Maynard James Keenan Talks Surviving the "Growing Pains" of an Ongoing Pandemic

"We're going to go through a lot of growing pains — and not all of us are going to make it through"

BY Allie GregoryPublished May 19, 2020

Tool frontman Maynard James Keenan has shared his feelings on the current state of the world in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic — using the opportunity in a new interview to talk about the prophetic nature of his music and the preparations he has inadvertently made to withstand the "growing pains" of an ever-changing society.

Speaking with Zane Lowe for Apple Music, MJK explained that he has been growing his own food for some time, not in an effort to prep in the traditional sense, but because he finds it to be a fundamental joy of living. On the darker side of things, Keenan also shared that he doesn't believe everyone is going to make it through to the other side of this global event. 

He explained further:

I feel like we're going to go through a lot of changes; we're going to go through a lot of growing pains — and not all of us are going to make it through those growing pains. That's the hardest part, as a human being to really grasp: that you might not be a part of what happens over the crest in that new valley. You just might not be there because you didn't pay attention to the basics. You didn't listen to the wind, you didn't smell the air… simple things.

People have, I guess, complimented or acknowledge, or they claim, that there's a lot of prophetic things that came out on [A Perfect Circle's] 
Eat the Elephant, prophetic things on [Fear] Inoculum, probably prophetic things on this… But it's not really prophetic, it's just understanding patterns, and understanding human nature and where we're going. Although they might seem specific, they're not. They're human experience. At my age I've seen quite a few things and have tried to keep open-minded about things — not always assuming you're right just because you're successful, and kind of reevaluate those things.

I mean, even right now: last night we had pasta with tomatoes and basil from our garden, drinking our own wine. It's one of those things that didn't happen overnight. We had to work for that. You had to pay attention to that. You had to be in touch because some things just don't grow everywhere. You have to be in touch with where you are, where you're going and I could claim, "Look how I was right 25 years ago when I planted that orchard and planted that garden." That's absurd. I just like planting things.


At the time of reporting, COVID-19 has claimed the lives of over 321,000 people worldwide.

Keenan's Puscifer just released their pandemic-inspired new single "Apocalyptical" earlier this year. Tool's Fear Inoculum arrived last fall.

Watch the full interview below.

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