The never-ending saga of a new Tool album may finally be progressing… slowly.
In a recent interview with Summa Inferno, Tool bassist Justin Chancellor revealed that the band are set to spend three months in the studio following their March festival appearance in Mexico, which they’re dedicating to crafting new material.
“When we get back from [our] trip — I think it’s only three weeks we’re gonna be [there] — but we have already shared with each other a lot of these new ideas,” Chancellor explained. “When we get back, we’re actually gonna dedicate the next three months after that in the studio to organising our ideas.”
While fans are well aware of Tool’s meticulous and time-consuming creative process, Chancellor shed light on just how intricate their songwriting can be. “There’s a lot of stages in the process… much of it is just every day — we all have ideas and when they’re good, when we like them, we kind of save them or memorise them.
“But then the really difficult process is when you actually get together and make decisions about how it’s going to end up. That becomes a little more mathematical, a little more like in the classroom — there’s a blackboard and there’s numbers and you have to make decisions.”
He further compared the recording process to a pregnancy, emphasising the weight of finalising each decision: “When you go to the studio, you have to make this final decision of how it’s gonna sound and how you’re gonna play it, and it’s gonna live like that forever. So it’s a real delicate thing to be able to pull off. And I don’t think it’s unreasonable that we take a long time at all. I think that’s only natural, and that’s why I’m proud of it, because it was worked on really hard.”
As for when fans can expect new music, Chancellor suggested that fresh Tool material could emerge within the next two years, though its format remains uncertain. “The climate of releasing music has completely changed… We’ve talked about releasing a single, just one song— we could do that. We could also release an EP. And I think because we have such a dedicated fan base, everyone’s gonna be up for it.”
Love Metal?
Get the latest Metal news, features, updates and giveaways straight to your inbox Learn more
He entertained the idea of releasing singles gradually, potentially compiling them into an album later. “I’m not really answering your question fully, but it doesn’t really have any rules when you’re making music. We’re just kind of making it up,” he said. “But I can tell you that we absolutely have to write new music to continue doing what we’re doing. We wouldn’t be happy just to just sit on our laurels and play the same stuff over and over again. We really want to create new music to be able to continue doing what we love. So it’s coming. Trust me.”
