During a recent interview with Bert Kreischer, Maynard James Keenan shared his thoughts on how to let go of the ‘rock star ego.’
The host discussed how confusing it must be to be a frontman, saying, “I just want to make the music because I’m having trouble with ego right now.”
Keenan responded by explaining, “It’s a toxin and we’re all going to suffer from it. There’s no way out of it. If you’re singing in front of a bunch of people or telling drinks in front of a bunch of people or you’re in front of a camera and then something… there’s some success attached to that, you’re f*cked.”
He added, “It’s going to feed that beast but the important part is to I think, just for me is make sure that you have people around you that genuinely don’t give a f*ck about that. You just have your friends that are around that are not getting paid for this sh*t.”
Keenan also mentioned the grounding effect of family, saying, “Go home for Thanksgiving and Christmas to spend time with the family, with that angry uncle who’s mad at you for leaving. He puts you right back in the place you were when you were 9 years old and you feel that humility and that grounding. It’s a grounding.”
Reflecting on their success, Keenan once shared in 2022, “Well, they’re not going to support it if they show up and it’s boring; they’re not going to come back. You have to have follow-through. You have to have a thoughtful presentation.”
He emphasized, “People want to be entertained; they want to be moved in some way. And I think to do that, depending on your agenda, people like me, I just need to do a thing, and I need to do it well. And I’m never satisfied with how I did it; I think I can do it better.”
Keenan wrapped up by saying, “So if you get in that mindset — you’re always trying to improve on the thing you did, even if it was the night before and you’ve done this thing ten thousand times, there’s always room for improvement and adjustment. So I think that’s what people have come to expect, is that they know that we are thoughtful and we’re always thinking about fixing, correcting and making better.”
Tool’s next shows are scheduled for March 2025, including a performance at Melia Caribe Beach on March 8.
