Tool, etc. vocalist Maynard James Keenan has revealed that the aforementioned alternative metal juggernauts initially passed at the chance to perform at the upcoming live sendoff extravaganza being planned for pioneering heavy metal band Black Sabbath & their legendary frontman Ozzy Osbourne this July.
That event, ‘Back To Beginning‘, will take place at Villa Park in Birmingham, UK on July 05th and find a who’s who of metal and hard rock luminaries paying tribute to Sabbath and Osbourne. As it turns out, Keenan first heard rumblings about the event during his his time performing at Osbourne‘s Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame induction last year.
Speaking to Loudwire Nights, Keenan relayed that he himself initially had different plans altogether for the this final hurrah. He stated [transcribed by theprp.com]:
“The conversation first came up when I was at the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, hanging out with Wolfgang [Van Halen] and some of the guys, I think even Robert Trujillo. We were on the travel over there, just going, ‘Okay, well, there’s a rumor about the Black Sabbath show.’ I was like, ‘Well, let’s do something.’
So I kinda had planned a song to do and all of a sudden I’m at home and I get the call, ‘Hey, Tool‘s been asked to do a song,’ and I’m like ‘Fuck.’ Now I have to call back Wolfgang and those guys and go, ‘I’m going to do it with Tool, sorry.’
But that’s kinda how it came up. But I think for me, seeing Ozzy moving around at that event, the idea of him playing a show at all, if we’re being honest, you know, the conversation about going to do the song was like, ‘we’ll have this conversation, but, ahh… I don’t know that this gonna happen.’
And even now, I’m cautious about saying, ‘Yeah! All in, he’s gonna do it.’ Because man, I don’t know what kind of modern miracles we’ll come up with to get him on stage to do the songs, but this is gonna be a challenge for them. So, I’m honored to be a part of it, but I’m kinda preparing for the worst — but hoping for the best, as they say.”
When asked about how the call to do the upcoming farewell show came about, he relayed:
“I wasn’t sure who the call was coming from. And having seen Ozzy move around I was doubtful it was gonna happen at all. Initially we passed because I was like, I don’t know how this is going to go. So when it came back up, I was like, OK, I guess I can hop on a plane and go over and do the song with a couple of guys on site, rather than dragging the whole band and going through all that.
With Tool, nothing’s easy. Nothing is a simple decision of just ‘Yes! Let’s go!’ It always ends up being something difficult, so I didn’t think it was going to happen. But then everybody was like, ‘Yeah, let’s do it.’ Oh, okay. Let’s do it then.”
Keenan later went on to explain the impact Sabbath and Ozzy have had on him, offering, “The reason I’m on a stage at all is because of Black Sabbath‘s first album.” Keenan has also previously discussed how influential Black Sabbath were in his musical upbringing.
Sadly, Keenan‘s concerns over Osbourne‘s health aren’t unwarranted. Earlier this year, Osbourne himself revealed he could no longer walk unassisted due to the various injuries he suffered over the years and his advancing struggles with Parkinson’s Disease.
It was however since revealed by Osbourne‘s long-time bandmate Zakk Wylde that the 76-year-old ‘Prince Of Darkness‘ is expected to perform while sat upon a custom throne at the upcoming concert, which will find him doing “bits and pieces” of songs. Despite his unfortunate mobility issues, it has repeatedly been stated that Osbourne‘s ability to sing remains unaffected.
Speaking on his SiriusXM program earlier this week, Osbourne revealed he was currently in a heavy training regimen to get as healthy as possible for this final live swan song. He commented [transcribed via Blabbermouth.net]:
“I’m in heavy training for this show that’s coming up. I haven’t done anything for — this will be seven years [since I played a full concert], and so I’ve been through all this surgery. It really is like starting from scratch.”
He continued:
“…It’s endurance training. The first thing to go when you’re laid up is your stamina, so believe it or not, I’m doing two sets of three-minute walks a day and weight training. I’ve gotta get going, you know. I’m waking up in my body. I mean, three minutes to you, for instance, is nothing, but I’ve been laying on my back recovering from umpteen surgeries.”
Elsewhere in this chat with Loudwire Nights, Keenan ruled out doing a new three-way split for the just launched second leg of his ‘Sessanta‘ tour. He did mention however that the new collaboration between himself and Primus, “Little Lord Fentanyl“, that was debuted live during last night’s tour kickoff, was approached as a new Primus track.
Keenan also went on to outline what Puscifer have in store for their fifth studio album, stating:
“We have a whole collection of music now. We’re just kinda waiting on some drums from Sarah Jones. Uh, Greg Edwards is working on some bass right now. But we’re probably gonna have that out, a new Puscifer album, full-length, out in the fall of this year and then probably tour in the spring following.”
Later looking ahead to the big show in Birmingham, Keenan remained tight lipped on the Black Sabbath cover Tool have planned for ‘Back To The Beginning‘, but he did offer, “The song that we picked, it’s difficult in a different way.”
