ABC/Randy HolmesIn between all the hype surrounding Tool’s new album Fear Inoculum, the band made headlines when none other than Justin Bieber revealed himself to be a fan of the enigmatic metallers. Those headlines resulted in even more headlines when frontman Maynard James Keenan, ever the troll, responded to Bieber’s Tool love with a tweet simply reading, “#bummer.”
Now, in a new interview with Zane Lowe on Apple Music’s Beats 1, Keenan clarifies his comment, explaining that he bears the Biebs no ill will.
“He’s probably a good kid,” Keenan says. “It’s the crap that surrounds him.”
Keenan adds that his #bummer reply had “nothing to do” with Bieber himself.
“I know that the ocean of s*** that’s going to follow because he couldn’t just be a quiet Tool fan,” Keenan explains. “He had to say it out loud. And now I know the flood’s coming from the people that don’t get it, and the people that think they do, and they’re going to argue with each other.”
“It’s going to be stupid,” he continues. “And it doesn’t matter. And this poor kid’s caught right in the cross-hairs, as he was, as he is.”
The #bummer comment was largely seen as Keenan seriously being bummed that Bieber could be a Tool fan. The pop star’s wife Hailey Bieber even called Keenan’s comment “very childish and hurtful.”
Keenan then seemingly responded by posting a link to the Tool song “Hush.”
Meanwhile, Tool is battling the force of another fervent fan base: Swifties. Fear Inoculum, Tool’s first album in 13 years, could knock Taylor Swift‘s new record Lover from atop the Billboard 200, and some Swifties are mobilizing to keep that from happening.
We’ll see who comes out on top when next week’s Billboard 200 is revealed Sunday.
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