IT's not a strategy...it can be looked at as one...it has the same effect it would if it were a strategy but it's not. Maynard and basically the whole band don't want to be the type of people who would get mobbed in public for being famous. So they either have their hair hanging over their face a lot, or dress up very oddly like Maynard is known to do. THey all have their own ways...Danny doesn't really though.
Just as you hinted at, StinkfistJeff, I think it can be viewed both ways.
Tool has always avoided the limelight and what has become customary with success in the music industry - including those things that bands do in an effort to further their own popularity and success. I believe that it does come from a genuine distaste for the industry and its trappings, but the act of avoiding these things is deliberate and has therefore become a strategy in itself. And it has worked extremely well for Tool.
On the other hand, what i like so much about Tool is that they are 'real' and do not try to be something they're not. You get a strong sense that all the members of the band are ordinary people.......extremely talented ordinary people, of course. Nothing more. No fancy effort is made to promote a fake image. Each of their own individual personalities remain in tact to form what we love so much about the group.
i often wonder whether any member of the band has passed me by while i happened ot be watching the support act that went on before them. i dont think id notice in an instant, except perhaps danny. as robert fripp has written in the past, the publics expectations of a band cant help but have an effect on their performance. the best way to avoid this is misdirection. if were honest i think well admit that we like all the mystery!
