If recent history is any indication, TOOL fans shouldn't get too excited about drummer Danny Carey's recent suggestion that the band might get to work on new music soon.

Carey pointed out in a recent conversation with Skinny Puppy's Cevin Key that the band members have little else to do at the moment but think about music.

Tool had planned to be on tour for most of 2020, supporting its Grammy award-winning Fear Inoculum album. Carey explained that the band members initially took the pandemic-related cancellations as a chance to enjoy home life a little longer. As the lockdowns have worn on, however, he says he and his bandmates have grown restless about a lack of forward motion.

"Tool hasn't been jamming. We've been just kind of on hiatus. Nothing's really been happening. But I think it's time," Carey said. "We kept hoping that we were gonna get back out, so we were just kind of, 'Hey, enjoy this while it lasts,' but now it's looking like it could go to the rest of the year, so we need to get the lead out and start functioning — maybe knock out another EP, at least, or something like that."

Carey pointed out that Tool hasn't released an EP since 1992's Opiate. Since the band's debut album the following year, Tool has been focused on producing full-length albums.

Beyond having time on their hands, Carey suggested the band is additionally refreshed to no longer be under contract with a record label.

"We don't have a record deal anymore; we're free agents," the drummer said. "So we can kind of release whatever we wanna release now, which is a good feeling."

Tool, of course, tends to work only marginally quicker than the Earth's tectonic plates. Fear Inoculum's release last year came 13 years after the band's previous LP, 10,000 Days.

Even if the lag before Fear Inoculum was an outlier, Tool has generally taken a few years between each release. As strange as these times are, it's hard to believe the band's creative process would change markedly at this point.

On the other hand, Carey has additional motivation to get Tool moving.

He told Metal Hammer last September that like many metal drummers, he has an expiration date behind the kit that will arrive sooner than later.

"My hope is we get in an knock out another record," he said at the time. "We have tons of material. It's not going to take 12 years, or if it does, I'll probably be so old I probably can't pick up my sticks anymore! But my hope is we'll do another record and just keep moving forward."

Photo: Getty Images

Bo Brack