Chapter 1

Part Of Me

If you're a Tool fan, then there's not much we can tell you about this band that you don't already know.

If you're not a Tool fan, you might wonder why this band means so much to so many people. In order to answer that with any degree of accuracy, we sought out the biggest Tool fan we could find.

That search led us to Grant Lutwyche from Melbourne. He never told us he was the biggest Tool fan in the country (all the biggest, true fans know that it's not a competition) but pretty much all of his friends told us that they think he is.

Grant is married with a couple of kids. He works a normal job and lives a normal life. But anyone who knows him knows that much of that life – and a fair bit of his money – has been dedicated to that four-piece band from Los Angeles.

“I listen to Tool every day,” he says. “At least two or three songs, which doesn't sound like much, but most of their songs go for eight to ten minutes. So it's a fair bit.”

You can listen to a song and it feels like you've listened to half a dozen songs, because of the changes, the arrangements and the weird arse time signatures that they use. Grant Lutwyche

Tool has been a part of Grant's day, every single day, for over two decades.

“It was around '93, when a friend of mine introduced me to them,” he remembers. “At first I thought ‘yeah, this is pretty cool stuff', but I wasn't obsessive at the time.”

The Opiate EP and Tool's debut album Undertow became some of his favourite records, but the fixation didn't really kick in until the release of Ænima in 1996.

“When Ænima came out, it took it to a whole new level,” he says. “That CD was pretty much on repeat for the better part of a good couple of years. I wouldn't stop listening to it.”

But the peak was still to come.

“The, just when I thought Tool couldn't get any better, they released Lateralus. In my opinion, that is the greatest album ever released.

“When I heard track one off that, ‘The Grudge', I was like ‘Oh my God. This band. They're just phenomenal.' I loved them and was listening to them flat out before that, but as soon as I heard that first song, particularly the ending, it was a whole new level. Ever since that album, I just could not get enough.”

Spending tens of thousands of hours listening to any one band is a huge effort. But it's arguably more impressive with Tool. They only have four studio albums and the last one came out over a decade ago. But Grant says there's plenty to keep him interested.

“In 2000 they released Salival which is a couple of live tracks and a few rarities and covers. They've got a live version of ‘Pushit' from the Ænima album and it's different. They actually play the song differently. It's a completely different version of it.

“So, what I keep doing is listening to the original one and then, straight after, listen to the live version and listen to all the differences. Most Tool aficionados will debate whether the original or the live version is better. I love doing that, I'll probably do it a couple of times a week. Listen to it back-to-back and note the subtle differences. I'm still trying and figure out which I like better.”

Obviously, it's the music that makes people so crazy over this band. But what exactly is it about that music that makes them such a powerful force?

“They are so technically brilliant,” Grant says. “Almost every time you listen to them you pick up something new.

“You can listen to a song and it feels like you've listened to half a dozen songs, because of the changes, the arrangements and the weird arse time signatures that they use.

“The emotion that's in a lot of the lyrics, Maynard's voice – I don't know anyone else, maybe bar Chris Cornell, who can pull off an amazing scream like him. Yet he's got a melody about his voice that could almost put you to sleep.

“For my money, nobody can produce the ending to a song like Tool. It just builds and builds and builds and there's this earth shattering ending and you're just floored by the end of it. That's why you keep going back to the start.

“I think [Tool's music] produces an emotion in people because it's not music you can just put on in the background. You need to sit down with a pair of headphones and listen to it loud.

“I think people really connect to the lyrical content, a lot of it is pretty heavy stuff. But there's also another side of it that people tend to miss and that's the comedy in a lot of their songs. They take the piss out of so many things and they're not afraid to speak their mind. I think that's appealing to a lot of people as well.

“On Salival there's a hidden track called ‘Maynard's Dick'. On 10,000 Days there's ‘Rosetta Stoned' which is all about alien abduction, it's about a guy getting abducted and the aliens telling him the key to the earth's survival. In the end he realises he forgot his pen and forgot to write down what the aliens told him.

“I think that's what give Maynard the shits is that people treat their stuff so seriously. I like the fact they'll speak their mind and they do things their own way.”

Chapter 2

Witness The Beauty

Like many of his fellow obsessed fans, Grant's love of Tool has taken him to a number of places both at home and abroad.

“In 2013 I went to Japan to see Tool play at the Ozzfest festival,” he says. “It was a nine-and-a-half-hour flight and I don't sleep on aeroplanes. From the point of levelling out to about an hour before we started to descend I just listened to the whole Tool catalogue. I reckon it was a good seven-and-a-half-hours' worth.”

Grant doesn't seem to have any trouble recounting his favourite Tool live show, even with so many to choose from.

“Yeah, 2007 in Sydney,” he says. “They were supporting the new album 10,000 Days. When I heard the album, I liked it. But it wasn't until I saw it live that it absolutely blew my mind. It just brought the album to a whole new album.

He says the same about drummer Danny Carey's part in one of his favourite songs, ‘The Grudge'

“When you see him do it live, the pieces fit together.”

Seeing such incredible musical talent in the flesh is an exhilarating experience, he says. It almost brings the love of the music to completion.

