Swimming In The Sea Of Names

06/12/2000 3:00 AM, Yahoo! Music
Darren Davis

A Perfect Circle began as a dream that guitarist and songwriter Billy Howerdel had about five years ago. The project began to solidify in 1996 when he met his vocalist-to-be, Tool's Maynard James Keenan, while working as an engineer on Tool's Aenima. Shortly after that, Howerdel met drummer Josh Freese during lengthy sessions at Axl Rose's house cutting tracks for the perpetually forthcoming new Guns N' Roses album. Guitarist Troy Leeuwen and bassist Paz Lenchantin round out the five-piece, whose debut, Mer De Noms (French for "sea of names"), co-produced by Howerdel and Alan Moulder (U2, Nine Inch Nails, Smashing Pumpkins), combines the aggression of Tool with the epic Goth-rock of the Cure.

Thanks in part to their very Tool-ish first single, "Judith," a huge buzz has been swirling around A Perfect Circle. But in truth, that song isn't really representative of the whole Mer De Noms soundscape, and Howerdel was originally dead set against releasing it as a single. In this exclusive interview with LAUNCH, Billy and Josh Freese discuss why Howerdel felt that way and why he eventually changed his mind; they also talk about what it's like to work with one of rock's premier vocalists in Keenan, their opening slot on Nine Inch Nails' spring U.S. tour, and the future of A Perfect Circle.

LAUNCH:
What was the biggest obstacle in getting Mer De Noms done?

BILLY:
Quitting my job.

JOSH:
All the bands we were previously in.

BILLY:
It's funny, both Josh and I were involved in the Guns N' Roses thing for so long. I didn't intend on being there that long, which wound up being two-and-a-half years. Had I not left when I did, I'd still be there now. I believed in the project and I wanted to see it through, but there just comes a time when, if you want to do something, you've got to make a move and do it. And it seemed like an appropriate time, and the timing with Maynard wound up being perfect. It didn't seem so at the time; it seemed like we were going to be really rushed. Why this record went so quickly, I think, is because we said, "Okay, we're going to have this out by Christmas," which, of course, wasn't gonna happen.

LAUNCH:
How did Maynard come on board for A Perfect Circle? Was he your first choice?

BILLY:
I never really considered a male vocalist. I was always thinking of having a female vocalist and I was always looking for one. And he heard the stuff and approached me about singing on it. It was kind of his idea, and I quickly got over the female vocal idea.

JOSH:
[Joking] He's kind of girly, anyway.

BILLY:
Yeah, I got the best of both worlds. It was '96, when I was in the studio working with Tool, that he had first brought it up. But when he brought it up I said, "Great, he wants to sing on it, that's nice, but the reality--we'll see what happens."

LAUNCH:
What were the first songs you wrote for A Perfect Circle?

BILLY:
We kind of tinkered around with some stuff over the years and got two songs--"Hollow" and "Orestes"--recorded and used those as a template, something to shoot for for the rest of the songs. It was interesting to see it take shape and be like, "Oh, okay, this is how it's going to sound with Maynard singing on it, not screaming and aggressive and more like Tool is [but] more melodic and more subdued for him."

JOSH:
He's got such a completely distinct voice that, like Billy said, he's singing differently in this way. It's a lot more in the forefront and not as buried with distortion or effects...a little more quaint.

LAUNCH:
Can you compare how Maynard approaches A Perfect Circle as opposed to Tool?

BILLY:
To me, the big difference is--and this is just from me picking it apart on my own when he's not in the room--a lot of these songs can be sung on their own. Their melodies stand on their own. You know, like Elton John is the king of that. He writes the greatest melodies that can just...I mean, a piano is a bonus, but you can just sing 'em in the shower and you'll know what the song is. [Whereas with] Tool, his vocal is the fourth voice of the four [musical parts]. It completes that music, and it's not something that usually stands on its own, at least for me as a listener.

LAUNCH:
Do you think that releasing "Judith," which sounds a lot like Tool, as a first single is a help or a hindrance to establishing an identity for A Perfect Circle?

JOSH:
I don't think it can hurt too much. The rest of the record is so different from that. I mean, that's one of the most aggressive, rocking songs. That's why it's an easier one to swallow...it's kind of an obvious one to release to radio right off the bat rather than a longer, mellower one where people might get lost. "Judith" is pretty hooky, just the riff alone. It's easy to like.

