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!
According to a recent blog post from progressive metal band Intronaut, apparently Dave contributed drums two two tracks on a musical project with Justin:
Dave contributed drums to a song or two in a project with Justin Chancellor from Tool and a Polish guy named Peter. I’m a little afraid to try and describe the music, but it rules and kind of sounds like African techno with Polish lyrics. That’s actually not at all what it sounds like. Forget I said anything. It rules though! We’ve also been talking with these two characters about collaborating on a new Intronaut song.
Sounds intriguing! Anyone have any idea who this Polish guy could be?
And here we were thinking that Justin’s done nothing but sit on his arse during the break. Check out Intronaut’s music on their Myspace page.
Thanks to Lance for the tip!
Dan sent me a link to a set of photos from the Puscifer warm ups, I imagine prior to the initial gigs in Las Vegas. Pictures include shots of Maynard and the band, as well as Milla.
Speaking of Milla, she’s holding a free online concert at Vokle with friends Chris Brenner, Matt Skiba (Alkaline Trio), and Danny Lohner to raise money for Sophie’s Voice, a Spina Bifida charity. If you have any loose change left after donating to the recent earthquake relief, consider making a donation!
Kevin sent me an email this morning, and he has a range of Tool and APC collectables he’s trying to sell. For some reason there’s also some System of a Down bits & pieces as well. Here’s a photo of the collection:
He’s asking US$150 (including shipping to the US) for the lot, and it includes:
The real catch here is the issue of Pop Smear, something that is hard to come by these days. If you are interested in the package, let me know and I’ll put you in touch with Kevin.
Hopefully this year is more fruitful than the last! Happy Birthday from everyone at Fourtheye!
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!
Many of the Puscifer East Coast shows are now on sale at various locations. Check out Pucifer.com for details.
Maynard has the following to say:
Having taken this show on the road in the Fall, we now know what it will take to pull these multiple themed performances off. The last run was expensive. Keep in mind this is not really so much a band as it is a troupe of sorts. The film bits, set pieces, costuming, video equipment, extra cast members, etc are all added costs above and beyond a typical rock show. And of course to present this show requires the proper venue. We couldn’t fit this performance in to most rock venues. On top of that, we are a new band for the most part. We’re playing in venues far larger than we should be. But again, to present this show, we need the proper size space. So in a nutshell, we barely broke even. But was well worth the experience. So we wanted to take a moment to thank all who supported our efforts. Especially those fo you who purchased the Meet n Greet and Wine Class seats. If it weren’t for you few, we wouldn’t have been able to pull this thing off.
Many of you have complained in the past that the scalpers have swooped in to claim the premium seats. To help undermine their efforts, we’ve posted some of those premium seats on the website, www.puscifer.com and included the 2 packages you see listed in the shopping cart. Hopefully this will slow them down a bit. Why pay $300-$400 bucks for a scalped seat when you can get them here for less AND get to be a part of the Wine Class or Meet n Greet? Seems like a no brainer. Regardless, we appreciate the support and hope you enjoy the shows. We’ve worked very hard on the different presentations and film bits and we’re excited to show them to you all.
Reminder… We’ll be doing at least 3 if not 4 different themed performances throughout the tour. No, we aren’t going to tell you which is which and when or where. Fortune Cookies are fun and so is X-Mas morning. All we ask is that you keep an open mind and enjoy the ride.
Peace.
Good to see some effort made to combat the scalpers. Are people still convinced that Maynard is the ambivalent non-caring member of Tool?
In case you forgot the dates (updated again 13-Jan-10):
Meshuggah will be playing a could of Sidewaves when in the country for the Soundwave festival. Also featured on the bill are It Dies Today and Whitechapel. Sydney and Melbourne only from what I see:
Tickets go on sale on the 15th of January…
I stumbled across an article on Mix today by Sylvia Massy (producer of Undertow) in which she talks about the challenges associated with recording Maynard’s voice on the album. Well worth reading, especially for tech heads:
Tool’s Undertow album is filled with blood-vessel-popping screams, like on the song “Crawl Away.” I had heard them in rehearsals, I heard them onstage. But in the studio, Maynard’s screams were lackluster, even with the perfect complement of the C 1000. After several attempts at one of those 10-second screams without a good take, and with his voice obviously wearing thin, I finally asked him to go outside and run around the block five times. This would make him furious, but after doing it he nailed those screams. He was pissed and you could hear it in his voice. The lesson here? Sometimes it’s necessary to make the singer as un-comfortable as possible to get the right performance!
It’s that time of the year again, where I bore you with the highlights of 2009, based on my shitty taste in things in general! Disagree with me? Did I miss something I really shouldn’t have? Let me know! Eventually we’ll have a survey so that we can all vote on this kind of stuff.
The year was probably a reasonably quiet year for music I thought. According to my media player, I listened to 92 different albums released in 2009, and I managed to pick a top 10 out, but not a convincing one. None of the albums were amazing from beginning to end, and a couple had a few duds on them. Anyway, in no particular order:
This is a British band which I imagine doesn’t have a huge profile in the US. From what I understand, this album was written based on the journals kept by one of the members of the band who’s been missing (presumed dead) for a number of years now. Not that it really makes a difference, the album is more or less a straight up alternative rock album, and a good one at that. I’ve never been a huge Manic Street Preachers fan, but this album converted me, so it must be a good one…
Probably my favorite album of 2009, which is a surprise, as I really didn’t like it after a couple of listens. I persisted though, and it paid off – rewarding me with one of the best rock albums of the year. Those fans of Living Colour’s older work shouldn’t expect to see a regression here – this album is a continuation of the path they took with Collideoscope. Having said that, where Collidoscope was a sprawling range of sounds and styles, TCITD is a far more cohesive experience, and much better for it.
