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Tool (band) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Tool Tool performing live in  in 2006. Left to right: Jones, Keenan, and Chancellor. Background informationOrigin, California, U.S.Genres Years active1990–presentLabels Tool Dissectional Associated acts WebsiteMembers Past members

Tool is an American  band from Los Angeles, California. Formed in 1990, the group's line-up includes drummer , guitarist , and vocalist .  has been the band's bassist since 1995, replacing their original bassist . Tool has won three , performed worldwide tours, and produced albums topping the charts in several countries.

The band emerged with a  sound on their first studio album,  (1993), and later became a dominant act in the movement, with the release of their second album,  in 1996. Their efforts to unify musical experimentation, , and a message of personal evolution continued, with  (2001) and the most recent album,  (2006), gaining the band critical acclaim, and commercial success around the world.

Due to Tool's incorporation of visual arts and very long and complex releases, the band is generally described as a style-transcending act and part of , , and . The relationship between the band and today's  is ambivalent, at times marked by , and the band's insistence on privacy.

Contents   [] 

History Early years (1988–1992) Main articles:  and 

During the 1980s, each of the future members of Tool moved to Los Angeles. Both  and  wanted to enter the film industry, while  found employment remodeling pet stores after having studied visual arts in Michigan.  and Keenan performed for , and Carey played with  and .

Keenan and Jones met through a mutual friend in 1989. After Keenan played a tape recording for Jones of his previous band project, Jones was so impressed by his voice that he eventually talked his friend into forming their own band. They started  together and were on the lookout for a drummer and a bass player. Carey happened to live above Keenan and was introduced to Jones by , an old high school friend of Jones and former member of Electric Sheep. Carey began playing in their sessions because he "felt kinda sorry for them," as other invited musicians were not showing up. Tool's lineup was completed when a friend of Jones introduced them to bassist D'Amour. Early on, the band fabricated the story that they formed because of the  "lachrymology".Although "lachrymology" was also cited as an inspiration for the band's name, Keenan later explained their intentions differently: "Tool is exactly what it sounds like: It's a big dick. It's a wrench. ... we are ... your tool; use us as a catalyst in your process of finding out whatever it is you need to find out, or whatever it is you're trying to achieve."

After almost two years of practicing and performing locally in the Los Angeles area, the band was approached by record companies, and eventually signed a record deal with . In March 1992, Zoo published the band's first effort, . Described by the band as "slam and bang" heavy music and the "hardest sounding" six songs they had written to that point, the  included the singles "" and "". The band's first music video, "Hush", promoted their dissenting views about the then-prominent  and its advocacy of the . The video featured the band members naked with their genitalia covered by  stickers and their mouths covered by duct tape. The band began touring with , , and  to positive responses, which Janiss Garza of RIP Magazine summarized in September 1992 as a "buzz" and "a strong start".

Undertow (1993–1995) Main article:  MENU 0:00 "Prison Sex" was removed from the MTV playlist and deemed too graphic and offensive by . In this sample, Keenan begins his metaphorical treatment of . Problems playing this file? See .

The following year, at a time when  and  was at its height, Tool released their first full-length album,  (1993). It expressed more diverse dynamics than Opiate and included songs the band had chosen not to publish on their previous release, when they had opted for a heavier sound. The band began touring again as planned, with an exception in May 1993. Tool was scheduled to play at the Garden Pavilion in Hollywood but learned at the last minute that the venue belonged to 's , which was perceived as a clash with "the band's ethics about how a person should not follow a belief system that constricts their development as a human being." Keenan "spent most of the show baa-ing like a sheep at the audience."

A well known band logo created by longtime collaborator ,this wrench is an example of " hardware" in Tool's imagery.

Tool later played several concerts during the  festival tour, and were moved from the second stage to the main stage by their manager and the festival co-founder . At the last concert of Lollapalooza in Tool's hometown Los Angeles, comedian  introduced the band. Hicks had become a friend of the band members and an influence on them after being mentioned in Undertow's liner notes. He jokingly asked the audience of 10,000 people to stand still and help him look for a lost contact lens. The boost in popularity gained from these concerts helped Undertow to be certified  by the in September 1993 and to achieve platinum status in 1995, despite being sold with a  album cover by distributors such as . The single "" became a hit single by March 1994 and won the band Billboard's "Best Video by a New Artist" award for the accompanying  music video.