BILLY:
I said out loud, "Absolutely no f--king way am I releasing 'Judith' as the first single." I did, I said, "There's no way I'm coming out with a song that sounds the most like Tool. I can hear it." It was really my manager who slapped some sense into me, and then a couple of other people came over and heard it and he goes, "You're a fool if you don't release that first. It's catchy and it's familiar and..." I still like the song. It's not like the song is on there because it sounds like Tool or because it sounds like anything else, it just happens to be...

JOSH:
[To Billy] I thought I heard you say that and I thought there was no chance in hell, and I was actually happy and kind of relieved that it was [released].

BILLY:
I thought there were other things that might have done okay, but the way it's going now, it seemed to work. I don't think it's going to hurt us. I haven't heard that much negative about that song, so be it. And there's more to come, more leg-stretching to do with some of the other songs. Songs that will probably make Tool fans hate me.

LAUNCH:
Are you surprised by the buzz and by the early success of the band?

BILLY:
I don't think you ever can count on things moving as swimmingly as they have right now. It's funny, because I'm sure people are going to go, "Oh, it's this big huge project," and I'm thinking back to me being in the stinking back of my garage working on these songs with planes going overhead, farthest from chic and posh. No matter what happens, it's just like any other kid making a record in his basement.

LAUNCH:
How did you guys get on the Nine Inch Nails tour? Did [NIN guitarist] Danny Lohner's playing with you in the early Perfect Circle rehearsals have anything to do with it?

BILLY:
Danny was actually...Tim Alexander was playing drums and Danny Lohner was playing guitar [in APC] kind of from the start. And Danny went back to Nails when they started doing this record [The Fragile]. And obviously, why stay with this thing that rehearsed [only] whenever I could convince everyone to? You know, "Please, please, please, let's go, I'll pay for a rehearsal studio, let's go and just play these songs." So he went back to Nine Inch Nails, which is successful, and that's what he's into. And now he hates himself--just kidding. We're good friends with Danny and he's actually the key reason why we're on this Nine Inch Nails tour. He put it into the mix early on in September, and it worked out really nicely. We had no record out. Obviously, we had Maynard--it's a big perk. But the Nails record isn't doing that great, they couldn't have anticipated the live shows were going to go that great, they're going into arenas, they need a strong support act, and I took it as the ultimate flattery that they'd take us out. And it was a big gamble. It's a gracious thing to do. We really appreciate it.

LAUNCH:
It seems that you guys have artistic license on the Nine Inch Nails tour to create your own atmosphere and have your own stage setup during your set. A lot of opening bands aren't allowed that.

JOSH:
Nine Inch Nails has been generous in that respect. A lot of opening bands get squashed by the headliners. They're allowed half of what's on the board volume-wise and they're allowed about eight lights, so when the headliner comes out it's extra kick-ass and way more of a fanfare. But [NIN have] been really cool with us. And there's no way we could compete with their light production and how amazing their show is anyway.

BILLY:
That's what's kind of a nice complement. There's no way we're going to compare as far as what they do, which is this energy, balls-out show. We're out there just trying to get these songs heard, so it's something a little different.

LAUNCH:
How much has APC changed since the beginning? It seemed like it was more of a side-project at first and then it evolved into a band.

BILLY:
I certainly think the band has gotten tighter. I don't think we were ever terrible, though. Everyone in this band is a good player.

JOSH:
We used to actually amaze ourselves, because we would do a show or some rehearsing or recording and then we all went into the other things we were doing in our day-to-day lives. And we'd get back together--one time it had been like six weeks--and we rehearsed and it sounded awesome. I remember we were looking at each other, going, "Wow, this sounds really good. We haven't played since, like, August," and it was January.

LAUNCH:
What's the long-term prognosis for Maynard remaining as the singer of A Perfect Circle?

BILLY:
We're contracted for three records on Virgin. He's going to be the singer. We toyed around possibly with me singing some songs on this record, decided not to, just wanted him to be the frontman of this band and take it from here. If something changes a little bit in the future, it certainly wouldn't be any different than an 80/20 split. He's not going anywhere.

LAUNCH:
What's the best part of A Perfect Circle?

BILLY:
The absolute best part of this is that we all are really good friends and would be hanging out anyway if we weren't in a band. And I think it's a musician's dream: "Hey, let's get a band together, let's get our buddies together and play." That's a really tall order. It's pretty rare that it becomes a business. It's pretty cool.