Tool frontman Maynard James Keenan recently shared his thoughts on staying relevant in the shifting landscape of the music industry. He further commented on how the desire to stay cool forever “turns to desperation very quickly”.
Maynard James Keenan opens up on the matter
Having started out over 3 decades ago, Maynard James Keenan and his Tool bandmates are veterans. The alternative metal juggernauts have managed to stay relevant throughout that time, and still drum up interest like nobody’s business – in fact, Tool even gave Taylor Swift a run for her money on the charts when the eagerly-awaited “Fear Inoculum” released in 2019.
However, staying relevant by any means necessary doesn’t seem to be on Tool’s agenda, as Maynard told Joe Rogan during a recent interview. For example, the singer noted how Tool has largely been exempt from trending on TikTok, unlike their peers from Metallica or Ghost (via Metal Injection):
“I won’t be relevant with the TikTok-ers of the world because it’s just not on their radar. Those people that listen to the thing they listen to, and the people that respond to the things they respond to now, I’m not necessarily relevant.
“But there’s an entire generation of people that’s not just my generation. There are people older than me and much younger than me that have grown with this thing. So as they’re aging, they’re going to be discovering it.”
And while Maynard is known to have done lots of silly things over the course of his career, one wouldn’t find him engaging in desperate acts in an effort to stay relevant:
“You can’t because, you’ll start being desperate and getting plastic surgery, and looking like a f****ng alien and trying to insert yourself into some stupid f****ng thing. I’m not talking about anybody. I’m not talking about my peers … It turns to desperation very quickly. It reeks. So just maintain your art, dude.”
