TOOL Reveals Joe Barresi Is Producing the New Album

Tool guitarist Adam Jones has revealed that all-star rock producer Joe Barresi is working with the band on its first new album in 12 years. 

Jones made the announcement in an Instagram post, picturing himself and Barresi posing for the camera in front of a large mixing console looking into a live room with drums setup.

Barresi engineered and mixed Tool's last album, 2006's 10,000 Days

Jones joked in the caption of his photo that the band's first choice was Phil Spector, "but he has other conflicting work obligations," referring to Spector's murder conviction.

Tool entered the recording studio last week to begin recording the long-awaited follow-up to 10,000 Days

Barresi's discography as a producer, engineer and mixer includes Avenged Sevenfold, Volbeat, Slipknot, Soundgarden, Monster Magnet, Bad Religion and many, many other big rock acts. 

Tool had reportedly been writing the new album for the better part of 9 years, but the band was dragging its feat when it came to finalizing the music. 

Near the end of last year, Jones and drummer Danny Carey began telling media outlets that the new album would be released in 2018.

The revelations (and the delays) appeared to perturb singer Maynard James Keenan, who had been denying rumors about the status of the new album for months until a statement in February in which he acknowledged that he was nearly finished writing his vocals. 

"Started getting music files from the boys [with] the world FINAL in the title a few months ago after 11 years of begging," Keenan wrote in the post from February. "That in theory means the tracks won't change out from under my while I'm trying to write stories and melodies to them. In theory."

Presumably with vocals complete and the band members finally all on the same page, Tool made the move from its writing space to a recording studio in late February to begin laying down the album.

Jones has chalked up the album's delay to factors including growing families of the band members, as well as other projects and interests. 

Keenan told the Joe Rogan Experience podcast over the summer that his bandmates had been composing and revising the music to the album for years. He described the band's "very analytical" process. 

"And they're always going back over things and questioning what they did and stepping back and going farther and going forward," Keenan say. "And in a way it's like they're laying a foundation; they're putting in the footings for a house."

Keenan also acknowledged that Jones, bassist Justin Chancellor and Carey were probably affected in their writing and revising process by pressure for the new album to be great.

In a since-deleted Tweet from January, Keenan skewered the decade-plus his bandmates took to complete the music by joking that he would only take "half as long" on his lyrics.  

In a Rolling Stone interview focused on the upcoming A Perfect Circle album, Eat the Elephant, due April 20, Keenan suggested that delays in the completion of the new Tool album led to that album being finished by APC guitarist Billy Howerdel and himself.

Never one to take long breaks, Keenan begins his tour with A Perfect Circle in support of the new album in April. Get the tour dates here

Tool has only one tour date announced for this year, and the band has yet to reveal a potential release date for the new album. Look for updates here


Thumbnail Photo: Getty Images


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