Tool bassist Justin Chancellor has offered an update on the band's recording plans, and it sounds like they're actuakly ready to shed their "procrastination reputation." In an interview with Metal Hammer, Chancellor addressed the lengthy gap between 2019's Fear Inoculum and 2006's 10,000 Days, admitting they can't afford another such marathon wait.
Chancellor hinted at potential solutions, suggesting they might adopt a more collaborative approach similar to his side project MTVoid.
"Danny Carey is 62 now, so there's no thought of taking 13 years if we're gonna do it. We're gonna have to be more efficient, and we've been talking of ways that we can do that. Maybe take a leaf out of how me and Peter 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 explained.
But Tool fans know not to get their hopes up too soon. While drummer Danny Carey confirmed a wealth of material existed back in 2019, the band has a habit of letting ideas simmer for years. However, Chancellor did reveal they've started writing in earnest, with sessions underway before their current tour. They plan to "dive back in" after wrapping up the European leg later this year.
"We put a little work in before this tour. 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.”
Will Tool break their 13-year cycle? Time will tell, but at least there's a glimmer of hope that a new album might see the light of day within a reasonable timeframe.