Tool Comments On Lawsuits And New Album Delay

Band Photo: Tool (?)

It's been eight years now since prog brigade Tool released the "10,000 Days" album, and fans have been antsy for a follow-up, with very little information coming from the band regarding the delay.

Now, in an interview with Rolling Stone, guitarist Adam Jones and drummer Danny Carer have stated part of the reason for the long time between albums has been due to a lawsuit that wasn't made public knowledge.

An excerpt from the article follows:

Although both Jones and Carey acknowledge that two albums ago, when they were creating 2001's "Lateralus," they could settle into a lengthy creative process that external obligations now prohibit, the biggest problem has been a multi-level lawsuit that has weighed on all of the group members. This stemmed from a claim that a Tool associate had made against the group, but it eventually spiraled into the labyrinthine legal equivalent of a Laurel and Hardy routine, amounting to "who's suing whom."

Initially, in 2007, a friend of Jones' claimed that he had created artwork for the group that he wanted credit. But the suit got complicated when an insurance company that Tool thought would defend it against lawsuits turned around and sued the band over technicalities regarding the case. The band then filed a countersuit to defend themselves against the insurer's claims and now, seven years later, Tool are still deeply mired in litigation with the insurer. The case is scheduled to go to trial in January.

"The whole thing is really depressing," Carey says. "The bad thing is it's really time consuming. As we've gotten older and our priorities have changed, it's hard to get the band on a good, solid schedule as it is. People have kids now. And there's lots of other things that pop up. To throw this into the mix, it makes everything that much worse and stresses people out."

"And it's costing millions and millions and millions of dollars to defend us," Jones adds. "And the fans are all going, 'We want a new Tool album. What the fuck?' And you don't want to pull people into your problems, because they don't understand.

"But the point is, we're fighting the good fight," he continues. "We're going to trial and we want to crush them. But every time we've gotten close to going to trial, it gets postponed and we've wasted money and time and it has just drained our creative energy. We bought an insurance policy for peace of mind, but instead we would have been better off if we never had it and just dealt with the original lawsuit."

According to the article, music for the new album has been written with one 10-minute track essentially complete. Further details on the possibility of hitting the studio are still forthcoming.

Read the full article at Rollingstone.com.