Tool drummer Danny Carey gave a stellar performance on Fear Inoculum, but walros462 said on Reddit recently that some of his performance appeared to be ‘sloppy.’ Maynard James Keenan ranting about wanting Tool to ‘just finish’ the new album was revealed yesterday.
“Drummers of this sub: is some of FI sloppy to you? Now don’t crucify me here, just an honest question.
I’m an intermediate level drummer. Been at it for about 15 years. Another 10 before that I played rhythm guitar. I have a decent ear for this stuff, though very far from perfect.
A few moments in FI seem to stand out as particularly sloppy. And I’m not talking about the gentle push and pull off the tempos, which is intentional. The opening trills in Pneuma, a couple of doubles in Invincible, the Asian percussion in 7empest, to name a few.
Now I partially suspect this may be purposeful. For example, the drum sound in some of the songs felt pretty odd to me. I could tell it was Danny’s second drum set a little too much, you know? And then I listened to Joe Barresi’s interview and he said Danny wanted them to sound “crappy” on purpose, because he was trying to recreate the tone of his early shitty prog kit.
Anyway, thoughts? Did you have any similar experiences or am I off base here?”
A Tool member made a ‘sick’ revelation after quitting guitar. ChudanNoKamae commented, “I actually prefer it this way. Danny intentionally keeps an organic quality in his drumming. He purposefully does not play to a click track for this reason.
I am a huge fan of all kinds of genres of modern metal, but one thing I can’t stand is the trend for things to sound pristine and perfect. Too many bands are quantizing every beat, getting the perfect take, overdubbing etc. This gets sterile and impersonal really quickly.
One of the reasons that Tool is so great is because they purposefully avoid doing this.”
walros462 responded, “I happen to very much agree with that philosophy – and Danny (well, all of them, really) has spoken many times about how that is his approach. Things should definitely feel organic and breathe and not be pushed into a metronome box. I was speaking about something different, however. Actual mistakes, which I haven’t noticed in previous albums so glaringly, if that’s a word.” A big name rejected Maynard James Keenan’s offer to join Tool.
