I remember reading a post about a year/year and a half ago, possibly on toolband, about listening to new tool in the studio. A song was described that had clock sounds in the background. This is not on the new album.. Anybody remember this?

It was codenamed "L.K." which is now Wings for Marie/10,000 Days on the new album. The way he talked about it, makes me think that the song had a different theme back then, perhaps, political? What with bizarre artillery heard at the back and such.

vicarious has alarm clock sounds in the background. maybe thats it?

jelly beans - From tool band Dec 04'



After selecting some samples on the “Deep Violet” electronic drums and adjusting parameters, etc., the band launched into a new song that, at least in my mind, pretty much summed things up about the direction the new record was headed musically. To say that they have taken it up a notch would be an understatement. Several notches, perhaps, might better describe it. This wasn’t just the musical equivalent of terra incognita – this was something borderline Zothyrian, Daedalian in complexity (yet, VERY heavy) with its combination of odd time signatures, dynamics and intricacy of guitar work that was ‘synchronized’ in sections to create those “chromatic tortures” we all love so much. Danny was doing what he does best (better than ever, I might add), and the acoustic drums were combined with lots of electronic samples of dissonant clocks, warped timpani, eruptions of noise and explosions of what sounded like bizarre artillery.

For this particular song, in certain places, Adam seemed to be using the petals more often to simultaneously trigger his Virus. As for Justin, with his lightning fast bass lines, at times there were riffs that seemed almost unnatural for that instrument. I remember after Lateralus was mastered, when a couple of writers from Bass Player Magazine arrived at the management office to conduct an interview with Justin, I was the one entrusted by the band to select a few songs so that they could first hear the new record prior to doing the interview (no one except for those involved in the production had yet heard Lateralus). I’ll never forget the smile on their faces as they listened (Justin didn’t want to be in the room with them as I played the songs). Well, if they were blown away by his playing then, I’d love to see the expressions on their faces after hearing the new stuff.

The dramatic arrangement itself was about eighteen minutes long, and I would have to say, even after having only heard it once (and, more importantly, without the vocals) it was the most impressive piece I’ve heard them do. I could only imagine what it was going to sound like with Maynard’s vocals, which he was working on from the other side of the glass. I asked what the working title of this organized pandemonium was and Justin told me. Even though the name could and probably would change when Maynard was finished with the lyrics, I’m not at liberty to reveal the working title (in case it sticks), only to say that the initials are L.K. When they finished the song there was dead silence in the room. Adam then glanced at me and said that it (meaning the arrangement) wasn’t quite finished yet. “NO – it IS!” I told him, just messing with him, knowing that he is the consummate perfectionist. “That’s the new single” I joked, after guessing how many minutes long it was (after all, it might have only been fifteen minutes). “Well, my part isn’t finished” he said. Adam then asked me if I’d heard the song that I missed while I was out eating lunch. I told him that I had a couple of times, but that was a few weeks ago. He said that they would play it again because they f**ked it up the first time. Before they began, Justin walked over to the mixing console and began picking through the bowl containing the colorful assortment of newfangled jelly beans, searching for quite a while for a particular color/flavor. Adam also hunted for a certain color – a golden-yellowish one that he wanted me to try, claiming it tasted like buttered popcorn. When the heathen near-vegan declined, he popped it in his mouth and subconsciously began f**king around with a chthonic riff on his silver burst.

During the break, MJK emerged from the other room and flipped me a guitar pick that had something like “I don’t really play guitar” imprinted on it. Having remedied a glitch with the electronic drums, Danny began to tell his band mates a story which he’d already told me involving a very strange incident that occurred somewhere out in the California desert. This was told to him by a friend and former band mate (no spinner of yarns), and involved some kind of anomalous lights and an apparent abduction (either by shadowy government types or otherworldly/other dimensional beings) that contained elements that researchers like Jenny Randles would call “The OZ Factor” and others would refer to as high strangeness, but would certainly be considered by the former as a “rogue case.” We all listened intently as the series of events surrounding the “abduction” or what ever occurred as told to Danny by his friend got even more bizarre. It ended with the main person involved encountering what sounded like classic MIB types. When Danny was finished, he, Maynard and I all agreed that a field trip was needed. But first Danny would need to find out exactly where the incident occurred.

