old news: may 2001 letters on a page with no meaning anymore

old overview what the summary looked like then

"lateralus" released may 15 2001 vinyl "lateralus" available ??? ?? 2001

redesign was still in progress.

!!! NEW SITE RECORD: 57,296 VISITORS ON MAY 15 !!! old site record: 40,489 visitors on may 14

Buy "Lateralus" at CDNow, if you somehow still haven't.

[05/31/01] - Whew | Save your pennies

Was it just me, or did May seem longer than it was supposed to be? This past month, there were more news posts to this site (and more actual information) than in any of the 69 months since The Tool Page started up. It probably didn't hurt that "Lateralus" sold 550,000 copies during opening week (250,000 reportedly on opening day!). §

A lot of Tool fans have been writing in with some information that will no doubt be of great use to you. A new, unauthorized Tool biography video is floating around out there, and has somehow wound up being sold in reputable stores. Everyone writing in about it has basically the same thing to say: "don't waste your money on this ripoff that looks like it was made by a bunch of eighth graders." Someone who was linked to the project wrote in with an even harsher indictment:

"... it is by far the WORST documentary I have ever seen on any band. It is clearly obvious that this tick of a company is trying to leech a few bucks off of our favorite band ... Unfortunately, it seems they have covered themselves legally by not using ANY music by Tool or using ANY live performances. Instead, it re-uses pictures taken at a concert over and over again, excerpts of an interview with Adam that some lucky fool was able to acquire, and at least twenty minutes of these college radio kids talking about Tool like they have a clue about what the band is about. The music is GOD AWFUL as well, and poorly represents the band. If someone who didn't know about Tool watched this, I fear that they'd never give the band a chance, it's that horrible!"

This source did send a similar note to the band, hopefully they can do something about this video. But in the meantime, now you know. §

[05/27/01] - New Links

No, the Opinion section hasn't been updated yet, and neither have the Tabs, but the Links section has finally been redesigned. The majority of links there are ones posted over the past four years by people with their own Tool sites. Rather than going through and picking out the dead links, though, the whole list has been scrapped - time for a fresh start. So go, post links to your Tool / Tool-related sites. §

[05/22/01] - 46 + 2 - 47 | I know the bandwidth doesn't fit ...

Did you have any doubts? "Lateralus" debuted at #1 this week, becoming the first Tool album to do so ("Ænima" hit #2 in its first week, behind only Nirvana's live album). According to Billboard, the new album sold over 300,000 copies more than Missy Elliott, this week's #2 entry on the charts. Official results will be posted soon, but this looks to mean that "Lateralus" has gone gold in the US (500,000 copies, platinum is one million).

The record also debuted at #1 in Australia, and was #1 in Canada, #2 Norway, #5 Germany, #7 Holland, #16 UK, #26 Japan. Thanks to Barney Franklin (parabol_a@hotmail.com) for the news that "Lateralus" has already gone gold in Australia, selling over 35,000 copies (platinum is 70,000). Congratulations to Tool on the myriad milestone achievements. §

The "Schism" video may not be downloadable anymore from the sites listed yesterday. Keep looking, you can find it here and there. §

[05/21/01] - Schism video airing | New Yorkabir

Well, MTV didn't quite screw Tool fans this time. The "Schism" video hit MTV at 11 today (11 AM though, not 11 PM as a lot of us thought), and will probably keep airing for a while until they go back to their Britneystreetsync Boys rotation. So now it's officially out there, and will no doubt propagate to other video stations as well soon. Plus, awful though it is, you can vote for "Schism" at the TRL website; just remember that this means you will be watching TRL. (I can't believe I just linked to them.) Also, M2 (MTV2) has been saying they will air the video starting Thursday, but at this point, you shouldn't have too much trouble finding it. Plus, people have been writing in that you can download the video yourself at moshshockerz.com, though you can expect a long download for this 75 MB MPEG. (If that doesn't load, try here also). §

Thanks to everyone who wrote in offering help with tickets to the New York show; my sister thanks you profusely as well. Thanks also to Maynard for getting us in. Full review coming soon. Also, being out of town for the past few days slowed down progress on a new Tabs section / on posting new lyrics. It's coming. §

[05/18/01] - A Wall of Tool? | About the tour

An article showed up on sonicnet and mtv.com featuring interviews with members of Tool, talking about how they might like to create a "The Wall" style movie in the future. Of "course, an article showed up in 1996 about them recording "Ænima" in eight days. See how you feel about this one here. This article will surely appear in the Articles section soon. §