“Talent wise, there's no group of four blokes I've ever seen that come close,” Grant says. “Tool use ridiculous time signatures. Stuff that just shouldn't work, they make it work. Then there's the visual aspects of the show. It's just an incredible tie between a visual extravaganza added to the amazing audio trip that you go on when you go and see them.

“Maynard's voice is always perfect. The band is always perfect. You just can't fault them.”

And Grant is not too proud to say that he's shed a few tears at Tool shows over the years.

“There are certain songs that trigger pretty strong emotions. My wife will tell you, whenever we go and see them I spend half the concert bawling like a baby.

What songs bring on the tears?

“The ending of ‘Schism', ‘The Grudge'. ‘Pushit' – the ending is just such so strong and emotionally charged. I think a lot of it has to do with a relationship breakdown and it's all about trying to get away. Well, that's my interpretation.”

Chapter 3

The Pieces Fit

When looking for the biggest Tool fans in the country, we came across a whole heap of weird and wonderful Tool ephemera. A Tool coffee table, a Tool quilt, hundreds of tattoos and thousands of t-shirts.

But Grant has a couple of piece of Tool merchandise that no one else on the planet can lay claim to.

“During the Ænima tour Maynard used to dress up as a chick; he'd have a big padded bra and big hair and all that,” Grant explains.

“He also had a pair of high heel boots. When I was in Arizona in 2014, those boots that he wore for that tour were there [in Maynard's Puscifer store] and they were signed by him.

“The people there assured me they're the only pair he wore for the tour. The sole is falling off, they're definitely well worn, and they're signed.

Grant owns the boots Maynard wore on the Ænima tour.

“I purchased them for $1,000 US. Apparently two weeks before his bra was there for sale, which went for $3,000. Would I have spent $3,000 on that and then another $1,000 on the shoes? I'd like to say no, but I probably would've.”

Another of Grant's most prized possessions came about almost purely by luck.

“In 2013 they released the 21st anniversary re-release of Opiate. There was five different versions of it and only 1,000 copies of each. I've got a copy of each one.

“They also went all Willy Wonka style and released five golden tickets. Three went to the States, one went to Germany and I got the fifth golden ticket. It's called the Seal of Xatanitos. In the seal it says you're entitled to a prize of select distinction.

“About two years later, it turns up. It's a framed gold record and it says ‘This is awarded to Grant Lutwyche to Commemorate the 21st Anniversary of Opiate'.

“It's got a symbol on there that they call The Priest, that Adam Jones designed, he's holding the same accessory – it's like a torch – which correlates to the same version that my golden ticket was in.

“Even though there's five of these prizes, there's only one of its kind in the world.”

Grant has stacks of posters, a drumhead, signed records and other enviable Tool goodies in his collection. Go to the bar in his house and you'll see a veritable shrine to the band.

“There's two walls that are basically made up of all Tool stuff,” he says. “There are a couple of big Tool signs, then behind the bar are posters and photos of the band. I've got my golden ticket prize and underneath it a little ledge with my five Opiate re-releases.

Grant's bar is a shrine to Tool.

“Below that I've got a little wine rack which is kind of like a little shrine. It's got Maynard's wine – I bought quite a few bottles, including quite a few rare bottles. He's got one called Judith which is basically in honour of his mother who died. You could only buy two at a time and you had to buy it from his store, I just happened to be there at the right time. They were $150 US each.”

There are a few naysayers, but Grant says that most of his family and friends are

“My wife understands. She gets it,” he says. “It's not that she doesn't like them, but she gets more enjoyment out of seeing me enjoy it. Whenever they tour she comes with me. I think she likes seeing me cry.

“She quite often jokingly says that she's sure that I love Tool more than I love her. Tool are definitely a close second though.

“People look at my stuff and think it's pretty cool. Other fans who look at it are quite in awe of it and very jealous. Particularly when you pull out Maynard's boots and things like that that are such rarities. A few people think I'm nuts but it's just one of those things.”

Chapter 4

I Will Only Complicate You

Music will always remain the core point of interest for any Tool fan. But there's a kind of mystery that surrounds the band that adds to their allure.

“I think the fact that they're quite reclusive keeps your interest,” Grant says. “It keeps you wanting more I think they're pretty good at that. The fact that their albums are so few and far between just keeps the desire burning for wanting more.”

Grant has met Tool guitarist Adam Jones and drummer Danny Carey in recent years. The latter meeting took place in Los Angeles, when Grant went to see Carey's other band Volto play at a small club.

But when asked what he'd ask Tool now – apart from ‘when is the new album coming out?' – Grant has a pressing question that many fans would be afraid to ask. Not because of how the band would take it, but in fear of what the answer might be.

“I want to know how long they plan to keep this going for,” he says. “I get really nervous when I look at the calendar and see that there's ten years gone since the last album. They're all in their 50s and it breaks my heart to think that once this album's released – that's it.

“I need to know if they plan to keep going. If they were to say ‘here's the new album, we're done' I think I'd just curl up in a ball.

“And I'd say thank you for giving me the inspiration to pry open my third eye. It's a reference that a lot of people will know. About stepping back and seeing things on the inside and being able to accept the universe for how it is and contribute to the universe in my own positive way. It's definitely something I've got out of their music.”