Tool drummer Danny Carey recently had a chat with Rick Beato and stood up for Tool’s songs, even though they’re not perfect.
Many Tool songs have unusual time signatures and tempo changes. Carey spoke on the trend of correcting every rhythmic mistake, explaining:
“It kind of takes the magic out of it, I think. But I hope that other people don’t just hear it as wrong. I think you can kind of feel like that, probably the young kids, as they’re so conditioned to everything being perfect, it might be hard for them to listen to classical music, or stuff that breathes. It’s another world, that’s for sure.”
How Does Tool Choose Their Setlist?
In that interview, he also talked about how Tool picks which songs to play. He said that Maynard James Keenan usually decides on it. Carey revealed:
“I mean, we obviously… we’re playing a lot of the ‘Fear Inoculum’ stuff now. Whatever the current record is gonna take precedence, but when it comes to the older songs, it’s kind of what Maynard’s voice can handle. He’s no spring chicken either, man, and it’s a lot harder when your instrument is your body.”
Tool’s Songwriting Process
As another Tool member, Justin Chancellor, said earlier this year to Revolver, the band has a collaborative songwriting process. He discussed their usual style while creating:
“We have an agreement between the four of us that when we write something and share it with each other, it’s automatically the property of Tool. So it’s really a question of creating something original that I haven’t shared with them. It becomes its own thing.”
Carey also previously Carey said if all four band members approve a song, they believe it’ll work. They go through a meticulous process to finish an album, as they want to know everyone is fully committed to it.
You can watch his interview with Beato below.
