Blair has published the July 2013 Tool Newsletter, which as promised contains answers to the quiz posed in the June one. How did you go?
Other than that, there are no particular revelations in the newsletter.
1)Of the dozen or so spoof Tool CDs included in the spurious catalog in the insert contained in the import (i.e. European) version of Aenima, one of them is actually real (meaning that it at least includes jam sessions by the band and various other recorded material). Though having never been released to the general public, about 30 copies were surreptitiously placed in various record stores in European cities (most of them in Poland) by members of the band and their crew during a tour over there. TRUE OR FALSE?
TRUE. But there is much more to this story – as I have been hinting at for years. Perhaps someday someone will finally figure it out, and before certain things become obsolete.
new album 2021
Hey I can post here!
Answers promised, answers given. Complainers will complain. I hope someone out there will upload their copy of the cd in question 1 eventually… If there’s even any copies still in existence.
He didn’t forget about the “curve ball” so I’d guess it’ll be thrown in a couple of weeks.
The curve ball was the teaser blurb posted on the news section. “So, with that said, here’s all that I have been told so far… (FROM THE JULY, 2013 TOOL NEWSLETTER)”.
I was thinking it was going to be something cool like the revelation that a new Too’ album has already been secretly recorded and will be given to the world tomorrow. But they’re not Radiohead… sigh.
No, no it wasn’t. That was just the intro to the newsletter.
Perhaps 2013 will be a good year for TOOL after all…
Why the fuck can’t I find the answers?
I have no idea, but they’re in the newsletter…
Good answers, but everything about the new album was made up, so… What was the curve ball?
The last sentence of the newsletter makes it seem as if its forthcoming
The only thing that was both true and interesting to me was that Problem 8 exists on the 30 CDs that Tool put in the European record stores during the Aenima tour. At least we know where the song exists. Now we need to somehow get whomever owns a copy to rip it and upload it… but I’m sure there’s yet another twist to this. Perhaps it exists as a digital hidden file (data, not audio file) on the CD.
you people are suckers! the ones that are spending time thinking about these 30 cds. blair is slowly talking to a brick wall! f this! haha
Either this problem 8 is just another big roundabout, or they really figure they dont mind if someone finds it now, they just dont want to completely give it away after all these years. But its been long enough to hint at. Who knows though, really? More time will tell, as always with Tool.
They are just tugging on our pissers at this point. I mean, Danny had a very similar interview like a year ago saying “expect it in 2013” and now we get a interview this year with him saying “expect it in 2015”.
Does the newsletter being signed by all band members carry a good ‘sign’?
They’re always “signed” by all four members.
What’s the worst that could happen?
I just emailed Blair through the site letting him know I’d very much like to read about this “curve ball”…
Short and simple… he’s known to give replies even if they are obscure or irrelevant… it happens.
Didn’t he reference that we should find Problem 8 before certain things become obsolete? Could that imply it’s on some other form of media?
@james. Think there’s any chance that “Problem 8” is on an 8 track? or tape.
Did some digging… NOV 2000 NEWSLETTER Q: When Aenima came out, I remember seeing Tool on vinyl at the record store. Was the acid really THAT good, or did I really see all three TOOL albums on one or two pieces of vinyl? A: All were released on vinyl in America except for “BETHLEHEM ABORTION CLINIC” which was only released on vinyl in Europe and never released in CD format anywhere. See catalogue in import release of Aenima CD for details. That reminds me, someone recently (I think it was Staci) found a copy of Undertow on vinyl and said… Read more »
I believe there is lots of evidence to suggest that Bethlehem Abortion Clinic and particularly it’s catalog number (12134-66649-4) are a vital clue to unlocking Problem 8 – The Riemann Hypothesis. Seeing as the Riemann Hypothesis is a mathematical concept, can this be related to the Bethlehem Abortion Clinic catalog number somehow?
Further Ideas… Following up on the potential link between Cesaro Summation & the Riemann Hypothesis (both mathematical ideas). There was a picture disc made for the track Cesaro Summability… Quoted from http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/tool-signed-autographed-cesaro-lp-vinyl-promo According to Craig Williamson, Tool’s promo manager in the early days, there are only 25 of this signed version in existence. This was distributed mainly to employees and those close to the band, where the regular unsigned versions (rumored to be limited to 5,000 or so) were distributed to radio stations and stores around the country to promote the release of Aenima roughly 12 years go. The next… Read more »
My Theory… 1. Tool recorded a secret track… “Another thing about the “Aenima” recording that I remember, was a plan devised at the loft to create the ultimate hidden track.” 2. They left a clue on Aenima… “Someday I will tell you what makes ONE of these cds so special – something the band members don’t want anyone to know – though it’s there for discerning listeners. Perhaps I’ve said too much already.” The discerning listener will hear the song Cesaro Summability (the soundtrack to an abortion) linking it with Bethlehem Abortion Clinic in the Import Liner Notes (perhaps there… Read more »
While all this might be a tad too much, I agree that if it’s real it would be the ultimate hidden track. It’s so hidden we don’t even know if it’s real!
And if Blair isn’t sure if it was Justin or Paul who played on it, why doesn’t someone just ask Paul about it on one of them social media sites that are all the rage nowadays? (I don’t have one)
Because Paul has about as much of a social media presence as Justin does. Actually less since, as far as I know, Paul has never had someone impersonate him on Twitter or Facebook.
maybe problem 8 is literally encoded into the catalog insert itself….how big was the thing? what was it made of? maybe it’s playable like a small vinyl or something…
i think ive finalyl deciphered the message: Problem+(Ei)gh(t)+Abortion Clin(ic)= Problematic
Problematic can be broken down as follows: the solution to any problem comes at its end, therefore the solution to this problem is “atic” or “attic”
They clearly put their most secretive track in everyone’s attic, the place where you find all great hidden treasures.
Great research Froudie! Just a quick addition: I remember the March 2011 newsletter where he debuted the Problem 8 mystery publicly, there was a lot of speculation that the song was pressed on the vinyl copy when one of their albums went platinum, meaning, the “platinum record” to commemorate the sales had the song in it. On the 31 March, 2012 newspost, he posted a picture of one of these records hanging on a wall, along with a snippet from the March 2011 newsletter.