The February newsletter is now up on Toolband/Toolarmy and it’s a somewhat revealing one:

• Tool are in the process or writing new material., though Blair personally hasn’t heard any.
• Joe Baressi has, which suggests to me he’s probably going to engineer the album again.
• Adam has a new pedal he’s been playing around with, and this may or may not feature.
• Danny has some new percussion instruments, and they definitely don’t have a water bong in the room.
• The cover from the mini tour was from the band The God Machine, and it wasn’t played because a member of the band had recently passed away (a friend of Justins)
• Apparently the male doctors voice on Lost Keys is the bands manager, not Justin as has been suggested to me in the past.  The man in question, Pete Riedling if I remember correctly is an Australian.
• The Big Thing is the website updates.  It will happen sometime in the future.  My sources tell me around September.

It’s an interesting read, a mini-FAQ in some ways and I suggest you all take a look.

Thanks to Nathan for the tip!

Blair just made a quick update on Toolband & Toolarmy:

Danny will be attending tonight’s battle between the KU Jayhawks and Texas Longhorns in Austin, along with the band’s favorite Texas Ranger. And before boarding the Silver Dillo(?), "yes", that was Paola Kansas transplant Carey eating Texas barbecue with Texas-style rubs and seasonings at Iron Works BBQ this afternoon. Barbecue blasphemy some from the Sunflower State might say. At any rate, Tool’s drummer will return to L.A. tomorrow, so that possibly the ‘process’ can begin in earnest on Wednesday…

Hopefully the ’process’ is what we hope it is…

A video had found it’s way onto the net with Danny Carey on drums for AC/DC coverband BC/DC.  The track is Back In Black and I imagine you all know how it goes….

Thanks to fodasse for the tip!

Not sure how long it’s been on the site, but the January Tool Newsletter is now available on Toolband and Toolarmy.  It’s really just a bit of a recap of Tool-related news over the last couple of months, confirming that Tool aren’t doing much at the moment, and that Danny, Adam and Justin are all abroad (or have been) and that Maynard is busy with Puscifer and Caduceus stuff.

I stumbled across this extremely short interview with Danny by Artisan News Services on Youtube, where he mentions briefly that they might start writing a new album this year.  Skip to about 1:20 for the 10 seconds or so of actual DC interview (the rest is just filler).

To be honest, it doesn’t say much, and the article is making a bigger deal of this than it really is, but it’s comforting to know that at least there are plans to get stuck into things, hopefully soon!

Some footage from Artisan News Service/Youtube has been released which shows some of the drum off between Danny and Brann from Mastodon with backing band VOLTO! at the recent Guitar Centre Drum Off:

Anyone who has some better footage/lengthier of this event should let me know!  Thanks to Brian for the tip!

Danny’s website seems to be back online today, with the new redesign that has been promised for a while now.  It’s quite Flash intensive, and features some cool sections.  Amongst other things it has an extremely tasty video section…

Thanks to all of you who emailed me last night about this: I was too busy celebrating the arrival of 2010 to put this up!  I them meantime, stay tuned for a best of 2009 article later today!

According to a recent post on Toolband, Danny has been holidaying in Bali, and girlfriend Rynne managed to take a snap of him playing a gamelan.  Blair also hints that its “perhaps a sign of things to come?”.  If I remember correctly, the gamelan was mentioned when 10,000 Days was in the wings as well…

AcousticPhenomena emailed me today to let me know that DGM Live are releasing a King Crimson live show, recorded on the Tool/King Crimson tour way back in 2001.  While there are no plans to release the Tool set, the King Crimson set does feature Danny Carey on the second half of Red.

According to the blurb:

San Diego was the last of nine dates Crimson played opening for Tool and it catches them on dazzling form. The gigs were part of a wider KC roadtrip which took in a total of 21 concerts as the band tried and tested material for what would eventually become The Power To Believe.
Transfered directly from the multi-track ADAT tapes, and mixed by Alex “Stormy” Mundy, this truncated set acts as a first class introduction to King Crimson, which of course, for the many fans of Tool who made up the audience, is exactly what it was.
The swiping violence of the chokes on Level Five can make even the most battle-weary KC-vet stand back in wide-eyed admiration and this rendition of Deception of the Thrush captures both sides to Crimson’s musical personality, veering as it does between the terrifying and the transcendent.
The interlocking sections of TCOL are delivered with the kind of full-blooded passion that reminds us how tight a unit the Double Duo could be, whilst a truly knockout LTIA4 has a savage reading of the fast lines from Fripp and a classic squerning wern-fest Belew solo at the end.
A highly-charged gig where the team blow the doors off the venue with a tight uncompromising set in which even the older material sounds fresh out of the writing room. This is also the concert where during the second portion of Red, the team are joined by Tool drummer Danny Carey, who slips behind Pat’s kit to give it some thumping goodness.
One word describes this gig: Essential.

Audio samples are available on the site.

Mattia emailed me to let me know about the Guitar Center Drum Off Finals 2010, which will feature a collaboration between Danny and Mastodon’s Brann Dailor:

Guitar Center announced today that Tommy Lee and the Street Drum Corps’ Frank Zummo will present “Bezerk” – an exclusive project commissioned by Guitar Center, featuring some of today’s top drummers and artists – as part of the upcoming Drum-Off Grand Finals, taking place January 8, 2010 at The Wiltern in Los Angeles. Artists performing in “Bezerk” include Chad Smith (Red Hot Chili Peppers), Matt Sorum (Guns ‘N Roses, Velvet Revolver), José Pasillas (Incubus), DJ Aero, Sully Erna (Godsmack), Jay Weinberg, BANG! and others to be announced. Hosted by Stephen Perkins (Jane’s Addiction), this historic evening will also include a very special tribute to John Bonham by Jason Bonham, along with an exclusive collaborative performance by Danny Carey (Tool) and Brann Dailor (Mastodon).

These all-star drummers will all come together on one stage to celebrate the night’s main event: performances by the top five undiscovered drummers in the nation, who will compete in front of a capacity crowd and a panel of celebrity judges to see who will win a prize package worth more than $40,000 and the title of “Guitar Center Drum-Off Champion” – the nation’s top undiscovered drummer. Guitar Center will also induct drum icons Billy Cobham and John Bonham into Guitar Center’s Drum Legends as part of the evening’s festivities.

Tickets for the show are only $10, and are on sale now at LiveNation.com.

Find out more details Here!

Sounds like a fun night!