Blabbermouth posted an article today pointing to a video interview where Billy Howerdel discusses the upcoming Ashes Divide release. Turns out Maynard‘s son Devo plays cello on it.
Billy discusses Ashes Divide
3
Category Archives: A Perfect Circle
A Perfect Circle not over?
Henry emailed me today with a quote from a recent issue of Revolver, where Maynard gives his thoughts on working with Billy Howerdel, as well as some kind of idea when a reunion may be possible:
The real problem with running Tool and A Perfect Circle at the same time was they both operate the same way. They’re both live touring bands with a label, still working under the old contract mentality. So I thought it was time to let A Perfect Circle to go for now and let Billy explore himself. It’s tough for a guy who went from being a guitar tech [for Tool] to being in a band with pretentious, famous singer and having to live in that shadow. It was important for Billy to go and do his own thing and really explore his own sound and let people hear what he has to say and how he would do it on his own, and then we’ll get back and do some A Perfect Circle stuff.
Troy Van Leeuwen talks about A Perfect Circle
In a reasonably short article on UltimateGuitar.com, Troy Van Leeuwen talks about his time in A Perfect Circle, and the likelihood of them doing stuff again:
I would say of course they’re different, but I have more experience working with Josh actually than with working with Maynard. With Maynard it was very short amounts of time working with him. I didn’t really per-se get in deep with him. He’d show up and do his thing and then bail and do Tool when I worked with him so…Josh is more…we’re in there every day, every hour, every year, every lifetime.
Thanks to Henry for the tip.
Maynard talks to Spin
Shinji has given me the link to a great interview with Maynard by Spin Magazine. Maynard talks in depth about his music, in particular Puscifer, and about his life in general. He also comments that Tool will be sticking around, while A Perfect Circle are dead.
One of the best and informative interviews I’ve read with Maynard, so make sure you check it out.
Ashes Divide released in March 08
Blabbermouth reports that Billy Howerdel, guitar player for A Perfect Circle will be releasing his solo project Ashes Divide in March 2008. The album will be release on the Island Records label. According to the post Howerdel played all parts on the record except for the drums which were done by Josh Freese.
The first track Enemies can be heard on the Myspace site. Sounds like APC minus Maynard to me…
And it just keeps on coming…
Seems like every website I got to this weekend has something new about Tool, Maynard or something else. Here’s another couple of things you may have missed.
From Blabbermouth:
The Pulse of Radio reports: TOOL frontman Maynard James Keenan says that he recently worked on a new song with drummer Brad Wilk and bassist Tim Commerford of AUDIOSLAVE and RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE. Although Wilk and Commerford were rumored to have played on Keenan‘s upcoming PUSCIFER album, the singer told The Pulse of Radio that the collaboration took a somewhat different shape. “They found themselves not working with (singer Chris) Cornell after the last AUDIOSLAVE record and they wanted to know if I was interested in starting a band. And I said ‘No, I’ve got this other thing going on and two other bands to boot.’ But what I suggested to them was that they should start their own band and have me sing a song, and have some other singers sing a song. I think on some level they agreed, and so that’s what we kind of did. I went in and we wrote a song together and right now they’re currently trying to record that song, and I’ll go sing on it.”
Interesting that Maynard says he’s “got this other thing going” (presumably Puscifer) and “two other bands to boot”. Tool & A Perfect Circle? Perhaps APC isn’t dead after all?
Finally, blksun from Toolarmy posted a link to this gallery on Kevin Willis‘ website. It’s a tour of Maynard’s Vineyard. Not sure how new it is but I don’t think I’ve ever come across it before.
Back + Goodies
I’m back from rain-sodden Newcastle, only to wake up in rain-sodden Adelaide. Seems like the rain follows me at the moment.
Any a couple of quick things for you today. jhnygsh from Toolarmy has some autographed 13th Step vinyl for sale on Ebay at the moment. Shipping only to the US, and bidding starts at US$250. If you’re keen to get some signed vinyl that’s not Lateralus, then here’s your thing.
Finally, Moose tells me that a autographed and framed Lateralus poster is available on New Zealand’s Trademe. It looks pretty cool, and is apparently 1 of only 10 signed during the Lateralus tour. Danny obviously didn’t have his purple pen for that session.
Weak and Powerless Alternate Version
Nicko on Alt.Music.Tool posted that Josh Freese’s Myspace now has an alternate version of A Perfect Circles Weak and Powerless. Josh also talks about his work with the band:
A PERFECT CIRCLE: APC has been my main priority on and off since 2000. When I say “on and off” I mean because (unlike most bands) we share a singer with another successful band. So after we do a record and a tour…instead of taking a few months off and then starting the next record….we have to take a few years off between the end of one tour and the start of the next record so Maynard can go make a record and tour for a year and a half with TOOL. We were working on the first record in 1999 but we didn’t get really busy till we got signed and went out on the road for a year solid in the spring of 2000. I believed in it enough to leave my busy session career at home and other projects for months (years really) at a time and to be away from my family and friends and “join a new band”. It’s always risky to do a new band (EVEN with a grammy award winning singer and a great record deal) but…..lucky for us, we made a cool first record, we worked hard and people listened….and seemed to like it! I like the eclectic tone of the band and the dynamics of it. I’m really proud of “Mer de Noms” and “13th Step”. The covers record doesn’t really count to me as an APC album but technically I guess we’ve made 3 records. I have a lot of people tell me that they really like the Perfect Circle stuff that I’ve done and means alot to me. APC has been an important project for me. It’s a weird band but a cool one. I hope there is more APC to come.
APC Update?
Maynard has risen from his sickbed to post an update on the A Perfect Circle website. Apparently Billy is working hard on his solo stuff, Maynard is working with Tool, on wine and doing Puscifer, and that 13th Step and eMotive lyrics should be up soon. Is this post some kind of sign that APC are not dead? Who knows.
Thanks to those stoned dudes at The Tool Hotline for the tip.
APC in Stasis
MTV spoke with Billy Howerdel recently regarding the status of A Perfect Circle, and he also confirms that APC will not be back in the near future. Though he and Maynard are both unwilling to say it’s over:
“[Maynard and I have] talked about it lightly. A few months ago, it was like, ‘If we did A Perfect Circle again, I’d want to do this or that.’ It was a benign conversation. I think we both entertain the fact that it could happen again, but for right now we don’t have any plans to do it again. We’re focusing on what we’re doing now. A Perfect Circle is done for now.”
It was good while it lasted I suppose, though as much as I like APC, I find it hard to get upset about their demise.