Birth Name : James Herbert Keenan 
Birthday : April 17, 1964 

Maynard was born to a Baptist family and grew up with an older sister in Ravenna, Ohio. Maynard attended Brown Jr High and then Ravenna High school through the 10th grade until he moved to Michigan. There he attended Mason County Central High School in Scottville, MI. By the time he entered the army, in 1982, he had lived in Ohio, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas. 

Maynard was a member of the United States Military Academy ("West Point") prep school class of 1984. He was member of the cross country and wrestling teams, the glee club, and the "Knight Crier." References to the Honor Code "I will not lie, cheat, or steal, or tolerate those who do"; and to the term 'tool' probably came from this experience. 

Maynard quit the military to study art, which eventually led to a job in LA applying spatial design concepts (called "Feng Shui") to remodeling pet stores. While Maynard was in Michigan, he attened the Kendall College of Art & Design, which is one of the best in that area. His artwork is rumored to be very abstract. Maynard was friends with Gillian Anderson while he was at Kendall. 

Before Tool, in the 80's, Maynard was in Children of the Anachronistic Dynasty (C.A.D.) that released an independent cassette called 'Fingernails'. He was also in another band called TexAns. 

Maynard met Danny Carey in LA when they were neighbors. Danny let Maynard and Adam use his practice space, and ended up playing with them a few times. 

Maynard's father is a retired high school teacher from Mason County Central Highschool in Scottville, Michigan. They get along fine and Maynard visits home every year. Maynard is rumored to reside near Sedona, Arizona. 

Maynard is currently involved in a second project called 'A Perfect Circle,' though he is still very much a part of Tool. He has also become engaged to his girlfriend. 

Birth Name : Adam Thomas Jones
Birthday : January 15, 1965

Adam Jones is the creative mind behind the amazing guitar riffs and the intense videos of Tool. Ironically, he seems more comfortable as an artist than as a musician. Adam is originally from Illinois, and played violin in elementary school. He was accepted into the Suzuki program, and continued to play violin through his freshman year in high school. He then played a stand up bass for three years in an orchestra. 

In addition to playing in an orchestra, Adam played bass in a band called Electric Sheep with Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine in high school (Libertyville), and while he never received traditional guitar lessons, they learned from each other. Adam also studied film. Adam recieved a music scholarship to go to college, but chose to go to art school instead. 

Adam went to school at the Hollywood Makeup Academy. He began by learning "straight make-up," because he thought it would help him out. He then began work as a sculptor and special effects designer where he learned the stop-motion camera techniques he would later apply in Tool's videos Sober, Prison Sex, Stinkfist, and Aenema. 

After he graduated, he went to work at Rick Lazzarini's "The Character Shop." He was there for quite a while, 1-2 years, and worked on a TV show called "Monsters." He designed and fabricated a Grim Reaper makeup and a Zombie head on a spike (later used in Ghostbusters 2.) he worked on several commercials, and was one of the designers. He worked on a salad dressing commercial (it was never aired), Olympic stain (Albert Einstein makeups), Duracell (Boxers and Taxi cabs), Nightmare on Elm Street Part 5 (He did the Fredy Kreuger in the womb makeup), and Ghostbusters 2. At that time, Adam had a pet chameleon and a Great Dane. After that, he went to Stan Winston's. There he worked on Predator 2, where he sculpted a unique looking skull for the Predator's space ship interior. 

Adam worked on several other big films in Hollywood doing makeup and set design, including Jurassic Park and Terminator 2. He also helped Green Jello with their costumes. 

Adam is a great drawer, and is brilliant at charicatures. He is a big Devo fan. He used to skateboard and had an empty pool in front of the house he rented. 

Birth Name : Justin Gunnar Walte Chancellor 
Birthday : November 19, 1971 

Justin first met Tool in New York, and kept in touch with band members for a couple of years until Justin's band in England "Peach", did a tour with Tool in Europe in 1994. When original bassist Paul D'Amour left, Tool gave Justin a call. At first Justin turned them down. Peach had broken up about six months before, and he was forming a new band with the guitarist. Justin felt very loyal to his friend who he'd played with since he was 14. But then decided he couldn't deny himself the opportunity. Justin flew to the US, auditioned, and got the job. He beat out some stiff competition, which included Filter's Frank Cavanagh, KYUSS's Scott Reeder, Zaum's Marko Fox (who did the voice on Die Eier von Satan), and Pigmy Love Circus's E. Shepherd Stevenson. 

After settling in the US, Justin married Ariadne Chancellor, on top of Mingus Mountain in Arizona on January 12, 1997. 

Birth Name : Daniel Edwin Carey 
Birthday : May 10, 1961 

Danny Carey grew up in a very typical, middle-class American house in Paola, Kansas. His father was a manager for a large insurance company and his mother was a school teacher. Danny has one older brother and one younger brother. Danny's earliest musical memory was when his father took him into the music library at the University of Kansas and played The Planets by Gustov Holst. Danny started taking lessons when he was ten or eleven, just on the snare drum in school band, and then again when he got his first kit at thirteen. Danny received a scholarship in High School to go to the Conservatory of Music in Kansas City. 

Danny studied music for over three years at the University of Missouri. He had a couple of offers to play basketball at small colleges, but knew he wasn't good enough to play major college basketball or to go pro. Danny spent years working on his rudiments and doing drum corps. He always loved Billy Cobham and Buddy Rich because no matter how fast they played, you could hear every note. When he was in college he got a lot of classical training, doing recitals for three and a half years. He could have earned a degree if he stuck it out a while longer, but just wanted to play the drum set a little more, so he bailed on school when an opportunity came to go on the road with a band. 

In 1986, Danny moved to Los Angeles, and spent four years there before anything really happened. However, at that time he was heavily into electronic drums. He was playing an electronic kit with real cymbals, and played the clubs. Then he got more into real drums, and attributes that to finally finding a quality set that sounded good. Danny also worked as a session player for Green Jello, Pygmy Love Circus, and Carole King. Danny's day job in LA was working in a tape duplication house. Then he met Adam Jones through Tom Morello of Rage (Against The Machine). Danny was also living beside Maynard. He never auditioned for them (Keenan and Jones). He felt sorry for them, because they would invite people over to play, and they wouldn't show up, so he would fill in. 

Danny still loves playing jazz when he gets the chance. He is also working on a side project called ZAUM, which works in an electronic medium. Danny has also been involved in other side projects, including a TV sitcom called "Sibs." 

Biography questions? Email  Michael Alemany  at [email protected]

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