Tool singer Maynard James Keenan revealed who is ‘heavier’ than Metallica in a new The Void with Christina interview. Maynard recently discussed his horrible health problems.
What feels like heavy music to you, what has weight?
“For me, the weight comes from mood, so I find a more creative space and a more productive space in a more moody piece.
So as far as weight, I think most people kind of think of weight in terms of Metallica, you know, some of the heavier bands – Slayer – but I find weight in things like PJ Harvey and Gillian Welch, and a band called Low. That’s where I find weight – in those almost… they’re uplifting but emotionally sad, but because they’re sad they’re uplifting to me.”
He also discussed what he’s into right now, “I haven’t read anything in a very long time. I read a lot of articles by philosophers or people who are kind of, in a way, almost card readers when it comes to financial predictions – if that makes any sense. People that are looking at it, trying to look at things from a wider perspective of human trajectory – but to be honest, I’m watching more films and television.
But having worked with producers, and having worked with people that work in film and actors from everything, you know, an extra to the caterer all the way up to as an actor, to some co-producer, to an actual director, I’ve worked with a lot of those people. And I’ve seen a raw script and then finally seen it on a screen and you go, ‘How the fuck did they get that out of that script that I read?’ Like, ‘The whole point of that film and the whole point of the story, they blew it on whatever,’ you know, the love interests, they kind of blew it.
So a lot of times when I’m watching a film, I’m watching it from the architectural point of view to see in this TV series, in this movie, if it starts to go sideways and it looks like a shit film, I’m like, ‘OK, let’s find the carrot in the middle of all this that the writer actually wanted to convey and let’s have fun with figuring out how some douchebags in a boardroom ruined it because they were trying to sell tickets instead.'”
Ultimate-Guitar transcribed Keenan’s comments. Lars Ulrich discussed Metallica interacting with fans during the pandemic in a new CNBC Evolve Summit conversation.
“I guess there’s two ways to go with that answer. As far as Metallica is concerned, we have our own record label. We pretty much try to control all the different elements in our little bubble and our little ecosystem. We have a P&D [Pressing & Distribution] deal with Universal in Europe, but we try to maximize and do the best thing that we can in all the different parts of the world. And so we like to control. We’re financially independent.
We sort of model our existence, somewhat, on Grateful Dead, who really considered themselves to be living outside of the mainstream and just [functioned] in their own world,” he explained. “And that’s been our dream — to just be independent, autonomous, to be able to create the music, not owe anybody any money, and just really be independent in every sense of that word.
So when you say who has the control, we like to think in our bubble that we do, but, obviously, we’re also very fortunate in that we can channel the success that we’re so grateful for into financial independence.”
