UncleJackson emailed me today with this quite interesting interview with Maynard on Loudwire, where he mainly discuss Puscifer, but also comments on his recent work with A Perfect Circle, and the progress on the new Tool album.

Here’s a bit I know interest the majority of you:

Tool are reportedly working on a new album, as well. In the past, you’ve expressed frustration with sitting around in the studio with guitarist Adam Jones and drummer Danny Carey’s aesthetic of going over endless combinations of song structures before committing to anything.

I’m allowing them their space to do what they do, so we’re still in that mode. Even if they told me how close they are to being done, I couldn’t tell you because if I say 60 percent people will start counting down. When it’s done everyone will know. But I haven’t done anything yet. They write forever and then we go in and knock it all out. We’re writing. We’re writing vocals. But nothing’s solid. With Puscifer, there’s ideas and then we’ll record stuff. Then we’ll go back and change stuff and fix stuff and record new stuff before we finally put it all together. But with Tool, we practice jams, but there’s no actual recording going on until it’s time to record.

Are you prepared to tour for a year for the next Tool record whenever it’s ready or have you put your foot down and said, “I don’t want to spend my life on the road.”

It has nothing to do with putting my foot down. Physically, I can’t do it, so that’s not gonna happen. We will tour, but it won’t be the old school dog and pony show of eight months of beating yourself to death.

For most bands now, staying out on the road for a year-plus and selling lots of tickets and merch is the only way to make money because their albums are being downloaded for free by file-sharers.

How much do you need, really? If we can make a living going out for a few weeks a year and keep people satisfied by making sure we play the locations we need to hit, I’m not Kirk Hammett. I don’t need to buy $10,000 guitars every day. That’s not my lifestyle. I love Kirk, but that’s not me. I have a very sustainable vineyard industry in the Valley which will eventually start to pay its own bills.

I love to go on the road and play music for people and express myself, but for it to be something where I’m out there to make money, that’s depressing to me. You end up beating yourself up. Who gives a s–t how much money you have if your back hurts so much you can’t stand up. Money’s not the goal. Having fun making the art, that’s the goal. Finding a nice, happy medium. Being healthy and still expressing what you need to express in an effective way, that’s the ideal.

The end of lengthy world tours comes as no real surprise to me.  I’ve said before (at least in the forums) that I expect Tool’s touring habits will become a little less album orientated, where they hit the road for a month or two once every year or so.  Though I imagine with the new album there will still be a world tour, it just may not be so tightly scheduled as it has been in the past.