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Editorials

MAYNARD PROVES WHY SIDE PROJECTS ARE A GOOD THING

 Thursday, August 7th, 2008 at 4:04pm by

toolAnyone who reads this site regularly knows that we perpetually masturbate to Tool. Matter of fact, I just walked in on Kip whackin’ it in the MetalSucks Mansion Port-a-Potty with “Aenima” blaring out the iPod dock speakers. Ordinarily any news that may delay the creation of the next Tool would be cause for alarm — but when I saw a post on Blabbermouth today with an update that Tool’s Maynard James Keenan is is busy with yet another side-project called Jubilee (you may remember last year’s Puscifer project as well), I thought to myself, “Yes!!!” Without a doubt, like Puscifer, Jubilee ( also featuring Aaron North of Nine Inch Nails / The Icarus Line and Michael Shuman of Queens of the Stone Age) will not be very good, and will sound nothing like Tool, as is the case with most side project in the history of ever. And this is a great thing.

You see, you fools who get angry about side-projects not sounding anything like the “main” project… and get frustrated that the main project’s next album will be delayed… You have it all wrong. When you’re in a mega-popular band like Tool (or System of a Down, for example) you get kind of locked into what your main band’s music can sound like. If Tool came out with a record that sounded like Puscifer, Maynard would be nailed to a stake (your comments about Puscifer prove this). Naturally, he wants to try other things besides what is considered “Tool” music — but his main monetary vehicle can’t be the place to experiment with that stuff, nor would the record label allow it.

Side projects allow musicians to branch out a bit and explore their artistic side in ways that they can’t with their “day job.” So in the case of any potential new Tool record, this means that once it finally becomes time to make one, Maynard won’t have all this pent up musical angst that could potentially water down the Tool sound; he’ll have gotten out his funk and soul willies with these various side projects. And when the time comes, he’ll be ready to make a fucking TOOL record that sounds like the Tool we all know and love.

So, side projects? Yes, please. More of ‘em. For every band. Then get back to business when it’s time to kick ass.

-VN

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  • Skipper

    AHH why do you guys have to keep reminding me that SOAD is still broken up, what with the Scars on Shitway review and this both in one day. Work out your differences already, you Lebanese bastard children!!

  • http://www.myspace.com/riffcompelsme riffcompelsme

    If more band members did side projects here and there, maybe it would help their creativity in their main band. Like, say, ohhhh, Metallica.

    St. Anger should of just been Lar’s side deal.

  • blah

    jubilee is NOT a tool side project. maynard is guesting on a song. what is so hard to understand.

  • Fantum

    What?! Not a real side project? Ah well, back to beating off to Aenima again,

  • Guy

    and sometime we get real gems like A Perfect Circle and Probot.

  • http://www.conorschaefer.com/blog/ Conor

    Great post, Vince. I wish more people realized this, how healthy side projects can be for the main thing.

    But what about supergroups? Do fans then have a right to be pissed when they don’t live up to the horror and glory of their various roots? I personally really dug the first Nightrage CD, but often supergroups (with the notable exception of Ladder Up An Ass) tend to disappoint.

  • JTL

    Supergroups? Sure, they can be a mixed bunch, but it can turn out some good stuff. Birds of Prey kicks a lot of ass, and I would love to see them live.

  • Elpants

    I hate Tool.

    I hate Tool so god damn much.

  • enemyofgod72

    I’ve seen both Tool and A Perfect Circle live and both f’in rock. Engaging in side projects allow true artists to show they are artists. I’ve always thought of Tool as an expression of music as art, Maynard’s side projects have allowed him to showcase his creativity in other ways outside of the “Tool”box. If you don’t get that you’ll never get Tool or art. If you want to hear the same album over and over go listen to Iron Maiden or Disturbed amongst too many others. Maynard’s side projects should not be a shock to anyone. They are about opening that “third eye”. “Think for yourself, Question Authority” or weren’t you listening?

  • Bryan

    I’m so glad you guys like Tool. So very, very glad. I often think I’m the only one still appreciating this amazing bad. It’s refreshing to see that amongst all the fans of Triviums and Avenged Sevenfolds there are still people who recognize quality musicianship, no matter how long it takes these incredible bands to create new albums.

  • http://myspace.com/errol_d Errol

    its gonna be a b-side..Jubilee are pretty fuckin good..Rebel Hiss owns

  • Danny

    I respect people’s opinions even if I don’t agree with them. However, Tool slamming is an oddity to me. Their catalog of music has been so diverse, that if a person cannot find one CD appealing, it really puzzles me. But then again, these people are probably angry about having to ride the short bus to school. Or being shot down at that promotion for the 2nd shift manager at McDonald’s.

