The new issue of Metal Hammer features Tool on the cover, ahead of their UK tour in May/June! Inside the magazine, we head to LA for an exclusive audience with frontman Maynard James Keenan and guitarist Adam Jones. From the fights to the album delays, the pair open up about what it’s really like to be in metal’s most mysterious band.
In the brand new interview, Maynard James Keenan addresses the long wait for latest Tool album Fear Inoculum, in comparison to his work with A Perfect Circle and Puscifer.
“Tool is a more complicated beast with a lot of egos and a lot of other things going on in our lives,” he says. “But all the creativity’s there, the songs and the ideas can flow and the arguments ensue. As soon as we get past the arguments, we can get shit done! Ha ha ha! I think we could do it more efficiently. And I think everyone’s on the same page that we have to get through that, because we can’t drag this out another 14 years.”
“Most of the people that you hear from on those things – like, ‘When’s your next record?’ – when you do finish it, they’re like, ‘OK, when’s your next one?’ You can’t make people happy," says Adam Jones. "We have this very selfish approach to art. It’s our rules. When you start trying to make people happy, you’re losing yourself. You’re losing that burn inside you of why you do what you do.”
Following Slayer’s surprise return for US festival dates later this year, we also turn the clock back 40 years to revisit Show No Mercy, Hell Awaits, and the early days of the legendary thrashers. From rivalries with Metallica to embracing Satan, it’s all here.
Elsewhere in the issue, Avenged Sevenfold take us inside their first-ever VR gig – complete with fire and giant Deathbats! – Volbeat’s Michael Poulsen reveals his secret breakdancing past, and we get the comeback interview with returning nu metal heroes Kittie.
We also go investigate how iconic videogame Doom changed metal, and count down the 20 most metal games ever.
Plus, we grill Chelsea Wolfe about Type O Negative and llamas, get the inside story of Helmet’s alt metal breakthrough anthem, Milquetoast, and talk shattered kneecaps with Malevolence.
All this, along with Frozen Soul, Mike Shinoda, Vended, Dool, Korpiklaani, Delilah Bon and much, much more!
Only in the new issue of Metal Hammer, on sale now. Order it online and have it delivered straight to your door.
