Tool’s Maynard James Keenan recently appeared on The Fred Minnick Show to discuss old rock bands’ inability to give great live performances. Amid a conversation about music with the host, the singer addressed the difference between being in a studio and performing live and what you have to worry about during both. Starting with the studio, he said the following:
“In the studio, there’s no audience, so you’re definitely not worrying about what you’re wearing that day. You’re just trying to make sure you’re getting the correct audio, and a lot of it is it’s all general to specific. You’re getting riffs down; you’re getting ideas down, scatting and trying to figure out what that finished thing is going to be, and it’s a back-and-forth exchange.”
Touching on the importance of the ideas rather than worrying about how to perform, he continued:
“So it’s more about the ideas, not the performance or where the lights are, and then when you actually go to record it, you’re focusing on that, I’m focusing on the actual performance and then matching that performance throughout the entire recording.”
When it comes to live shows, what the bands have to worry about increases, such as their performance, the sound, the lights, and more. Keenan, who is known to appear at the back side of the stage rather than the front, said the following about live performances:
“Live, of course, is there’s just a lot of more lights and a lot more movement, so you’re making sure you’re combining. At the end of the day, the performance, vocally and musically, has to be on par; you have to nail it. So you have to find your restrictions in terms of movement and running around and whatever the production is, so that you’re not still running around like a clown on stage, but you’re still performing the song so the audio when you walk away, it sounded correct.”
Keenan then shared his thoughts on the old bands, noting that fans often say they ‘suck’ but that is because they don’t play live the way they do in the studio:
“A lot of bands back in the ’70s… With the old rock and roll bands that show up and play their songs like, [many say] ‘These guys f*cking suck,’ because they’re not playing like they did in the studio. There’s all kind of cool layers and 2-inch tape, and it sounds like the way it sounds, there’s five layers of guitars, and on stage, the only guitar player is on heroin [so it] doesn’t work.”
With old age, many rockers started to retire or not perform as well as they used to do. Although he is one year away from sixty, Keenan didn’t comment negatively on the future of his bands, which makes it evident that he will keep singing until he makes any further comments.
You can see the interview below.
