TOOL, who is currently on tour in support of their Grammy Award-winning album Fear Inoculum, take it back to their beginning, celebrating the 30th anniversary of their first commercially-available release, Opiate, with a reimagined and extended version of the EP’s title track and an accompanying short film. While the band because famous in the ’90s for their idiosyncratic music videos, it has been about 15 years since their last notable video, “Opiate2” is available via DSPs on March 1, with the Blu-ray only visual companion available on March 18. You can find pre-order information here.
Visual artist Dominic Hailstone (made famous for his work on “Alien: Covenant” or “The Eel”) worked with Adam Jones (the band’s guitarist) on the 10-plus minute film, which is the band’s first new video in 15 years. The clip continues TOOL’s knack for merging the aural and visual worlds, creating an all-encompassing experience for the listener that has been a hallmark of the outfit since their inception. Hailstone and Jones also collaborated on the filmed pieces featured on the current Fear Inoculum tour. The physical release features a Blu-ray housed in a 46-page art book with behind-the-scenes and making-of photos as well as interviews and insights from special guests. “Opiate2” pre-orders are available now:
TOOL are also currently on tour, after beginning a worldwide string of dates in early 2020, the band obviously had to cut all of that shortly after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. But now, 2 years later, the dates have been rescheduled, and as soon as they’re finished with their lengthy US tour the band will be coming over to tour the UK and EU. Beginning in May, the group will play 5 shows in the UK bookended by an extensive list of EU dates. See here for ticket information, on what few tickets may remain that is.
TOOL also hit the headlines recently after fans kicked off a little over the price of a signed 5-LP box set the band were selling at their shows. Featuring limited edition etchings on the records, and even a signature from each of the band members wasn’t quite enough to justify the $810 (£600-ish) price tag. Fans took to the band’s socials after the announcement was made. One person queried, “Any chance of a non-silly variant too, you know, just be able to listen to on a record player?”. The band have since lowered the cost.
TOOL’s Fear Inoculum Tour Dates:
2/5/22 – AO Arena – Manchester
4/5 – Resorts World Arena – Birmingham
6/5 – 3Arena – Dublin
9/5 – O2 Arena – London
10/5 – O2 Arena – London
Photo Credit: Travis Shinn
