Tool recording engineer “Evil” Joe Barresi has opened up about a rather harrowing time during the recording of the band’s latest album, noting how Danny Carey almost burned the studio down.
Just two months ago, the world of music was treated to its first new record from US prog-rock icons Tool in 13 years. Dubbed Fear Inoculum, it was the result of a lengthy wait that saw the band often disagree about which route to take during the recording process.
In the end though, the final product was an impressive listen, gaining widespread critical acclaim from across the board for the band’s technical proficiency, and of course, for the wild octopus-like drumming style of Danny Carey.
However, engineer “Evil” Joe Barresi revealed in a new interview with Kerrang! how Carey’s intense drumming style could have ruined the entire recording process, with the rocker almost burning down the studio in the process.
Check out “Evil” Joe Barresi on the Inside Track podcast:
“We were tracking,” Barresi explained on the Inside Track podcast. “We always like to set up the room so it’s visual. Dan’s got, like, some geometry thing behind him, and there’s always a PA and candles. It’s very vibey.
“And I remember the drum tech, Bruce Jacoby, was in front of the console, and I saw this look of panic in his face. And I was like, ‘What? What’s going on?’
“All of a sudden, he just bolts out of the control room through this back door, and he gets behind Danny’s drum kit, where, I guess Dan was playing with such power that one of the candles fell over on his floor tom and started burning the floor tom, so the head went on fire.
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“And there’s sprinklers in the ceiling, so we were trying to get the fire out before the sprinklers went off and the whole recording would be ruined. So that was one of the most insane moments, actually — Dan almost burning down the studio.”
While the recording wasn’t ruined in the end, there’s no saying just how long the new record could have been delayed had a fire impacted the drum tracking. Who knows, we might have still been waiting for a new Tool record five years down the line.
Check out ‘Fear Inoculum’ by Tool:
