Original Tool bassist Paul D’Amour left the band in 1995, two years after their debut album ‘Undertow’ came out. He explained why he left in a recent chat with Guitar World.
D’Amour said Tool went into a ‘slump’ before their second album, ‘Ænima,’ and took too long to create new material:
“I just felt like that was never going to end, no matter how much we beat that into the ground and talked about this and that. I’d probably would have left that band 10 times by now because they still operate the same way. They make great music – but dude, you don’t need to spend 10 years to make an album, you know? They’re great riffs, but they’re not that complicated.”
He shared about the band’s songwriting process:
“And I think they’re all frustrated in that. I don’t know how those guys stick it out. So, I just felt frustrated, and as you know, in that band it was always like, ‘Okay, the bass player can only write the bass parts. A guitar player can only write the guitar parts.’ No one can comment on anything regarding the song except your part. But not to me – I don’t think that’s how creative things happen.”
Band Members Don’t Like The Long Waits, Either
Tool’s last full-length album, ‘Fear Inoculum,’ came 13 years after 2006’s ‘10,000 Days.’ Maynard James Keenan also shared frustration with the long wait between records in an April 2024 interview with Metal Hammer:
“Tool is a more complicated beast with a lot of egos and a lot of other things going on in our lives. But all the creativity’s there, the songs and the ideas can flow and the arguments ensue.”
The frontman continued:
“As soon as we get past the arguments, we can get shit done! [Laughs] I think we could do it more efficiently. And I think everyone’s on the same page that we have to get through that, because we can’t drag this out another 14 years.”
They’ll Start On New Material Soon
The band is currently on a UK/Europe tour set for May and June. They hope to hit the studio later in the year, according to the current bassist Justin Chancellor.
Chancellor told Heavy Consequence a few months ago:
“We have, as usual, loads of ideas, loads of stuff that didn’t get used — constantly writing new stuff. I write something, I immediately know it’s for Tool. It sounds the right way.”
He added:
“I’d say by June we’re going to be back home after Europe, and the second half of the year we’re going to get in and give it another go to try and put some of it together. We’re not going to be taking so much time over it if we’re going to do an album. We’re going to figure out how to do it a little bit quicker.”
Tool will be in Hannover, Germany, on May 25, 2024. The European tour will conclude in Norway on June 27.