In the latest episode of Striking A Chord, Tool bassist Justin Chancellor talked about the release of their brand new and long-awaited album, Fear Inoculum. Justin discusses the band’s unique songwriting process, his thoughts on finally releasing their music on streaming services, how he initially turned down the offer to join Tool, and much more.

Q: There have been a few announcements through the years that the album is almost done. Were there times that you were actually close?

Justin: "At times, it felt like we were on the way. Just so you understand, there were never full songs written, but there was a great body of work that we were working on, some of which followed through into what we have now, but a bunch of it didn't make it. As a whole body of work, we were kind of working on these piles of ideas at the same time. We all see it differently, but you start to have an image of how the whole thing is going to look if you could make it into an image or a landscape. And I know for myself, I would get really excited, but other people have different ideas, so maybe that was a different way that we worked that didn't work. It was just different, and I think it was almost like we had to get back to basics a few times. Like, 'Let's just concentrate on one thing, who likes what? Which idea are we all into? Okay, let's start working on that,' after having a month away from each other (laughs)."

Tool recently celebrated their third consecutive #1 debut on Billboard’s Top 200, with Fear Inoculum (RCA Records) reigning over the U.S. sales charts, selling 270,000 units.

The news of Fear Inoculum’s impressive debut comes amidst news stories of the album release being met by lengthy lines at retailers as music lovers clamored to get a copy of the limited edition, physical version of the CD. The spectacular, groundbreaking packaging boasts a 4” HD rechargeable screen with exclusive video footage, charging cable, 2 watt speaker, a 36-page booklet and a digital download card. The Coalition of Independent Music Stores (CIMS) released a rare statement, describing the event-like album release: “Several stores had well-attended midnight sales on Thursday (it was my store's first midnight sale in 10 years). When we returned to work on Friday morning, there were lines at the door… the Tool release was the biggest thing to hit retail in years.”

The success wasn’t isolated to the U.S., with the album debuting at #1 in Australia, Norway, New Zealand, and Belgium, as well as Top 5 debuts in the UK, Germany, The Netherlands, Ireland, Italy and Finland.

Tracklistings:

Physical:

"Fear Inoculum"
"Pneuma"
"Invincible"
"Descending"
"Culling Voices"
"Chocolate Chip Trip"
"7empest"

Digital:

"Fear Inoculum"
"Pneuma"
"Litanie Contre la Peur"
"Invincible"
"Legion Inoculant"
"Descending"
"Culling Voices"
"Chocolate Chip Trip"
"7empest"
"Mockingbeat"

"Fear Inoculum":

Tool have announced a six-week North American tour, launching on October 13th at the Aftershock Festival. Tickets are on-sale now. Further information, as well as VIP package details, can be found via Toolband.com.

Confirmed Dates:

October
13 - Sacramento, CA - Aftershock Festival
15 - Denver, CO - Pepsi Center
18 - Salt Lake City, UT - Vivint Smart Home Arena
20 - Los Angeles, CA - Staples Center
21 - Los Angeles, CA - Staples Center
23 - Glendale, AZ - Gila River Arena
25 - San Antonio, TX - AT&T Center
27 - Houston, TX - Toyota Center
29 - Tulsa, OK - BOK Center
31 - Milwaukee, WI - Fiserv Forum

November
2 - Indianapolis, IN - Banker’s Life Fieldhouse
3 - Chicago, IL - United Center
5 - Cincinnati, OH - US Bank Arena
6 - Cleveland, OH - Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse
8 - Pittsburgh, PA - PPG Paints Arena
9 - Detroit, MI - Little Caesars Arena
11 - Toronto, ON - Scotiabank Arena
12 - Toronto, ON - Scotiabank Arena
14 - Boston, MA - TD Garden
16 - Newark, NJ - Prudential Center
18 - Philadelphia, PA - Wells Fargo Center
19 - Brooklyn, NY - Barclay’s Center
21 - Uncasville, CT - Mohegan Sun Casino Arena
22 - Atlantic City, NJ - Boardwalk Hall
24 - Raleigh, NC - PNC Arena
25 - Washington, DC - Capitol One Arena

(Photo - Travis Shinn)