With the story finished, the band played the song that I had missed. This one was no adagio either – another dimension splitter or encounter with A’ano’nin, that was about ten minutes in length and executed to perfection. During a section midway through the piece, when I closed my eyes, I could envision a whirling cone of ‘twisted sound’ piecing the aethyrs. “What the hell is in those jelly beans?” I asked. Afterwards, as Adam, Justin and Danny worked on a certain section of another new tune, I went into the other room, the one I call the Outer Void (Ain Soph) to talk to Maynard about the planned field trip, about the music business in general and about his Arizona vineyards. I also asked him if he’d make his “green sauce” for naan bread, as I was planning on making my spicy Vindaloo for a Yuletide festivity that was still in the planning stage. Andno, I wouldn’t reveal the recipe (for either).

Back in the ‘jam’ room, the guys had worked out a certain part and were playing it together when either Adam or Justin was thrown off by a cowbell sample triggered by Danny. When the inevitable SNL/Blue Oyster Cult bit came up, there was a knock at the door. This turned out to be Ann from management. She had an envelope containing a couple of Lakers tickets for Danny who was going to the game at the Staples Center that night. I asked Adam if he was going too, but he said that he and Maynard were going to a movie instead. It was about twenty minutes until the usual quitting time, and Adam asked the others if they wanted to call it a day. Justin didn’t. He wanted to work some more on another section – “string together some pieces” he said. As I watched, he walked over to the Dry-Erase message board and wiped the slate clean. So much for the birthday cake or whatever it was (anniversary?). I left for a minute to look at something in the “Outer Void”, and when I returned, the board was filled with those mnemonic triggers that represented the various parts of the composition that was being arranged. Memoria technica or not, whatever was written there, it was only decipherable to the members of the band, but, looking at it, I fondly recalled one night during the Anima or Lateralus days, when, during a drinking bout, I erased part of the formula and replaced it with my own. By doing so, I’ve always wondered whether or not in some way I contributed to a Tool song.

After experimenting on the arrangement for about a half an hour, it was time to call it a day. I put on my jacket and told the guys that I was going to go sit in the parking lot that is the 101 freeway. Justin said something about loving the traffic, and then mentioned a pub in Santa Monica that served a wonderful selection of Belgian ales. Oddly enough, he didn’t say he was going there - just that such a place existed.

When I returned home I got a phone call from my horticulturist friend down in sunny San Diego. During the conversation with Soror Petallpynx, I told her that I’d just returned from the loft where I listened to some new prog-metal. “How did the new material sound?” the surfer girl asked. “Very perichoretic” was my answer, but when it came to specifics I told her that I had signed a confidentiality agreement. However, I did mention the jelly beans. “Were they jelly beans or jelly bellys?” she wanted to know. “I don’t know, but there was one that Adam said tasted like buttered popcorn.” “That’s my favorite! There’s also one that tastes like caramel corn… and the toasted marshmallow one tastes like marshmallows toasted over a campfire.” “Is there one that tastes like Belgian ale?” I asked her. If so, I guess I’ll have to go back to the loft in a few days to try one. It wouldn’t be too bad to hear L.K. again either.

BMB

There is no song whatsoever like that on 10,000 Days. Rosetta Stoned is not even close and 10k/wings is too spacey and psychedelic to be that track either.

Tracks develop over time, 10K/Wings might not be what it was once upon a time. However he might have been talking about the ending when he said "heavy", anyway, 10K/Wings wouldn't have had the same impact if it was a huge clusterfuck of heaviness (like Rosetta Stoned).

I agree...

Maybe in another five years.