Maynard James Keenan: ‘If You Study History at All, the U.S. Is Long Overdue for a Fall’
Tool / A Perfect Circle / Puscifer frontman Maynard James Keenan is waiting for history to repeat itself. In a new interview, Keenan says, “The U.S. is long overdue for a fall,” and addresses the people as a whole with, “Nobody’s coming to your rescue.”
The election of Donald Trump has further polarized two halves of the United States. Keenan has referred the 2016 election as a real-life version of the film Idiocracy, but now that Donald Trump is our 45th President, Maynard is likening Trump to Andy Kaufman. “We should have elected [Kaufman],” Keenan told The Guardian. “F—, I think we just did. I’m waiting for him to pull the mask off and say ‘Haha, I’m just kidding.' That’s the problem with Andy Kaufman though. He won’t pull the mask off. He’ll f--king run us into the ground before he reveals it’s actually him, so we’re kinda f—ed no matter what.”
As for people who are panicking, Maynard has a message about the fundamentals of life. “Nobody’s coming to your rescue,” Keenan says. “If these things are true, all [the things] the doomsayers and all the naysayers are saying in the press about this presidency … you have to default back to what really matters, what truly keeps you connected, and learn how to not only survive yourself, but to help your neighbors survive.”
Many historians have referenced the fall of the Roman Empire as the potential future for the United States, and Maynard doesn’t seem to disagree. “If you study history at all, the U.S. is long overdue for a fall,” Maynard says. “So you know, just keeping that in mind … I’m not being a doomsayer, it’s just that changes occur, it’s what happens. If you want to enter the proverbial, metaphorical kingdom of heaven – which to me just means ‘survive’ – if you want to survive this storm, [you need to] understand what a storm is. You need to understand how to survive it. It’s simple. Grow your own f--king food. Don’t rely on someone else to make it for you. Don’t rely on somebody else to build your house for you, don’t rely on someone else to bring water to you.”
Check out Maynard’s full interview at The Guardian. Tool may not have a new album announcement on the horizon, but for those worried about whether the band is progressing, guitarist Adam Jones offered the Instagram post below. Tool will perform in New York City and Boston on summer festivals.
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