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About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 14, 2001)
Feature _____________ L tool îïiakg a mm in tik hktorii O ì ROOT TI he CI ac I ìamas P rìnt WEdNEsdAy, NovEMbER 14, 2001 In honor of their recent visit to the City of Roses, I have taken it upon myself to provide some of the less fortunate people who know little of the band with useful information. 1 have taken this information from both their official Web site (www.toolband.com) and another Tool site, which the band itself recognizes as a credible source of information ( toolshed.down.net). The history of Tool ISAIAH CREEL Staff Writer Tool has continually pro duced high quality albums since theirl992 debut with Opiate. Their following has grown sub stantially with each subsequent release. Their sophomore release, Undertow, has achieved double platinum status, selling 2,000,000 copies as of May 14, 2001. In fact every Tool album has gone gold with the exception of their live album Salival. While remaining a prominent musical figure in the metal and hard rock scene, their music has been largely misinterpreted by the general population. The metaphors and symbolism used by the band have had mostly sexual undertones, and it has been speculated that members of the band have been molested sexually or are perhaps sexual predators. The truth is that while sexually oriented, their music is full of open-ended metaphors whose true meanings are highly debatable, and known only to vocalist and songwriter Maynard Keenan himself, who is on good terms with his father and visits him at least yearly. Tool’s music is not easily de fined. It would be easy to hear it on hard rock radio stations and classify it thusly, but to do so would mean the band is in the same boat as Metallica and AC/ DC. It would be more appropri ate to put them in the same cat egory as Led Zeppelin, whose members, especially guitarist Jimmy Page, have been associ ated with the occult and black magic. The music of both Led Zeppe lin and Tool has had an out standing effect on music in gen eral. Both groups appear to hold some fascination with the work ings of mysticism and thought. A cover of the Zeppelin classic No Quarter can be heard on Salival, and some of the drum beats and guitar riffs are reminis cent of Zeppelin. In 1990, Danny Carey (drums) and Paul D’Amour (bass) met Adam Jones (guitar) and Keenan. “I met Adam through Tom Mo rello of Rage (Against the Ma chine),” explained Carey in an interview appearing on one of the larger Tool related sites on the Net. "And I was living be side Maynard. I never auditioned for them (Keenan and Jones). I felt kinda sorry for them, because they would invite people over to play, and they wouldn’t show up, so I’d fill in.” Carey had played drums for bands such as Green Jelly, and was letting Keenan and Jones use his prac tice area. D' Amour had moved to Cali fornia to work in the film indus try, which was Jones' profession. Jones had already contributed his special effects talents to such films as "Terminator 2," "Jurassic Park" and "Predator 2". After they formed, they toured with Rollins Band, Rage Against The Machine and Fishbone and eventually took center stage at Lollapalooza in 1993, stealing the show and transforming the music scene in general. In September of 1995, D' Amour left the band due to “creative differ ences,” and has since been in a number of largely unsuccessful side projects. In early November however, the band took on Justin Chancellor, formerly of the band Peach, which had recently broken up. Justin’s unique bass style added a new ele ment, which is apparent on their later albums /Enima and Lateralus. Above: The Lateralus album, the long awaited new release from Tool, features twelve songs. Clockwise from top left:Maynard James Keenan, Adam Jones, Danny Carey, and Justin Chancellor. INFORMATION COMPILED BY ISAIAH CREEL Maynard James Keenan: vocals Bom to a Baptist family in Ravenna, Ohio, James Herbert Keenan was a Kiss fanatic at age 12. He attended Brown Jr. High followed by Ravenna High School through the 10* grade. His family relocated to Michigan, where he attended Mason County Central High School in Scottville, MI. By the time he entered the army in 1982, he had lived in Ohio, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas. He attended the United States Military Academy (“West Point”) prep school class of 1984, and he refers to West Point's honor code “I will not lie, cheat, or steal, or tolerate those who do,” in the song "Intolerance" from Undertow. He quit the military to study spatial design art, which led to a job using feng shui to remodel pet stores in L.A. He studied at the prestigious Kendall College of Art & Design in Michigan- Adam Jones: guitar Adam Jones is the mind behind the intense videos and electrifying guitar riffs that make Tool the band it is. Jones, originally from Illinois, played the violin from elementary school through his freshmen year of high school. In addition to playing in an orchestra, he played bass for Tom Morello’s high school band Electric Sheep. The two learned from one another, and never had traditional instruction in guitar theory. Jones received a music scholarship to go to college but attended Hollywood Makeup Academy instead. He learned “straight make-up,” thinking it would help him out, and then started sculpting and becoming involved in other special effects, such as the stop-motion effects seen on many of Tool’s music videos. After graduating, he went to work at Ric Lazzarini’s The Character Shop making creatures for such films as "Ghostbusters 2". After two years of character design, he settled down in a quiet band with his friend Maynard, ¿nd the rest is history. Danny Carey: drums Carey, arguably the finest drummer in history, had his first musical experience when his father took him into the music library at the University of Kansas where he heard The Planets by Gustov Holst. He started taking snare drum lessons at age 10, and got his first drum kit at 13. He received a scholarship in high school to go to the Conservatory of Music in Kansas City. He had offers to play •1 basketball at smaller colleges, but knew he wasn’t good enough to play major 4/ college or professional basketball. In 1986, he moved to L.A. and spent four years there before any major y changes took place in his life. He worked in a tape duplication house and as a session player for Green Jelly, Pygmy Love Circus and Carole King. He sat in on a few sessions with Jones and Keenan when their scheduled drummer didn’t show and ended up forming the Tool we all know and love. Above: The Toolwrench is a Justin Chancellor: bass older logo used by the band Last but certainly not least is Justin Chancellor. Justin, a native of England, met Left: The /Enima album cover Tool in New York, and kept in touch with its members; his band Peach contributed featured four interchangeable to their 1994 European tour. When Tool’s original bassist quit the band, the remain holographic covers, the rolling ing members immediately thought of Chancellor, Peach having broken up six months eye, the white flames, California previous. Justin felt very loyal to his Peach guitarist, with whom he had played falling into the Pacific Oceanfnot since age 14, and refused Tool’s offer. Eventually, however, he flew to the U.S. and pictured) and a man preforming auditioned for the band. He beat out some difficult competition and was accepted. a body contortion (notpictured). He has played on three of their five records.
