Sometimes we don’t realize how good something is without witnessing it up close. Lustmord was also nonchalant about Maynard James Keenan’s voice until working with him on Tool and Puscifer tracks. Those experiences changed his perception of Keenan as a singer, leading to a collaboration between the two. Lustmord shared with Revolver the back story of how he collaborated with Keenan on his album.
“It features Maynard James Keenan on one of the tracks, ‘Abaddon,’” he recalled. “I’m not too sure when I first met him. It would’ve been probably over at Adam Jones’ place because there would be these gatherings from time to time. The extended Tool family, a core group of us, would get together for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and weekend stuff. Maynard would be at some of those things. Because this was in L.A., he’d mostly be in Arizona, but he’d be at some of them.”
He added that he was obviously aware of Keenan’s talent but was initially indifferent. The musician noted, “It must have been about 2005, 2006. To be honest with you, that’s how much of an impression he made on me. Well, I knew who he was, obviously, because of Tool, and we knew the same people.”
However, after hearing Keenan without all the bells and whistles, Lustmord thought his voice was a perfect fit for his solo album. He expressed, “After working with Maynard for Tool and Puscifer and hearing his voice isolated … I knew he would be perfect for that album of mine because ‘The Word as Power’ was an album of vocals. So, I thought he would be perfect for it, but I wasn’t going to ask him because, like, hell, he gets asked all the time for that shit, and it’s sleazy, you know what I mean?”
Lustmord continued, “But he came up to me one day and said, ‘I should do some vocals for you because it’ll be a good thing.’ Because he knows he’s a name and him being on something would get something more attention — which is why I didn’t want to ask him because that would be taking advantage of the friendship. But he volunteered to do that because he thought he could help.”
Maynard had to climb the ladder step by step, so if the roles were reversed, he would have jumped at the opportunity of helping someone consolidate their name in the industry. So, he was more inclined to give his vocals to Lustmord’s track ‘Abaddon.’ So if you’re just getting to know Lustmord as an artist, this track could be an excellent place to start.
