Tool Frontman Says Social Media Has “Driven a Wedge in Between People”

Tool, A Perfect Circle and Puscifer frontman Maynard James Keenan hasn’t always been a fan of technology, infamously having fans thrown out of his bands’ concerts for using their cell phones. Now he’s set his sights on social media, saying that he’s not a fan of the echo chambers the various platforms create for people based on their interests and behavior.

Speaking to Metal Hammer about Puscifer’s latest album, Existential Reckoning, he explained of some of the record’s more serious subject matter:

“I feel like social media and the internet has really driven a wedge in between people. Just the whole concept of liking a thing, or not liking a thing, and then having whatever you see for the next several months be exactly what you wanna see and not what you don’t wanna see. It’s like staring into a mirror, very narcissistic, and it’s not very healthy. So that division gets wider and wider, the polarisation; every conversation online starts with an argument.”

Elsewhere in the chat, Maynard visits some familiar topics, including his life as a farmer and vintner in Arizona. You can read the full interview here.

Maynard recently revealed that he caught Covid-19 in the very early days of the pandemic, while on tour, although he didn’t know what it was at the time, and that he is still suffering from lingering symptoms, a so-called “long-hauler.”