Huge news for Mike Patton fans: nine years after their last live show, the legendary Fantômas are getting back together. They’ve been added onto the bill for a mini-festival put on by Tool in California this June.

In fact, the entire event is set to be an unbelievable musical gathering for fans of the more obscure side of heavy music: Tool are (obviously) leading the charge, and they’re bringing along Primus, Melvins, Clutch and Fantômas.

The news kinda makes sense, considering guitarist Buzz Osborne and bassist Trevor Dunn are members of both Melvins and Fantômas, and the bands have performed together as the Fantômas Melvins Big Band, including a live album (Millenium Monsterwork) and film (Live in London). While Patton and original Fantômas drummer Dave Lombardo (also of Slayer) have recently reunited to form another new band, Dead Cross, he’ll replaced by Melvins drummer Dale Crover on the night.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAZ25A2mcBQ&list=PL7C0E3F44FE591099

The show is taking place on June 24, the end of a full month of tour dates for Tool, including a headline slot at Governors Ball. Given the increasingly abundant rumours about new Tool music (and new A Perfect Circle, for that matter), and a confirmed new album for Primus this year, it’s highly likely the concert will showcase some long-awaited new material.

Whether or not Fantômas are planning to reunite for new music remains to be seen. It’s possible they’re only returning for the one-off event, but it’s also possible that new music is on the way; speaking to Sydney Morning Herald back in January, Patton professed he’s working through a long list of dream projects, many of which include returning to previous releases. “A few bands I think I’ve neglected,” he said. “Fantomas being one of them, Mondo Cane for sure.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdZccCC-O8s

If you happen to be in California, get down to the Glen Helen Amphitheatre on June 24 – more details here.

Image: Facebook

Tool have allegedly been booked to headline New York City’s Governor’s Ball festival in 2017. Not only will this mark their first NYC performance in 11 years, but it’s the strongest indication fans have had in years that new music might actually be on the way from Maynard James Keenan and co. Although the band have toured sparsely over the past few years, their last album, 10,000 Days, came out back in 2006. It only makes sense that if they’re to headline a major festival, it’ll be because they’ve got something new to show off.

The news comes courtesy of a “source” at Consequence of Sound, and to be clear, it’s not confirmed – but it’s a glimmer of hope in what’s otherwise been a decade of silence for the Tool Army.

Back in October it was revealed that although Tool had apparently recorded two albums worth of music, only five tracks were good enough to be considered for the long-awaited follow up. Guitarist Adam Jones told fans during a meet-and-greet in Utah that he, Danny Carey and Justin Chancellor were hard at work – but that Keenan, who only writes lyrics after at least 90% of the instrumentation has been completed, approved five songs so far.

Tool haven’t toured Australia since early 2013. However, Keenan will be visiting our shores in January for a tour with his side project Puscifer – details here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhjG47gtMCo

 Image: Reddit

 

On Tuesday, Palestinian attackers ravaged Israel through a chain of shooting and stabbing raids all over the country. One location where this took place was the port city of Jaffa, where a stabbing spree took the life of an American tourist and wounded several others.

At the heart of this catastrophe was Tool fan Yishay Montgomery, now labelled as the Israeli Guitar Hero.

“I was sitting down playing guitar and I heard screaming from across the street,” he said to Channel 2, “I saw a man run at me with a knife, I ran at him with the guitar and smashed it in his head. He was so stunned and didn’t know what to do with himself and then started running away.”

The attacker then made his way down the promenade where was later shot dead by police. Without Montgomery’s courageous impulsive action, who knows how many more may have been seriously injured.

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Yishay with equipped with his Tool shirt and guitar

The Jerusalem Post reports that Yishay has since received a huge amount of support from the incident. A local music store has given him a brand new guitar to replace the old one with the head sized hole, and a GoFundMe campaign which was recently launched has now almost reached $5000 and aims to jumpstart Yishay’s musical career as a thank you for his bravery.

While Tool may have reposted the article on their Facebook, Montgomery says they haven’t yet reached out to fly him to a concert, but he’s down if they call.

Image: Yonat Frilling, GoFundMe