A PERFECT CIRCLE Members Working On New Music Separately

According to The Pulse Of Radio, A PERFECT CIRCLE guitarist Billy Howerdel revealed in a new interview with Tulsa Voice that he and singer Maynard James Keenan have been working separately on music for the band's first new album in 14 years. Howerdel explained: "So far I've just been working by myself. Literally, been in my room with no one else around working on these songs. I send mixes off to Maynard on a server and he's been working on them in his isolation. Then we're going to get together next month and combine where we're holding these ideas, then get in a room and get with the band, play them in a live setting and see what happens with the human element that comes into the picture."

Howerdel added that he and Keenan are going back and forth on the songs, saying: "He's sending me down different paths and has asked me to take out my scissors and cut them into different shapes and paste them back on a page. We can be in the same room but we just happen to be communicating about the same track — just in different parts of the country."

Howerdel said that the band's previous albums, including 2000's "Mer De Noms" and 2003's "Thirteenth Step", were done in the same fashion, although he admitted that he and Keenan have talked in the past about "working together somewhere in isolation for 10 days and just seeing what happens."

The guitarist told The Pulse Of Radio a while back that he prefers to let Keenan have complete control over the lyrics. "You know, I don't like necessarily knowing exactly what the songs are about, because they, you know, I'd rather just draw my own conclusions from them," he said. "It's always been better, to me, to do that. You realize the real meanings and sometimes they're not as — they don't have as much impact as what you thought it meant."

Last month, A PERFECT CIRCLE announced that it had signed a new worldwide recording deal with BMG Music. A new full-length album will be released later in the year.

The group, which toured in 2010 and 2011, launched its first full-fledged tour in six years on Thursday night (April 6) in Las Vegas. The schedule will include several festivals in late April and early May, closing at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles on May 7.