A Perfect Circle

My 5 Questions:

1. When will your next album come out?

2. What was the writing process for Lateralus?

3. What is the secret behind 10,000 days?

4. How do you balance 3 different bands and your home life?

5. What made you want to produce wine?

Public Contact Information: Try contacting Blair McKenzie Blake, he is head of their fan club.

It's not the same as 15 years ago, but it still is APC. Overall I'm loving it, specially Feathers, By and Down, The Contrarian and Disillusioned.

So we’ve looked at a whole of Josh’s collaborations - from to to to to and everything in between.

We’ve looked at Mikey Shoes’ work with his side hustle which now also involves Jon Theodore.

We’ve taken a look at and shown how both Josh and Dean Fertita toured with the leather man himself in support of Post Pop Depression.

But we’ve yet to focus on our

OKAY, sure, But man, that ruins my perfect intro. Let’s just hand wave that away for now. Back to the narrative.

No fear, Queens fans. Troy’s moment has come. Today we look at

About them

So what do you get when you mix in and

Aside from an excuse to re-share those write ups, I mean.

There really is no mystery here, Scooby Gang. You know the answer is It’s clear that we’ve danced around this particular band for a while. It was inevitable that we would get here.

So let’s take a look at this supergroup and how they came to be.

First, let’s get this out of the way. They are kinda edgy. They are political. Not in a bad way, but in a kinda artsy sorta way. It’s like they are angry but still want to hang out and have some beers after the show. For the record, I can’t really see but I guess he must do that sometimes.

But I digress.

The story of A Perfect Circle begins in That’s where was born in 1970. The dude was drawn to the audio program at his high school and had a genuine knack with sound. He was a born audio tech. But he wasn’t content with just mixing music - he wanted to make some on his own. He got a guitar and started to play.

Howerdel parlayed his audio passion and growing guitar skills into a career. He became the sound engineer for a number of local bands. He also worked as a guitar tech. This is the person who tunes, maintains, and looks after guitars for bands, especially during a live performance.

And he was good at it.

Soon, Howerdel wasn’t working at a seedy little bar. Nope. He was working with and and and and and So essentially, Howerdel had become like a squire to a knight...but wanted, like Heath Ledger in the movie, to be a knight himself. He began writing music.

When he was working as a guitar tech for Tool, Howerdel was bold enough to share some of his songs with Maynard James Keenan from the band. Keenan liked what he heard. He offered to sing for Howerdel if he ever founded a band.

So Howerdel did that exact thing in 1999, and got Keenan to sing for A Perfect Circle. Cause you know.

Keenan brought some serious gravity to the band. The two needed to round out the performers though. They invited to join on bass. This was her big break. As long time readers know, Lenchantin would go on to play strings on Songs For The Deaf, join Billy Corgan in the ill-fated Zwan, and then go on to join Pixies. But before all of those things, she joined a band with Maynard James Keenan. Pretty good start.

They then recruited from the band Failure. This guy was allegedly born in 1970 and grew up listening to Pretty cool. He first wanted to be John Bonham, but learned that So instead, he picked up the guitar and decided to imitate Jimmy Page instead.

This phantom of the night grew to be the lead guitarist in a number of bands - Little Boots, 60 Cycle, Enemy, and Failure among them. But while critical praise poured in, dollars did not. While touring with Failure, managed to who was touring with Screaming Trees at the time.

joined the session circuit and, like Howerdel, worked with a number of bands. It was because of these connections that he was recruited into A Perfect Circle on guitar.

And this master of the night’s name? That was

Oh wait no. It was But if he was a vampire and around this entire time, WHY DIDN’T HE KILL HITLER? Is it because vegetarian blood does not taste as good?

So when Howerdel, Keenan, Lenchantin, and Van Leeuwen looked around the room, they noticed something missing. And what was missing was our old friend,

But since with the Backstreet Boys, they went with from Primus. Look, anyone that can keep up with has to be pretty good on their instrument. Alexander, who was born in North Carolina in 1965, had an on-again off-again relationship with Primus, and was available when the call came. He completed the lineup.

While some of Alexander’s work appeared on the band’s debut album, things didn’t gel. So before things really got rolling, he was replaced by Freese was another sort of second-tier near-great musician who had worked with Axl Rose - and Howerdel - on the Guns ‘N’ Roses record

But wait, I hear you say. Your timeline is all fucked. Chinese Democracy came out in 2008.

True. True.

But recording for that clusterfuck of an album actually started in 1997 and went on for Jesus, Mary, and Joseph,

Surely A Perfect Circle would not fall into the trap of taking huge gaps between albums. Good thing that no one in the band

(Psst...this is kids.)

So the now stable lineup finished up the debut album for the band and got a major label to sign them. Maybe not in that order. The result was which dropped in May of 2000. The buzz around the record was huge and it entered the Billboard 200 at number 4. It went on to be certified platinum.

The record was Prog Rock mixed with Metal and Alternative with just And unlike a Tool album, you didn’t need a degree in to understand it. The songs are mostly about people Keenan knew. Tunes like Judith and 3 Libras and The Hollow got airplay and gave the band a real presence.

