Tool
Tool as a band has almost a spiritual significance for me. They are a source of inspiration, consolation and humiliation for me. I worship them, metaphorically speaking of course. I do not remember the very first time that I heard them but I recall hearing the familiar cool and calculated voice of Maynard in the background while playing cards during my first at college in Hisham’s room. It was not until the second year that I started having ‘heavy’ philosophical discussions with Cheema. He was an individual. It was during one of the many discussions that I had with him that he started telling me about this band called Tool to whom he had been introduced by J. This band was unique or at least seemed unique at the time to me. Cheema told me stories about the layers of esoteric cult concepts they used in their lyrics, their eccentric playing scale and the rumors surrounding the group members. What interested me most was their theme. They did not focus on love like all the other bands I had been listening to at the time (I had just graduated from Michael Jackson). Instead they focused on deep immersing music coupled with bohemian philosophies. Someone more gifted than me has appropriately described Tool as the band that brings together the head banger and the art connoisseur.
Needless to say the more I listened to Tool the more it drew me in. I purchased all their albums and downloaded all the songs, interviews and concerts I could find. There was once a time I could have claimed I had every word ever uttered by Maynard on microphone residing on my hard disk. The dark ambience that Tool prefers to be enveloped in further drives the obsession of its fans. Their music has such a unique touch to it that once falls for them all others songs become unbearable. They usually use a three beat backdrop that keeps changing within each song, a highly irregular thing in modern day music. Each song is an experience. One can feel the meticulous effort that has gone into constructing the symphony that starts slow and builds up to its prime before slowly dying down. Their average song length far exceeds other bands in their class. It is this variation between each song that keeps each and every song fresh to the listener. Even now when I listen to their songs I find something new. It is as if I enter the song itself.
Tool promotes certain philosophies. They have strong links with a black comedian who did death comedy and a university professor who devised a system of enlightenment through taking hallucinatory drugs. Their lyrics seem to promote individualism and free thought to the extent of questioning even one’s reality. Yet it is very difficult to differentiate between their sarcastic innuendo and real message. They try their best to cloud everything in context. Each message is layered within a dozen or more concepts from psychology, philosophy, religion, medicine etc. Sometimes they make me wonder whether they spend more time reading an encyclopedia or making music.
Maynard, the band’s lead singer is best described as a freak genius. He has a voice that sounds good whether he is singing ballads with Tori Amos or abusing the system with Rage of the Machine. He has a different hair style on each concert and has experiment with artificial appendages also. Little is known about his personal life but rumor has it that he is married with a son. Apparently the lyrics are uttered by Maynard at runtime when the other band members have completed the composition. He is a graduate from an art institution with an uncanny feel for blending words and music.
Danny Carey is the band’s drummer and seems to be the most normal out of all of them. His powerful drum compositions use a surprising amount of geometrical progression. He vowed never to follow in his father’s footsteps and become a free mason yet he now finds himself behind a set of drums, his hands mimicking the ancient rituals which he despises.
Adam Jones is the quiet type of person. He hardly speaks during interviews yet he is the man behind the band’s esoteric videos that sometimes border on the unpleasant. He is the lead guitarist and composes the backbone of most of the songs. He is also a graduate from an art university with credits in big blockbuster movies like Jurassic Park for his miniature motion capture techniques.
Justin Chancellor replaced Paul De’ Amor as bassist. That is all I know about him.
Needless to say the more I listened to Tool the more it drew me in. I purchased all their albums and downloaded all the songs, interviews and concerts I could find. There was once a time I could have claimed I had every word ever uttered by Maynard on microphone residing on my hard disk. The dark ambience that Tool prefers to be enveloped in further drives the obsession of its fans. Their music has such a unique touch to it that once falls for them all others songs become unbearable. They usually use a three beat backdrop that keeps changing within each song, a highly irregular thing in modern day music. Each song is an experience. One can feel the meticulous effort that has gone into constructing the symphony that starts slow and builds up to its prime before slowly dying down. Their average song length far exceeds other bands in their class. It is this variation between each song that keeps each and every song fresh to the listener. Even now when I listen to their songs I find something new. It is as if I enter the song itself.
Tool promotes certain philosophies. They have strong links with a black comedian who did death comedy and a university professor who devised a system of enlightenment through taking hallucinatory drugs. Their lyrics seem to promote individualism and free thought to the extent of questioning even one’s reality. Yet it is very difficult to differentiate between their sarcastic innuendo and real message. They try their best to cloud everything in context. Each message is layered within a dozen or more concepts from psychology, philosophy, religion, medicine etc. Sometimes they make me wonder whether they spend more time reading an encyclopedia or making music.
Maynard, the band’s lead singer is best described as a freak genius. He has a voice that sounds good whether he is singing ballads with Tori Amos or abusing the system with Rage of the Machine. He has a different hair style on each concert and has experiment with artificial appendages also. Little is known about his personal life but rumor has it that he is married with a son. Apparently the lyrics are uttered by Maynard at runtime when the other band members have completed the composition. He is a graduate from an art institution with an uncanny feel for blending words and music.
Danny Carey is the band’s drummer and seems to be the most normal out of all of them. His powerful drum compositions use a surprising amount of geometrical progression. He vowed never to follow in his father’s footsteps and become a free mason yet he now finds himself behind a set of drums, his hands mimicking the ancient rituals which he despises.
Adam Jones is the quiet type of person. He hardly speaks during interviews yet he is the man behind the band’s esoteric videos that sometimes border on the unpleasant. He is the lead guitarist and composes the backbone of most of the songs. He is also a graduate from an art university with credits in big blockbuster movies like Jurassic Park for his miniature motion capture techniques.
Justin Chancellor replaced Paul De’ Amor as bassist. That is all I know about him.
posted by Haris at 00:47
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