title: Fresh Blood
author: Janiss Garza

  "Tool is a verb, not a noun," singer Maynard James Keenan says in a 
softly insistent voice that would rival that of a Mafia Don's. "This
Tool is, anyway."
   Maynard would not get an arguement from anyone who's seen the
quartet live. The music surges forth with naked aggression made
possible by it's bare-bones approach, while Keenan hypnotically sways
to and fro, his barely contained anger giving him the appearance of a
skinny apeman who's been kept behind bars for too long. This outfit
is not for the weak of heart or the wishy-washy masses. Or maybe it is-
Tool might wake them up.
   Maynards intention, when he arrived in Los Angeles, was to find
work renovating pet-store interiors, not to front a band. He met 
guitarist Adam Jones through a mutual friend and, after incessant
prodding, Adam convinced Maynard to jam. Danny Carey was a drummer
around town who had played with such diverse outfits as Pigmy Love
Circus and Carole King. He, in turn, brought in bassist Paul D'Amour.
Paul actually came to L.A. because of the film industry. "I wasn't
playing music for a long time, and I was kind of giving up on it,"
he explains. "I was getting stupid. It was like I was so f?!king
angry all the time." Tool's music suited him perfectly.
   "We just got into it because it's kind of therapeutic, and we had
nothing better to do," Maynard says of the bands formation. "We're 
not really here for the business end of it." Surprisingly (or perhaps
not), Tool wound up with a record deal- this without all the silly
tricks and prefab molding more industry-minded bands attempt.
   Tool's debut for Zoo records is Opiate, a six song EP. It stands   
out like a glowing red lump of coal in a bin of man-made diamonds-raw,
real and honest. A couple of the tracks ware recorded live at a party
the band held last New Year's Eve. The festivities got a little out
of hand, Paul explains: "There were a bunch of gang-bangers there, 
spray painting their tags on the walls, and then, like, 150 or 200
people who couldn't get in were standing out in the street."
   "And it's not necessarily the nicest element of Hollywood coming
to your home when you say there's free beer," Maynard adds.
   "It was so packed that people kept bumping into us, and we were
like, `Oh f?!k! This is being recorded!'" recalls Paul. "I figured
that the whole thing was a shambles halfway through and started
slamming back. It actually started sounding better, so it was cool."
   This isn't necessarily the kind of crowd Tool wants ti inspire, 
however. Although Maynard is glad the buzz on the band has gotten off
to a strong start, he cautions that, "The only problem I foresee is
that I think a lot of kids are gonna misinterpret it as being a
resurgence of punk rock or something. The whole slam-dance thing
really bores the shit out of me. It's a release, I suppose, but a 
lot of them get out of hand. I'd rather they stand there and scream
their heads off."