TOOL bassist Justin Chancellor has offered an update on the band’s follow up to 2019’s “Fear Inoculum” album
TOOL fans, rejoice! Bassist Justin Chancellor just shed some light on the band’s next studio album, and it sounds like things are progressing. In a recent interview with Kerrang!, Chancellor described their current musical stockpile as “absolutely tons and tons of hard drives full of stuff.”
Chancellor also revealed they have “a couple of solid skeletons of songs” already fleshed out. This is exciting news considering TOOL‘s meticulous songwriting process, which often involves revisiting and refining ideas over extended periods.
He said: ““Some ideas go back to before [2019 album] “Fear Inoculum” that are just simple riffs that we never incorporated into a song. But sometimes that’s a bit like grinding the gears when you’re trying to resurrect or revisit them, so it’s really appealing to work on the newest stuff.
“Each time we come together, people also have so many new ideas and then we’ll spend all day playing them.
“We’re constantly introducing new stuff but then sometimes that’ll marry with the old material.
“We’ve been writing for the last couple of weeks, meeting a couple of times each week – we’ve had some really good sessions, and a lot of it has been brand new. We already have a couple of solid, what I would say are, skeletons of songs waiting to be finalized.”
Justin Chancellor also discussed how TOOL currently compose music: “It’s a real mixed bag.
“We’ve been doing this round robin thing of saying, ‘Danny [Carey, drums], give us a drum rhythm that you’ve been working on,’ and then we’ll work on that.
“Then Adam [Jones, guitar] will present one of his, and I’ll present one of mine. As soon as one idea gets exhausted, we’ll move onto the next.
“That gives a real different variation of sound or starting point.
“We’re doing what we can to try and give a fresh approach to the writing experience, and part of that is trying not to overdo it so we’re not banging our heads against the wall. It’s knowing when to take a breath.
“We’re all really excited about it but we’re just letting it come as it does. We’ll probably work a little bit in soundchecks and in the dressing room. It’s great.”
In a recent interview with Metal Hammer, Chancellor assured fans that they won’t have to endure another lengthy wait akin to the 13-year gap between 2006’s “10,000 Days” and 2019’s “Fear Inoculum” for new material from the band.
“Danny [Carey, TOOL drummer] is 62 now, so there’s no thought of taking 13 years if we’re gonna do it,” he explained. “We’re gonna have to be more efficient, and we’ve been talking of ways that we can do that. Maybe taking a leaf out of how me and Peter [Mohamed, Justin‘s bandmate in side project MTVOID] work with MTVOID — instead of staring at each other going ‘Come on! Get it out of ya!’ maybe we could do a bit more at home. We’ll see!”
Chancellor went on to say that TOOL has in fact begun working on new music. “We put a little work in before this tour,” he said. “We gave it a stab for a couple of months. We ended up compiling all the ideas we had; normally when we do that we start writing pretty soon after, but we had a lot of stuff coming up, so we didn’t dive all the way in. When we’re done with Europe, we’re gonna dive back in during the second half of the year.”
In a recent talk with Revolver, TOOL frontman Maynard James Keenan revealed his focus has shifted towards writing new music for all three of his bands – TOOL, A PERFECT CIRCLE and PUSCIFER.
Keenan, who recently turned 60, expressed his intention to reconvene with TOOL, A PERFECT CIRCLE, and PUSCIFER over the next year and a half to begin work on fresh material. This news will undoubtedly excite fans who have been eagerly awaiting new releases from each of these critically acclaimed groups.
“I’ve got three bands that need to write songs, so I’m going to be doing that,” said Keenan. “But I’m also expanding out in Arizona, opening up a fried chicken place in Cottonwood. When it comes to winemaking and growing our own grapes, we’re planting vineyards and strapping in for four or five years of waiting to see what’s going to happen there. That’s the one that takes the most planning and patience.
“But other than that, the path is kind of laid out for you. Like Les [Claypool of PRIMUS, also interviewed] said, he’s a bass player. I’m a singer, I’ve got to write songs. That’s what I do. So the next year and a half to me is writing songs I’ve got to write.”
Since their formation in 1990, TOOL has built a formidable discography, including five studio albums: “Undertow” (1993), “Ænima” (1996), “Lateralus” (2001), “10,000 Days” (2006), and “Fear Inoculum” (2019). They’ve also released two EPs: “72826” (1991) and “Opiate” (1992), along with the limited-edition boxset “Salival” (2000). The band’s stellar achievements have earned them four Grammy Awards, including “Best Metal Performance” for “Ænima” (1998) and “Schism” (2002), “Best Recording Package” for “10,000 Days” (2007), and “Best Metal Performance” for “7empest” (2020).
