Tool famously kept their music off digital platforms until finally making their catalog available to streaming services in 2019 upon the release of their latest album, Fear Inoculum. Looking back, singer Maynard James Keenan feels it was a big “mistake” for the band not to embrace the digital revolution earlier.
In a new conversation with rock personality Allison Hagendorf (watch below), the Tool vocalist was asked about the band’s decision to keep their music strictly on physical formats while most other music acts readily made their music available on platforms like Spotify and Apple Music.
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Keenan emphasized that it wasn’t his choice to do so, insisting he had wanted to the band to go the digital route for 20 years, and that his bandmates finally “caved.”
“I feel like we missed the boat. Like it started with downloads, you know, 24 years ago,” Keenan told Hagendorff, as transcribed by The PRP. “And then by the time we actually came out, downloads are done. We missed 20 years of reaching two generations of people to understand what it is that we do, in a format that, you know… I don’t like listening to the mp3 version. I listen to CDs and vinyl.”
He continued, “But that’s the gateway to get them into the vinyl and the CDs. And I feel like we made a mistake not being on those on those mediums for 20 years. Me every year, saying, ‘We should do this.’”
Hagendorf went on to mention that the moment Tool presented their music on streaming platforms, it turned into a major event.
Keenan replied, “Well fans that knew about it. There’s an entire two generations that didn’t. That’s why [there was] the big surprise when we ended up bumping Taylor Swift off the chart for her second week. They didn’t know who [we were]. I mean ‘Who is this?’ ‘I don’t know who the f**k this is.’ But, I mean, that’s just, that’s the reality, that people didn’t know who we were because we weren’t around. My son just went finished law school, and his peers have no idea who we are. They weren’t exposed to it. It’s not on your phone.”
It’s now been five years since Tool released Fear Inoculum, with Hagendorf mentioning to Keenan that drummer Danny Carey suggested leftover material from that album’s sessions could speed up the process for the band’s next album.
“He talks a lot,” responded Keenan of Carey. “He’s on tour now with the BEAT tour, with Adrian Belew, Steve Vai, and, you know, it’s an amazing, amazing lineup. It’s really impressive. But he’s out there. So, if he’s out there, [he and my other Tool bandmates are] not in [the studio], and I can’t do what I need to do till they get in there and do the thing.
Fans can catch Maynard James Keenan paying tribute to Ozzy Osbourne at the metal icon’s Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction on Saturday (October 19th). The ceremony will air live at 7 p.m. ET on Disney+.
Additionally, Keenan will be out on the road in 2025 via the next edition of the “Sessanta” tour, featuring his bands A Perfect Circle and Puscifer along with Primus. Tickets for that outing are available here.