Tool frontman Maynard James Keenan has shot down the idea of ever retiring, even after suffering a hip injury on tour this summer and undergoing surgery.
Talking exclusively to Metal Hammer, the American prog metal singer, 62, says that he wants to follow in the footsteps of veteran the Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards, who’s stated in interviews that he never wants to hang up his instrument.
“I’m with the Stones on that one,” Keenan tells us. “On tour with [alt-rock supergroup] A Perfect Circle this last summer, we’d do our walk, find a coffee shop and do two miles there, two miles back or whatever. I woke up one morning and my hip decided not to work. I could not walk, like, ‘What the fuck?’ Ice wasn’t working, heat, nothing.”
Keenan adds that he “had to basically limp through the rest of the tour, then get on the phone to my doctors back here [in the US], because by Christmas I’ll have been in 18 different countries with three different bands, having played 28 shows”.
Keenan had his hip replaced in August. It was the second time he’d had the procedure, his first hip replacement having been in June 2015. The singer admits that “if I can’t get this hip sorted, I don’t know what will happen”, but promisingly adds, “It should be healed in time to do those shows by Christmas.”
He continues: “[Live performance is] my world – not doing those shows is not an option. Retirement is not a fucking option. Work the problem, figure out what you’ve gotta do and get back to work.”
Keenan first revealed that he injured his hip in an Instagram post in August, where he shared a picture of himself in hospital after surgery. He wrote that “out of nowhere” his left hip “just decided to not work”. He added that cancelling upcoming plans with Tool and A Perfect Circle, plus his avant-rock project Puscifer, was out of the question: “People have purchased tickets and booked travel and lodging, most of which is probably non-refundable.”
Keenan returned to the stage just 25 days after his surgery, playing Riot Fest in Chicago with Tool on September 19. He performed with a cane and, due to adverse weather conditions, the set started and ended early.
Keenan will return to the road with Puscifer later this month, kicking off a European tour at Annexet in Stockholm, Sweden on October 25. The singer will then do double duty on a Central and South American tour, fronting Puscifer and A Perfect Circle for separate sets at each stop. The tour kicks off on November 25 at Estadio Fray Nano in Mexico City.
Meanwhile, according to drummer Danny Carey, Tool are working on a new album with a tentative 2027 release date. Carey told the Spiral Out Network in February that the band also hope to perform at Las Vegas multimedia venue The Sphere, following in the footsteps of Metallica, who are currently hosting their own residency there from October to March.