Q&A with the bassist behind one of the world's biggest rock bands
Progressive rock band Tool has a reputation as one of the most epic band's in music today. Their albums have been released to critical praise; they've even been described as this generation's Led Zeppelin. Big talk, but with a one-of-a-kind live show and a monstrous, brooding sound, the band has gained the allegiance of legions of fans around the globe who couldn't agree more.
Nearly one year since they hit the road, (the tour started shortly after the May 2006 release of "10,000 Days") the foursome is on the second leg of their tour with several stops planned around America, including a return to the CenturyTel Center in Bossier City Thursday night.
Jason Chancellor has been Tool's bassist for nearly 12 years. Born in England, he now resides in Los Angeles. Despite spending more time in the states than he has in the U.K., Chancellor's British accent is clear as ever; his voice has a surprisingly elegant tone for the bassist of one of the most significant metal band's of the last decade. I spoke with him earlier this week about the humor of Tool, his surprising influences and more.
difficulties touring:
You get a little better at how you spend your time. You find ways to keep yourself busy and healthy and happy. I'd say it's probably a little easier than it used to be.
getting involved with tool:
I actually was friends with them before i got off to be in the band. My brother used to run a record label and a good friend of his happened to be the person that signed Tool in Los Angeles. So we kind of had that demo tape pretty early on and ended up going to New York and seeing them play... That's when I met them and we just kind of became friends. That was maybe three and a bit years before I joined the band.
life on the road:
It's early on this particular leg of the tour, we've only been out for nearly two weeks now on this U.S. leg. Everyone's always happy to be here at the beginning and by the end everyone's kind of thinking of home.
getting along:
Generally, we're getting along really well at the moment. We've been through our ups and downs through the years but the fact that we're still together really proves that we're getting on.
the difficulty of being one of the world's biggest bands -- would you rather be unknown again?
Not really. I don't really think of it like that, you know. We keep ourselves to ourselves pretty much and once we go home it's all pretty normal and quiet and private and peaceful. I wouldn't give up the oppurtunity to be doing what I'm doing just because I had to talk to the kids or do interviews or anything like that. It doesn't outweight the good side of getting to play music to that many people or getting to travel that much around the world. So I wouldn't turn back.
ever get stopped in public?
Not really, in fact barely ever has it happened to me. Obviously, like today we were at a gig in Kansas City and, you know, if I walk out in front of the venue there are a bunch of kids that are there to see us so they're going to be a little more tuned in, but if I'm in the local town shopping or whatever nobody ever bothers me.
do you prefer it that way?
Absolutely. I didn't think i would when i was a kid, you know, like you dream about being famous but at this point you realize how lucky you are to have that kind of anonimity.
Tool's fanbase:
I'm actually surprised by how many younger kids are in us. You know, we're getting older and in a way I would assume that our audience kind of grew up with us. Obviously we pick up new people along the way otherwise we wouldn't have continued to be sucessful. I'm really surprised at how young a lot of the kids are at our shows that are really, clearly, obviously into it.
your family's opinion of Tool:
They love it. They're obvously proud but, especially my mom is really open-minded and she really likes it. looked over humor buried under the seriousness of tool:
The thing that we don't take seriosly is the whole intrigue about us as individuals or as a band or what we kind of mean. The music is what we take seriously. So there's a lot humor in the music, there's a lot of humor in the press or the releases that we do or the web site stuff and it's really to have fun with the idea that people are even intersted in that side of things, you know? The music is very sersious and it speaks for itself, but I think once you start trying to talk about the music it gets to a point of being ridiculous.
the years of mediocre mainstream rock successes that claim list tool as an influence:
You know what, anyone that lists us as an influence I think is a compliment becuase someone is inspired to make music because you... I find it hard to understand when I hear people say, 'This band is like a tool rip-off' and I hear the band and I don't hear it at all. People must be talking about the overall idea of what they're doing, I don't know, I just don't hear it that obviously in other bands. getting into music:
I played guitar for a little bit when I was a kid, from like eight years old. I started playing classical guitar and at that time I was listening to my parent's music, which was very different. Like Neil Diamond and Elton John and Boney M [laughs]. Just pretty much stuff that is far from anything sounding like anything we are doing. It was just good old, John Denver or whatever. Just jumping around with my brother on the furniture pretending to play guitar, you know? That led me to want to get a guitar... At this point I'm into anything that sounds good really. It doesn't have to be a certain kind of music. proficent muscians:
I still find it challengeing and I still find many areas where I can improve. Every night we play live is a challenege to pull it off. I realized once we'd done a couple of albums that people are into it, that peopel like what's happening but I wouldn't necassarily say that it means I'm really good at playing the bass guitar. It helps having the other guys all playing together. I think our band is more about that really, it's more about the meshing of all the things together.
tour bus listening:
I like TV on the Radio a lot, The Bronx, there's a werid band I found called the Chaps that are really interersing. Also been listening to an English band called Elbow. Tons of stuff.
the future of tool:
We really don't know. We're guessing we'll probably be done around January or February next year and at that point we'll defitinely take some time off, I mean you know some proper time off from each other. Whether it's six months or a year I don't know, but at that point then we'll decide what we'll do next. It's kind of hard to plan stuff when you've got a year of stuff planned for you. That's kind of enough to bite off and chew. We'll plan the future when we get to it.
new material:
We have loads of stuff that we didn't use on the last album and we write stuff, pretty much every week there's new stuff. When you're out playing music everyday it kind of comes naturally that you write new stuff.
a new album:
There's a big stockpile of things that we haven't really created into songs yet so there's lots to do. I'm sure if everyone is still good at the end of this and we don't damage ourselves too much then I'm sure there'll be another album, but I can't say when.
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