It makes sense that Tool/Puscifer frontman Maynard James Keenan is also a winemaker, because when it comes to Tool, he’s taking his time as well. Currently in promotion mode for the sophomore Puscifer album, Conditions of My Parole, Keenan says that in addition to the cycle for that album, the next Tool album is still coming together. “I’m allowing them their space to do what they do, so we’re still in that mode,” he tells Loudwire. “Even if they told me how close they are to being done, I couldn’t tell you because if I say 60 percent people will start counting down. When it’s done everyone will know. But I haven’t done anything yet. They write forever and then we go in and knock it all out. We’re writing. We’re writing vocals. But nothing’s solid. With Puscifer, there’s ideas and then we’ll record stuff. Then we’ll go back and change stuff and fix stuff and record new stuff before we finally put it all together. But with Tool, we practice jams, but there’s no actual recording going on until it’s time to record.”
With Puscifer going on a month-long tour starting next week, it doesn’t look like there’s any possibility of a new Tool album in the near future. That said, if there’s one band that earns their breaks, it’s Tool. They have legions of fans patiently waiting for them, and none of their four full-lengths have disapointed. This will be the first time in their career that it’s taken the band over five years in between albums, though. Ever since their second full length, 1996’s Aenima, the band has released albums at five year intervals. But given what Keenan told Loudwire, when the album’s finally ready, it should come together very quickly.
