In a 2022 Joe Rogan Experience interview, Tool frontman Maynard James Keenan admitted he’s not on the radar of users of social media. During the chat, Keenan also suggested that when social media use shifts from being a marketing tool to a desperate act for relevance, it’s important to focus on the music you’re creating instead:
“You can’t because, you’ll start being desperate and getting plastic surgery, and looking like a f*cking alien and trying to insert yourself into some stupid f*cking thing. I’m not talking about anybody. I’m not talking about my peers… It turns to desperation very quickly. It reeks. So just maintain your art, dude.”
Keenan hasn’t been happy with the excessive use of social media. Rather than talking about it in interviews constantly, the rocker recently released a song with ‘Puscifer’ called ‘The Algorithm.’
Phone Use ‘Ruins’ Concerts
Similar to the social media use, the frontman said in many other interviews that he doesn’t like phones at concerts either. He thinks it’s rude and distracts both the audience and the band.
This also applies to their own shows. Tool doesn’t allow phones during their shows, except for the last song so fans can have a ‘souvenir.’
The rocker said earlier about the no-phone rule:
“There’s no way you can actually capture what’s happening in that live moment on a phone. You’re missing the opportunity of actually absorbing in real time what’s happening. The art of storytelling. Being able to actually recount what you saw without having to record it. Training your brain to live in the moment and see the thing, but more importantly, stop annoying the person behind you. It’s annoying, it’s distracting and it’s distracting for us, too. So put it the f*ck away, grow the f*ck up. It’s only two hours.”
You can hear the band’s new song about the topic down below.