Blair has posted the February Tool newsletter, but this month is hidden away in the Newsletters section rather than posted on the main page. It doesn’t really contain much information, so here it is in full for you convenience!
Now that everyone has exchanged tokens of love and affection, and those hallmark e-cards, sushi hearts and power ballads are just a far distant memory (as are those pink marshmallows in her cocoa, and the terrible idea of that fuzzy Vermont Chupacabra), let’s see if there is any pressing Tool news. Ummmmmmm… Nope. Hang on, let’s check again just to be sure… Ummmmmmm… No. Not a lot, anyway.
If you’ve been reading my posts in the news section, you already know about the upcoming MINI-TOUR, including how to purchase VIP PACKS that come with enviable seats and other goodies, a concise description of which I listed in the informative January offering. As for the set-lists, no spoilers here! Also indelibly etched in your well-grooved cranial region is that PUSCIFER, APC, and FAILURE will be playing shows at the GREEK THEATER as part of Maynard’s 50th Birthday extravaganza. And if it’s a maple ham, corn and pineapple stuffed potato that you crave while listening to great ultra-fusion jazz on any given Monday night, you know where they’re baking.So, what else?
Justin is back from his daring adventure involving the handling of a falcon… or a hawk… or a hawk-shaped military drone? Likewise, Danny has returned from Hawaii, where he is still trying to smuggle out enough curly koa wood to make a new drum (or nifty salad bowl, if I’m to believe an article in the current issue of VegNews magazine). And with Adam’s WWE wrestling buddies having exited the loft after an encore of golden hits – leaving the place no worse for wear, I might add – the fellows are back in the no picnic business of writing/arranging of new Tool material. So, if you saw Danny at Monday night’s Jayhawks game in Kansas, rest assure that this was his decoy-double getting in some much needed practice before the tour begins.
So, now that you are all caught up on any relevant Tool news (and you’ve come up with the brilliant idea to put cherry marshmallows in the hot Ghirardelli chocolate next year), if you are fortunate enough to be going to any of the upcoming Tool shows, have a great experience, but please remember to be respectful to the support act and courteous to fellow concert goers. Absolutely no laser pointers – be it Krypton, Inferno, or a Walmart “spot.” Also, no micro recorders, Creed hoodies, pocket shots and hopefully it goes without saying that ‘smiles’ is never a good idea whenever prog-metal with hypnotic visuals are involved!
“Extreme Couponing” is coming on, so I gotta go. Short month, short newsletter.
I hope all of you Americans and Mexicans are looking forward to the tour!
March 11th here i come!
Looking forward to it….
I really hope they hit the studio this summer….
Prediction for album release:
March-April 2015
Oh, I wonder who that could be. I hope they even have one. :p Last year in Sydney they had nothing more than a random DJ. See you in San Diego on March 16th!
Unlikely. That’s too far away. Maynard’s winemaking obsession is a good indicator of time frames. August – October in the US are harvest season. He doesn’t do anything but wine for those months. The gap from April – August (after this mini tour) would seem to be the ideal period for recording. Maynard would need to have finished recording vocals by August. The tour might be a personal celebration for the band because they have finished the writing of the album. Plus an opportunity to get their performance chops up before going into the studio. So I think the album… Read more »
Even if they hit the studio straight after the tour and wrap it up in August, there will still be 4-6 months until it’s released. I doubt it will be released in 2014. If they miss that “gap” between touring and winemaking, then 2016 becomes a possibility…
Yeah I get that, but keep in mind that we have no info on the stage they are at in the writing. The album may well be fully written by now, Maynard may have already completed writing his vocals too. If that was the case they could easily track the album in two or three months. You know from interviews with Bottrill and Baressi that Danny is notoriously professional at recording his tracks. I think he knocks them out within a week or two. Justin could easily do the same for his parts. Adam takes a bit longer and I… Read more »
I shall be in San Francisco on that date as well…
no micro recorders. well i dont know what a ”micro” recorder is so i guess other types are allowed. take the pickle out of your butt on that one! live recordings are beneficial for bands. no one sells them anymore. havent for years. that is long gone! mostly anyway.
Ready for May 19th and Tajin 21st. I could have been awesome to have one those VIP passes for the QA session for mexican dates, i guess they don’t think we can speak english… jk.
Pffft. Jeeze, nothing going on, again… Im not one usually to complain about these things, but, come on. Okay, the only half interesting snipit, is when he mentions the setlist and spoilers, is that a hint at something good to happen? Man, a new tune would be out of this world! But… I wouldn’t get hopes up. However, Tool has been pretty good the last couple of tours at switching in and out old deep cuts, long lost from set lists. Im still in shock I saw Ticks and Leeches, truly a dream come true! So that’s something to hope… Read more »
there have been some pretty legit openers on tours past: mastodon, isis, tomahawk as well as some forgettable (possibly unforgettable depending on how bad you thought they were) like melt banana.
im excited to not torrent recordings that dont exist from these shows bc people wont be recording them. im sure that especially the SF shows wont get recorded bc no one in that area has ever recorded live music before and DEF not any shows from this particular venue.
finally, wtf are ‘smiles’? LSD, shrooms, molly? im out of the loop on that one.
I was also wondering about the “smiles” comment.
It seems that ‘smiles’ is another term for 2C-I, one of the new research chemicals being sold as/under the (false) name of LSD. They are cheaper than real LSD, far more commonly seen on the market, and people have no clue what their effects are at this point because there are many, many different kinds of NBOMes and they’ve only recently been so common. Even with knowing what NBOMes are, I’ve never heard this term–I’ll have to ask some friends and see if it’s actually a common name for them.
Update after doing some reading (sorry): It seems that smiles is sold more frequently as a “substitute” for mescaline, not LSD, though in higher doses it can produce effects like LSD (hallucinations) or MDMA (euphoria, etc.) Its’ production, possession, and sale are all illegal in the US. It is also taken differently than 25i, which I originally associated it with. Again, goes to show just how wide the term “research chemical” is and what it all means, not including the question of long-term side effects with sustained use.
Tomahawk would be rad. I mean, they also play at Cumbre Tajin and as far as I can see they don’t have any other dates going on. And since they already toured together in 2002, why not do it again?. 😉
tomahawk was pretty damn good in 2002. I dont remember much about the set other than Mike Patton wore a gas mask with two mics feeding into it and there was a big fake deer onstage with them when i saw them in greenville sc. ahh that was my first tool show ( i was supposed to see them in charlotte in fall of 01 but ran into a little trouble over some “greenery” i brought w/ me on a HS class trip) i vividly remember when sober was over and they dropped the curtain revealing the alex grey art/stage… Read more »
also RE smiles/ 2Ci, ummm no thank you. a few friends of mine did it once in college and *south park ski guy voice* had a bad time. i think ill stick to the occasional smoke and the frequent bourbon for my buzz from now on, but good luck to those who are into “research chemicals”. yikes.
I would not recommend doing anything more psychedelic than pot at a Tool concert
I predict the opening act will be… Puscifer. At least for MOST of the shows.
Carina Round is busy with one of her other bands, Early Winter. And there’s no way May Jay could handle vocal duties for both bands.
He probably could handle it, as he’s done it before with Puscifer and APC. That said, I think it’s about as likely as Tool dropping a new album in time for the tour.
Support is supposed to be Failure, according to the (official?) Tool Facebook Page. Nice! 😀
Failure’s FB states the same thing.