Two shows into Tool's first tour in ages, and the mayhem is already afoot. There was that whole bootleg-ticket thing at the Atlanta show, which luckily didn't happen again in Detroit. Maynard wrote in saying that it was really unfortunate, adding: "it was unavoidable. Someone stole blank Ticketmaster tickets and printed false information on them. It could have happened to anyone." A few people have been complaining that Tool brought it on their fans by playing too-small venues. A lot of fans have said that it is much better to see Tool in a more personal setting, but some agree that it is sadly becoming impractical for the band to play such smaller shows. Maynard also wrote in pointing out that Tool has not gone on tour in three years (!), and that if one's band hadn't gone out for that long, one might be concerned about getting familiar with the road again. "These new songs haven't been road tested yet. When we return from Europe the new songs will be fine tuned and more familiar. These shows are to blow the dust off, to re-acclimate to road life, and to dial in the new songs." Hey, the man has a point. §

[05/17/01] - Kabir on vacation and radio | Dead-ssectional?

Updates will be slower for the next few days; I'm skipping town temporarily. Hopefully in the coming days, some recap of the Tool J-File show on Australian radio Triple J will be available. For now, all I can tell you is that you just might hear me featured during the show around 11:30 PM Australian Eastern Time. §

By the way, please don't send me questions about why you can't get dissectional.com to work - I'm not responsible for it, cool though it is. If nothing else, try shift-reloading the page. That will download the most re cent version, ensuring you are looking at the newest content. Actually, that is a really useful thing for all of you to know - it will come in handy whenever you think there is more posted on any page than your computer is showing you. §

[05/16/01] - Tool art site | U and I no more | No vinyl | Atlanticketrouble | Call Guinness

After months of waiting, late last night Tool deployed a new, extremely graphic intensive site at dissectional.com. Go be mesmerized by all the eye candy. For those of you interested in much simpler visuals, check out the scans of "Lateralus" artwork now posted to the long-neglected Images section. §

Further word has come along about the "Lateralus" / "Lateralis" thing. According to an anonymous source close to album production, the entire first run of two million copies apparently suffered from a typo that will in fact be corrected in the followup run, due to be completed in a week or so. Sucks for the band to have worked so hard and be surprised by a glitch such as this. However, word on the street is that over 250,000 copies of the new album sold yesterday alone! §

Kyle (kyle@dutch-east.com) at the distribution company writes with bad news for you vinyl lovers. The word he got, straight from BMG: "The 2 LP vinyl that is scheduled for 6/5 has been cancelled. There will be another version of this piece coming at a later date." Serves all you analog purists right. Just kidding. §

Apparently a lot of people got hosed trying to get into last night's concert with fake tickets in hand. Many of them report that their tickets did pass the burn test; Brian MacCarthy (brianmaccarthy@hotmail.com) explains further: "If you touch the ticket with a lighter / flame the paper will turn black. My ticket was only discovered to be fake when they looked at the numbers on the front. Apparently, each venue has a specific serial number. It turns out that the serial number on the counterfeit tickets was assigned to an amphitheater here that holds 15000 people. This way 'real' tickets can be printed for a show that is sold out. There were at least twice the capacity of people with tickets last night waiting in line." Unfortunately, TicketMaster probably won't start giving out lists of serial numbers where scalpers can find them. Just be careful when buying tickets. Concert reviews have been flooding into the Tour section; more firsthand info is available there. §

After breaking the 30,000 visitors per day mark a few weeks ago, and leaping over 40,000 on the 14th, yesterday this semi-official site was visited over 57,000 times! It probably didn't hurt that for the week ending today, this site was the featured site on the front page of the Ultimate Band List. What can I say except for "!!!!". §

[05/15/01] - TOOL'S ALBUM LATERALUS RELEASED | Atlanta show and reviews | Site notes | Bell URL

"Lateralus" is out!! At last! Go get yourself a copy or two! Who knows how long it will be before you get the chance to buy a Tool record on release day again!! Go now!! §

Tonight, Tool played their first show in 19 months - their first out of California since 1998. Since it's been so long, and a lot of you weren't reading The Tool Page back then, here's a reminder that you can post your own concert reviews (as detailed as you want) to the Tour section. And for all of you in-the-wrong-town-ers, turn up "Lateralus" and go read what people had to say about the show and the premiere of the "Schism" video. In case it hasn't been written there, a few people have written in that Danny and Maynard showed up at a Tower Records in Atlanta last night. §

Lyrics, Tabs, and Opinions for the new album will be postable soon. Thanks for being patient as it is all rigged up properly. Also, yesterday this site greeted 40,489 visitors: a new record. Thanks to everyone for coming by and helping out after all these years. §

Since all of you have already done web searches for the Art Bell show mentioned on the back cover of "Lateralus", and since all of you have sent in a link to this site, I figured I'd post it here so nobody else sends in mail about it. Enjoy. §

