‘The Contrarian’: The song that challenged Maynard James Keenan the most
Music begins on the second note. On the first note, you don’t have music; all you have is sound. When you introduce the second note, that’s when you have music, and it either layers the first to become harmony or follows it to become melody. After that, what you want to do is up to you. The Beatles, Beach Boys, The Hollies, Tool, no matter who you listen to, they begin at the second note and the rest is theirs. Having said that, it’s interesting that there are so many conventions within music.
There are a lot of rules that we follow when it comes to making music. For instance, the majority of pop songs are written in a 4/4 time signature. The reason for this? Simply put, we’re used to it and we like the sound of it. That’s become such convention these days that we are incapable of escaping that specific sound. However, other time signatures exist, and while the majority of contemporary artists don’t stray from the light, some are willing to explore these different ways to structure a song.
One of the artists who is most renowned for having an experimental approach towards songwriting is Maynard James Keenan. The work that he’s done with Tool is some of the most bizarre and unconventional music to find an audience. He has had great success with this unconventional approach to music and is one of the most successful rock musicians in the world.
While our brains, which are so accustomed to a 4/4 time signature, might hear some of his work and react strangely to it, it all comes incredibly naturally to Keenan. Ever since he was a child doing cross country at school, he realised his breathing came in strange time signatures, so when writing music, it was only natural that he would do so in the time signatures that came naturally to him.
The work that we recognise as strange and twisted is a natural part of his creative process. As such, it begs the question: What kind of song would Maynard James Keenan need to write in order to push himself to the limit? That came when he formed the supergroup A Perfect Circle with guitarist Billy Howerdel. The two came together to make music that really pushed the boundaries of what they were used to.
Their album Eat The Elephant is a great example of the two of them really trying to explore different sounds and styles. The issue they had was creating songs that allowed for space and room for collaboration, rather than just a track filled to the brim with unwavering ideas and experimentation.
“Just even the first three songs on Eat the Elephant was a very difficult task to do because it was an exercise in Billy and I showing restraint,” said Keenan, adding: “It’s hard to do a very restrained, focused song with a lot of space. It’s actually harder than filling in all the space. Especially with that song because there’s a subtlety attached to it and a lot of space.”
Keenan said that one of his favourite songs to come out of the band was ‘The Contrarian’, because it really saw him challenge himself vocally and musically. “[Vocally] it was in a range that’s not necessarily comfortable for me, and to maintain character in those unfamiliar spaces is a challenge“, he said, further musing, ”’ How do I serve that song and that vibe beyond just bringing what I normally do to that song?’ So I just really enjoyed that song. It was a challenge.”