    Tool has been never afraid to express themselves artistically. The have always been successful in redifining the sound of their music. It’s always been a progression. If you hate them, then you have to at least give them props for always having balls.

  • b-rad

    just because someone doesn’t like Tool doesn’t mean that they are stupid… perhaps it means that they are not sheep following the crowd that have fallen in love with an over rated band? their music was different than most when “Undertow” was released, but they tried to ride that same boat the whole time since then. then they totally jumped the shark with “Lateralus”. booooooring! the drumming barely even changed over the course of the entire record. now, maynard CAN sing very well, but does he always have to talk, act and look like a pretentious turd? seriously, look at this photo. he looks like a 1940′s banker. not cool, not hip and not clever… just the loser kid in school that tries too hard to be different.

  • Danny

    Danny Carey’s drumming during the Lateralus CD is some of the most complex use of odd time signature arragements, and a brilliant application of polyrhthms. The single “Schism” is based on a 6.5/8 time signature. The song then switches time signatures continuously, which makes the drumming far beyond boring when trying to recreate. Even the song “Lateralus” is constructed so that the syllables on each line follow the numeric progression of the Fibonacci numeric sequence.

    On the surface, this may all seem pretenious and trippy, but underneath is amazing complexity.

    Maynard does come off dorky and pretenious at the same time, but that’s Maynard.

  • TOOLsHED

    Side projects are important for band members to get the crappy songs out of their system (yes, even APC’s later albums) and keep the good songs for the main band.

    As a TOOL fan I really would like more people to hate TOOL and not go to their concerts. That way the price might go down at the venues for tickets. But then TOOL might just break up and reunite to jack the ticket prices back up. Ah, take me back to the early 90′s when tix were ~$20. Oh well.

  • http://www.nemrosim.blogspot.com/ AWB

    I read about this two days ago on ThePRP.Com (quite possibly the best damn metal site on the planet and more news than is displayed on MetalSucks.Net) and what commenter “Blah” said is absolutely correct: As far as is presently known, Maynard is just recording the vocals for ONE song called “I Don’t Have An Excuse, I Just Need A Little Help” (you can find video footage of Maynard in studio here http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=287975189&blogID=421356012).

    The bad news is that Jubilee doesn’t quite impress me a hell of a lot…And no, it’s not because it doesn’t sound like Tool…It’s just that it doesn’t sound that great. Hell, if Maynard did Black Metal – I’D LISTEN WITH PLEASURE!!! Than again almost everything Maynard does, I usually end up listening to with pleasure…Almost everything.

    The Puscifer record wasn’t the worst record I’ve ever heard (i.e. KoRn – “Untouchables”, The Fallen – “Front Toward Enemy”, etc.) it had about two good songs on it (four, if I’m on drugs and it’s a nice day)…Frankly if they had more songs like “Rev. 22:20″ and “The Undertaker” that’d smooth up that record real nice. I don’t know if I got the wrong copy of the Puscifer record (I have “V Is For Vagina” NOT “V Is For Viagra Remixes”) but mine features alternate versions of both of those songs – not the originals – which makes me just a little more irritable. Nevertheless, the Puscifer record sounds quite a bit like a Nine Inch Nails record but with Maynard on vocals as opposed to Trent.

    I want A Perfect Circle back! I want Tapeworm to reunite!! I want better Puscifer songs that sound like the originals that lured me into buying the damn CD!!! AARRRGGGGHHH!!

  • http://www.nemrosim.blogspot.com/ AWB

    @ Elpants:
    Y’know, the last time I heard/read/etc. someone say “Tool sucks” or “I hate Tool” or some variation of the two, was – get ready for this – SEVEN YEARS AGO!!! (Early 2001 and I’m not exaggerating). Since that time, I try to be very watchful of those I come across who say they hate Tool. Here’s why.

    Between 2001 and now, there was only ONE ‘concerned-parents’ website I knew about which no longer exists (thankfully) called ToolBand-Sucks.com (they later changed their name to ToolBand-Lyrics.com and are now completely off the web – to the best of my knowledge) who hated Tool…Not out of any artistic merit but rather because they thought that Tool was promoting violence and encouraging youth through NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) to commit violent acts.

