Between aggro culture and agriculture

Maynard James Keenan is a prolific artist.
He's not only gearing up to play the Big Day Out in January with heavyweights Tool but works and tours with two of his side projects, contributes to magazines and grows award-winning wine in Arizona.
The notoriously elusive singer prefers to perform rather than talk. So, when asked how he juggles working on this array of projects, he simply says that he just does one at a time.
Still, his work load seems immense.
Keenan started the year off with an US-tour with Puscifer, a collaboration of various creative-types which he describes as a playground for the various voices in his head.
Puscifer delivers not only a cabaret-style live-show with a changing line-up ("it's not a band, it's a troupe") but stands also as a merchandise platform for clothing, locally-roasted coffee, art, and an ever-changing list of limited edition collectibles. Puscifer's trippy ambient sound seems like the antithesis of Tool's menacing rock - but perhaps speaks to the tranquillity Keenan experiences while cultivating wine in Arizona's Verde Valley.
These days whatever project he's working on, his winery Caduceus Cellars, is his main focus and tour schedules are worked around harvest and bottling.
Early this year the documentary Blood Into Wine was released, giving viewers an insight into his journey into winemaking in the desert conditions of Arizona.
And although he has a hands-on approach to his vineyard, Keenan still finds time to tend to his other projects and seems to be driven by a constant need to create.
Holding this all together requires a discipline which would have been part of his education at the US military academy at West Point and at art school.
After playing two dozen shows with Tool in June and July he recently re-joined A Perfect Circle after a six-year hiatus.
The supergroup, featuring artists Billy Howerdel, James Iha, Matt McJunkins and John Freese has just set out to play a month of sold-out shows in the US. They only played old material this time around, but there's a clear indication for a new A Perfect Circle record next year.
And of course there's Tool, which has also started on a new album, four years after the release of the chart-topping 10,000 Days.
"I haven't been in the studio for a while because I have been out working with the other projects, but the others are getting together regularly," he says.
With the four members all well into their 40s and working together as a band for 20 years one might think the creative process becomes less turbulent over the years. But Keenan denies this emphatically.
"Tension and friction is what makes art, so that's always in there," he says.
He once compared writing albums with Tool to a washing machine: Once you're done, your laundry would be fresh and bright, but you wouldn't want to get in while it's spinning around.
Keenan won't reveal when the new album may be released.
"We never set a date, until we have everything in the can - that would be like setting a delivery date before you're actually pregnant," he explains. And with four well-versed perfectionists aiming for something new and exceptional, the song-writing and recording process takes its time.
On average the period between Tool records is five years, and it seems set to stay that way.
Nonetheless Keenan says he still enjoys working with Tool and doesn't see the band folding.
"Is Tool going on forever? It depends on how long we live I suppose," he muses.
Being involved with so many projects, he hasn't given much thought to Tool's performance at the coming Big Day Out and can't really say if the show will be quite different from 2007's performance.
"I don't remember the last time, so I don't know.
"We're all four years older, so that should make a difference," he adds.
While he is touring with A Perfect Circle he leaves the preparation of the show to guitarist and visual director Adam Jones. As a rule Tool don't play songs before they release them, but the interpretations of the old material might give fans a glimpse of where the band is heading to with their new work.
So, whatever show Tool play, there's one thing the winemaker is looking forward to.
"New Zealand grapes are fantastic, they're world class," he says. "Of course I am looking forward to sampling some."
Tool play the Big Day Out, January 21, Mt Smart Stadium