Song of the day for April 17, 2024

Talk Talk by A Perfect Circle is today’s featured song.

On this day in 1964 James Keenan was born. Better known as Maynard James Keenan, he is the vocalist of American rock band Tool who had the 2001 US No.1 album Lateralus. Keenan is also a member of A Perfect Circle and Puscifer.

During the 1980s, Keenan played bass guitar for TexA.N.S. and sang for Children of the Anachronistic Dynasty, both independent bands. During this time, he wrote an early version of “Sober”, later Tool’s first successful single. He also (with future Tool bandmate Danny Carey) performed live and recorded with Green Jellö between 1990 and 1993, playing guitar and performing backup vocals as the voice of one of the pigs on the band’s hit song “Three Little Pigs” on their debut album Cereal Killer, and appearing in the music video for “Slave Boy” on the band’s follow-up LP 333. Around this time he also struck up a friendship with Tom Morello, who has credited Keenan with introducing him to Drop D tuning. Keenan spent time jamming with Morello and Brad Wilk, as did Zack de la Rocha: Morello and Wilk considered Keenan and de la Rocha as candidates for the vocalist with what would become Rage Against the Machine before deciding to ask the latter.

After moving to Los Angeles, Keenan met Adam Jones who had in college heard him singing on a demo. Impressed with Keenan’s vocals, Jones suggested that they form a band. Reluctant, Keenan eventually agreed and, in 1990, Tool was formed. Fronted by Keenan, the eventual lineup included guitarist Jones; his neighbor, drummer Danny Carey; and bassist Paul D’Amour, who would later be replaced by Justin Chancellor.

During Tool’s post-Ænima hiatus to deal with their legal issues, Keenan began working with Billy Howerdel, Tool’s guitar tech through the Ænima tour, on a different project. The supergroup they formed, A Perfect Circle, began performing in 1999 and released its first album Mer de Noms in 2000. They released a successful follow-up in 2003 titled Thirteenth Step, a reference to twelve-step programs (many of the songs were written from the perspective of recovery). Both albums were eventually certified platinum. Their subsequent 2004 album, eMOTIVe, was primarily composed of covers, except for the singles “Counting Bodies Like Sheep to the Rhythm of the War Drums”—a song inspired by “Pet” that was originally released on Thirteenth Step—and “Passive”. Keenan later characterized the record as a political album with which he “tested the waters” and was subsequently “crucified” for it because of the content. It was certified gold the month after its release. That same year they released the DVD and CD set entitled aMotion, which was certified platinum within a month of its release.

In 2003, Keenan surfaced under the name “Puscifer” for the song “REV 22:20” on the Underworld film soundtrack. Puscifer was once advertised as a side project with Danny Lohner, who had formerly performed live with Nine Inch Nails, but has since been “formed as a manifestation of [Keenan’s] creative subconscious”—interpreted to mean that the name is now a pseudonym for his solo work. Keenan has stated that it is “a premiere improvisational hardcore band”, and his “catch-all, stream of consciousness, anything goes, etc.” project. When comparing the project to Tool in an interview with Rolling Stone, Keenan described it as his “attempt to make music to inspire people. … This is definitely not thinking man’s music, but groove-oriented music that makes you feel good.” In a later interview with Artistdirect, Keenan said that he did not want the lyrics to be puzzles. He wanted the complexity to be in the music, stating “that’s the part that gets under your skin and makes you feel good.”