me playing guitar (don't act like you're not impressed)

[Plug Drugs]

If they were all about the music you wouldn't know their names. They want to be celebrities. There's nothing wrong with that.

I'm sure they enjoy the fame to an extent, but not as much as other bands do
maynard won't go out in public without wearing a wig and disguise, and according to myth "shoots at obsessive crazed fans with a paintball gun to get them off his private premises"

I think they try to let the music stand by itself as much as they can.
They're not trying to promote a certain way to dress, a certain way to act, or a certain "music scene". At a Tool concert, you see all sorts of people who all associate themselves with different genres of music. Although Tool may be technically considered "metal", the crowd of fans is about as "metal" as the crowd at a bob dylan concert is "folk".

[maks]

I'm sure they enjoy the fame to an extent, but not as much as other bands do
maynard won't go out in public without wearing a wig and disguise, and according to myth "shoots at obsessive crazed fans with a paintball gun to get them off his private premises"

I think they try to let the music stand by itself as much as they can.
They're not trying to promote a certain way to dress, a certain way to act, or a certain "music scene". At a Tool concert, you see all sorts of people who all associate themselves with different genres of music. Although Tool may be technically considered "metal", the crowd of fans is about as "metal" as the crowd at a bob dylan concert is "folk".

is marilyn manson promoting his style? does he encourage people to dress like him? tool's casual in a way that makes them appealing to people who are anti-glam. that may not be the right description but it's the best I could think of. anyway, it's just as calculated, and just as much a part of the show, as kiss's makeup.

I don't know who classifies tool as metal, they're not nearly fast enough or dark enough to be a metal band. they're hard rock if anything.

[Plug Drugs]

that's kind of the point, their gimmick is not having a gimmick. you may say the one guy isn't going for a 'look' and that's why he wears a jersey all the time, I say he wears a jersey all the time because after much deliberation he chose that as his 'look' to make sure everyone notices how little he cares about these things.

it's not really the rest of the band though, it's mostly maynard. I haven't seen a frontman so in love with himself, so convinced that everything he says is pure brilliance, since jim morrison. he makes david lee roth look humble.

well, touche.
At least they're trying though

[maks]

well, touche.
At least they're trying though

I should point out, again, I don't have any problem with Tool, I consider myself a fan of theirs. It's just that sometimes you deify them a little more than they deserve and I feel compelled to reel you back in a bit.

[Plug Drugs]

is marilyn manson promoting his style? does he encourage people to dress like him? tool's casual in a way that makes them appealing to people who are anti-glam. that may not be the right description but it's the best I could think of. anyway, it's just as calculated, and just as much a part of the show, as kiss's makeup.

I don't know who classifies tool as metal, they're not nearly fast enough or dark enough to be a metal band. they're hard rock if anything.

i think its as calculated as it could be during the few seconds they thought "what are we going to wear out on stage? we have to wear something"
or at least that's what i like to think

they probably have their own stylists

[maks]

i think its as calculated as it could be during the few seconds they thought "what are we going to wear out on stage? we have to wear something"
or at least that's what i like to think

Nothing wrong with buying into the illusion, Pearl Jam fans do it all the time.

they probably have their own stylists

'give me a $800 haircut and make it look like an $8 haircut please'

[Plug Drugs]

I should point out, again, I don't have any problem with Tool, I consider myself a fan of theirs. It's just that sometimes you deify them a little more than they deserve and I feel compelled to reel you back in a bit.

yeah drugs can make me manic and obsessive.
I think I may have put more thought into some band's songs than they ever even put into it while writing it

I've just always been craving a style of music that takes things to the next step, and Tool seems to have taken it there. They are definitely more committed to making quality music than your average schmucks; they spend months writing new albums; other bands don't put in 1/10th of that effort. Dave Mustaine openly admits that all the riffs on Countdown Extinction were made in just one afternoon; the band would go out and shoot hoops for a while, go back in the studio and just 'come up with' a riff, then go back out and shoot hoops for a while, then go back in and write another.
Tool on the other hand, actually has a blackboard they write out their gameplan on, with every single note given deep intricate thought before it is placed in the song.

[maks]

yeah drugs can make me manic and obsessive.
I think I may have put more thought into some band's songs than they ever even put into it while writing it

I've just always been craving a style of music that takes things to the next step, and Tool seems to have taken it there. They are definitely more committed to making quality music than your average schmucks; they spend months writing new albums; other bands don't put in 1/10th of that effort. Dave Mustaine openly admits that all the riffs on Countdown Extinction were made in just one afternoon; the band would go out and shoot hoops for a while, go back in the studio and just 'come up with' a riff, then go back out and shoot hoops for a while, then go back in and write another.
Tool on the other hand, actually has a blackboard they write out their gameplan on, with every single note given deep intricate thought before it is placed in the song.

their philosophies are totally different. dave mustaine isn't interested in being recognized as a paragon of talent handed down by the gods of rock, he's interested in making fun thrashy songs to play loudly and annoy one's parents. tool takes their music way too seriously to have any fun with it, every album feels like maynard expects me to recognize it as a masterpiece and if I find any fault with it well I'm obviously just stupid because it's perfect in every way. he really does remind me a lot of jim morrison.

[Plug Drugs]

Nothing wrong with buying into the illusion, Pearl Jam fans do it all the time.

