Tool guitarist Adam Jones explains the band's eccentricity, authenticity and longevity

In true rock star fashion, Adam Jones, guitar player for the progressive rock band Tool, was late to his phone interview with The Tennessean.

In very un-rock star fashion, he apologized profusely and wanted to explain why he was late — and tired.

"I just had a baby," he told The Tennessean from a Connecticut tour stop in mid-December. "She's almost 3 months old. I've got three kids, and I was feeling exhausted and sick and I was like, 'What is wrong with me?' Finally I realized 'I'm homesick.' I miss my kids. So I went home, but I took red-eye (flights) and didn't get any sleep. I just got back this morning ... and they literally just woke me up."

The band is halfway through a massive tour that began in October 2023 and ends in Oslo, Norway, in June after making a Jan. 23 stop at Nashville's Bridgestone Arena.

Despite reeling from the aftereffects of his much-needed, 48-hour, cross-country trip home to California, Jones, who was one of the founding members of Tool in the early '90s, says the realization of how lucky he is keeps him going.

"I have a lot of gratitude and self-fulfillment in what an accomplishment this is with my other three bandmembers," Jones said. "We do music I like listening to and I feel and I feel the process has always been you work hard and do something you really like and people will see that and appreciate it. We have the greatest fans in the world, and I just feel blessed, so that keeps me going."

Tool marches to its own Danny Carey-led, mathematical drum beat

Tool was formed in 1990 in Los Angeles by Jones, singer Maynard James Keenan, drummer Danny Carey and bassist Paul D'Amour, who was replaced in 1995 by the band's current bass player, Justin Chancellor. That lineup remains unchanged nearly 30 years later. The group has toured the world multiple times, garnered Grammy Awards and held top spots on Billboard charts.

Everything else about the band is both unexpected and unpredictable as well as genuinely eccentric and authentic.

Any record industry expectations go completely unnoticed by members of Tool. They release music whenever they want, going sometimes 10-plus years between albums. "Fear Inoculum" was released in 2019, the band's first record in 14 years, and debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Top 200 Albums chart. Several band members play in other bands with Keenan fronting three bands including Tool, Puscifer and A Perfect Circle.

"People complain how long we take to write a record, but we follow our rules," Jones said. "I think the reason it works so well is we are four different people, we have very passionate, different tastes in music that’s all very eclectic. We have our own lives and we have our own interests and its always kinda been like that. We also have our own process to writing music. You kinda curse the process, but when you are done with it you go let’s do it again! You get really excited."

He added the band's recording process is very haphazard and unplanned, which is part of what he says makes it work.

"That process could be a year after something comes out or 10 years after something comes out. That’s what we do. That’s why it works. If we were to go 'ok, well this is what we wrote last time and it was really popular so we gotta write more songs like that’ it’s gonna be shit."

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Jones said their fans understand their music is nurtured and from the heart and the result will be worth the wait.

"We get back together when we finally get back together," he said. "It takes us a while to get back to that point of jamming where we remember why we started as a band. And that’s the point where we forget about all of the success and get back to the passion of making music."

Don't just watch a live Tool show — 'get lost in it.'

The band's live show, which is a cult favorite of the hordes of fans who consider themselves members of the Tool Army (numbering upwards of half a million) is interestingly not about the band. It's about the experience. Where most rock bands emote "look at me" with spotlights, guitar solos and faces projected larger-than-life on giant screens, Tool's vibe is more "wait until you hear/experience this."

Concert goers rarely see a band member in a spotlight and never projected on a screen. In fact, lead singer Keenan is almost never at the front of the stage, but instead chooses to remain in the shadows while intense graphics, lasers and other visuals — all under Jones' creative direction — add another layer to the live music that transcends the band.

Tool asks fans not to use their cellphones until the end of the show so they can "get lost" in the show instead of worrying about trying to document it.

"I want everyone to go 'I had this experience. I was immersed. I had a great time,'" Jones said of the band's live show. "Compare it to a great movie or going to Disneyland or going to the ocean and sitting on the beach and getting in tune with the wave rhythms. Feeling like there’s something outside of you that can touch you and make you feel alive — that’s what I want when I go to a show."

He compares the connection between the band and its fans as a "weird high" that isn't drug-induced.

"The fans are very passionate about what you do. You’re very passionate about what you do, so there’s this connection to this person in the back row. It’s this weird high. I don’t do drugs, but there’s a euphoric satisfaction on that level on this connection you have with each person who’s in there."

Welcome to the Tool stage — bluegrass phenom Billy Strings

In keeping with their trademark unpredictability, the band recently welcomed bluegrass phenomenon Billy Strings onstage in Salt Lake City to take over the guitarwork on "Jambi." Strings has said he learned to play bluegrass from his father but learned to perform in a metal band.

"Hey plays acoustic, but he was really excited to go down a different path and play electric," Jones said of the impromptu onstage guest. "He asked what he should do and we were like 'Do what you do and do it for as long as you want to do it.' He killed it. That kid is so talented."

As for when Tool fans might hear some new music? The band will write and record when they feel the time is right and not a minute before.

"This process can be difficult. Trying to find a point where we are all happy. … But when we find it, we go, 'Oh my gosh, let’s do it again!' That’s our process."

Melonee Hurt covers music and music business at The Tennessean, part of the USA TODAY NETWORK — Tennessee. Reach Melonee at [email protected] or on X @HurtMelonee.

If you go

What: Tool with special guests Elder

Where: Bridgestone Arena

When: 7 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 23

Tickets: www.bridgestonearena.com/events/detail/tool-2

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Progressive rock guitarist Adam Jones talks Tool, touring