From Maynard’s Blog

From Maynard‘s Myspace page:

Good news

1 on the Billboard INDIE chart.
25 on the Billboard top 200

No Major label budget.
No Major label $300,000 Bus bench/poster/billboard marketing campaign.
No overpriced full page ad in every silly magazine ever printed
No Promotions Dept Payola hand jobs.
No shove it down your throat anything.

just 100% street level, viral, word of mouth support.

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you.

By the way… Some Friends of mine in the Garment industry sent out a flyer advertising the release. They received dozens of Complaints from Mothers who were offended by the word Vagina. Ironic, isn’t it? Without a vagina they wouldn’t BE mothers.

Currently listening :
Songs About Fucking
By Big Black
Release date: By 28 October, 1992

Congratulations to Maynard and his promo team for their success.

Great album he’s listening to by the way…

Maynard talks Puscifer

There’s a new Maynard interview on mp3.com where he talks about all things Puscifer.  I wonder how serious he’s being:

Were you tossing around album titles for a long time, or was V for Vagina the only contender? We hosted a telethon in my mind. Many came, few were chosen to participate in a fight to the death.

What were the other contenders? C is for Cunnilingus, O is for Overreact, T is for 2 at noon.

Hmmm, not very it seems…

Vicarious Video Details

Since the truth is now out there, I’ll reveal what I know about the Vicarious video.  It’s not much really.  Here’s a copy of the letter I was forwarded over a week ago now, and sworn to secrecy:

Hello,

It’s with great excitement that we announce Tool’s long-awaited “Vicarious” DVD, featuring the unreleased video “Vicarious” and other content, will be released December 18 2007.

As always with Tool, exact packaging details are hush-hush, but if you look at “10,000 Days” packaging you won’t be too far off.

Due to this special packaging, the DVD package in its entirety will be manufactured here in the U.S. for the World . Parts for local manufacture will not be available. This DVD will be manufactured in NTSC only, which we’re told is now playable on virtually all players worldwide.

Product details are below…
Catalogue#:               82876878169
Format:                   NTSC DVD
Finished good unit cost:      US$2.50 excluding freight
U.S. retail price:           US$12.98

To ensure we have enough stock for your orders we need an estimation of your initial order and 30, 60, 90 day stock needs. We recommend your initial order covers the first 3 months of this release, not only due to strong consumer demand but also lengthy manufacturing times and expected unit cost increases on smaller worldwide reorders.

Please submit your estimates to me by Tuesday October 16. Official orders will be requested through normal production channels at a later date, we just need an accurate estimate right now to get the ball rolling.

Tool continue their massive two year tour with dates in the U.S. and Canada through December. Maynard James Keenan’s alter-ego project, Puscifer, is out October 30. For those wishing to advertise the “Vicarious” DVD prerelease, a gentle reminder that Tool and Puscifer cannot be marketed together. This restriction includes an inability to tag the Tool DVD release on Puscifer advertising – meaning I don’t want to see an ad for a Vicarious Vagina!

Also, in Alex Greys latest newsletter:

Adam Jones, the lead guitar and filmmaker of TOOL has been working with Alex Grey on Vicarious, the first music video from TOOL’s 10,000 Days album. Scheduled for release shortly before Christmas 2007, the video features Jone’s signature surreal and dark dream vision blended with Grey’s glimpses into a brighter world. Stay tuned for release dates and pre-release screenings.

Looking forward to hearing more details about the release.

Jambi Lyrics

Blair has posted the lyrics for Jambi on Toolarmy today.  Non-Toolarmy members will just have to continue humming along until someone posts them online.  Blair also plugs the V is for Vagina CD from Puscifer, which is available for pre-order on the Puscifer site.  It’s not very Tool-ish for those that haven’t heard any yet.  Those wanting something more Toolish will just have to wait until December…

Team Puscifer Email

blksun posted this email from Maynard to the Puscifer Street team on Toolarmy the other day.  It’s an interesting read:

dearest supporters, street teamers, and mailing listers.

thank you for signing up to help.

re: puscifer “v is for vagina” music…

first and foremost, if you don’t like what you’re hearing from this project so far, don’t lie about it out of respect.
if you’re compelled to support it in spite of what you’ve heard and not appreciated, then support it because you believe in the precedent of independence i’m attempting to set.

promise me that much and then we can proceed from here.

this project for me is one part fun, one part learning experience. trying to go it alone, without a label to convolute my efforts is very terrifying, chaotic, and challenging. but all in a very positive way. many many dark corners and unknowns. it’s liberating but still pretty damn scary. this is a very very expensive education. i could very easily lose my ass on this whole thing. but it’s sort of ok. i can afford a new ass.
anyway…

lot’s of controversy flying about regarding downloading. time to throw my 2 cents in. downloading wont effect me TOO much. but it will affect those bands right on the edge. bands who could use the hundred bucks to make it to the next town to play a show (gas and food aren’t free. go figure) . or could use some cash to record a new record.( imagine that. it actually takes money to record a record.) i can afford to pay for the recording of my record. i’m one of the lucky ones. (thanks to nirvana and the label feeding frenzy, i won the early 90′s grunge lottery.) but those days are history. in order for young bands to survive nowadays, they need to get paid for their efforts. touring costs money. recording costs money. unless you’re ok with bands recording their songs on their Palm Treo. personally i went the extra mile and tried to incorporate that ancient and illusive medium known as “analog tape.” because, and i can hear the yawns welling up as i type… because it sounds better. the machines are expensive and a pain in the ass to maintain but they’re worth it. that is unless people are just gonna steal your efforts. then it’s a big fat FUCK NO, IT”S NOT WORTH IT. so don’t be douche bags. support the process.

devils advocate… it feels like the digital landscape has widened peoples appreciation of new music. it’s placed alternative forms of music in front of those who may not have been exposed otherwise. it feels like people are more excited about music than they have been in a long time. but for fuck sake… pay the man for his song and dance. otherwise the only people who can afford to record quality music are the cookie cutter boy bands with their corporate sponsors and media machines.(Dick In Box Excluded, of course) please do your best to support bands like Autolux, the Burning Brides, Isis, etc… they need you. i need you, but they need you more. having said that…
i’m doing this pretty much on my own. no label support aside from the distributor. it’s a HUGE learning curve. but if i can navigate it, i will be able to share what i’ve learned. i can make it easier for other bands that are trying to do it on their own. make it possible for us all to survive in our little microcosms rather than fall victim to the seductive song of the sirens… the expensive and impersonal macrocosm of the major label dog and pony show.
once again, thank you for your efforts.

m j keenan
professional dumbass

Nice to finally hear Maynard’s take on the whole downloading thing.  I’m pretty much in agreeance with what he says there.  Make sure you support the artists you enjoy buy actually buying their music, attending their concerts, and buying their T-Shirts.  You do want them to keep making music don’t you?

V is for Vagina tracklist?

The German Sony BMG website has posted a tracklisting of the upcoming Puscifer album V is for Vagina.  Here it is:

  1. Queen B
  2. DoZo
  3. Vagina Mine
  4. Momma Said
  5. Drunk With Power
  6. The Undertaker
  7. Trekka
  8. Indigo Children
  9. Sour Grapes
  10. Rev 22:20

No Cuntry Boner?  No Circle Jerks World Up My AssDoZo not Dojo?  I wonder how correct this list is.  We’ll just have to wait and see I suppose.

Thanks to the Tool Hotline for the tip