With the release of Tool's follow-up single "", the band again became the target of censorship. The song's lyrics and video dealt with , which sparked controversial reactions; Keenan's lyrics begin with: "It took so long to remember just what happened. I was so young and vestal then, you know it hurt me, but I'm breathing so I guess I'm still alive ... I've got my hands bound and my head down and my eyes closed and my throat wide open." The video was created primarily by guitarist Adam Jones, who saw it as his "surrealistic interpretation" of the subject matter. And while some contemporary journalists praised the video and described the lyrics as "metaphoric", the American branch of  asked Keenan to represent the band in a hearing. It deemed the music video too graphic and obscene, and MTV stopped airing it after a few showings.

In September 1995, the band started writing and recording their second studio album. At that time Tool experienced its only lineup change to date, with bassist D'Amour leaving the band amicably to pursue other projects. , a member of former tourmates , eventually replaced D'Amour, having been chosen over competitors such as 's , 's Frank Cavanaugh, 's E. Shepherd Stevenson, and 's Marco Fox.

Ænima and Salival (1996–2000) Main articles:  and  Alternative version of the artwork shows a dedication to comedian  as "another dead hero".

On September 17, 1996, Tool released their second full-length album,  ("ON-ima"). It was certified  by the RIAA on March 4, 2003. D'Amour left Tool and Chancellor came on board during the recording of the album. The band enlisted the help of producer , who had produced some of 's albums, while Jones collaborated with  to create Ænima's Grammy-nominated artwork.

The album was dedicated to  , who had died two and a half years earlier. The band intended to raise awareness about Hicks's material and ideas, because they felt that Tool and Hicks "were resonating similar concepts". In particular, Ænima's final track "Third Eye" is preceded by a clip of Hicks' performances, and the  casing of the Ænima album packaging as well as the chorus of the title track "" make reference to a sketch from Hicks's , in which he contemplates the idea of Los Angeles falling into the Pacific Ocean.

The first single, "", garnered limited airplay. It was shortened by radio programmers, MTV (U.S.) renamed the music video of "Stinkfist" to "Track No. 1" due to offensive connotations, and the lyrics of the song were altered. Responding to fan complaints about censorship,  of MTV's  expressed regret on air by waving his fist in front of his face while introducing the video and explaining the name change.

MENU 0:00 This  inspired song won the 1998 . Problems playing this file? See .

A tour began in October 1996, two weeks after Ænima's release. Following numerous appearances in the United States and Europe, Tool headed for Australia and New Zealand in late March 1997. April 1 of that year saw the first of several  pranks related to the band. , webmaster of the band's semi-official fanpage, The Tool Page, wrote that "at least three of the band are listed in critical condition" after a tour bus accident on a highway. This hoax gained wide attention and was eventually exposed on radio and MTV. Akhtar later posted an apology, claiming that The Tool Page "will not indulge itself in such outlandish pranks in the future"—a claim that would be belied by later April Fools' pranks.

Eventually returning to the United States, Tool appeared at Lollapalooza '97 in July, this time as a headliner, where they gained critical praise from :

Tool was returning in triumph to Lollapalooza after appearing among the obscure bands on the festival's smaller stage in 1993. Now Tool is the prime attraction for a festival that's struggling to maintain its purpose ... Tool uses taboo-breaking imagery for hellfire moralizing in songs that swerve from bitter reproach to nihilistic condemnation. Its music has refined all the troubled majesty of grunge.

Bassist performing at 2006's 

Ænima eventually matched Tool's successful debut album in sales, and the progressive-influenced album landed the band at the head of the  genre. It featured the Grammy Award-winning "Ænema" and appeared on several "Best Albums of 1996" lists, with notable examples being those of  and .

A legal battle that began the same year interfered with the band's working on another release. —the successor of Tool's by-then defunct label Zoo Entertainment—alleged contract violations by Tool and filed a lawsuit. According to Volcano, Tool had violated their contract when the band looked at offers from other record labels. After Tool filed a countersuit stating that Volcano had failed to use a renewal option in their contract, the parties settled out of court. In December 1998 Tool agreed to a new contract, a three-record joint venture deal. In 2000, the band dismissed their long-time manager Ted Gardner, who then sued the band over his commission on this lucrative agreement.