Pearl Jam recordings have been hit and miss for a while now, and while Backspacer isn’t as good as their older work, it’s still probably the best they’ve done in 10 years or so. Get Some and Amongst The Waves are probably two of my favorite songs from this year.
Magrudergrind are probably one of the best grindcore bands around these days, and their self titled release this year is probably as good a grind album as I’ve heard in several years. Fans of the genre should definitely be checking this out.
Brutal album, this drum machine propelled grind/metal band kicked serious ass with this album. Features some of the best female vocals I’ve ever heard – more women in metal need to take note of this album.
AIC’s comeback album was a good one, though while I wrote this list I though it was lucky to make the top 10. Sure it had some great tracks, but it also had a few songs I couldn’t stand. Overall, a good album though, and I hope to see these guys live sometime in the next year or so!
Probably one of the surprises of the year for me. This band makes wierd metal influences jazz type songs, mainly instrumental (though there’s one track with Mike Patton). Dub Trio fans will probably enjoy this album.
Isis are a band that have frustrated me over the years. Their albums I’ve found have been good in parts, but largely a little too longwinded for my liking. In 2009 they released Wavering Radiant, and for whatever reason I quite like it. I’m sure if I can put a finger on why I prefer it over their other work, but I do. Looking forward to seeing these guys at Soundwave in a couple of months.
Behold! The Monolith made last years list with an EP that they released.. The released a full length this year, and in no real surprise to me – it’s quite good. These guys do basically progressive stoner metal, and in my opinion are probably one of the most overlooked in the genre. Make sure you check them out.
Propagandhi are probably my favorite punk band. This album follows on in the same direction as their last album, and while not being amazing, is a solid album, and probably one of the most listened too this year.
The following didn’t make this list, but are worth checking out:
I didn’t see a massive amount of live music this year, something I hope to rectify in 2010. Highlights of the year were Alice In Chains at Soundwave 2009, Pearl Jam at Adelaide Oval, Propagandhi back in Oz for the first time in years, and The Who with my Dad.
2010 looks promising already, with Soundwave bringing Faith No More, Isis and Meshuggah, and Converge, Between The Buried and Me, Nile, Origin and Misery Signals touring early in the year.
I play a whole stack of games, and I’d say I’m mainly a RPG and/or FPS player. My favorite game this year is probably a dead heat between Dragon Age and Torchlight. Both RPG games but in very different styles. Torchlight really caught me by surprise – it’s a great Diablo remake, and a game that has kept me coming back for weeks now. Dragon Age has been awesome as well though, it’s probably one of the better hard RPGs I’ve played in years.
As far as FPS games go, I enjoyed the single player Modern Warfare 2, despite it’s short length. Personally I think short FPS games are great (Portal is a great example), however I was extremely disappointed with MW2 contempt of the PC market, and the way it was over priced. Borderlands was great as well, though I found it a little repetitive. I need to play more of this in the new year though.
I play a fair few indie games, favorites this year include Spelunky, Mount & Blade, Armageddon Empires and Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup.
Spelunky is a platformer with an Indiana Jones type theme. It features randomly generated levels, and is probably one of the coolest and most fun platform games I’ve played in a while.
Mount & Blade is a action RPG where you play the role of an adventurer in a medieval world. Features horseback combat in an open world. A game I’ve been following for a few years now and it was nice to play this again as the completed version.
Armageddon Empires is a post-apocalyptic turn based strategy game. Well designed and good fun.
Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup is a very polished rogue-like, featuring proper tiles for those that don’t like using an ASCII interface. Fans of rogue-likes and those wanted to give this genre a try should definitely give this free game a download.
This year should be a good one for gaming – I’m already looking forward to Mass Effect 2, Bioshock 2, Aliens vs. Predator, Fallout Vegas, Alpha Protocol, Red Dead Redemption and probably more I can’t think of right now. Diablo 3 would be awesome, but I can’t see that coming out this year sadly…
2010 is the start of a new decade, and hopefully one that should be fruitful for Tool fans. It seems likely that Tool will at lest start writing and recording this year, and there’s always a chance we may see a release late in the year, and possibly some tour dates. Of course there’s always talk of “Big Things” and such, hopefully some kind of DVD or video might make it’s way out there.
I’m sure Maynard will continue to work hard with Puscifer, though at the same time I hope after the tour next year he begins to change focus back to the band we really love. However far be it for me to try and tell the guys from Tool how to do things, they have delivered in the past despite long gaps between drinks and I’m expecting they’ll deliver again.
As far as Fourtheye goes, I hope to continue to make this a great site for all Tool fans to visit. I’m always open to suggestions on how to make things better, so don’t be shy – message me and let me know what you really think. Hopefully I can put a little more love into the technical side of Fourtheye in the next year.
For me, I’m starting a new job in 2010, starting tomorrow in fact. I don’t expect this will interfere with Fourtheye much, but if I’m a little quiet in the next few weeks then you’ll know why!
I hope all my readers have a great 2010, and thanks for taking the time to consume the site– Fourtheye is only ever as good as it’s readers!
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!
on Maynard likes to “absorb life” between albums
on Maynard likes to “absorb life” between albums
on Maynard on The Aquarian
on Maynard on The Aquarian
on Maynard on The Aquarian[ bbPress synchronization by bobrik ]
