Has MAYNARD JAMES KEENAN Secretly Been At Work On TOOL Album?

Has TOOL singer Maynard James Keenan secretly been working on lyrics for the band's long-awaited fifth album since the spring? According to The Pulse Of Radio, Keenan appeared on comedian Marc Maron's "WTF" podcast and, when asked about new TOOL music, replied, "I'm gonna stop by the rehearsal space today. In theory, having beaten them up going, 'Please give me music, please give me music, please give me music, please give me music,' they have a CD for me today. They're like, 'Look, listen to some jams so we can get this thing going.'"

What's interesting, however, is that while the podcast was broadcast last Sunday (August 18),the interview itself was recorded in March — with Keenan even making a reference to his 49th birthday happening in April. So has Keenan been working on the new TOOL record since last March?

Keenan said he needed to hear music before he could begin to formulate lyrics, explaining, "I can't write words 'til I hear the sounds, and I haven't heard the sounds . . . I've gotta listen to the sounds and go from the sounds."

The vocalist told The Pulse Of Radio a while back that he gets restless at TOOL's slower pace of doing things. "I can't sit still, so when those guys hesitate, it takes us so long to do stuff, and it's like a snake eating its own tail situation, 'cause then I get distracted and I go off and do a thing, and then I get blamed for not being around to do the (TOOL) thing," he said. "But nothing was getting done when I was standing there, so I got bored and left. It's just an endless cycle."

To make matters more confusing, drummer Danny Carey told Loudwire in July that Keenan had not yet started working with the rest of the group, saying, "It's still the three of us right now and four of us it will be soon."

TOOL has not released a new album in seven years, since 2006's "10,000 Days".

Maynard James Keenan's side act, PUSCIFER, has three releases coming out in the next few months. First up is "All Re-Mixed Up", a track-by-track remix of the band's sophomore album, "Conditions of My Parole". November 26 will see the release of "What Is…", a DVD combining sketch comedy with concert performances that replicates the act's multimedia live shows.

Finally, coming on November 29 is a limited edition concert album called "Puscifer's 8-Ball Bail Bonds - The Berger Barns Live In Phoenix". The nine-song live album will be available on red vinyl at independent record stores nationwide.