There is a certain illusion Tool plays along with on purpose, but their fans know it to be an illusion just as much as they do.
For example, their last album 10,000 days had a "puzzle" to it that they didn't reveal the solution to up until a few months ago.
Was the puzzle as deep and as thought out as people liked to think it was going to be? Maybe not so much. Was it fun to think about before I knew the answer to it? Most definitely
It's part of the "mystery" that makes it more entertaining to listen to.

[maks]

I mean the illusion that everything they do isn't carefully vetted by a record company image consultant before they do it

there's at least some decent music to back up maynard's high opinion of himself. the guy from dream theater on the other hand, that's a different story.

[Plug Drugs]

it wasn't like some puzzle on the back of a cereal box either, it stumped a lot of people
It wasn't like an "in your face" "we got a puzzle on this album, buy now to try and figure it out!" No one would know there was a puzzle to it unless they were already a hugely obsessive Tool fan to begin with.
They made the puzzle for a small audience of people: their bigger fans.

That's what I like about them, they're willing to give back to the fans more than what's expected of them.

[maks]

PULL ME UNDER PULL ME UNDER

I so want to pull that guy under and hold him under until he stops breathing.

[maks]

it wasn't like some puzzle on the back of a cereal box either, it stumped a lot of people
It wasn't like an "in your face" "we got a puzzle on this album, buy now to try and figure it out!" No one would know there was a puzzle to it unless they were already a hugely obsessive Tool fan to begin with.
They made the puzzle for a small audience of people: their bigger fans.

That's what I like about them, they're willing to give back to the fans more than what's expected of them.

trent reznor likes to do stuff like that too, I thought it was awesome when he was leaving usb sticks full of unreleased material in the men's room at his concerts

[Plug Drugs]

I mean the illusion that everything they do isn't carefully vetted by a record company image consultant before they do it

I don't know about that; a lot of "underground Tool info" is strictly posted on their deliberately ambiguous website that no one goes to or hears about, and has had the same page format for at least 15 years.
If some big cheese from the record company were watching their every move and trying to find the best way to spike up sales, they would have executed it a little more "official looking" than they did; otherwise said big cheese just isn't very good at his job

[maks]

said big cheese just isn't very good at his job

Last I heard Tool was still selling records

[Plug Drugs]

i'm pretty sure they just had a buddy back in the 90s who said "hey, i know how to write websites, should let me help you guys make a band website"
The website seriously looks like a 'point and click adventure' CD-Rom game from the 90s; you try to navigate through ambiguous esoteric symbols and find "hidden things to click on", and at the end of it you get a few cool little tidbits of information about the band or articles of noted interest

[maks]

PM me the address to the secret Tool forum I want to troll them by asking about Opeth

[Plug Drugs]

just look at it for yourself http://www.dissectional.com/ does this look like it was designed with the record company overlooking its production?

[maks]

I think it was designed in 1998 and probably cost them $50k at the time

[Plug Drugs]

PM me the address to the secret Tool forum I want to troll them by asking about Opeth

they don't have a secret forum as far as I know. All they've got is a band page that's kept up to date by the band's close friend Blair MacKenzie Blake, who also uses it to promote stuff that friends of the band are doing. The site usually goes inactive for a few years inbetween albums, then activity resumes and updates start being posted again before the band is about to release a new album.
We should be getting a new Tool album by the end of this summer, if you were curious

[maks]

they don't have a secret forum as far as I know. All they've got is a band page that's kept up to date by the band's close friend Blair MacKenzie Blake, who also uses it to promote stuff that friends of the band are doing. The site usually goes inactive for a few years inbetween albums, then activity resumes and updates start being posted again before the band is about to release a new album.
We should be getting a new Tool album by the end of this summer, if you were curious

I'm interested in hearing it though I haven't really dug the last few

[maks]

So I wanted to troll some tool fans by asking questions about opeth and you said the official site doesn't have forums so I tried a few things and I found something... well, bad.

I expected better from people who listen to a band like tool. this is just so fucking vapid.

http://www.reddit.com/r/toolband

HOORAY LATERALIS IS TURNING 11 YEARS OLD LETS ALL DISCUSS THIS ON THE INTERNET IN MORE THAN ONE THREAD

THIS IS A TOOL SONG THAT I LIKE WHEN I'M LAYING IN BED AND I KNOW YOU ALL ALSO LIKE THIS SONG I'M POSTING A YOUTUBE VIDEO OF IT SO YOU KNOW I LIKE IT TOO

SAME AS THE LAST GUY, DIFFERENT SONG

HOORAY LATERALIS IS TURNING 11 YEARS OLD LETS BUY IT A CAKE AND SHOOT OURSELVES IN THE FUCKING HEADS

[maks]

HEY GUYS I GOT A TATTOO OF A ROCK BAND LOGO BECAUSE I'M A STUPID DUMB TWAT HERE'S A PICTURE

[maks]

Ahh here we go a page and a half down it's the first unfunny meme reddit never disappoints




god I hate the reddit community so much you have no idea how much I despise them

[maks]

that guy sat down and was like "gee I want to tell these people on the internet that I said something elsewhere on the internet and was greeted with approval. instead of just typing it why don't I go to a website that will put it as a caption on a picture of a baby on a blue background"

[Plug Drugs]

the youtube comments for tool videos are just as bad

[Plug Drugs]

didn't you know? every message board on the internet has been overrun with faggots, since 2008 at least. The reptilian invasion wasn't limited to just us and our close cousins

[maks]

I think I hate the internet how ironic is it that I spend my whole fucking day on it

the reddit experiment did yield some fruit however, this is fucking hilarious http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7407720n&tag=api

[Genital Doli]

what is an r/tree