And these folks were connected. Before the record even dropped, they were opening for Nine Inch Nails. They then on their own, and followed that up opening for the Foo Fighters and Smashing Pumpkins. So yeah, they got off to a great start.

But after the success of their debut, however, the thing that happens to all super groups happened. Their home bands beckoned.

Ok fine, it was mostly just Keenan being summoned by the other members of Tool in support of their next album. And while that was probably just a phone call telling him “Yeah we need you dude”, I personally choose to believe that the summons came in the form of a

But I digress. The point is that they had to go on a brief hiatus while Keenan was finishing up recording the album He did show up for a 3-month tour with the boys in the 2πr gang, but

But the others were working. Through to 2002, Howerdel was writing new material whilst working with Van Leeuwen, Lenchantin, and Freese on the instrumental bits. In June of 2002, they estimated that they had about 80% of the instrumentals when the time came.

With that nest-egg of material written, the other members of Circle started to drift while waiting for Tool to stop giving people bad acid trips. Lenchantin went to work with Billy Corgan’s new band, Zwan. Van Leeuwen also departed, after winning the audition to work with since

Regardless, there were now holes to fill. Former Marilyn Manson bassist came in to work the Axe, while filled in as a secondary guitarist for the tracks that were yet to be recorded.

Keenan’s tour ended in early 2003, and he returned to a very different Well-drawn Oval. Instead of Howerdel having sole creative control over the lyrical aspects of the songs, their second album would bend itself to the Tool vocalists whims. This did make recording sessions more tense, with Howerdel even once threatening to leave over the more mellow sounds Keenan was urging.

But they held together, and in September of 2003 they were ready to release their next album, It debuted even higher than its predecessor, hitting #2 on the charts and selling over 233,000 copies. Critics loved the sound, praising its moodier, tense and atmospheric notes.

Thirteenth Step was a concept album around the many different aspects of addiction and recovery from said affliction. You know the Apparently listening to this record was step 13. Clever.

Thirteenth Step was another immediate success for APC. With songs inspired by and the 9/11 terrorist attacks, it was a record that tapped into the collective consciousness of a world in need of recovery. Blue is a menacing and disturbing track hidden by an innocent melody. Weak and Powerless featured a video of a nude woman trying to escape something in the forest. And The Outsider was about watching a friend go through some shit.

The world could to these feelings.

So with this success, they hit the tour circuit in 2003. Lohner had commitment issues or something and dipped, and was replaced by James Iha from the Smashing Pumpkins...who was available since Billy ‘the Ego’ Corgan was drinking

The tour was a global one. It was huge. were headliners, and were selling out shows in North America, Australia, New Zealand, Europe and Japan.

So did our heroes capitalize on this success?

Nope. They decided that they were gonna go on hiatus. You know, that thing we are experiencing right now between and the rumored new album. Kinda sucks, right? Well, Josh did do us a solid and recorded the latest Desert Sessions album.

APC did something similar. Because Keenan and the rest of the band hated they decided that before the 2004 election the band would cover a bunch of political songs and release that record to try to influence voters.

Remember Good times.

Anyways. The result of this political experiment was the cover album which dropped on November 2, 2004 - election day. Not sure it had the impact the band wanted,

Paz Lenchantin and Danny Lohner made contributions, as did James Iha and Twiggy Ramirez. The record has covers of John Lennon’s Imagine, Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On, Black Flag’s Gimmie Gimmie Gimmie, Depeche Mode’s People Are People, and even When The Levee Breaks - not the version, but the original by Memphis Minnie and Kansas Joe McCoy.

An album of covers is a lot of fun (consider the covers of White Wedding or Christian Brothers or for example) but it is not the same thing as new music. It was fun for the fans. But for the band, what it really did was complete their recording contract and release them to go back to other bands or solo projects.

And Some of the cover versions on the record were wildly different from the originals (but mercifully not as bad as Madonna covering American Pie, thank fucking God).

So APC had completed their three album obligation to Virgin records. Emotive sold pretty OK and eventually went gold. But the tensions that had begun on Thirteenth Step had been building in the background, so it was time for a change before the band

And then, A Perfect Circle decided to go to that most dreaded place for any band. They used that word. No, don’t freak out, they didn’t do a Disco wasn’t the word. It was the other shitty one.

Keenan returned to Tool in January of 2005, working on the album . Howerdel began pursuing a solo career in a project he called Freese went off and drummed for And And And

This, as you might have figured out, was Keenan mentioned a desire to return to Pristine Infinite-Sided Polygon in 2007, but also pointed out that part of the issue was that Perfect Circle was not a band that’s well-suited to just being a side project. It needed touring, promotional materials, and production. All of which were by default put on the back-burner when the home bands (Read: Tool)

Even though the band had drifted apart, something kept bringing Howerdel and Keenan together. Keenan needed a guitarist for an event and tapped Howerdel in 2010 to fill in. and decided that even though they had no new material, APC needed to tour again.

