Etymology
 
The "Wrench" was an early band logo, created by longtime collaborator Cam de Leon.[116]

The band has circulated several stories surrounding the origin of their name. One speculation revolved around lachrymology, a pseudophilosophy that the band has stated was founded in 1949 by Ronald P. Vincent after the death of his wife in a snow plowing accident. Danny Carey alleged that the name "Tool" means that the band served its fans as a tool through which those people would come to understand the concept of lachrymology.[117] The band has since ceased to promote this explanation. Maynard James Keenan gave a more direct approach to explaining his band's name in an interview in 1994:

"Tool is exactly what it sounds like: It's a big dick. It's a wrench. It's also what it sounds like: It's a verb, it's a digging factor. It's an active process of searching, as in use us, we are a shovel, we are the match, we're the blotter of acid, your tool; use us as a catalyst in your process of finding out whatever it is you need to find out, or whatever it is you're trying to achieve."

Tool is an American rock band, formed during 1990 in Los Angeles, California, that consists of drummer Danny Carey, bassist Justin Chancellor, guitarist Adam Jones, and vocalist Maynard James Keenan.

Emerging with a heavy metal sound on their first release, when the genre was dominated by thrash metal, they were later seen at the top of the alternative metal movement with the release of their second full-length studio album Ænima in 1996. After an ongoing evolution of their sound and continuous efforts to unify musical experimentation, visual arts, and a message of personal evolution on Lateralus (2001), their most recent album 10,000 Days (2006), as well as respective tours, they are generally described as a style-transgressing act and part of progressive and art rock.

Relatively long and complex releases, controversial song lyrics and cover art, and their unorthodox music videos resulted in a rather ambivalent relationship between the band and today's music industry,[1] at times marked by censorship, and the bandmembers' insistence on privacy.[2] Nevertheless, Tool receives critical acclaim, has won Grammy Awards, performs worldwide tours, and produces albums that top the charts in several countries.

Musical traits, genre and influences

Tool has gained critical praise from the International Herald Tribune's C.B. Liddell for a complex and ever-evolving sound.[72] Describing their general sound, the All Music Guide refers to them as "grinding, post-Jane's Addiction heavy metal"[3], and The New York Times sees similarities to "Led Zeppelin's heaving, battering guitar riffs and Middle Eastern modes".[73] Their 2001 work Lateralus led the All Music Guide to compare it to Pink Floyd's Meddle (1971), but thirty years later and altered by "Tool's impulse to cram every inch of infinity with hard guitar meat and absolute dread".[45] The band cites some of its influences as King Crimson,[74] The Melvins,[75] and Meshuggah.[58]

Musical traits

A component of Tool's song repertoire relies on the use of odd meter time signatures. For instance, Justin Chancellor describes the time signature employed on Lateralus' first single "Schism", as 6.5/8 and that it later "goes into all kinds of other times".[76] The album's title track "Lateralus" also displays shifting rhythms,[76] as does 10,000 Days' (2006) "Wings for Marie (Pt 1)" and "10,000 Days (Wings Pt 2)".[77]

Beyond this aspect of the band's sound, each band member experiments within their musical scope. Bass Player magazine attested Chancellor's bass playing a "thick midrange tone, guitar-style techniques, and elastic versatility".[76] As an example of this, the magazine mentioned the use of a wah effect by hammering "the notes with the left hand and using the bass's tone controls to get a tone sweep", such as on the song "The Patient" (Lateralus 2001).[76]

Completing the band's rhythm section, drummer Danny Carey uses polyrhythms, tabla-style techniques, and the incorporation of custom electronic drum pads to trigger samples, such as prerecorded tabla and octoban sounds.[77]

Maynard James Keenan's ability as a vocalist has been characterized more subjectively by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer: After his performance during an Alice in Chains reunion concert in 2005, freelancer Travis Hay saw him as "a natural fit at replacing Layne Staley".[78] Regarding his role in A Perfect Circle and Tool, The New York Times wrote that "both groups rely on Mr. Keenan's ability to dignify emotions like lust, anger and disgust, the honey in his voice adding a touch of profundity."[79]

