Tool's Maynard James Keenan swaps his drummer's gong mallet for a dildo, and we're not entirely sure why

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By ( Metal Hammer ) published

There's never a dull moment when Maynard James Keenan is around, as his bandmates are discovering daily on Tool's US tour

Tool Maynard James Keenan
(Image credit: Tool)

Be it jokes about toilet habits or someone's genitals, there's not one person on this Earth who can claim to have never mustered a chuckle or two when faced with an impromptu penis joke or an inappropriately timed moment of flatulence. Let's face it, we're all children at heart, and there's no amount of ageing, money or fame that could ever take away from such juvenile pleasures. 

Tool's Maynard James Keenen is certainly proof of this as during recent live shows, he's been spending his downtime indulging his inner child. Earlier this month, during a show on the quartet's US tour, Keenan was spotted crawling behind drummer Danny Carey's kit, whilst clutching a dildo. He then attempts to swap the rubbery phallus for Carey's gong mallet.

It looks like his devious plan worked too, for when Carey goes to pick up the mallet to play his gong, he instead grabs the sex toy. Victory, indeed. And you can watch it all unfold in the clip below.

Previously, Keenan pranked Carey by playing Jenga behind him during one of Tool's sets. The game, unsurprisingly, didn't last long, as when Carey went to smash the aforementioned gong, he toppled the tower, which led the frontman to jump up and yell “What the fuck! What’s wrong with you?”. It's all fun and games here though, as clearly, Keenan is just bored having to wait through the endless minutes of the swirling progressive sections of typical Tool instrumentation that involve no vocals.

Earlier this month, Carey's gong action got in the way of Keenan's other activities, such as playing the table-top children's surgical game, Operation. On that day, the frontman also got dressed for the occasion, sporting plastic gloves and a full surgeons gown and mask. 

Oh Maynard...

Check out the clip below:

Tool are coming to Europe in April/May to play the following venues:

Apr 23: Copenhagen Royal Arena, DEN 
Apr 25: Oslo SpektrumA, NOR
Apr 26: Stockholm Avicii Arena, SWE
Apr 28: Hamburg  Barclaycard Arena, GER
Apr 29: Frankfurt Festhalle, GER

May 02: Manchester AO Arena Manchester, UK
May 04: Birmingham Resorts World Arena, UK
May 06: 6 Dublin 3Arena, IRE
May 09: London The O2 Arena, UK
May 10: London The O2 Arena, UK
May 12: Paris AccorHotels Arena, FRA
May 13: Antwerp Sportpaleis, BEL
May 15: Berlin Mercedes-Benz Arena, GER
May 17: Cologne Lanxess Arena, GER
May 19: Amsterdam Ziggo Dome, HOL
May 21: Krakow Tauron Arena, POL
May 23: Prague O2 Arena, CZE
May 24: Budapest SportAréna, HUN

Liz Scarlett
Liz Scarlett
Content Editor

Liz manages Louder's social media channels and works on keeping the sites up to date with the latest news from the world of rock and metal. Prior to joining Louder as a full time staff writer, she completed a Diploma with the National Council for the Training of Journalists and received a First Class Honours Degree in Popular Music Journalism. She enjoys writing about anything from neo-glam rock to stoner, doom and progressive metal, and loves celebrating women in music.