Maynard James Keenanhas said he does not want to sing someToolsongsas “the words are just dumb” and “don’thold up to scrutiny”.
Thefrontmanappeared as a guest on Jackass star Steve-O’s podcastWilde Ride!this week, and the host informed him that an AIsearch had described Tool’s music as “reverent”,causing Keenan to scoff.
“Yeah, I don’t know about that…reverence for fist fucking??”he responded, in a wry nod to the 1996 Tool classic ‘Stinkfist’.
Keenan added:“There’s some old Tool songs that Idon’tlike playing them because I feel like I failed them.They’repopular songs, but I was trying to make ajokeand it was a dumb joke, and Ishould’vejust moved on. I feellike the lyricsdon’thold up under scrutiny.”
He referenced ‘4 Degrees’from debut album ‘Undertow’, adding:“The way I wrote it… I was trying to fucking make a butt sex joke and it was dumb. The song’s beautiful, what those guys did musically is great and I thinkmaybe themelody’s a goodmelodybut the words are just dumb. Idon’tknow what the fuck I was thinking.”
Toolhavenot released an album since 2019’s ‘Fear Inoculum’, butthey did tour in late 2025, playing a host of live deep cuts, as well as a cover ofBlack Sabbath’s ‘Hand Of Doom’.
Keenan and Adam Jonesdid share an update on any potential new material from Toollast year too. When asked what they have in store for 2025, Keenan said: “Writing, I guess.”
In 2024, Tool’s Justin Chancellorspoke toNMEabout fans’ fanaticism with the band and whether new material could arrive as a series of singles.
“It definitely comes on our own terms,” he said.“The only pressure comes when we announce that we’re working on something new, because then we have to make our own predictions for when it’ll come out, and obviously you feel like you let people down if you don’t release it in a certain amount of time.”
“When it comes to writingnew music,we’reaware that peopledon’tmanage to stay together for as long as we have, so the pure fact thatwe’vemade it this far makes us eager to take it to the next place and create something new. Whetherwe’llbe able to successfully, who knows?We’repretty surewe can, but Tool’s approach has always been experimental, so we never quite know howit’llcome together.”
One Tool fan that has been making headlines in American free solo climber Alex Honnold, who successfully scaled one of the world’s tallest skyscrapers, Taipei 101, while listening to the band.
One of Maynard’s otherbandsPuscifer, meanwhile,are releasing their new album ‘Normal Isn’t’onFebruary 6.