Maynard James Keenan on Upcoming Biography: ‘Kiss and Tell Crap’ Is ‘Boring to Me’
It was revealed late last week that Tool, A Perfect Circle and Puscifer vocalist Maynard James Keenan was ready to reflect on his life for an upcoming authorized biography, but those looking for salacious details might want to look elsewhere.
The vocalist tells Rolling Stone, "Most people want to hear the kiss-and-tell crap, the garbage on the bus. That's boring to me. 'We threw a piano out a window!' That's been done a million times before even Buddy Rich was around. Just a lot of things that you read in biographies, I feel like they're just kiss-and-tell war stories."
Keenan adds, "The ones I prefer are when they get more into the psychology and the decision-making process, not really who you know and '... then I met the president.' Those are boring. I'm more concerned about or more interested in crossroads, where the person in their story comes to a crossroads, and they make a decision, and you see the effects, the cause-and-effect process of those decisions."
Keenan is working on the book with writer/editor Sarah Jensen, a longtime family friend who he feels close enough to share his stories with. The singer also refers to the book as more of a "semi-autobiography," adding, "I didn't really want to write it as an autobiography, first-person — I'd rather have it be more in story form, like you're kind of along for the journey, with sidebars by me throughout, in my voice, kind of expanding on particular instances or anecdotes. But for the most part, it's just she and I on the phone a couple times a week, just going over timelines, going over stories."
The vocalist does promise there will be material about his life prior to his fame as the frontman for three major rock acts. "There's a lot of stuff that went on in my life that nobody really knows about. So I feel like this is the chance to show the patterns, tell a story," says Keenan.
Look for the still-to-be-titled Maynard James Keenan book, currently on schedule for a fall 2016 street date.
As for his non-book-related pursuits, Keenan will front Tool at their lone 2015 performance at the Monster Mash festival in Phoenix Oct. 31. After that, he'll front Puscifer on the same festival bill a day later (Nov. 1), officially kicking off a late fall tour for the band. See their dates here.
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