So they

Well, most of them. Neither Twiggy Ramirez nor Paz Lenchantin were available, so they got to fill in on bass. They started out in 2010 by doing three night shows in cities where they would do one complete album per night. Interesting stuff. This grew to become a series of much bigger tours into 2011 and even a couple of shows in 2012 and 2013. Out of these shows came a box set called a greatest hits record called and recordings of those full album shows called

The only thing they didn’t really do was release a new album.

Even though the band was back together, only one new song - - was released in this period. And then they went dark again.

Fuck. It seemed to fans that those tours would be the last ones, since the band were in 2015 or 2016.

But then, just as people began to lose all hope,

You ever wonder what happened after they

Yup. The band’s most recent release is the tasty APC reformed in 2017 and hit the touring circuit once more, and used the live performances to perform and polish some new songs. This workshopping of material seemed to settle any tensions in the band.

Eat The Elephant dropped in April of 2018. The title is a reference to one small step at a time.

This record is another solid entry to Perfect Circle’s discography. And it only took for it to be released! A wait like that

Fun fact, the wait between the last two Perfect Circle albums was Clearly then, it is APC fans that have truly suffered. Equally fun fact, if you add the collective wait times between the last APC and Tool albums, you almost get 10,000 days. Nice.

Any way, Eat The Elephant is The songs on this thing are equal parts energetic and atmospheric, and MJK’s vocals are as powerful as ever. TalkTalk is four minutes of with driving riffage and angry lyrics. The Doomed strikes a balance between spaced out, flowing verses and monumental choruses. Other tracks tread this moody, open-feel even further. Feathers is a masterclass in shifting dynamics and compelling songwriting, and Disillusioned even makes use of a

Oh, and the band references with So Long, and thanks For All The Fish, so you know it’s a good album.

But that’s it for A Perfect Circle, for the moment. As we all know, Maynard James Keenan is prone to some… scheduling issues. We’re probably not going to get a new album for a while.

We can only hope it will take this time.

Until then, I recommend diving into their discography. This is a total gem of a band, and perfectly connected not just to QotSA, but to at least 3 other bands you listen to. Just be ready to wait if you want new content. If you’re a Kyuss fan, this may come naturally to you - 4 albums is plenty, but make them last. Get out there, and

Links to QotSA

The

Oh, and Twiggy Ramirez too. He slipped on down to everyone’s favourite Ranch to record a few songs on

And Paz Lenchantin, who started off on bass with A Perfect Circle, played strings for Josh and our boys on

Their Music

Show Them Some Love

- 8,906 readers. And the stickied post at the top of their subreddit loudly proclaims that all posts of circular objects will be removed.

Clearly that mod team has seen some shit. Circular shit, if I were to guess.

Previous Posts

His name was Jason, he was part of the Tool Army. Obsessed can't really describe the depth of his love for the music, it connected with his soul. Jason collected anything he could get his hands on related to any MJK project. Dozens of autographed posters, art prints, t-shirts, hoodies, pins, blankets, MJK books, wine from Merkin vineyards, sculpture from Jerome, his collection was huge. Even ticket stubs, wristbands, confetti, I keep finding more every day. And so much Alex Grey stuff. He was mesmerized by the Alex Grey room and art projections at Omega Mart in Vegas.

Jason went to 9 shows just this year on the Tool tour, followed them across the US. He was so excited for Puscifer to tour, it was all he would talk about, but sadly he won't make it to the show. I have his Denver show tix, I'm planning on taking our 17-year old son to the show on Wednesday, maybe we can feel him through the music one last time.

Jason drowned while snorkeling on a family vacation in the Caribbean last week (June 21), his death is a total shock. He had ordered, bought or traded posters literally until he died, the merch keeps arriving after his death, 8 posters and a box of APC stuff so far. Like a morbid 12 days of Christmas, we've only been back home a week, I've gotten at least 1 delivery a day.

I don't know why I wanted to tell you all this, but he was a Tool fan, just like you. Maybe you knew him, maybe you met him in an online group, or in line at a merch booth at a show. He was a dedicated fan, I only wish MJK could know how much his music, his art and creations meant to Jason, and how much he influenced him. I'm having him buried in his favorite Tool t-shirt, one of 23 in his collection.

Rest in Peace, Jason.

Discovered tool 'properly' about 1-2 years ago. I thought they were unreal then. But then I did a heavy shroom trip and put on the Lateralus album - genuinely one of the most insane experiences of my life.

pink floyd have always been my favourite band until I properly discovered Tool - now there a very close second.

Anyway, I hadn't heard much A Perfect Circle other than Judith. I listened to 'Pet' in my car, and even with my shitty car speakers I was thinking "How the fuck haven't I heard this before". As soon as I got home I checked out the lyrics and holy shit. I know I sound like a pathetic fangirl but that's one of the best songs I've heard - period.

"counting bodies like sheep to the rhythm of the wardrum"

and my favourite bit

" Swaying to the rhythm of the new world order", not just what he sings it with the rhythym. Fucking unreal. I know, I get way too hyped about music, but it's one of the few things in life that make me feel like this.

The thing that sucks is I have nobody in real life to share this love of music like this with. Thank god for reddit eh

What song should I check out next?