Danny Carey's usual set up. These particular drums were used on the 2004 tour. The entire set was made by Jeff Ocheltree from melted down Paiste cymbals. Each drum was made from the molten cymbals where they were cast individually. Each bass drum weighs over 100lbs! The baddest set ever made, puts all other sets to shame. Peart, Bonham, Van Halen. None of those guys have a set made from melted cymbals. Fucking sick!

TOOL will be coming back through the yayarea this Monday night 7/12/2010 starting at 8pm @ the Bill Graham Civic Center. This will be my 6th time seeing them and it is never enough. The only thing that bums me out about them is they should play longer sets. But they do have a nac for playing long drawn out versions of their songs so at the end of the night they still hit you with at least 2 hours of music. There are always killer graphics, lasers, images constantly moving in the background, but as far as the band, they don’t move around a whole lot. Danny Carey’s arms are like a blur and hes 6′5 so he plays with big wood. Adam Jones guitar riffs just cut you up. He tunes all his guitars to drop-D tuning like the drums and uses a fine balance of distortion. His head is usually hung low covered in hair as he picks his way through oblivion. Justin Chancellor’s bass lines just constantly build on each other and vibrate your whole body. His lines are like a what a call a “galloping style” reminiscent of Steve Harris of IRON MAIDEN. Your lucky if Maynard even addresses the crowd.

New tour art done my guitarist Adam Jones.

This paragraph is just a look back on how far off the mark one can hit, if they don’t have their shit together. I am not proud of it, but rather I look back as a lesson learned and to count my blessings. I remember going to a show in Fresno at the Selland Arena with Tomahawk Estrada many, many many, many years ago…. and the only thing Maynard said was “turn your cell phones off, and to take all of this positive energy you witnessed tonight and to go out and create with it”. Jeremy and I took mushrooms that night before the show and needless to say it was a surrrrreal experience. The first song they played was Stinkfist at the Selland Arena in Fresno. On Danny’s bass drums there is a strike counter for each one. After Stinkfist, the counter registered 666 on the dot. Imagine playing a drum set for one song and delivering 666 strikes to the bass drums in about 7-8 minutes. Once the show was out we were still peaking and feeling quite giddy. If you have never taken mushrooms it gives you super human powers, like running on walls and a hightened sensory awareness. You can see, smell, touch, hear, and taste like you never imagined. IF YOU ARE A MINOR, OR HAVE MENTAL ISSUES, I DO NOT RECOMMEND PSILOCYBIN. I think because it was late at night and we were in Fresno, we had no where to go but home. We found the truck with no problems and went to find a place to burn one to calm the senses. Keep in mind the freeway was a stones throw from where we were but we drove in circles, unitl. I was driving down a main road, and way up ahead I could see police lights. It looked like someone had been pulled over, or an accident had happened. So I keep driving and the lights are getting closer. Well low and behold we were driving towards a check point. By the time I realized it we were sitting ducks, terrified, paranoid, and just plain out of our minds. I remember wanting to make a U-turn but there were 2 motorcycle cops pointing in out direction which were solely there to intercept disserters. So that was out of the question, I remember trying to hide the pipe and buds, which we had just smoked so I am sure the truck was smelling quite irie. Now when you are in that state, time stands still, and it flies by. So I cannot honestly tell you how long we sat there until I rolled forward. Now track with me, you cannot make this shit up, we actually had to do it. So there was no use throwing anything out the window at this point because the truck was lit up like daylight. The scene looked something like finishing the BAJA 1000 at night, and your the first vehicle to cross the finish line. Its night time, lots of lights on you, and tons of people waiting to greet you. Well by the time we rolled forward, 15 yards in front of us was an empty checkpoint, just police waiting for us, some standing with their arms folded, and some standing with their hands on their hips. Shit was scary. So I crept forward, windows already down. Cops were like “whats going on, where you coming from?” ME, “uh were just coming from the TOOL show” (dumbest thing I could have said not to mention the whole reason the checkpoint was there, was because of the show) . With cops and the situation we were in, the only thing that will soften the blow is honesty. I have watched more episodes of cops than most people, and because of that, I know how to handle them pretty well. So I gave them some weed right up front because they could smell it a mile away and it will avoid them doing a very thorough search of the truck so they wouldn’t find what I didn’t give them. Begin mass terrorist type interogation. Thank GOD the venue stopped selling beer early. Breathalyzers right out of the hole for both of us. We passed, I was just under the minimum at which they can keep you. But the chronic smoke and the fact we weren’t hammered didn’t sit well with them. They still ripped through the truck and did tons of sobriety checks on us. We were so china eyed the whole time too. I can remember talking to my cop while looking over at Jeremy with this huge stupid smile on his face that I don’t remember him loosing the whole night. I would look back at the cop dealing with me and sometimes his face would ripple from top to bottom, and then he would change into a cyclopse. Every emotion in your body is firing at once. We are just about to leave. The cops are like you guys can go, they only cited me for the minimal amount of erb. Which I had to drive back to Fresno later to go to court, but theres no time for that. I am about to sign my ticket when another cop comes up with a baggie that I didn’t recognize at first. It was Jeremy’s bag with shroom bits left over which was in his pocket. There was just enough there for the cops to know what was in their. Right away hes like, “did you take mushrooms tonight?” I said “nope.” Cop asked “did your friend take mushrooms?” I just looked at him with a dumb look, “uhhh maybe one?” He was waving the bag back and forth while saying “you know this is a felony right?” Keep in mind we had been there for 2 hours now. For whatever reason, he said to hit the road because we passed every test in the book even though everthing around still looked like a comic book, but not by the time we were headed home. You can’t get any luckier. Yes Tomahawk is a huge tool at the time for leaving something like that in your pocket when its trash already. But we won those dudes over, by the end of the night we were talking small talk as they lagged on doing what ever it was they were doing. Tonight Cam and I won’t have to worry about that shit. Lesson learned, if you see police lights, go away from them.

SET LIST:

Post Reply

Poll Question: pick your fave song
Poll Choice	Votes	Poll Statistics
Third Eye	7	[26.92%]
Jambi	1	[3.85%]
Stinkfist	2	[7.69%]
Vicarious	0	[0.00%]
Eon Blue/ The Patient	2	[7.69%]
Intolerence	1	[3.85%]
Schism	2	[7.69%]
46 & 2	2	[7.69%]
Lateralus	8	[30.77%]
Aenema	1	[3.85%]