Tool’s Maynard wants fans to put phones away at shows

Maynard James Keenan

Tool and A Perfect Circle’s Maynard James Keenan says he gets annoyed at fans using their phones at gigs because it spoils the live experience.

Artists including Slipknot, Disturbed and Green Day have all had their issues with those who insist on filming or taking snaps during their sets – and now Keenan has had his say and reports he doesn’t like it because he’s a traditionalist.

He tells the Joe Rogan Experience (via Metal Injection): “This stuff annoys me because I’m a firm believer in oral tradition. I embrace storytelling – being able to describe to your friends that, sitting around that fire after a good long day of hunting, where you tell the story about hunt and those family stories, and your grandfather, and your great-grandfather’s stories are told in that setting.

“And you’re not writing it down. It’s a tradition of understanding the details and being able to explain and expand on the details from your recollection of what you saw.

“But if you have no skills in absorbing what you saw, if you rely on a phone to capture their stories for you – first of all, nothing you’re going to get at a show is going to represent what you just saw or what you were there for.”

He adds: “As a postcard I suppose it works. But stay present. Stay with these people to be there for this thing. That’s far more important.

“Also, as courtesy, maybe the person behind you would like to be that person who’s enjoying this and now your shit’s in their way.”

In May this year, A Perfect Circle’s Twitter account reported that new albums from Tool and A Perfect Circle wouldn’t arrive this year.

Tool’s Maynard James Keenan calls himself ‘whining, entitled snowflake’

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