Part
13 of 15
What was Bill's relationship with the band Tool? I believe from what I read, Maynard was a fan of Bill's and simply decided to call him up on the phone.
I'm not sure who called who first. Actually, Maynard is an inspiring comedian and goes up and does little Improv nights and shit like that at some of the comedy clubs in Los Angeles. Nobody really knows who he is in that circle. I'm not sure how they found each other. I know Colleen McGarr, Bill's manager, set the onset instrumental in helping people get together. She helped me and Maynard hook up after Bill died. It's not like Bill was like some kind of a big Tool fan. In fact Bill was more into John Hiatt and stuff like that, but he would go out and buy the newest, harshest music.
Bill had really eclectic tastes of Bob Dylan, John Hiatt and things that were even too boring for me. I'm more of like a flash in the pan kind of guy. You know, he'd be playing John Hiatt and I'd be going "Loser, Smashing Pumpkins." He'd make fun of me on that level and I'd make fun of him, but then at the same time, he would always get turned on by the latest goofy fad song. You know, there is always that occasional song that comes out that everybody gets into, "Enter Sandman" or "Fade to Black," or whatever that Metallica song is; a song that Bill would usually make fun of, but he just couldn't help, but I think it was catchy and he knew it was goofy to be into it and how he started using at his shows and then he started using, "Fuck you, I won't do what they tell me ever."
The first time Bill ever played Rage Against The Machine for me, I just said, "Oh, they sound like some kind of Beastie Boy's rip off," and he got really pissed off at me. Then he told me that Rage Against the Machine and Tool were just totally different than those guys. You know he was right. I know Bill did introduce them, I know, at several gigs, especially I think, Lollapalooza '92 in Los Angeles, where he told the whole crowd to stand still because he had lost his contact
lens*. Pretty funny joke. A 60,0000 person mosh pit, "Hey can everybody stop moving? I lost my contact lens," everybody starts looking down at the ground, it's pretty funny, I'd like to get a tape of that someday.
*
- Maynard used the same joke on stage during a concert a few years later.
