Tool’s Adam Jones Says It’s Not Maynard’s Fault New Album Took So Long

Diehard Tool fans know that vocalist Maynard James Keenan is the least important member of the band when it comes to songwriting. The other three guys write the music and, as we all know, take their sweet time doing it. Then, when that’s all done, Maynard comes in to write and record his parts, and the everyone is all like “OMG MAYNARD!!!” like he’s the sultan of swat, the king of crash and the colossus of clout.

But casual Tool fans, which is most Tool fans, do not know this. Those folks always lay the blame on Maynard because he’s by far the most publicly visible figure and recognizable face in the band. And guitarist Adam Jones feels bad that Maynard always takes shit for Tool’s slow process when it’s not his fault at all.

Speaking to Revolver, Jones outlined the band’s mostly Maynard-less writing process:

“Everyone’s got their own thing going, so we kind of wait until everybody’s ready to start the process. And that can be on and off between other stuff. But I don’t know how different it is. It’s different but the same, same but different. We really do try to rediscover why we’re a band and why we started and that fire that’s burning inside us. We’re trying to rekindle or restart that. But it’s pretty much the same. We jam stuff to death and edit and use stuff we jammed a long time ago with stuff that’s new. At some point, Maynard comes in and starts laying lyrics down and we start recording.”

Later, he asked fans to be forgiving and to please not blame Maynard:

“I felt anxiety because they would blame our singer, and it’s not his fault. We all have our own things going on — lives, families, other projects, other interests — so it’s ready when it’s ready. But I appreciate the dedication from our fans — the very strong dedication. [Laughs] But the record turned out cool and it’s very different than our last record. I think that’s what we all wanted.”

Elsewhere in the interview Jones mentions that the band has some exciting video projects in the works, among other topics. Read the whole thing here.

Fear Inoculum comes out on August 30; listen to the title track below.