Tool released their first new album in 13 years Fear Inoculum this August. Throughout those 13 years, there were plenty of jokes about how the album would never come out interspersed with Tool saying they were working on it (and apparently death threats). Now in the latest episode of Kerrang!'s Inside Track Podcast, drummer Danny Carey said he only wishes Fear Inoculum actually took 13 years to write. Instead, Carey said he feels the band rushed the record.
Carey also gives some insight into Tool's writing process, saying they could really benefit from having a composer. Or at least someone who can arrange songs.
"I kinda wish I could say it did take 13 years to make. There's nothing wrong with that. We actually rushed it a bit.
"The thing is, the way we write is all jams and bits and pieces that get pieced together and sometimes things are written with intentions of being a song, and then all of a sudden the main riff of this song, six months later turns into a verse or a chorus of another song.
"We don't have anybody in our band that's like a composer so it's, like, we're all in there doing it together day by day, and I don't suggest this to any other band [laughs], but that's the way we do it, and that's the way we've always done it.
"It takes us long for a reason, but the end result is: we all completely believe in, not just every verse, every chorus, every bar is scrutinized, and that's the result of what you'll hear on this record.
"The way that we also work with Maynard [James Keenan, vocals], we don't give it to Maynard until we do that, like, this is me, Adam [Jones, guitar], and Justin [Chancellor, bass] we're talking about now, and then we send that to Maynard because Maynard, he has to commit to this concept.
"And it's like nothing bums him out more than, like, when we send him this thing and then we change it. Once we give it to him, he commits and that's it, he doesn't want to change it.
"We went through the whole bit trying to do that on the previous records, like, sending something and then all of a sudden we go, 'Oh, wait, let's change this chorus.' Maynard will be, like, 'So, you're pretty much saying I just did all this work for nothing.' I understand his point of view."
On the flip side, the new Tool record almost took even longer thanks to a tipped-over candle by Carey himself.
