From the release of their breakthrough EP 'Opiate' back in 1992, Tool quickly established themselves as one of the most revolutionary metal acts of their era, and fast forward 32 years, little has changed. While the band continue to push boundaries and capture fans' imagination with their intricate rhythms, immense technicality and otherworldly lyricism, recent years have seen their output become increasingly scarce, with listeners waiting 13 years for 'Fear Inoculum' – the follow-up to 2006's '10,000 Days'.
However, recent months have seen the band reassure us that the era of waiting over a decade for new material is behind them, and that they'll be heading to the studio after their upcoming tour dates to crank out album six.
“It's surreal, because I remember it coming out like it was yesterday,” bassist Justin Chancellor tells NME of 'Fear Inoculum' hitting its fifth anniversary. “That being said, we've had a really good run for it. We've been touring so extensively and it is really interesting playing the songs for a few years now.”
“I've noticed that when we go on a new leg of the tour, we feel like we're learning the songs a little better,” he adds. “It sounds weird, but when you record the songs you think you've worked them out… but you'll never fully understand the scope of them until you start playing them live. So it's been a real pleasure to take this time to be exploring them and taking them a bit further.”
Now, speaking to NME from his hotel room in Hanover, shortly before their UK and European tour commences, the bassist opens up about what fans can expect from the new material, as well as the member's current outlook, attitude towards those who fanaticize over their music, and whether they could consider embarking on some stripped-back intimate shows.
NME: Hi Justin, let's talk new material! You recently said you don't feel like waiting 13 years again to release a new album. Why did that process work for you in the past?
Justin Chancellor: “It was never an intention of ours to do it that way! As time went on it just took longer and longer, and I think that stems from the pressure of trying to excel and trying to outdo yourself. There's always a danger of looking back and comparing ourselves to what we've done before, so there's a certain amount of stuff we had to work through to get to the place where we could create something new and pure and of its own right. I think that's the reason that the process started to take longer and longer.
“The last time [working on ‘Fear Inoculum’], we were in and out of ideas a lot. We wrote a whole bunch of stuff, and then at one point we kind of threw it all away. We got a little frustrated a few times, and people needed to go off and do other things just to kind of get the breeze in their hair and get a fresh perspective. When you get stuck, sometimes you need to walk away.”
You seem to be taking a different approach this time. How can you feel it coming together faster than before?
“We're just getting old, so it's the pressure of time. Danny has just turned 63, so if we take 13 more years we'll be touring when we're over 70! Now there's more of a necessity to get something cooking a little faster if we want to keep going strong.
“We can always carry on touring, and it's always enjoyable playing the old stuff — especially for me because I'm the new guy in the line-up… even though it's been nearly 30 years now — but at this point we're all eager to create something new while we're on the planet. We want to keep producing more and really explore the creative side of ourselves. We are happy with what we've done so far, but we are also excited to see what else we could create that would be different from all of that.”
It's no secret that Tool fans are hungry for new music. Do you ever feel a sense of pressure to write new material for the listeners, or is the creative process always on your own terms?
“It definitely comes on our own terms. The only pressure comes when we announce that we're working on something new, because then we have to make our own predictions for when it'll come out, and obviously you feel like you let people down if you don't release it in a certain amount of time.
“It's a nice feeling that people still want new stuff, but also they've got to understand that it's not the easiest thing to do. It's not a simple thing and it's not always a natural thing that comes at the time you want it to come. Art is a very strange animal and it has its own schedule.
“When it comes to writing new music, we're aware that people don't manage to stay together for as long as we have, so the pure fact that we've made it this far makes us eager to take it to the next place and create something new. Whether we'll be able to successfully, who knows? We're pretty sure we can, but Tool's approach has always been experimental, so we never quite know how it'll come together.”
Danny Carey previously hinted that the new material could come in the form of an EP. Is this an idea that the band are still open to?
