Tool’s Justin Chancellor: ‘We’re Doing Our Best to Find Something That Blows Us All Away’
By now, it's no longer a secret that Tool strive for perfection with their music with the bar set high for the music that makes their albums, thus often leading to a lengthy process between albums. During a new interview with Bass Player, Tool's Justin Chancellor offered an update on the recording process for their next disc and insight into why it's taking so long.
"We’re pretty deep into the writing process now, and we’ve narrowed things down to big groups of ideas," says Chancellor. "For the past few months we’ve been working on one of the newer songs fairly exclusively. We get the gist of it and find the main themes that make up the skeleton between verses and choruses. Then we explore different ways we can depart from that and come back to it and flip it upside down, and take the time to see what else is there. Everyone knows we take our time. We’re really trying to be responsible with ourselves in trying to discover ideas that haven’t been discovered before. It’s kind of an alchemy, how we experiment."
"We’ve fought to be in this position," adds the bassist. "And it’s almost a responsibility now to take the time to explore special concepts while we’re on this planet. We’re our own worst critics; we’re doing our best to find something that blows us all away, and we want each other to be completely happy with what we produce. I’m excited that there’s going to be another album and the material will be very inspiring. So why rush it now?"
Chancellor is well aware of the length of time between albums and the anticipation for new music from the band's loyal fans. He calls it a compliment, and adds, "It's difficult to hear that and not feel some kind of guilt. All I can say is that we'll go back Monday and do our best to finish it for you, although that's not really how it works. But we know the listeners will be happy with it when it's finished."
He also adds that he doesn't take the fandom for granted. "I’m still like a little kid about it, where I’m just so happy and excited that people want to come to our shows and watch us play. I still go outside the venues and take a picture of our name on the marquees. I still feel like I’m trying hard to be in a good band, I really do. And I think that’s a healthy approach. If you start to believe the hype about yourself, then you start to lose the bigger picture, and your focus is in the wrong place. You get to enjoy that kind of gratitude when you play your live show, so you don’t need to spend the rest of your time thinking about it."
Check out more of Justin Chancellor's interview with Bass Player at this location.
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