I'm fairly certain there is a large number of Tool fans on these boards, so I'm presenting this article for their enjoyment. It came from some British magazine.
"Tool are the final headline act to be announced for this years Download festival. The three day-event, which takes place at Donington Park on June 9,10,11 will see the enigmatic LA art-metallers closing the proceedings on the Friday evening on the Main stage. It will be the band's first UK appearance since 2002.
"Were really excited, " says bassist Justin Chancellor. "Its a huge honour for us to be asked to close Friday night at the horny mother of English rock festivals. I always imagined playing Donington as a kid, so I wont be taking this opportunity lightly. This is the kind of experience weve been patiently working towards - cant wait, see all you bastards there!"
Tool are gearing up to return with their first new collection of material since 2001's gargantuan 'Lateralus'. Kerrang! was granted an exclusive listening session to the just-completed, as yet-untitled fourth album, which is due out May, and can reveal that anyone expecting the shadowy Californian quartet to have gone soft with age willl be sorely disappointed. True to form, Tools upcoming opus is a 77-minute prog-metal odyssey, packed with plenty of eight minute-plus twisted riff-a-thons, odd-tempo polyrhythms and the bands trademark, eerie interludes. Its also arguably their heaviest, most punishing material since their 1993 breakthrough album 'undertow'.
The upcoming 11-track album has certainly been the bands most laborious and challenging record to complete, taking a mammoth five years to write (some of the material stems from pre-lateralus sessions), during which keenan recorded and toured with his other band A perfect Circle.
Tool also spent five months, in the company of QOTSA/Melvins engineer Joe Barresi, in three different LA studios over autumn 2005 recording it.
"Weve all been listening to a lot of Meshuggah" admits guitrist Adam Jones. "I see a lot fo them in us and us in them, and they really have a very experimental prog side to them. I dont think it was like, 'Okay right here were going to play like Meshuggah', but more, 'Oh my god thats come out a messhugah moment'."
"We have the most retarted president weve ever had, and were frustrated and thats the reason its a little heavier this time" reveals drummer Danny Carey. "that level of frustration back like when we first got hte band together: we were products of that fucking Reagan thing, we were pissed off and bummed-out, we had that angst, and now its coming forth again: like it or not were products of our environment. Were pissed off again"
No stranger to weaving social and political frustrations into his tortuously articulate lyrics, singer MJK who released the politically-motivated covers album, 'eMOTIVEe' with APC in 2004, has chosen another approach this time around.
"I think for me, and this is just personally, the last few years have really been crushing" Keenan confesses. "For me, as an artist, I needed to see on some level if speaking my mind would actually inspire people - you see the sky falling and you feel like youve got to say something. I think of prior tool albums 'AEnema' and 'Lateralus', lyrically, I had this idea of trying to share things and push some kind of higher purpose - enlightenment, this global consciousness thing - and everything thats going on nowadays has kind of left me a little disappointed, a little bummed.
"So I think on this album Ive talked more about my personal stuff, things that I needed to get off my chest," he adds. "Its a little cynical and its almost like coming from a sad place. Theres some hope in it, but its more back to rock and roll basics, just experessing some very big sadness thats from the gut."
"This is our blues record, were singing the blues!" Jokes Carey.
"The difference is before, we had that young spunk and we thought we could actually say something and help people realise these thigns, " continues Keenan. "But now, the anger is more of a frustrated anger, and me sitting back and going, 'Okay, im going to shut up now, Im going to stop ranting and trying to be chicken little telling you that the sky is falling, Im going to just let you guys get hit in the head'."
Tools as-yet-untitled album is due to hit shelves in May.
"Tool are the final headline act to be announced for this years Download festival. The three day-event, which takes place at Donington Park on June 9,10,11 will see the enigmatic LA art-metallers closing the proceedings on the Friday evening on the Main stage. It will be the band's first UK appearance since 2002.
"Were really excited, " says bassist Justin Chancellor. "Its a huge honour for us to be asked to close Friday night at the horny mother of English rock festivals. I always imagined playing Donington as a kid, so I wont be taking this opportunity lightly. This is the kind of experience weve been patiently working towards - cant wait, see all you bastards there!"
Tool are gearing up to return with their first new collection of material since 2001's gargantuan 'Lateralus'. Kerrang! was granted an exclusive listening session to the just-completed, as yet-untitled fourth album, which is due out May, and can reveal that anyone expecting the shadowy Californian quartet to have gone soft with age willl be sorely disappointed. True to form, Tools upcoming opus is a 77-minute prog-metal odyssey, packed with plenty of eight minute-plus twisted riff-a-thons, odd-tempo polyrhythms and the bands trademark, eerie interludes. Its also arguably their heaviest, most punishing material since their 1993 breakthrough album 'undertow'.
The upcoming 11-track album has certainly been the bands most laborious and challenging record to complete, taking a mammoth five years to write (some of the material stems from pre-lateralus sessions), during which keenan recorded and toured with his other band A perfect Circle.
Tool also spent five months, in the company of QOTSA/Melvins engineer Joe Barresi, in three different LA studios over autumn 2005 recording it.
"Weve all been listening to a lot of Meshuggah" admits guitrist Adam Jones. "I see a lot fo them in us and us in them, and they really have a very experimental prog side to them. I dont think it was like, 'Okay right here were going to play like Meshuggah', but more, 'Oh my god thats come out a messhugah moment'."
"We have the most retarted president weve ever had, and were frustrated and thats the reason its a little heavier this time" reveals drummer Danny Carey. "that level of frustration back like when we first got hte band together: we were products of that fucking Reagan thing, we were pissed off and bummed-out, we had that angst, and now its coming forth again: like it or not were products of our environment. Were pissed off again"
No stranger to weaving social and political frustrations into his tortuously articulate lyrics, singer MJK who released the politically-motivated covers album, 'eMOTIVEe' with APC in 2004, has chosen another approach this time around.
"I think for me, and this is just personally, the last few years have really been crushing" Keenan confesses. "For me, as an artist, I needed to see on some level if speaking my mind would actually inspire people - you see the sky falling and you feel like youve got to say something. I think of prior tool albums 'AEnema' and 'Lateralus', lyrically, I had this idea of trying to share things and push some kind of higher purpose - enlightenment, this global consciousness thing - and everything thats going on nowadays has kind of left me a little disappointed, a little bummed.
"So I think on this album Ive talked more about my personal stuff, things that I needed to get off my chest," he adds. "Its a little cynical and its almost like coming from a sad place. Theres some hope in it, but its more back to rock and roll basics, just experessing some very big sadness thats from the gut."
"This is our blues record, were singing the blues!" Jokes Carey.
"The difference is before, we had that young spunk and we thought we could actually say something and help people realise these thigns, " continues Keenan. "But now, the anger is more of a frustrated anger, and me sitting back and going, 'Okay, im going to shut up now, Im going to stop ranting and trying to be chicken little telling you that the sky is falling, Im going to just let you guys get hit in the head'."
Tools as-yet-untitled album is due to hit shelves in May.