    I was watchful of this website/organization/whathaveyou because I thought (1) This site is a joke. (2) This can’t be real and is run by a fan trying to get attention to become the next internet-legend, who’ll later admit he/she likes tool and was only kidding. (3) This site is actually run by Tool’s webmaster Blair MacKenzie Blake to help cause controversy as it is good for business (4) This site is for real but the content isn’t. (5) This site is absolutely correct, and I must be careful when listening to Tool from now on, and perhaps stop listening altogether.

    But after more than a decade of listening to Tool – I haven’t murdered anyone, forced anyone into anal or even had a speeding ticket. So naturally, I thought that Tool (even if they somehow vaguely did promote violence, didn’t affect me and) was harmless and that the website was ether run by an over-controlling, over-bearing parent or by Tool’s own Webmaster.

    But since that website went down, you have been the only person (that I’ve come across, I presume there are others I don’t know about) to say that they hated Tool. Actually that’s not entirely true, I remember back when I was in High-School, a couple of guys said “Tool sucks!” but I didn’t take their criticism seriously since they all listened to ‘Rap’ in the first place and I think you’d best listen to Metal before you criticize it.

    Regardless, I would like to ask you three questions (1) Why do you hate Tool? (2) Are you serious or just trying to shock us? And (3) Most important, if you think tool sucks, please name a few bands (and possibly their websites) that you like or bands that you listen to and consider to be better than Tool. I generally have a very open mind so if you’re listening to some awesome killer bands, I don’t wanna miss out.

    @ B-Rad:
    No one’s calling you stupid…Stupid (just kidding). I agree that Maynard can sing…but in all honesty as a Tool-fan, I can say this with a good deal of confidence that Maynard (as amazing as he can sing and occasionally play strange instruments like the ‘Gourd’) is the least talented member of the band and perhaps the most expendable…Of course, then you wouldn’t have “Tool” but a “Triad”…And that’d be a neat idea, in my opinion…Just to keep the fans satiated between actual full-length records. Other bands like Dream Theater have this side-project thingy called “Liquid Tension/Trio Experiment” where it’s just the Guitars, Bass and Drums doing their thing, on an entirely instrumental pursuit. Tool ought to try something like that.

    @ Byran:
    I’m with you brother…I couldn’t give less of a shit about “Trivial” and I’ve only heard about “Revenging Centerfolds”. I love Tool, my favorite band (among a few others who are about as talented: Dream Theater, Blind Guardian, Meshuggah, etc.).

    @ Danny:
    Agreed wholeheartedly about Tool-Slammers (I wouldn’t be so surprised if most of those guys think “St. Anger” is the best Metallica record ever). I also agree with your comment on “La-te-ra-lus”, the Drumming being incredibly complex, and clinically precise! My favorite parts of the record are (1) The 33-Second drum solo at the end of “The Grudge” – hands down the best part of the record!!! (2) The intro drumming to “Ticks and Leches” as well as the awesome drum solo. (3) The intro to “Reflection” with just some of the strangest Drumming/Tabla techniques out of a metal band in 2001. (4) The instrumental “Triad” especially the Justin’s Bass during the end. (5) Oh, and “Faaip De Oaid” (Voice of God) was a little spooky too – an Art Bell Caller from 1997-09-11 about some coming disasters (Perhaps he was referring to 2001-09-11 that happened 4 years later?) as it was filled in with some strange static and a drum-solo.

    @ TOOLsHED:
    Side-projects can be an outlet for ‘cutting-room-floor’ material, but such is not the case with A Perfect Circle in my opinion. The first record “Mer de Noms” was the most experimental and definitely the best record. The second record “Thirteenth Step” had 4-6 real good songs on it (out of /12…A bad ratio, even I’ll admit to that). Their third “eMOTIVe” was a ‘Cover-Record’. So technically they only have 2 records – their last record had songs written almost entirely by other people, so you can’t blame them for not being able to make those songs sound better – cuz’ there not APC songs to begin with! I recall that APC was contracted by EMI/Virgin to put out 3 full-length studio records…But if you discount “eMOTIVe” as a ‘cover-record’, than you could say that they still owe the fans and the label another record. Can’t say for sure…Just my two cents.

  • Jessa

    I have seen Puscifer live and it was awesome!!! No it is not Tool (which IS super fucking awesome!!) but it’s not supposed to be. There is absolutely nothing metal about Puscifer it’s very industrial and a revolving door for so many other artist to drop by and chill for a minute, then go on doing whatever they do. Thats pretty much how the live show is too. People just chill on stage singing or playing when it’s their turn. I love Maynard! I love all his differents “id’s” and “ego’s” He is amazing but he alone is not Tool so it’s just silly to think his side projects should sound anything like it.