BEAT, the King Crimson tribute project featuring Adrian Belew, Steve Vai, Tony Levin and Tool drummer Danny Carey, have announced a fall tour with Terry Bozzio replacing Carey behind the kit. In a statement issued August 4, Levin said Carey remains part of the BEAT family and that his Tool commitments simply prevent him from being available for the run.
Tool currently have two performances scheduled — this year’s Louder Than Life and Aftershock festivals. With no other tour dates announced, the implication being drawn is that Carey’s Tool commitments involve studio work. Neither Tool nor Carey has confirmed anything. This month marks seven years since the band’s last album, 2019’s Fear Inoculum.
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Nobody in Tool has said anything. That needs stating first, because what follows is detective work, not news.
But it’s good detective work.
The Arithmetic
Here’s the whole thing.
Danny Carey has spent the last couple of years touring with BEAT, the all-star King Crimson tribute alongside Adrian Belew, Steve Vai and Tony Levin. It’s a serious outfit playing serious material, and Carey has been a fixture in it.
BEAT just announced a fall tour. Terry Bozzio is drumming. Not Carey.
Levin explained why in a statement on August 4 — Carey’s still part of the family, but his Tool commitments make him unavailable for this run.
Now do the sum.
Tool have two performances scheduled. Louder Than Life and Aftershock. Both festivals, both this autumn, both in the United States.
Two festival appearances do not prevent a drummer from doing a tour. Bands work around festival dates constantly; that’s the entire logic of the summer touring circuit. If Carey’s only Tool obligations were two shows, he’d be on that BEAT tour and BEAT would route around them.
So either Tool have dates coming that haven’t been announced, or the commitments in question are happening indoors.
That’s the story. That’s the entire story. It’s an inference, but it’s a reasonable one.
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What Makes It More Than Wishful Thinking
This isn’t landing in a vacuum, which is why people are paying attention.
In February, Carey himself said he was hoping to have a new Tool album out in 2027. Not a maybe-someday — a stated target with a year attached.
Justin Chancellor confirmed last year that new material was in the works, while adding the caveat that art doesn’t really have a schedule. We’ve covered Chancellor talking about the new material before, where he described a beat Carey had been working on daily with three different things layered on top of each other, and the room stopping dead to work on it.
And Adam Jones said in May that he remains hopeful about a Tool residency at the Sphere in Las Vegas, saying they’ve been in conversation since the venue opened.
Line those up. A drummer with a stated 2027 target, a bassist confirming material exists, a guitarist chasing a Vegas residency for the same year — and now that drummer clearing his autumn.
If 2027 delivers a new Tool album and a Sphere residency, that’s the biggest year this band has had since 1996.
Now The Cold Water, In Maynard’s Own Words
And here’s where we’re going to be straight with you, because Tool fans have been through this before and deserve better than another round of hype.
Back when the last wave of new-album speculation was building, Maynard James Keenan gave Loudwire a response we covered at the time, and it reads like it was written for today.
He said he never mentions anything until they actually have it in their hands, because every time he says it out loud it runs further away — like Groundhog Day. And on the subject of fans getting excited over rumours, he said getting people wound up about something that doesn’t exist is irresponsible.
That’s the singer of this band, telling you not to do the thing everyone is currently doing.
He’s earned the right to say it. The gap between 10,000 Days in 2006 and Fear Inoculum in 2019 was thirteen years, and it was thirteen years of exactly this — hints, hopeful comments from band members, scheduling tea leaves, and nothing at the end of it for over a decade. This month is the seventh anniversary of Fear Inoculum. Do the pattern-matching yourself.
The Case For Optimism
That said, something genuinely has changed, and again it’s Maynard who said it.
We covered his comments about the next Tool record, where he was blunt that they can’t drag this one out another fourteen years — and that the driver is simple arithmetic about age. Everyone in that band is in their late fifties or sixties now. Carey turns 65 next year.
He was also honest about why Tool records take so long: it’s a complicated beast with a lot of egos and a lot of other lives happening around it, and while the creativity is all there and the ideas flow, so do the arguments.
That’s the most useful thing anyone in Tool has ever said about the process. It isn’t writer’s block. It’s four people who make each other better and drive each other mad, and the album arrives when that resolves.
The difference this time is that the clock is louder.
Where This Actually Stands
To be precise:
Confirmed: Danny Carey is not on BEAT’s fall tour, and Tony Levin has attributed that to Tool commitments. Tool have two festival dates scheduled. Carey said in February he hopes for a 2027 album. Chancellor confirmed material exists. Jones is pursuing a Sphere residency.
Not confirmed: that Tool are in a studio. That an album is being recorded. That anything arrives in 2027. That the Sphere residency is happening. Any of it.
There’s no announcement, no producer, no title, no label statement, and no comment from the band on any of this.
What there is, is a drummer who cleared his autumn. Given who we’re talking about, that’s the most encouraging signal in years — and also nowhere near enough to start counting.
If you want to revisit what they’re capable of when it does land, our coverage of the night they played “Flood” for the first time since 2011 is a decent reminder of why anyone puts up with the waiting.
TL;DR
- What happened: BEAT announced a fall tour with Terry Bozzio replacing Danny Carey. Tony Levin said Carey’s Tool commitments make him unavailable
- Why it matters: Tool have only two shows scheduled — Louder Than Life and Aftershock — which wouldn’t normally prevent a drummer from touring elsewhere
- The inference: Carey’s Tool commitments likely involve studio work. Nobody has confirmed this
- Supporting context: Carey said in February he hopes for a new album in 2027; Justin Chancellor confirmed material is in progress; Adam Jones is pursuing a Sphere residency in Las Vegas for 2027
- The caution: Maynard James Keenan has said he considers it irresponsible to get fans excited about something that doesn’t exist, and that talking about new music makes it run away
- The history: thirteen years passed between 10,000 Days (2006) and Fear Inoculum (2019). This month marks seven years since Fear Inoculum
- Official confirmation: none, on any part of it
FAQ
Is Tool recording a new album?
Nothing has been confirmed. The speculation stems from BEAT bassist Tony Levin stating that Danny Carey’s Tool commitments prevent him from joining BEAT’s fall tour, combined with the fact that Tool have only two shows scheduled. No member of Tool has confirmed studio work.
When is the new Tool album coming out?
No release date exists. Danny Carey said in February 2026 that he hopes to have a new album out in 2027, but that’s an ambition rather than an announcement.
Why isn’t Danny Carey on BEAT’s fall tour?
Tony Levin said in an August 4 statement that Carey remains part of the BEAT family but that his Tool commitments prevent him from being available. Terry Bozzio is drumming on that run instead.
When was Tool’s last album?
Fear Inoculum was released August 30, 2019 — seven years ago this month. Before that, 10,000 Days came out in 2006, a thirteen-year gap.
Is Tool doing a Sphere residency in Las Vegas?
Nothing is confirmed. Adam Jones said in May 2026 that he remains hopeful and that the band have been in talks with the venue since it opened.
A drummer clearing his autumn for a band with two shows booked. It isn’t proof — but it’s the most encouraging thing Tool fans have had in years. How long are you giving them? Let us know in the comments.
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