The 2000s band that raised the bar for Maynard James Keenan: “Crazy fucks”
As far as the use of the qualifier ‘progressive’ goes in musical circles, very few bands have truly embodied the definition of the word as intently as Tool.
Invariably described as progressive rock and progressive metal, the second part of both tags tends not to matter too much in the grand scheme of things, with the majority of the band’s appeal coming from the intricacy of their compositions rather than from the way it slots into a wider scene. That being said, the way in which they’ve straddled the genres has earned them a considerable amount of support from contemporaries in both areas, and there’s little doubt that they’re comfortable in both areas.
A large part of this can be attributed to their frontman, Maynard James Keenan, whose leadership has always driven them towards creating music of a cerebral nature. Clearly, an individual driven by a desire to create music of a challenging nature, Keenan’s bold creative decisions sit at the heart of everything he does, and he’s proudly been flying the flag for the world of prog since he first emerged in the 1990s.
You can also hear this in many of the other projects he has been a part of aside from Tool, with A Perfect Circle and Puscifer both showing off a progressive flair as well, although admittedly not to the same extent as his primary outlet does.
This does, of course, come from his broad taste in music, but while his admiration of other proggy or off-kilter acts is well-documented, one band who were active around the same time as Tool seemingly upped the stakes as far as he was concerned.
The Mars Volta, who were formed in 2000 by frontman Cedric Bixler-Zavala and guitarist Omar Rodríguez-López after the dissolution of Texan post-hardcore outfit At The Drive In, are perhaps one of the most polarising bands of their era, especially given how different they sounded from their previous project…. However, the duo’s desire to push things further along with the help of some other virtuosic musicians that included the likes of Flea and Jon Theodore, The Mars Volta showed exactly the same disregard for restraint as Tool have always done, which impressed Keenan no end.
Speaking about his love of their song, ‘The Widow’, taken from their second album, Frances The Mute, Keenan declared that this one-of-a-kind band were exactly what the industry needed at a time when things were being played too safe. “We need more bands like these crazy fucks,” he told Magnet Magazine in 2015. “Raising the bar ain’t easy, and they still managed to do it while stoned.”
Frances The Mute is perhaps one of the most extreme progressive rock albums of the 21st century, arriving at a time when the genre was dramatically falling out of favour, and while they could have attempted to do something that would ease listeners towards the genre again, they ended up going off the other end.
A maverick record that never says when enough is enough, The Mars Volta approached the creation of their opus much like how Keenan has always handled his own work, and so the appreciation is perfectly understandable.
