Tool frontman Maynard James Keenan doesn't really like talking about when the new Tool album will come out.
The last update he personally offered was a one-word denial in July of rumors of a surprise double album release, saying the rumors were "dumb."
When I had the chance to interview Maynard for my wrestling podcast, Squared Circle Pit, I was told specifically beforehand not to ask any questions about the Tool album, which I was fine with because the interview was about a specific topic. But I guess the Wall Street Journal did not get the same warning, or pushed back, because the top of their article on the Tool frontman features as much of an update as we're going to get from the frontman:
Maynard James Keenan is tired of people asking about Tool’s next album.
The progressive metal band’s last record, “10,000 Days,” was released in 2006, yet there are rumblings that something new is on the horizon. Keenan, though, would like antsy fans and followers to take a cue from a 2001 Tool song: Be patient.
“I really love Led Zeppelin, and it’s a shame they’re not making more records, more records. But I got up this morning without any problem,” Keenan says. “We’re working on it. … Do I appear to you to be a lazy person who doesn’t want to get that done?”
So, there's that.
For what it's worth, Tool has been playing songs for friends. Their buddies in Meshuggah think it's the best they've heard of Tool, the shortest song is twelve minutes long and the band are only satisfied with five songs out of the two albums worth of material they have written.
