Tool’s New Album ‘Fear Inoculum’ Could Have Been ‘One Giant Song’
Tool drummer Danny Carey said he wanted to release the band's new album, Fear Inoculum, as a single long song, instead of seven tracks with three segues.
He was speaking after the group set another chart record by locking out Billboard's Rock Digital Top 10, while also having another five tracks in the Top 25. That feat followed the Fear Inoculum title track becoming the longest Hit 100 hit in history at 10 minutes and 21 seconds, while all their previous albums returned to the Top 20.
“All of these other bands are writing songs to do this or that, but our only concern is where WE meet,” Carey told Kerrang! in a new interview (via Loudwire). “When we get in that room, where it takes us, that’s where it goes. Four years ago when we met looking at this, I wanted to try to do a record that was one giant song.”
He added that “Chocolate Chip Trip,” one of the three segues that’s essentially his solo piece, was recorded in one take while his colleagues were taking a break.
Tool’s recent chart achievements are partly a result of finally having made their catalog available on streaming and digital services.
“We signed a five-record deal that was based around CDs,” Carey said of the delay. “It got to this point where to accomplish the finality of releasing this record, we had to negotiate the whole digital domain. And we had already missed out on a huge facet of that as far as the download thing. It was a culture shock for us, but it’s a necessary [thing] that has to be done if you want to reach people with your art.”
He added that he was comfortable with streaming, but noted that "the one thing that’s disappointing to me is that it caters to that shorter attention span. I don’t think that leaves much room for people, like us, that want to release a bigger package of music that’s more like reading a book than listening to a commercial.
“This was written and composed to be an album, an experience you can dig into for 80 to 90 minutes. But I don’t know how many people are left out there in the world willing to do that. When I was a kid I bought records and played them from beginning to end. That’s what I grew up on, so that’s what I’m still doing.”
Fear Inoculum arrives on Aug. 30.