In a short interview with Rock Radio Maynard commented that he likes to take time between Tool albums:

"Some new band, their first two records are the ones that are the freshest, ’cause they’ve had all their lives to write them. And then that third record ends up being all about the inside of a bus and something that happened backstage ’cause what else have they seen? And I’ve pretty much tried my best to avoid that album by taking time between writing projects to kind of absorb life in general — have some experiences, read a few books, get into a different headspace and then wait ’til the time is right."

Not much else of note in the interview…

Christophe from Salival.fr conducted an interview with Tool associated artist Cam De Leon recently, and is now available on his website.  Here’s the question I know you’re all dying to ask him:

If you don’t mind, can you tell us more about what happened for this great combination to cease ?
Well, I appreciate your interest and concern about that, and I’m sure it’s coming from a good place, but I don’t think there are enough who actually care, to warrant spending much time on it. But I’ll just say in more than 10 years of working together, I contributed as much as I could, and I love Adam like a brother. Working with him was always a meaningful challenge, and I appreciate the experience. But they’re clearly in good hands with the list of super talented artists you mentioned so I don’t assume they have any particular need of me, and I have way more projects of my own than I can possibly manage.

There you go.  A great interview and well worth reading!

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!

In a recent interview on Metromix.com, Maynard makes a brief mention of the Live DVD.

I have to ask: What’s up with A Perfect Circle and Tool?
Nothing I know of at the moment. There’s always writing, we’re always doing that. But as soon as I say anything…like, I mentioned 15 years ago a possibility of filming a live Tool show, and I still get asked about that! I made the mistake of opening my mouth.

The article is really about the coming Puscifer tour, so don’t go expecting more Tool chatter than what I posted…

In a recent interview on AV Club, George Clinton (not Bill) talks about all kinds of funky stuff, including Tool:

AVC: Who do you think will carry on the torch of funk?

GC: There’re no young bands. Most of us have been around a while, but most of the hip-hop and rappers have bands now that are really pretty funky. Eminem, even though we’ve known him for years, when he was 14 or 15, Mystikal–he was getting ready to be the shit. Then you got some funky groups like [Red Hot] Chili Peppers. Though they’re like some R&B acts: When you get a few hits, you end up on the pop side of it. They could easily flip it. They have that kind of mentality. Then you’ve got a lot of metal-punk bands that’re really, really funky. Tool and groups like that. That’s some funky shit. They be playing with time and like jazz, but it’s straight off the punk-rock scene.

Nice interview.  In other news just at hand the AV Club also interviewed Maynard!

According to a recent Facebook update by Adam:

Adam Jones ~ ! ! ! NASA – International Space Station: "The on orbit crew awoke at 4:15pET to the song "Parabola" by Tool, played for astronaut Bob Behnken

Nice!

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…

According to a recent Blabbermouth post, Maynard shouldn’t necessarily be blamed for the lack of Tool action:

"I can’t sit still, so when those guys hesitate, it takes us so long to do stuff, and it’s like a snake eating its own tail situation, ’cause then I get distracted and I go off and do a thing, and then I get blamed for not being around to do the (TOOL) thing," he said. "But nothing was getting done when I was standing there, so I got bored and left. It’s just an endless cycle."

Sounds fair to me.  It’s been pretty clear that Tool is a team effort for a long while, and singling out any one member for a lack of a new album is a little harsh…

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!