Adam Jones On Tool’s Unique Method To Choose Opening Bands, ‘We’ve Never Done Pay-To-Play’

Tool guitarist Adam Jones revealed how the band members choose the supporting bands for their various tours during his recent interview with Metal Hammer. The musician also stated that he had a very famous band in his mind to offer to perform the opening acts for Tool concerts in the future.

There’s no doubt that opening and supporting acts are important to the bands that hired them for their concerts and tours. They needed to create the atmosphere, get the audience’s attention, and prepare them for the main act. Therefore, it’s not so easy to do while millions of people are waiting for them to finish so that the actual group that bought tickets could come. These acts must be chosen very carefully.

As one of them, Tool is known for choosing lesser-known bands that create music that was very different from theirs because they always appreciated originality and new approaches to music. Over the years, the bands like Failure, Jakob, Killing Joke, All Souls, and Blonde Redhead supported them by asking them to join their live performances. Currently, the band’s going on their UK and European Tour, which started on April 23, in Copenhagen Royal Arena.

The band decided to recruit Brass Against for their supporting act, a band famous for their extraordinary Tool covers. Jones unveiled that every Tool member chooses the opening act separately, and it’s his turn to choose, so he wanted Brass Against. He highlighted their energies and covers. The guitarist added that they never invited bands to gain more money or fame, always paid them, and also the next group he wished collaborated for their tour was Arch Enemy.

Jones said in his interview that:

“That’s a loaded question! There are so many! I like Arch Enemy. That was one that I was thinking about asking. A lot of our level bands do the industry giveaway. Take out a band that will pay them for the exposure. We’ve never done that. We never did pay-to-play back in the old Sunset Strip days and never charged bands that we took out. We always pay the bands and ask them ourselves, and we always take out bands that we like.

We don’t have to look for a band to draw tickets, because we don’t have a problem doing that, so what we do is we take turns. It’s Dan’s turn, so he picks this band, then it’s Justin’s turn, and he picks that band, Maynard’s turn, and he picks a band. This time it was my turn, and I picked Brass Against. I have always really liked them: their energy, cover songs, and wind section. You don’t see that anymore.”

You can check out one of the band’s covers below.