Third Eye - The TOOL Story ┃ Documentary ⋆ Patriots Hemp

Foreign Tool is without doubt an enigma of a band throughout their career they have rarely given interviews and when they do they’re often quite cryptic in their response they avoid discussing their personal life and childhoods instead letting the music speak for itself but unless you listen carefully you probably

Won’t appreciate what they’re trying to say to date they have released five Studio albums all of which just as fascinating as the one preceding it their third record even incorporates a mathematical premise called the Fibonacci sequence which was used to structure the title track Lateralus the Fibonacci sequence itself appears in

Nature specifically biological settings such as the arrangements of leaves on a stem and is often referred to as the golden ratio the golden ratio is a design concept based on using the Fibonacci sequence to create visually appealing proportions in art architecture and graphic design the proportion size and placement of one

Element compared to another is said to create a sense of Harmony that our subconscious mind is attracted to in the few interviews tool have given Maynard James Keenan has stated how it’s important to experience the good and bad in life with balance a metaphor for symmetry which the golden ratio

Represents also known as the Divine proportion Maynard’s lyrics often address life death and everything in between the idea of an artist using the Fibonacci sequence isn’t anything new it’s said that Leonardo da Vinci used the golden ratio during the Renaissance period that spanned the 14th 15th and 16th century

Tall however took this concept in a completely new Direction by incorporating it into their already profoundly mystical expression of music tool seems to have found a new audience with each new conception of their existence whether you discovered them by hearing sober from undertow Stinkfist from anema or Schism from Lateralus most

Fans know exactly where they were and what they were doing the first time they heard their music tall is a band that has left a very interesting mark on the world of music and this is their stories James Keenan born James Herbert Keenan on April the 17th 1964 in Ohio very little is known about his childhood and upbringing we do however know that his parents divorced at an early age in 1968 causing his father to move some distance away to Michigan whilst Keenan would

Rarely see his father after this for several years his mother convinced him to relocate to Michigan to live with his father when he was 13. as Maynard was starting to get into trouble in Ohio Keenan has been painted as quite the gifted child in a few interviews he’s

Given over the years and claimed that Ohio wasn’t a place for a creative person because Ohio sucks and I was surrounded by dead people he says there are also hints that he may have been abused during his childhood by his stepfather after his mother remarried but this has never been fully confirmed

By him although Maynard did say that his move to Michigan was also to get away from his creepy stepfather tool even released a song in 1993 with a very disturbing video that was banned by MTV due to the nature of its content that allegedly addressed the issue of abuse It took so long to remember just what happened I was so young and Vestal then you know it hurt me Maynard was exposed to music from an early age he would spend weekends at his Auntie’s house and specifically recalls two records from this period of his life

That would guide his musical taste these records were Black Sabbath by Black Sabbath released in 1970 and Blue by Joni Mitchell released in 1971. Other influences of Maynard were Pink Floyd The swans Evo low And even citing ashes to ashes by David Bowie is one of his favorite videos when it came to an artist’s visual creativity it’s important to note that Maynard as well as the rest of tool all share an incredibly wide range of musical tastes and influences so the examples here are

But a mere snapshot Maynard was also influenced heavily by comedy shows such as Monty Python Kids in the Hall and even Steve Martin records during his childhood after moving to live with his father Maynard worked in apple and Peach Orchards during the summer where he seemed to develop a taste for nature and

Working outdoors I think the rock the you know the misconception on the Rock thing is that that’s what I had a set out to do it was kind of an accident I mean I kind of grew up in a small town I worked in you know Peach Orchards as a

Kid in the summer I was basically right at the end of Junior High going into high school and before I’d moved there uh his house wasn’t properly grounded and they got like hit by lightning and it blew up their TV so I spent all of high school with no TV he’s like you

Know what let’s just leave it alone you know we’ll go do other things so he was a wrestling coach I got into cross country and wrestling and we you know fishing and and working in the garden and stuff like that so I got more into my into my head like writing and doing

That kind of thing after graduating high school aged 18 Maynard joined the army for three years and upon his departure studied sculpture at art college in an interview with Patton Oswalt back in 2007 Maynard said the only reason he joined the army is because the GI bill would actually pay for his tuition

Allowing him to go to Kendall College of Art and Design after his service in Grand Rapids Michigan attending art school was somewhat of a dream for Maynard yeah saw you know it was I wasn’t sure what I was gonna do but my dad definitely said when you graduate

Here’s the deal you’re paying rent for your room or you’re cutting wood for your room or you’re getting a job and getting the hell out of here so we cut wood for the summer but I ended up you know I saw stripes and that pretty much

Set the hook like oh this it can’t be that bad I can go hang out with Bill Murray yeah I took some tests and I realized that I was one of those lazy Underachievers and they quickly got me into the West Point prep school over in

Jersey so I ended up going getting my appointment to West Point and then declining at last minute to go to Art School Grand Rapids would also be home to one of Maynard’s early musical projects Children of the anachronistic Dynasty also known as CAD for short had consisted of Maynard and Kevin

