Tool fans are an enthusiastic bunch, and their favorite band is infamously withholding about new music. (They haven’t released an album since 2006’s polarizing 10,000 Days.) So it’s not surprising that they got riled up when Maynard James Keenan, the band’s mercurial leader, tweeted—and then deleted—a message that the music is almost finished for the band’s long-talked-about fifth album.
In 2008, Keenan told MTV that Tool would begin working on a new LP “right away,” and fans have been waiting and speculating for a decade since then. Things have gotten more fervent recently, with the band’s return to semi-regular live shows and hints dropped by members and other ’90s rock luminaries that the record may finally be on its way. Earlier this month, Keenan tweeted and posted to Facebook a message that he’d “started getting music files from the boys w the word FINAL in the title a few months ago after 11 years of begging,” and that he’d written lyrics and vocal melodies for all but one song. At some point between now and then, however, Keenan deleted the tweet, and as Alternative Nation notes, fans on the Tool subreddit are mildly freaking out. A few representative quotes:
I’m leaving incredibly sad.
I bet he posted that big update after having a few (many) glasses of wine, and then ended up regretting it. That’s the only scenario in which I can imagine Maynard being so forthright with specific details about the album progress.
I think he needs to ignore the fans. He’s better than this. Just make music, do shows, sell wine. Be merry
Maybe Maynard didn’t want to get people’s hopes up about a record he’s already said will be arriving later than fans are expecting, or maybe he just felt bad about the insinuation with the “11 years of begging” line that the wait was mostly his bandmates’ fault.
Tool fans can take comfort in the fact that the Facebook post is still live. On the other hand, if it is an accurate update, Maynard hasn’t even finished writing yet. It sounds like he’s working with demos, and the instrument’s aren’t yet tracked. Even if it’s all true, the record is probably a ways away from release. We reached out to a representative of the band, who said there is “no news as of yet” about the record.
