In mid-February, Tool guitarist Adam Jones posted a short film on his Facebook page in which Motorhead drummer Mikkey Dee walks into the lounge of a studio where both bands are working, and asks Jones what he’s doing. The guitarist offhandedly replies that that Tool is working on “some tunes.”

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Indeed, it is, and now that a soul-draining lawsuit that dragged on for eight years has been settled in the band’s favor, Tool is feeling more inspired to create than it has in a long time.

“When you try to be ethical and sleep well at night and try to do the right thing, and people around you are not doing the right thing and trying to take advantage of you, it really affects your creativity and your sleep and your relationships with people and everything you do,” Jones reveals in an exclusive interview with Yahoo! Music. “We would have had an album out a long time ago, we would have been taking more tours. But we’ve been discouraged and distracted by this major lawsuit, which is the worst thing that’s ever happened to us. It reminds me of one of those ads you see on TV where a guy goes, ‘Have you been in a car wreck? Call us!’”

The Kafka-esque scenario, which wrapped up the week of March 2, began in 2007 when one of Tool’s employees claimed he created artwork for the band and wanted credit. Jones insists there was no merit in the man’s claim and the band assumed its insurance company would take care of the matter. The company refused, and when Tool disputed the legality of their refusal, the company filed its own suit against the band.

“It got really ugly and shameful,” Jones says. “This is a real simplification of the matter — but imagine paying auto insurance, getting into a wreck, and expecting the insurance company to cover you. And they come back to you and say, ‘Well, you drive an SUV and we don’t consider that an auto so we’re not going to cover you.’ And then they turn around and sue you because you want them to cover you. It’s crazy.”

For years, L.A. courts delayed the case and, according to Jones, Tool dealt with a creatively crippling series of depositions, briefs, litigators, and judges. Then, late last week, the case was finally settled in the band’s favor, leaving Tool feeling like wrongly accused prisoners who were finally exonerated.

“I had a real feeling that things were going to go in our favor because the day the trial was supposed to start, the venue was changed on us,” Jones says. “We moved over to a North L.A. courthouse and we had a brand-new judge, who was fantastic. You know what his name was? Randy Rhodes! I knew the power of metal, and my appreciation of metal was someday going to be like a guardian angel. But he was great. He came in and took over, and he’s the reason the whole thing is finally over.”

In addition to dealing with seemingly insurmountable legal obstacles, Tool has been affected by previously undisclosed health issues, which impaired its progress. “I’d rather let the person who dealt with the illness talk about it out of respect,” Jones says. “But one thing was a really scary do-or-die, serious illness and that was really scary. When you’re trying to write music and you have that eating away at you – this person you’re married to and you love and hate at the same time has something they’re dealing with that’s out of their control – it’s distracting.”