page: 
 title: Interview with Adam, Aenima Review
author: Ed Phillips

[Ed Phillips and is one of the editors of a regionally based alternative
music magazine called 'defacto', based in Birmingham in the UK, and he 
seemed quite the cool guy.  --K]

I have sent you a review of Aenima and an interview with Adam Jones that
we did earlier this year (I believe it is a UK exclusive as 2 mins in to
the interview with 'Metal Hammer' Adam put the phone down...).  They were
both published in the February issue of defacto and if they are any use to
you please use them.

I know they are very brief and not as involved as your other articles 
but i think reading the interview will sum up what the mainstream 
reaction to tool is like in the UK. It's a real shame that we aren't 
given the access to Tool that you have in the states but as Adam 
explains I don't blame them for not coming here.

http://www.strandloop.com/defacto



Interview with Adam Jones:
Tools latest album 'Aenima' was released in October 1996, three years 
after their first full length release 'Undertow'. In that time Tool 
have spent two years touring the States and Europe and then 
concentrating on the material for the latest album. Towards the end of 
1996 Tool replaced bass player Paul D'Amour with Justin Chancellor, 
former member of UK band 'Peach'. They will be playing  a one off UK 
date on the 23rd February at the LA2 in London.

Tool make progressive rock for the 90's, sort of. They create 
something that is honest, pure, alternative and not hung up with 
pretentious wank which many bands make the mistake of relying on in 
their music. They are one of the most original bands of the 90's and 
they conform to nothing. At its roots, Tools music is very big, it's 
powerful, uncoordinated and distubing. Tool are not an easy band to 
understand and after talking with Adam Jones, Tool's guitarist I am 
left with more questions than I started with.

The change of bassists :
"The trouble started when we were getting the material ready for 
Aenima, there was a massive difference in direction, Paul was pulling 
in one way, we were pulling in another. He's doing another project and 
when you hear it you'll know why he left Tool. Justin has fitted in 
perfectly, it couldn't be better."

Playing in the UK:
"I don't know wether we will, we are not getting any support from the 
record company. The UK is really fucked, it's just this massive pop 
market. If you're not writing really stupid songs and making a lot of 
money, which we could do easily , then the industry is not willing to 
support you. We have some fucking intergrity."

The reason for no single in the UK:
"It's a real shame for our fans in the UK that we're not getting the 
support we need. I'm not saying America is the perfect place for us, 
but in the UK it's all about making money and shifting units, maybe if 
I owned a record company I'd think differently but that's the way I 
view it. That's why we're not releasing a single over there, we're not 
dealing with RCA when it comes to the UK, they suck and we're not a 
pop band and we're never gonna be a pop band so i guess we're not 
gonna be able to compete."

Underground in the UK:
"Even the underground scene in the UK sucks, I mean Mint 400 were a 
fucking amazing band but they got stomped on because they weren't 
immediately accessible, a bit like us and the music industry could'nt 
handle that in the UK. Everybody in Britain is up for making a fast 
buck, some things don't make money right away, they need investment 
and nurturing, the industry over there can't grasp that idea. I just 
feel sorry for the bands who don't play pop."

Tool and metal:
"I'm sick of that whole attitude, the one that puts Tool in with metal 
bands, not that there is anything wrong with metal bands but we're not 
metal. We have a hard edge but we're not metal, the press over there 
can't seem to distinguish between alternative and metal. Take Metal 
Hammer for instance, I mean what is so metal about it? It's so hard 
doing this and trying to keep your integrity, everyone want's to sum 
up your music in terms of whichever band is most popular at the time. 
I mean we're getting compared to Marilyn Manson,what the fuck is going 
on, I think the're a great band, really entertaining, very scary but 
Tool are nothing like them. When we first released 'Opiate' the press 
were comparing us to Nirvana then they were comapring us to Nine Inch 
Nails, I just don't understand it, it's like we're not allowed to be 
Tool?"

Art, Taste and the UK:
"Art opens doors for you, it's a fantastic thing to be involved in, 
it's not so much about having people imediately get what your doing, 
it's about stimulating a reaction in any way we can. People want that, 
there are alot of people that don't want to think. It's like "give me 
another song that I'll like, give me another video that I won't 
understand but is good to look at", they don't like it if it has to 
grow on them. It takes a lot in these days for someone to go with the 
underground, to go with something thats not safe, to explore. I don't 
think People in the UK are given that opportunity."




Review for Aenima:

Tool
Aenima
Zoo Entertainment

Listening to Aenima is like treading water in the middle of the 
deepest ocean you can possibly imagine, frightening. I am certainly 
not qualified to call it a masterpeice but, it is. If you take a songs 
like "Eulogy" and "Pushit", for instance, they become almost 
orchestral with the massive sounds that they create.

Tool are not imediately easy to listen too though, "Die Eier Von 
Satan" quite soon became relegated to skipsville in CD speak and the 
begining to "Eulogy" is a test for anybody who knows what delights are 
to follow about 2 mins and 8 seconds into the track. That aside, as a 
follow up to the dark and disturbing "Undertow", Tool have excelled 
themselves. Go out right now, buy and play it very, very loud. As one 
of the Metal Professors put it, "they go somewhere, then they go 
somewhere else". It's true, listen.
Posted to t.d.n: 05/15/97 22:44:57