“Absolutely. Looking at how things are released and consumed by the public these days, it's more common to release even just a single. That'd be an interesting approach for us because we've always waited until we've created a whole body of work and made it polished and refined and perfect. So it'd be an exciting idea to go 'Well, every time we finish a song, we could just record that and release it'. That being said, the way that we like to do stuff is to present a whole package with the art and with a theme to it… so an EP would be a good compromise between an album and a single. To get a couple of really juicy tracks together and release them on a shorter version of an album.
“Another idea is to release singles one at a time, then once they're all once we've accumulated to the length of an album we'll put that together in a package and release it as an album. That way you could still have a physical vinyl and do all the artwork and all that stuff.
“I still think that by writing a whole album, you get really deep into the vibe of the piece and it turns into something further reaching and makes your work a little deeper. But for now, it's pretty flexible, which is exciting. As soon as we've got something ready to go, there's a choice of different outlets.”
Over the years fans have become renowned for taking a deep look into the structure and meaning of your songs. Is seeing this in-depth analysis of your work something that ever takes you by surprise?
“I'm used to it now, and to be fair I do think there is a lot of subject matter in there to explore. Maynard is pretty complex with his ideas about him, and it's the same with Adam and his artwork about him. Plus the music is complex in itself, so I think it's only natural that it kind of promotes that depth of thought from the people listening to it.
“It makes me happy to be honest, because it means that we've made something that's thought-provoking, and that's what really good art should be. It should be open-ended and it should encourage you to think by yourself. So, because of that, I really don't mind that kind of fanaticism and the depth that people go into. It's pretty cool to me.”
Now, 30 years since you joined the line-up, are the band looking to get something from new material that maybe wasn't there in the earlier days?
“I don't think we've ever had a specific plan in mind when it comes to what we want to hear from our music, but we definitely want to surprise ourselves.
“All I really want as a music writer is to create something that I've never heard before — and that can be challenging sometimes. It's way more possible when you're in a group of four people because you're bouncing ideas off each other. It's almost like an alchemy; when they fuse together, it leads to something original and something new. That's always been the most exciting part.”
Maynard James Keenan recently said that his favorite part of your surprise show was the lack of bells and whistles involved in the set. Have Tool ever been tempted to go back to basics and maybe do some stripped-back intimate gigs?
“Personally, I think that would be great. I don't know how feasible it is at the moment because we're riding this wave and it's hard to get off it. While so many people want to come and see us and be a part of the bigger shows, it's hard to not say yes to that.
“But to do a good club show would be amazing. I guess a few years ago, we did a theater run which was a bit more intimate and had a different vibe to usual. And we have talked about it — the idea of grouping up in the middle of the stage and just standing around, playing as if we were in a club — but we haven't quite made that leap yet. Maybe we'll wait until it winds down, then we'll start playing at the cigar bars, being stuck in our old ways!”
So we shouldn't get any hopes up for a one-off show at a venue like the Underworld then?
“Oh, it'd be amazing for Tool to play in The Underworld again! I saw Tool play there before I was in the band, so to play there with them… that would be a treat!
“Looking back at that gig, it's very surreal. But the first time I saw them was at CBGBs in New York. I saw them there with my brother and we watched them with The Rollins band. It was the grottiest gig, I was hanging off the pipes right above the little stage while Maynard was out there ripping it out. That's a pretty intense memory that's implanted in my brain.
“Obviously that was a long time ago, before it all got huge. But I'll work on it!”
Do you have any surprises lined up for the upcoming tour dates? Maybe plans to bring some songs out of retirement?
“There are surprises for sure. I'm looking at the setlists and we've mixed it up quite nicely, so I'm sure fans will be happy. There's some old and there's some new. Obviously, it's got a good chunk of 'Fear Inoculum' in there, but as I said earlier, those songs are really developing and getting more and more beautiful to me as we play them more often.
“They're mixed in with the old and the not-so-old and the medium-old! There are some real classics in there. You're going to love it.”
You can find tickets to all of Tool's upcoming tour dates here.
