A Perfect Circle
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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| Background information | ||
| Origin |  California, United States |
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| Genre(s) | Alternative rock | |
| Years active | 1999–2006 (hiatus) [1] | |
| Label(s) | EMI Virgin Records |
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| Associated acts |
Tool Nine Inch Nails The Vandals The Smashing Pumpkins Zwan Vanessa and the O's Marilyn Manson Failure Queens of the Stone Age Primus Devo Puscifer Tapeworm |
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| Website | Official website | |
| Members | ||
| Maynard James Keenan Billy Howerdel Josh Freese Jeordie White James Iha Danny Lohner (Studio Member) |
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| Former members | ||
| Paz Lenchantin Troy Van Leeuwen Tim Alexander |
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A Perfect Circle (often referred to as APC) was an alternative rock band, formed by guitarist Billy Howerdel. Howerdel had worked as a guitar tech for bands such as Nine Inch Nails, The Smashing Pumpkins, Fishbone and Tool. He played demos of his music to Tool's singer, Maynard James Keenan. Maynard offered himself as vocalist should Howerdel form a band. Howerdel was initially hesitant about this as he originally wanted a female vocalist.
Contents |
[edit] History
[edit] Mer de Noms-era (1999-2001)
A Perfect Circle was the brainchild of Billy Howerdel who, despite initially having a female voice in mind for the group, decided to collaborate with friend Maynard James Keenan of Tool as lead singer, while Tool were dealing with legal issues with their record label. (Howerdel had previously been the guitar tech for Tool.) They were then joined by bassist/violinist Paz Lenchantin, guitarist Troy Van Leeuwen, formerly of Failure and drummer Tim Alexander, formerly of Primus.
After some rehearsals and warm-up shows, the band hit the studio. Alexander was soon replaced, however, with session drummer and member of The Vandals, Josh Freese, but his performance can still be heard on the album version of the song "The Hollow".
After finishing their debut album Mer de Noms (French for "Sea of Names"), and playing a handful of shows in California, they hit the road opening for Nine Inch Nails on the 2000 Fragility v2.0 tour.[citation needed] Upon completion they embarked on a number of headlining tours all over the world, and played the Canadian touring festival Summersault in the Summer of 2000.
[edit] Thirteenth Step / eMOTIVe-era (2002-2005)
When preparing for their sophomore album, APC lost two of its members, Paz Lenchantin & Troy Van Leeuwen. Lenchantin left to join Billy Corgan's new band Zwan, while Van Leeuwen left to become the new guitarist for Queens of the Stone Age. Lenchantin, however, performed nearly all of the bass parts for the upcoming record. These two were soon replaced by ex-Marilyn Manson bassist Jeordie White (formerly known as Twiggy Ramirez), and guitarist Danny Lohner, who had been involved in the production of both records thus far. However, Lohner didn't quite fit as a second guitarist, and only performed on the track "The Noose" on the second album, so the band opted to leave touring duties to their newest addition, former Smashing Pumpkins guitarist James Iha.
The band released their second album, Thirteenth Step, on September 16, 2003, and toured throughout North America, Europe and Japan for the remainder of the year. In 2004, the band continued touring in Australia, Japan, New Zealand and Europe, concluding touring in the late Spring in the United States.
A third album, eMOTIVe, was released on November 2, 2004, which contains anti-war cover songs of artists such as John Lennon and Joni Mitchell. eMOTIVe was recorded with various different past and present members of the band, but mostly by Keenan and Howerdel.
On November 16, 2004, the band released the DVD and CD set entitled aMOTION. The set contains the music videos to the singles, as well as some previously unreleased videos, along with b-sides and remixes.
[edit] Hiatus (2006-present)
The future of A Perfect Circle remains uncertain. They are currently on hiatus, partly due to Keenan's commitments with Tool, although many believed that A Perfect Circle was actually breaking up for good. The band experienced a considerable amount of downtime during the recording, release and tour for Tool's previous album Lateralus, which made the band extremely dynamic in terms of its members. During the downtime, other members of the band sought other projects which has meant that they are unavailable when A Perfect Circle is reformed, such as was the case with both Troy van Leeuwen and Paz Lenchantin, neither of whom plan on returning.[citation needed]
As for now, Keenan is touring with Tool and working on his side project, Puscifer, Howerdel is planning a solo album, Freese and White are touring with Nine Inch Nails, and Iha is currently touring with Vanessa and the O's in Europe.