[05/14/01] - Tomorrow, tomorrow | Today, today? | U and I | HDCD | Thurs-J | No video

Tomorrow is you-know-what. Expect to see many other Tool fans at midnight sales across the nation. §

As of today, "Lateralus" has been released in most European / Australia-area countries, leaving only North America drooling; though some stores have apparently been selling it on the down-low. So you may get luck somewhere today, but fear not, tomorrow is coming. §

For the second album in a row, there is some confusion about whether or not there is a title track on this Tool record. On the back of "Lateralus", track 9 is listed as "Lateralis." It's as much the title track as "Ænema" was the title track of "Ænima". At least now you don't have to specify if you are talking about "Lateralus" the song or the album. §

"Lateralus" has been mastered as an HDCD. Tool fan Dennis Jernberg (dinogfx@hotmail.com) summarizes: "To the TOOL fans with delicate ears, the fact that lateralus is a HDCD compatible release is great news . Simply put, it uses 20-bit encoding instead of the standard 16 bits. But, you need an HDCD compatible player to take advantage of the extended information." If you don't have such a player, it will sound as solid as a normal CD. Get more info on HDCD at www.hdcd.com. §

This Thursday night, Australian radio station Triple J will be airing a new J-File program on Tool. Andrew White (vivaldi@bigpond.net.au) adds that the show will stream online at 10 PM Australian Eastern Time (GMT +10 - that's 8AM EDT) here. And no, I don't know if they are going to call me up again. But they oughta... §

Special thanks to Jay at MTV programming for the heads-up that the "Schism" video was in fact not listed to air today, the 14th, despite what we've been told. At least there's new liner notes to keep your eyes busy. §

[05/11/01] - Eurelease | Artwork | Not me bidding | Album on radio

"Lateralus" is apparently now widely available in Finland, Holland, Belgium, Israel, Austria, and possibly other European countries as well. Thanks to Olli Laiho (olaiho@hotmail.com) for the Fin-fo, and to a series of other readers for writing that they had found the record on shelves at other European record stores. §

Now that "Lateralus" is out, there are numerous scans of album artwork appearing all over the place. A bunch of images have been posted to the Images section of this site. So close now ... §

Somebody is bidding on Tool tickets on Ebay with the username "toolshed.down.net" - and it isn't me. Feel free to go write them and tell them to cut it out. §

Various radio stations worldwide have announced they will be playing all of "Lateralus" this weekend. You're on your own to find out if your local station is doing so. Don't email me if they are; it won't get posted here. §

[05/09/01] - Video to air

Apparently MTV will be airing the "Schism" video this Monday. This time, hopefully it is for real, unlike the fakeout they pulled this week (which apparently isn't their fault ... who knows). §

[05/08/01] - Evil channel bones Tool fans

It seems as though the folks at MTV didn't play the "Schism" video as they were supposed to. Sorry if you waded through some awful programming to see it; many many people reported hearing that it was supposed to be on tonight. Ah well. §

[05/07/01] - Evil channel again | Yes I know

Sorry folks, I don't know what time zone the 10:27 PM airtime for the "Schism" video on MTV is for. Looks like you are on your own. §

And yes, I've been getting email-bombed about it; the almost-inevitable has happened. Don't email me asking what I'm talking about. No, I'm serious, don't email me about it. Don't ask where you can get it, or anything else about this. Just make sure you buy "Lateralus" when it comes out next week. Make sure you support the band that has given you so much good music. If you don't, you may not get any more in the future. As one fan said, "the band worked too hard on this for it to be blown by people who do nothing but accumulate MP3s." Save up your allowance for the week and go spend it on "Lateralus" next Tuesday. PS - don't email me about it. Really. §

[05/04/01] - Read all about it | Watch the evil channel

May the Fourth be with you! A whopping 21 new articles have been posted to the (go figure) Articles section. Many of them talk about "Lateralus" in all its very long, very powerful splendor. Grab some Nilla wafers and waste your day reading them. §

MTV will supposedly air the "Schism" video at around 10:27 p.m. on the 7th. §

[05/03/01] - More on tickets

Even though there were a lot of people who didn't get tickets yesterday (some who say they were first in line), seems a lot of wily Tool fans were able to get themselves admission to the Atlanta show. There was a common thread to their stories; many were in line at the box office, and many tried out-of-state Ticketmasters. Several of those folks recommend not trying to buy online on the day tickets first go on sale; I can attest to that - fellow Tool netizen Tyrone Thompson and myself both got the Ticketmaster.com shaft when trying to buy tickets for a NIN / APC show last summer.

