Tool’s long-in-the-works new album has made our Most Anticipated Albums list three years running. With the band scheduled to headline Boston Calling and Governors Ball this summer, along with scattered updates skewing in a positive direction, it was beginning to feel more than ever like 2017 could finally be the year. But then Maynard James Keenan had to go and spark all too familiar doubt.
During a rare interview on CBC Radio’s The Strombo Show, Keenan suggested that progress on new material from some of his projects was getting held up. “For some things yes, I see a plan,” he said, “and others I just see roadblocks.”
To be fair, he chose not to specify which things were hitting said roadblocks out of “respect” to his many bandmates, so he could just as well be talking about A Perfect Circle or Puscifer. Still, APC announced they were back in the studio when they revealed their first US tour in six years, and there hasn’t been any word yet about a follow-up to Puscifer’s 2015 album, Money Shot. Coupled with Keenan’s contentious history with Tool, it’s reasonable to deduce which outfit he was referring to.
(Read: Tool in 10 Songs)
We do know the other Tool members have been working diligently on new material, however. Just last week, guitarist Adam Jones posted an Instagram photo announcing that the band had finished a new track, though they were still waiting on Keenan’s vocals. We’ve also heard plenty of new song snippets over the last few years, all of which have now been collected in a fan compilation video.
Posted by ToolArchive, the exhaustive clip showcases every bit of fresh material and news to come from Tool between February 2008 and January 29th, 2017. Presented in chronological order, the most recent snippets are tucked in at the end. Check it out below.
Elsewhere in the Strombo interview, Keenan echoed his recent comments about the dire state of American civilization. “Oh god, beyond, beyond that’s terrifying,” he said of Trump’s presidency. “I don’t know if I really wanna go into that, but I mean the bigotry and racism and the negativity, just everything about it. There’s a war coming, there’s a war coming. And it’s not going to be pretty.” Listen to the whole thing here.
