Eddie the English is vibrating the air in this riverside cottage, as is entirely appropriate: the Malvern Hills are clearly seen from the garden, and the town of Malvern is only 14 miles from here. The Horse & I have had a quiet, unhurried, unpressured day together, something we may not have had to quite the same degree since 1987.
The small presents, plucked from a box and handed over around 1.00 this morning, were well received: photos of Toyah & her Parents at the front of the cottage, taken by myself at the end of May; plus photos of artwork which hang in Deepest Dorset; all framed rather satisfactorily and now bringing colour, energy & familial connection to this Worcestershire home.
Backtracking:
Meeting the people behind the music and groups I like & enjoy is not always an unalloyed pleasure. "I loved the music but when I went to tell the guitarist how much I appreciated their playing he spat on my foot -- and all I wanted was to say hello, get their autograph, hang out with them, hear stories and anecdotes of other heroes of my imagination, and feed off their life-essence -- " is a well-known theme for fans of at least one group of my close acquaintance.
So, I was very happy that I liked the members of Tool as much as I like Tool, the group. No starry attitudes here. Laeteralus is going No.1 all over Scandinavia & in New Zealand, entered at No.1 and is platinum in the US already. Maynard's other venture, A Perfect Circle was also hugely successful. And no starry attitudes.
David Singleton & I flew into Dusseldorf last Tuesday afternoon. The architecture of Dusseldorf does not elevate my spirit, does not it sing to me of the vaunting spirit of humanity, does not indicate any visible aspiration to create heaven on earth. David & I settled for an Italian eiscafe around the corner from the hotel. A cappuccino and gooey tiramisu eisdelight reminded me that heaven is available, even in the most unlikely surroundings, although not inevitably architectural.
The show was held in an aircraft hanger nominally purporting to be a performance space. Many German venues are multi-functional, which means these spaces are not acoustically ideal. Frequently, in my own experience, the sound sucks el maximissimatimum. A series of baffles around the venue indicated an optimistic attempt at sonic amelioration. I was standing by the mixer as the soundman heroically tackled the bevoomerating bass end.
Sonic reservations aside, the sound of Tool was full & powerful while lacking some definition. I'm not sure how much that mattered to the audience, who smoked without compromise throughout the evening, careless of the clinical evidence that 1 out of 3 smokers will die from diseases directly related to their puffery inhalation. My Mother was one of them.
The eight-syllable Tool review: cohesive, coherent, intense.
Images projected on two large screens at the back of the stage, operated by Adam's wife, Camilla, from the mixing area in the hall, were as much part of the performance as the group. Music, players & visual display acted together to provide a seamless event. Were the group playing a live soundtrack? Was the film supporting the group's music? Yes to both, equally.
The show began just after 21.00 & I spent 90 minutes in the heart of the audience next to the mixing desk before going onstage to see The Team in action at close quarters. Particularly, to watch Danny's feet driving away at his double bass drums. Tool took an interlude before the second, shorter set, and no encore.
Afterwards David & I went backstage to briefly say hello, prior to our longer meeting scheduled for the following day in Copenhagen. Wednesday lunchtime we flew to up Copenhagen, with Maynard on the same flight. He had opted for flying rather than driving overnight on the tour bus.
The architecture of Copenhagen is more to my liking than that of Dusseldorf.
The "interview" lasted from 18.10 - 20.55. This was Tool's idea. They had proposed a joint programme for the Tool/Crimson dates, with photos of us all together, and an interview section where group interviews group. The deadline for printing the programme meant that we couldn't get the groups together before the first gig, so I flew in to represent the Greater Crim. Laura at DGM World Central will type up the conversation and send it on for Tool to edit & include whatever they see as fit.
Then, off to dinner at an Italian restaurant with Adam, Camilla, Maynard, a pal of Maynard's, Danny, Justin, Rick the tour manager, two people from the record company. I had lots of fun at my end of the table discussing B movies. Not many people of my professional acquaintance are sufficiently interested, nor prepared, to discuss the merits of the Stallone remake of Get Carter. David was at the far end discussing, inter alia, Soundscapes with Danny, who compiled the Tool play-on music which includes an excerpt from the Argentinian Soundscapes of 1993 (1999). David was there in person when the music flew by.
Tool set a standard for Crimson to match. Right now, they are a better group than we are. They are more accomplished at being Tool than King Crimson are at being King Crimson, and are who they are to a greater degree than this Crimson incarnation. Tool present us with a quality of challenge which is, in my view, exactly the challenge we need.
"Music is silence, singing."
