If there’s one thing that many a Tool fan would want to ask guitarist Adam Jones, it’s probably about how he can be a fan of wrestling, right? Well, not exactly, but Rolling Stone did get the guitarist to chat about his non-guilty pleasure of professional wrestling. And while the follow-up to 10,000 Days wasn’t expressly bought up, Jones did mention that he wouldn’t be able to attend WrestleMania 32 in April because “we’re writing a record, so we’ve gotta get that done too,” but that’s the only inkling he gives in the article that there’s much of anything going on in Tool-ville right now.
So yes, the article focuses on Jones’ wrestling appreciation. He doesn’t have a favorite wrestler, he just enjoys the entertainment of it:
I grew up with WWF, now WWE – it was one of my outlets; I was into horror movies and creepy comics, but also sports, so wrestling kind of had it all. And a lot of times there was blood! As I got older, my interests expanded to include makeup effects and music, but wrestling truly makes me feel like a little kid. For a long time I kept it personal. You know, I wouldn’t tell people I was into it – but now that I’m older, I don’t give a shit what people think about me. A lot of my friends give me shit – “Why don’t you watch UFC? It’s real” – but I tell them, “Look, what these guys do is exciting! It’s entertainment!” No one is going to hit anyone with a chair in UFC.
Jones even proposed to his now-wife Korin at the Royal Rumble. He also played the Star Spangled Banner, which he said was way more intense than playing with Tool. He admits that he had to send a demo to Vince McMahon before he was allowed to play it:
Doing the national anthem at SummerSlam was honestly the most frightening thing I’ve ever done. [Tool] played Bonnaroo, and there were like 800,000 people there – it was a fucking sea of people, and I was like, “No problem! Let’s do it!” But going out on live TV, at a WWE event being broadcast all over the world, where the guys behind the scenes aren’t really directing you, they’re kind of just shoving you out like “OK, go, go, go,” it was hardcore, man. Plus, you know, it was in L.A., Billy Gibbons was there, all these famous people were there; it was something.
The only other interesting thing that he admits in the interview is that he doesn’t even know what label Tool are on any more. That makes sense, given that Volcano Records, the label the last album was on, is essentially defunct. Since 2006, when 10,000 Days was released, Volcano was purchased by BMG, which was purchased by Sony and is now Sony BMG. And their own label, Tool Dissectional, could probably go where they want to, since Volcano is more or less defunct. We’ll find out what label the band are on if they ever finish up the album that Jones says they’re writing.
