TOOL’s MAYNARD JAMES KEENAN: JUSTIN BIEBER Is ‘Probably A Good Kid’

Justin Bieber Maynard James Keenan

In July, Justin Bieber took to his Instagram account to post some of the lyrics to TOOL‘s 10,000 Days track “The Pot”. He then asked his followers if they knew which song the lyrics were from. “Don’t look it up please I’m curious if any of you know it,” he wrote.

A short time after Consequence Of Sound tweeted out a link to a story headlined “It’s official: Justin Bieber is a Tool fan”, TOOL frontman Maynard James Keenan responded, writing “#bummer.”

Then, Justin‘s wife, Hailey Bieber took to Twitter to take a shot at TOOL singer.

She wrote: “He expressed he was a fan of your music. Grew up listening to your music. You must be unhappy with yourself that you want to make people feel small who express their admiration for you. Very childish and hurtful thing to do. I hope u find security within yourself. Sad place to be”

Now in a new interview with Zane Lowe of Apple Music‘s Beats 1, Maynard was asked to explain his Bieber comment.

He responded: “He’s probably a good kid. It’s the crap that surrounds him. He was never armed with the tools to handle it. And the people surrounding him are monsters. He’s living in an ocean of … Am I allowed to swear on this show? Okay, never mind. I was going to say … but I’m not sure I’m allowed to. So he’s, God bless him, he’s a product of those things that we’ve spoken about numerous times on every project I’ve ever done.

He continued: “So when I make a statement like #bummer, it has nothing to do with him. It has to do with, I know that the ocean of sh*t that’s going to follow because he couldn’t just be a quiet TOOL fan, he had to say it out loud, and now I know the flood’s coming from the people that don’t get it, and the people that think they do, and they’re going to argue with each other. And it’s going to be stupid. And it doesn’t matter. And this poor kid’s caught right in the crosshairs, as he was, as he is.”

TOOL‘s latest album, Fear Inoculum, was released on August 30, 2019, through Tool DissectionalVolcano Entertainment, and RCA Records. It is the band’s first album in thirteen years, due to creative, personal, and legal issues band members encountered since the release of 10,000 Days. The album was released to critical acclaim, with reviewers agreeing that the band had successfully refined their established sound.