Horning with Maynard writing most of the material CAD recorded two albums on cassette fingernails recorded in Maynard’s living room in 1986 and dog house recorded in 1987. these early recordings clearly portray Maynard’s desire to experiment with expression and creativity in 1989 tall guitarist Adam Jones would meet Maynard through a mutual friend

That mutual friend would be Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine Jones and Morello were in a band together in high school and Maynard would often hang out with Morello to discuss the music of bands such as Devo Maynard also introduced Morello to the swans which Morello said was way outside

Of his comfort zone Jones had been jamming with several bands that just didn’t work out until Maynard played him a demo of his old band I had been jamming with a bunch of different bands at the time but none of them were really working out then one

Day Maynard played me a tape of some joke band he was in I just thought you can sing he really blew my mind from that point on I bugged him until he finally gave in and joined me drummer Danny Carey just happened to be Maynard’s neighbor and would play drums

For them when they started jamming despite Maynard and Jones inviting musicians to join them people just didn’t show up Danny said he felt sorry for them so he filled in on drums by this point all members of tool had relocated to Los Angeles Adam Jones was working in the creative world of

Hollywood between 1985 and 1993 he worked as a lab technician and special effects artist on Films such as Return of the Living Dead Ghostbusters 2 Edward Scissorhands as well as Jurassic Park and Terminator 2 Judgment Day before high school Adam Jones was learning to play the violin which we can

Assume would have been via the classical music method of training he developed a taste for the likes of AC DC Led Zeppelin and even country music during high school he was drawn towards the guitar as his older brother had an electric guitar and would play along to the police Chicago and even Fleetwood

Mac whilst drummer Danny Carey became a big fan of 70s English rock band XTC Kerry also stated in an interview that the discipline album by King Crimson released in 1981 was a big part of his early musical influence the final member would be a friend of Adams Paul demore on bass this early fascination with intriguing time signatures and experimental New Wave post-punk Music along with art

Brought the four members of tool together officially forming in 1990 and it wouldn’t be long before record labels were desperate to sign them to a recording contract I met Maynard you know he moved out to LA and through mutual Libertyville friends you know Tom Morello and a bunch of other people that you know still all hang out together Maynard was dating this girl from Libertyville and that’s how he and I met and we just hit it off

Driving on his car listening Metallica and you know watching Italian horror movies and he’s also just this person who’s very driven this thing I realized like I have always done really great things because I kind of surrounded myself with people who are motivated people who are heroes at some point you

Know me and I were talking about let’s start a band it’d be fun just to you know mess around we had some other friends and and then Manor just slipped me this tape he goes yeah here check this out you know it’s just something I

Was doing back in uh Michigan and I was like oh you can sing Maynard you can sing and he knew it he knew it he just didn’t have the confidence I think to kind of go yeah I’m a good singer the Enigma of tall started early on as

Maynard would state in an interview that the band were inspired by the philosophy of lacrimology which later turned out to be a completely fabricated story Maynard said the band read a book titled the joyful guide to lacrimology supposedly published in 1949 by an amateur philosopher called Ronald P

Vincent who explored the science of lacrimology which tool emphasized was the study of pain or the study of crying This was later labeled a pseudo-philosophy and while some tool fans claimed to have read the book not a single copy has ever been made available for public viewing some people have even

Left reviews for the book across the internet but it seems as if tall fans are just playing into the story tool do make reference to Al Ron Hubbard in the song Rosetta Stone taken from their 2006 album 10 000 days Hubbard was the founder of Scientology which many

Also consider to be a pseudo philosophy or a fake religion so from this it’s easy to see that the band certainly have an interest in aspects of philosophy be it real or fake and how these Concepts affect the world around us tool wanted to have control of their

Narrative and their art from the beginning which is why they chose to sign to a small label called Zoo entertainment the label offered them a much smaller deal but a lot more control over their material however Zoo would often go against the wishes of tool when it came to promotion

Adam Jones especially didn’t want the band to be categorized as a metal band and specifically told the label not to promote them alongside other metal bands to local radio stations but the label did so anyway on a major or bigger label though they may not have been able to

Get away with creating a fictitious philosophical origin story to feed to the media nevertheless in March of 1992 Zoo would release the first official offering from Tool a six-track EP by the name of opiate opiate spawned the first tall music video for the song hush the video garnered some attention on a Canadian

Music Channel much music the EP also included a hidden track the gaping Lotus experience many hidden tracks have deep meanings and some aren’t even discovered by The Listener at all for years for tools Hidden Track the gaping Lotus experience it was simply the result of the band randomly

Jamming in a studio and they decided to include it on the EP And once again referencing religion and philosophy the title for the EP is said to derive from a quote by Karl Marx a German philosopher Economist and socialist who once said religion is the Opium of the people April the 6th 1993 would see tall release their debut record undertow the album would be produced by Sylvia Massey who had also worked on the opiate EP Massey had already worked on some notable LPS prior to her collaboration with tool such as pleasures of the flesh by Exodus in 1987 Joe satriani’s record

