The duality of TooL is one of their draws for me. This song seems like a loaded gun for live shows. They play it only on a rare occassion it seems. Brixton in England is one reported date as is Seattle Washington, not too far away from where Mr. Paul D'Amours hails from. That made me think "Paul left Tool because of a shift in his musical taste away from heavy, powerful riffs, and he wanted to do something more experimental. " ...is this what he had in mind?
I wonder who this song is written for. Is it Paul? Is it Us, the fans who seem to need so much from these guys or maybe a little mixture of both? It is without a doubt the hardest song on the album, I can only imagine what it's like live. Long live TooL.
I saw them perform Ticks & leeches at NCRC in Ft Lauderdale in Oct 2001. It was the last night the Fantomas(sp?) were opening for them, one of their members apparently requested the song. And it was good:)
I was at the Irvine show, only the second time they performed it, and Maynard dedicated the song to "all our Hollywood friends in the crowd," after asking us if the band could get us anything for our comfort (i.e. a cold drink or seat cushion). At least they were kind enough to play it for us.
well i agree, i think that the duality of tool is a great thing, and sometimes it can be quite funny.....the lyrics are pretty angry in tone, its a lash-out kind of a song (i cant say i have any ideas on who exactly it is addressed to) its got a lot of venom....and yet its a masterpiece....so intricately put together with countless shifts and nuances. brilliant!
