Maynard James Keenan of Tool Has Caught COVID-19 Four Times

2022-06-11

Tool – Story by Cat Badra, photo by Travis Shinn

Tool, A Perfect Circle and Puscifer vocalist Maynard James Keenan has revealed that he has caught COVID-19 four times

This pandemic is a puzzling one, as some people have avoided getting sick at all, while others are dealing with multiple bouts of COVID-19. As it turns out, Tool vocalist Maynard James Keenan is one of the less lucky ones, as the famed singer and songwriter has announced that he recently contracted the virus for not a second, third but fourth time.

Keenan had already shared that he was infected with COVID-19 very, very early on, when Tool toured New Zealand and Australia in February 2020. Then, he caught COVID-19 again November 2020. , after previously revealing his battle with long COVID from the first infection. The singer had experienced coughing bouts and lung damage that lasted for months.

Now, in a new interview with the Arizona Republic, Keenan says he has since experienced a third bout of COVID-19 and, most recently, a fourth, the latter being on Tool’s recent European tour.

“I just had it the fourth time,” Keenan told the publication. “I got the European-flavored one. That was fun. It was [like] a flu. It’s done.”

Keenan added that he thinks getting COVID-19 so many times is just a byproduct of being a touring musician. “I mean, when you’re in a room full of thousands of people, it’s being passed around,” he said. “You get into a tube and you fly 10 hours in a contained environment, you’re gonna get it. If somebody has it and you’re gonna get it, you can get it. That’s just the nature of what it is now. We need to embrace that and stop freaking the f**k out.”

In addition to heading up Tool, Keenan is also the lead vocalist in A Perfect Circle and Puscifer. When asked about why he wants to front so many bands, he replied, “It’s just a matter of I do a thing. And I just need to do this thing. And if one of the projects isn’t moving very quickly, I can’t sit still. I have to do this thing. So that’s why the multiple projects. Because some of them just don’t move fast enough.”

He added, “I don’t really look at them that way. They’re just things we do. They all kind of have their own little space and exist in their own world. They have room for each other. They can all coexist because they’re different processes and different people.”

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Cat Badra

Meet the expert - Cat Badra is a music writer for Audio Ink Radio and a range of other music, sports and lifestyle publications. She's a graduate of Michigan State University with a master's degree in theater and speech. Contact her at cat@audioinkradio.com.