One fan did some investigating, and found this: "the person working the Ticketmaster sales where I was waiting was not able to print ANY tickets. She said that the promoter only released 725 tickets, when the venue can hold 2500 - 3000 people. I later called Ticketmaster and the operator confirmed that all of the seats were not released to be sold this afternoon." It is moderately perplexing that the show is now listed as sold out, even though that apparently means that only tickets that were made available are gone. Enter a Tool fan (who tells this story on the condition of anonymity, you'll see why) with an interesting inside look at why you can't get tickets. §

[05/02/01] - They'll gorge ya in Georgia | Vinyl pre-orders | Tuning in | MTVCR alert | Getting "labelled"

Regardless of info posted to the Official site, tickets for the Atlanta show went on sale today, and apparently sold out instantly. Bryan Wall (bbwall@unity.ncsu.edu) writes that the show sold out in "eight seconds at a small record store in Raleigh" and adds that "the second guy in line at Atlanta didn't get tickets." Hal (hal@halfrediani.com) writes "the Ticketmaster location I was at printed -2- tickets before the show was sold out." And Marc Satterfield (puregenius@adelphia.net) reports "the Atlanta show apparently sold out in 30 seconds. There was a mass turnout in smaller towns. Even people using cell phones to call out of state Ticketmasters were turned away. Current professional 'seating agency' prices are $200 for general admission." Yow. Some folks report the box office told them the show was sold out before the onsale time, but who knows what that is all about. This is Tool's first concert since late 1999, and their first out of California since the summer of 1998; no doubt the next three U.S. shows will be equally fast to sell out. Start camping out now, or else face the financial wrath of the scalpers. §

This is a non-news rant. Sorry. Skip it if you don't care. The whole scalper thing is really lame. It is a clever practice, that of the ticket scalper. Being in the business of reselling tickets, they are presumably well-connected enough to know the best places and methods (legit and otherwise) to buy tickets. Armed with whatever inside info they have, they make it that much harder for the average fan to get into a show for face value. Sucks for the guy who wants to see a show without paying $200 for it. The question of how to make tickets available to "fans only" is moot, though; there is no "fair" way to do it. You sell only over the Internet, you rule out people without computers. You sell only in one location, you rule out people who live farther away. Most other methods are totally random (the morning line-up, the Ticketmaster lottery lameness, being the 20th caller, etc). It's theoretically a fair game; sadly, the scalpers are dealing, and they've stacked the deck in their favor. Food for thought, perhaps. §

If you were wondering about pre-ordering "Lateralus" on vinyl, be curious no more. Kyle at the distribution company writes: "I can give everyone a decent price and ship so most folks receive it on the street date." So if you want it, just email him. The vinyl edition of "Lateralus" will be released three weeks after the CD (and cassette, for all you cutting edge audiophiles) on June 5, not on the same date as previously thought. §

Even though it was earlier reported that "Schism" would hit radio next week, it was apparently finally released to stations yesterday. The Official site has also begun streaming the song, as had been announced. So if you didn't have it yet, now you have no excuse for not having heard it. §

Ben Potter (incompetent83@hotmail.com) was the first to report that MTV will begin showing the "Schism" video May 7. Keep your VCR's and capture cards ready. §

Despite the release of "Schism" to radio yesterday, it seems that Volcano Records didn't take too well to some stations playing it before the official release was authorized. A few of you sent in a scan of a fax the label sent to a station in Minneapolis. Let this image (161KB) be a warning to you about Napsterizing the rest of "Lateralus" if you have it. §

[05/01/01] - Auction action | Lateralyrics | Want faster site updates? | Clarification

Happy May! Someone claims to be selling "Lateralus", with full artwork, on Ebay. The official site has been alerted. Though really, if someone is willing to pay over $5000 (as it stands now) to get an album in the mail in two weeks, when that album which will be released in two weeks, hey, keep bidding them up. §

Lyrics to the title track off "Lateralus" have been released. §

Totally non-Tool related: thanks to everyone for sending in whatever bits of Toolish news you come across, it's the main way this site stays at all useful. But you don't have to send in lists of which radio stations are playing "Schism". By all means, do keep sending in any info you find - if it's the sort of thing you think the other 20,000 daily visitors want to read about. But feel free to stop sending in email about things like the Tool tattoo you just gave your cat. It will help keep this place moving. §

Also, last night I got a flood of mail suggesting I had "Lateralus". I read yesterday's news post again and figured out why everyone thinks I have a copy of the new album. "The record is something else" refers to the song "Schism" ("record" means "song" sometimes - that's what I get for using flowery language). Really, if I had it, I'd probably sell it on Ebay for $5000. §