According to Guitar Player magazine, Adam Jones is not dominating any particular guitar playing technique, but rather combines many techniques.[80] For example, the All Music Guide wrote that he is "alternately utilizing power chords, scratchy noise, chiming arpeggios, and a quiet minimalism" in "Sober".[81] Additionally, the band uses forms of instrumental experimentation, like the use of a "pipe bomb microphone" (a guitar pickup mounted inside a brass cylinder) and a talk box guitar solo on "Jambi".[82]
Music sample:
Lateralus excerpt (file info) — play in browser (beta)
The number of syllables per line in the lyrics to "Lateralus" correspond to an arrangement of the fibonacci numbers.
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The band puts an emphasis on the sound of their songs and attempt to reduce the effect lyrics can have on the perception of songs by not releasing song lyrics with any album.[2] Lyrical arrangements are often given special attention, such as in "Lateralus". The number of syllables per line in the lyrics to "Lateralus" correspond to an arrangement of the fibonacci numbers[10] and in "Jambi" the metrical foot iamb is used.[83] The themes of their lyrics include philosophical and spiritual issues—specific subjects range from evolution and Jungian psychology in "Forty-Six & 2", to organized religion in "Opiate" and transcendence in "Lateralus". Keenan also explores personal issues, such as the album name 10,000 Days and the album's title track, which refers to the twenty-seven years Keenan's mother had to suffer from complications of a stroke until her passing away in 2003.[84]

Genre allusions

The band is often described using broad genres and critics have placed them in many different genres over time.[7][85] Specifically, Tool "slipped into the definition of alternative rock during the post-Nirvana era" when playing Lollapalooza in 1993,[3] at a time when their first full length album Undertow had just been released. Their next album, Ænima (1996), landed them in the alternative metal genre,[3][86] although they were also referred to as post-metal by Variety and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram,[87][88] a term which would not come into wide use until the next decade.[89]

The band's ongoing evolution continued to involve musical and visual art experimentation on Lateralus, and their live shows during the supporting tour, which sparked the use of the terms art rock[3][51][44] and art metal,[15][43] for example by Brett Milano of the Boston Herald.[90] Simultaneously, the band expressed their kinship with one of their prime influences, King Crimson, whose first albums are considered to have pioneered progressive rock, by launching a joint mini-tour. Comparisons between the two were made, MTV described the bands as "the once and future kings of progressive rock",[51] and the Rolling Stone and All Music Guide reviews of Lateralus also considered it to be progressive rock.[46][45][91] However, longtime King Crimson member Robert Fripp downplayed any influence his band had on Tool. In an interview with Tool, he touched briefly on how the two bands relate to each other:

"Do you hear the influence? There's just one figure where I hear an influence, just one. It was a piece we were developing that we dropped. And it's almost exactly the same figure: three note arpeggio with a particular accent from the guitar. So I do not think you could have heard it. That's the only thing." (Robert Fripp during a "Tool Army" exclusive interview)[92]

The band itself has a satirical point of view on this debate:

"As far as the prog references go, we embrace them. However, we would prefer our new moniker, which is a Mulligan stew of progressive rock, Bulgarian folk metal, rock ’n’ roll, ’80s disco and Christian rap that we like to call Munge." (Maynard James Keenan cited in Boston Herald, 2006)[90]

Influence on other bands

In Maloof and Newquists' book, The New Metal Masters, Tool is described as influential in modern metal.[7] Sean Richardson of The Boston Phoenix sees System of a Down, Deftones, or Korn as examples of Tool's "towering influence" on the genre.[93] Moreover, Keenan's unique style of singing has been repeatedly seen influencing artists such as Pete Loeffler of Chevelle.