Surfing With the Alien and even Jefferson Starship leading to quite a diverse list of production credits she also produced The Green Jello LP serial killer in 1991 a comedy rock band formed in 1981 that had featured both Maynard and Danny Kerry with 80s metal scene dying out and

Grunge dominating the early 90s tall had a good chance of standing out in the crowd but were the crowd even ready for Tool grunge was at the peak of its popularity Nirvana had given us Smells Like Teen Spirit from the album never mind passing chains had Unleashed facelift And Stone Temple Pilots peaked at number three on the Billboard charts with their debut record core so where exactly were tool going to fit in amongst all of this to start with several Superstores refused to sell the album due to the artwork depicting nudity in the liner notes which resulted in tool reissuing

The album to feature just a giant barcode the new record also came with a note inside that said the following it came to our attention recently that many stores across our fine and open-minded Nation would not stock undertow because of our explicit artwork although we loathe being censored we

Still want you to hear our music so we took it out however it is available to you no extra cost fill out the form stick it in an envelope mail it in and we will send you the original artwork love tool tool had crossed out the phrase We want

Your money most likely a dig at capitalism or at least the corporate Music Machine suggesting they simply wanted to be heard as artists Sober would be the first single taken from the debut record it’s also said to be somewhat of a reworked version of an early CAD song called burn about out [Applause] with the general concept referencing to how some people can only release their artistic expression when under the

Influence of a substance in an interview regarding the song in 1994 Jones said I don’t tell people to do or not do drugs you can do what you want but you have to take responsibility for what happens if you become addicted and a junkie well that’s your fault

Sober is considered by many to be a breakthrough single for Tool even winning them a Billboard Award for best video by a new artist at the time and although sober was essentially considered to be a commercial hit in some regards Adam Jones didn’t seem too happy about it it’s almost as if he

Wanted tall to stay more of an underground band it hasn’t been really important to us to get in the top 40 and that whole Rat Race I’m not into being jammed down people’s throats we have meetings with our record label to tell them how to Market us if we didn’t they

Just promote us like they promote everyone else what’s important to us is not how many albums we’re selling it’s making real music for people who appreciate it tool appeared to have an almost naive Outlook when it came to accepting the very nature of the music industry they had no say in whether or

Not they would become commercially successful or whether their records would end up in a Bargain Bin for two dollars at a local gas station they also had no idea that with the release of each forthcoming album they would develop an almost cult-like following I am just The censorship of tool would continue with their second studio album anima released in September of 1996. original bass player Paul demore would be replaced by Justin Chancellor and the band would bring in Canadian producer David bottrell bottle was an interesting choice as he had previously worked on the King Crimson record thrack released

A year earlier at first bottrell assumed he was merely a backup choice if tool didn’t secure the actual producer they wanted and maybe there’s some truth to that producer Rhett Davis who worked on crimson’s discipline album the very same that Danny Carey fell in love with had

Essentially retired by this time but it seemed clear Tull were hoping to channel some of their love for King Crimson into anima the record itself debuted at number two on the billboard 200 chart selling close to a hundred and fifty thousand copies in its first week alone

Anima narrowly lost out on the number one spot thanks to Nirvana’s live album From the Muddy Banks of the whiskar selling just close to 160 000 copies it wasn’t just that they knew the album would be censored in part they also chose to dedicate the record to Legendary comedian Bill Hicks who passed

Away two years prior the final track on the album even starts out with an audio excerpt of Bill saying if you think drugs are bad then you should go home and burn all of your tapes and CDs because most of those artists were under the influence when creating some of the

Most influential music of all time this seemed like a very fitting and ironic tribute to Bill Hicks due to the fact he was the first comedian to be censored and banned by CBS after he appeared on the David Letterman show on October the 1st 1993 after delivering an apparently offensive monologue

Tall and Hicks seemed to share one very strong set of beliefs amongst others of course and that was how the masses are brainwashed by governments religion and the media Hicks once referred to the television as Lucifer’s DreamBox so how very apt that tall were yet again being censored by

The media whilst also trying to promote the work of another heavily censored artist it’s almost as if freedom of speech wasn’t so free after all Despite facing legal battles with their record label censorship from the media and several rumors of the band splitting up over the years they continue to produce some of the most intriguing music and artistic Concepts that the music industry has seen to date at least in the alternative genres of the

Spectrum anyway the mysterious artwork cryptic lyrics and strange on-stage performances and personas have all contributed to the Enigma that tall have presented to us since their very Inception and whilst they can often appear to be more of an underground band with a cult-like following they’ve won four Grammy Awards most recently for the

Single fear inoculum from the album of the same name released in 2019 charted numerous times on the U.S billboard 200 including a number one slot for their 2006 record 10 000 days amongst others and have even seen their album certified by double and triple platinum in the U.S

Certainly not the traits of a band with simply a small devoted following there is no denying however tall is indeed an incredibly complicated artist which to truly understand would take far longer than this presentation could ever offer in such a short space of time besides isn’t life far more interesting with the

Mystery of reflection [Applause] Foreign Foreign