
US1 (16 weeks)US |
First published: August 30, 2019
|
Compilations
| year | title |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
DE
|
AT
|
CH
|
UK
|
US
|
|||
| 2000 | Salival | - | - | - | - |
US38 (11 weeks) US |
First published: December 12, 2000
|
Video albums
| year | title | Remarks |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Salival | First published: December 12, 2000 |
| 2005 | Schism | First published: December 20, 2005; US:gold
|
| Parabola | First published: December 20, 2005; US:gold
|
|
| 2007 | Vicarious | First published: December 18, 2007; US:× 2Double platinum
|
EPs
| year | title |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
DE
|
AT
|
CH
|
UK
|
US
|
|||
| 1992 | opiate | - | - |
CH87 1 (1 week) CH |
- |
US59 1 (1 week)US |
First published: March 10, 1992
|
| year | title | Remarks |
|---|---|---|
| 1991 | 72826 | First published: December 21, 1991 |
Singles
| year | Title album |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
DE
|
AT
|
CH
|
UK
|
US
|
|||
| 1993 | Prison Sex Undertow |
- | - | - |
UK81 (1 week) UK |
- |
First published: April 1993
|
| 2001 |
Schism Lateralus |
- | - | - | - |
US67 (20 weeks) US |
First published: January 15, 2001
|
| 2006 | Vicarious 10,000 Days |
DE71 (3 weeks) DE |
- | - | - | - |
First published: April 17, 2006
|
| 2019 | Fear inoculum Fear inoculum |
- | - | - | - |
US93 (1 week) US |
First published: August 7, 2019
|
More singles
- 1991: Tool
- 1992: Hush
- 1992: opiates
- 1993: Sober
- 1996: Stinkfist
- 1996: H.
- 1997: Ænema
- 1997: Forty-Six & 2
- 2001: Parabola
- 2002: lateralus
- 2006: The Pot
- 2007: Jambi
Awards for music sales
|
|
Note: Awards in countries from the chart tables or chart boxes can be found in these.
| Country / Region |
silver |
gold |
platinum
|
Sales | swell |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Awards for music sales (country / region, awards, sales, sources) |
|||||
 Australia (ARIA)
|
- |
gold1
|
8 × platinum8th
|
567,500 | aria.com.au |
 Belgium (BEA)
|
- |
gold1
|
- | 25,000 | ultratop.be |
 Canada (MC)
|
- |
2 × gold2
|
5 × platinum5
|
510,000 | musiccanada.com |
 New Zealand (RMNZ)
|
- |
gold1
|
4 × platinum4th
|
67,500 | nztop40.co.nz |
 Poland (ZPAV)
|
- |
gold1
|
- | 10,000 | bestsellery.zpav.pl |
|
United States (RIAA)
|
- |
3 × gold3
|
11 × platinum11
|
9,800,000 | riaa.com |
|
United Kingdom (BPI)
|
silver1
|
2 × gold2
|
- | 260,000 | bpi.co.uk |
| All in all |
silver1
|
11 × gold11
|
28 × platinum28
|
||
swell
- ↑ grammy.com: Best Metal Performance . On: grammy.com on August 18, 2018
- ↑ grammy.com: 40th Annual GRAMMY Awards (1997) . On: grammy.com on August 18, 2018
- ↑ abc.net.au: New Tool album still a mystery . On: abc.net.au on January 28, 2011
- ^ "RobInjection": Tool planning to record new album this summer . On: metalinjection.net on March 22, 2012
- ↑ Graham Hartmann: Drummer Danny Carey says new Tool album to surface most likely in early 2014 . On: loudwire.com on July 15, 2013
- ↑ metal-hammer.de: millionaire lawsuit has prevented a new tool album for years . On: metal-hammer.de on October 3, 2014
- ↑ https://www.visions.de/news/28431/Tool-veroefflichen-neues-Songsnippet-in-Werbeclip
- ↑ https://loudwire.com/tool-2019-us-tour-dates/
- ↑ https://www.laut.de/News/Tool-Drei-Konzerte-in-Deutschland-23-10-2018-15249
- ↑ Tool: First soundsnippet from the new album - laut.de - News. Retrieved May 2, 2019 .
- ↑ Lucid Design Concepts: Tool. Retrieved May 6, 2019 (American English).
- ↑ Tool Setlist at Welcome to Rockville 2019. Retrieved May 6, 2019 .
- ↑ Tool on Instagram: “FEAR INOCULUM, Aug 30th, 2019 Album Art, Lead Track, and Pre-Order info TBA. Thank you for your patience. " Retrieved July 30, 2019 .
- ↑ metal-hammer.de: Tool announce release date for new album . On: visions.de on May 8, 2019, accessed on May 8, 2019
- ↑ Opiate, Undertow, Ænima, Lateralus and 10,000 Days available to stream / download now. August 2, 2019, accessed on August 2, 2019 .
- ↑ https://www.rollingstone.de/tool-erster-song-seit-dreizehn-jahren-erscheint-hoeren-sie-fear-inoculum-hier-1745417/
- ↑ a b David Hugendick: “Fear Inoculum”: Graf Zahl's favorite band . In: The time . August 29, 2019, ISSN 0044-2070 ( zeit.de [accessed August 29, 2019]).
- ↑ Analysis of “Schism” in “What makes this song great? Ep. 15 ", online on YouTube , accessed July 12, 2019
- ↑ toolshed.down.net: Tool Rules
- ↑ a b c d Chart sources: DE AT CH UK US
Web links
- Official website (English)
- Website of the band about their influences ( Memento of October 25, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
- Tool at Discogs (English)
- Tool at MusicBrainz (English)
- Tool at laut.de