During this time, Keenan joined the band , which was founded by long-time Tool guitar tech , while Jones joined The Melvins' and Carey drummed with Dead Kennedys'  on side projects. Although there were rumors that Tool were breaking up, Chancellor, Jones, and Carey were working on new material while waiting for Keenan to return. In 2000, the   (CD/VHS or CD/DVD) was released, effectively putting an end to the rumors.The CD contained one new original track, a  of Led Zeppelin's "", a live version of Peach's "", and revised versions of old songs. The VHS and the DVD each contained four music videos, plus a bonus music video for "Hush" on the DVD. Although Salival did not yield any singles, the hidden track "Maynard's Dick" (which dates back to the Opiate era) briefly found its way to  when several DJs chose to play it on air under the title "Maynard's Dead".

Lateralus (2001–2005) Main article:  Guitarist Adam Jones performing at Roskilde Festival 2006.

In January 2001, Tool announced a new album, Systema Encéphale, along with a 12-song track list containing titles such as "Riverchrist", "Numbereft", "Encephatalis", "Musick", and "Coeliacus". File-sharing networks such as  were flooded with bogus files bearing the titles' names. At the time, Tool members were outspokenly critical of file-sharing networks in general due to their impact on artists that are dependent on record sales to continue their careers. Keenan said during an interview with NY Rock in 2000, "I think there are a lot of other industries out there that might deserve being destroyed. The ones who get hurt by MP3s are not so much companies or the business, but the artists, people who are trying to write songs."

A month later, the band revealed that the new album was actually titled ; the name Systema Encéphale and the track list had been a ruse. Lateralus and the corresponding tours would take Tool a step further toward  and  territory.  wrote in an attempt to summarize the album that "Drums, bass and guitars move in jarring cycles of hyperhowl and near-silent  ... The prolonged running times of most of Lateralus' thirteen tracks are misleading; the entire album rolls and stomps with  purpose." Joshua Klein of  expressed his opinion that Lateralus, with its 79 minutes and relatively complex and long songs—topped by the ten-and-a-half-minute music video for ""—posed a challenge to fans and music programming alike.

MENU 0:00 "Schism" is the Grammy awarded first single off Lateralus. With its abstract lyrics and multi-sectioned, odd-metered structure it has since become a signature song of the band. Problems playing this file? See .

The album became a worldwide success, reaching No.1 on the U.S.  albums chart in its debut week. Tool received their second Grammy Award for the best metal performance of 2001 for the song "". During the band's acceptance speech, drummer Carey stated that he would like to thank his parents (for putting up with him) and , and bassist Chancellor concluded: "I want to thank my dad for doing my mom."

Extensive touring throughout 2001 and 2002 supported Lateralus and included a personal highlight for the band: a 10-show joint mini-tour with  in August 2001. Comparisons between the two were made, MTV describing the bands as "the once and future kings of progressive rock". Keenan stated of the minitour: "For me, being on stage with King Crimson is like  playing with Led Zeppelin, or  onstage with ."

Although the end of the tour in November 2002 seemed to signal the start of another hiatus for the band, they did not become completely inactive. While Keenan recorded and toured with , the other band members released an interview and a recording of new material, both exclusive to the fan club. On April 1, 2005, the official Tool website announced that "Maynard has found Jesus" and would be abandoning the recording of the new Tool album temporarily and possibly permanently.  of MTV contacted Keenan via email to ask for a confirmation and received a nonchalant confirmation. When Loder asked again, Keenan's response was simply "heh heh." On April 7 the official site announced, "Good news, April fools fans. The writing and recording is back under way."

Work continued on the follow-up to Lateralus; meanwhile, a Lateralus vinyl edition and two DVD singles were released, and the band's official website received a new splash intro by artist .The "double  four-picture disc" edition of Lateralus was first released as a limited autographed edition exclusively available to fan club members and publicly released on August 23, 2005. On December 20 the two DVDs were released, one containing the single "" and the other "", a remix by , and a music video with commentary by  and .

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