Yes we’ve heard it before, but this week it has been revealed that Tool are seriously buckling down on the long-awaited follow-up to 2006’s 10,000 Days, after settling a near decade-long lawsuit.
Tool guitarist Adam Jones told Yahoo! Music in a new interview that the band have finished one track from the new album and they have another 10 songs in the works. He added that he hopes the album will be finish by the end of the year.
The news will be met with trepidation from fans who have been waiting almost ten years for a follow-up record. Late last year it was revealed that Tool had entered the studio with their frontman, only to find out last month that nothing had actually been recorded yet.
“We would have had an album out a long time ago,” Jones told Yahoo!, “we would have been taking more tours. But we’ve been discouraged and distracted by this major lawsuit, which is the worst thing that’s ever happened to us.”
The lawsuit began back in 2007 when one of the band’s employees claimed credit for some artwork and things soon descended into a series of messy lawsuits and countersuits involving the band’s insurance company. “It got really ugly and shameful,” says Jones.
Jones explains he felt things turn in their favour when the band’s suit was moved to a different courthouse and new judge took over. That judge just happened to share a name with Ozzy Osbourne guitarist Randy Rhodes.
“I knew the power of metal, and my appreciation of metal was someday going to be like a guardian angel,” said Jones. “But he was great. He came in and took over, and he’s the reason the whole thing is finally over.”
Another series of events have also impeded work on the new album according to the Tool guitarist. He said a member of the band, who for privacy reasons he didn’t choose to name, was dealing with with “a really scary do-or-die, serious illness.”
“When you’re trying to write music and you have that eating away at you – this person you’re married to and you love and hate at the same time has something they’re dealing with that’s out of their control – it’s distracting,” Jones said.
With all the drama seemingly behind them now, Jones says the band are finally seeing progress on the new record. He, bassist Justin Chancellor, and drummer Danny Carey have about 10 songs in the works, and are almost ready for singer Maynard James Keenan to come in an add vocals to their instrumentation.
“Our greatest strength is jamming and coming up with stuff,” Jones says. “We’re doing that really well now and I’m excited about everything we’re working on. Some of it’s really heavy, some of it’s complex and some is more atmospheric, but it’s definitely Tool. I think having this lawsuit out of the way should really speed [up] the progress of getting the album done.”
While he hopes it will be completed by years end, Jones says the band won’t rush anything just to work to an arbitrary deadline. “There’s still a fire, it’s just a different kind of fire. So of course, we’re writing and working hard, but we’ve gotten to a point where we’re relaxed and we’re meeting occasionally to get the writing done instead of every day.
“But I feel like every day we work on the songs is a productive day and we’re getting closer and closer to finishing them.”
Listen: Tool – The Pot
http://youtu.be/2xV93TlPv1M
