TOOL's Danny Carey Explains How The Band's Lyrics Are Composed

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Tool guitarist Adam Jones recently said that despite changes in the lives of each band member in the years since the band's last studio album, 10,000 Days, writing the music has never changed.

The band's "reflective" process is part of the reason the band, which has never broken up, is about to release just its fifth full-length studio album in 29 years.

Tool and its fans sure have gotten the most out of each record, though. It seems no matter what the band puts out, fans always manage to find deeper meaning in the layers of music, artwork and lyrics. Every Tool album is a mystery in and of itself, and it's completely intentional.

Drummer Danny Carey was recently asked by Revolver how the band achieves such a holistic product when its understood that singer Maynard James Keenan doesn't begin adding his parts until the arrangements are close to finalized.

"...Maynard's never let me down once," Carey said. "It all has to fit together. Maynard has come to me several times, especially when we first lay the music on him, because he wants to know some of the math and some of the concepts that maybe we had about the songs as they're taking form."

Concepts discussed by Carey, Jones and bassist Justin Chancellor during the initial writing phase are taken into account by Keenan.

"So it's still kind of a group effort," Carey continued. "But his opinion is the final one. He can do whatever he wants on it, but he comes to us for little leads or direction sometimes, so it is cohesive."

Tool's new album, Fear Inoculum, is due out August 30.

Photo: Getty Images


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