Freese continues to work with The Vandals, who were supposedly gearing up for a new studio album, but no plans for it have been revealed. He also tracked drum performances for Black Light Burns, which features ex Limp Bizkit guitarist/From First to Last bassist Wes Borland on vocals and guitar, Danny Lohner on bass, and Josh Eustis of Telefon Tel Aviv on keyboards. Freese is not expected to tour with that lineup. He recently recorded drum tracks for the still unreleased solo debut of former Korn guitarist Brian Welch, nicknamed "Head". Freese is also scheduled to participate in the reunion of DEVO.[citation needed]
Iha was asked to participate in the reunion of The Smashing Pumpkins, in order to complete the line-up, but he has not confirmed that he will join.
Keenan most recently said that he thinks A Perfect Circle is over for the foreseeable future.[1] Billy Howerdel confirmed this by saying there were currently no plans for a new album or tour.[2]
The band's official website was updated 19 September, 2006 with the following message: "The Sleeper Must Awaken: Peace. Sorry it's been awhile since we've posted. Been busy. Billy is hard at work on his solo project and I'm on the road with TOOL, working on the www.puscifer.com website, and making wine in between all that. No telling when Billy will be finished with his new material, but what I've heard is very promising. I forgot to post lyrics for 13th step and eMOTIVe so I'll get on that soon. Check back often. Peace out. mjk"
[edit] Band members
[edit] Stable members
- Billy Howerdel - guitar, vocals, bass on several tracks on Mer de Noms
- Maynard James Keenan - vocals
- Josh Freese - drums since 1999, and on all tracks on Mer De Noms except "The Hollow"
- James Iha - guitar on eMOTIVe and touring musician
- Jeordie White - bass on Thirteenth Step and eMOTIVe' and touring.
[edit] Others
- Danny Lohner - helps with engineering and fills in for different instruments as necessary. Has made some contribution to each album.
- Paz Lenchantin - bass on Mer De Noms, vocals, strings, piano on Mer de Noms and eMOTIVe
- Troy Van Leeuwen - guitar on Mer de Noms and Thirteenth Step
- Tim Alexander - drums for a short time in 1999, and on "The Hollow"
All members had some contribution or another to aMOTION, and all are listed in its liner notes in the above order.
[edit] Latest lineup
Owing to Iha and White's commitments elsewhere, the "Passive" video featured the lineup of Keenan, Howerdel, Freese, Lohner and Lenchantin. An aborted performance of that single scheduled for The Tonight Show was cancelled at the last minute, and would have included the same members.
Howerdel had mentioned in November 2004 that the next incarnation of the band will definitely contain Keenan and himself, and most likely Josh Freese, though as of 2006 it is unclear if there will ever be another A Perfect Circle ensemble.
[edit] Discography
[edit] Studio albums
 (2000) |
 (2003) |
 (2004) |
[edit] DVDs & Other
 (DVD and Remix CD) |
[edit] Compilations
- Underworld (Soundtrack, 2003) - "Judith (Renholder Mix)"
- Underworld (Soundtrack, 2003) - "Rev 22:20"
- Resident Evil: Apocalypse (Soundtrack, 2004) - "The Outsider (Renholder Apocalypse Mix)"
- Underworld: Evolution (Soundtrack, 2006) - "The Undertaker (Renholder Mix)"
This track is by a second Maynard Keenan side project involving Danny Lohner called Puscifer
- MTV2 Headbanger's Ball: Volume 2 (Compilation, 2004)
- Constantine (Soundtrack, 2005) - "Passive". Passive was only heard once during the "Midnite's Club" scenes.
[edit] Music videos
- "Judith" from Mer de Noms (directed by David Fincher)
- "3 Libras" from Mer de Noms
- "Thinking of You" from Mer de Noms
- "Weak and Powerless" from Thirteenth Step (directed by Brothers Strause)
- "The Outsider" from Thirteenth Step (directed by Steven Grasse of Bikini Bandits fame)
- "Blue" (Contest Winner) from Thirteenth Step
- "Counting Bodies Like Sheep To The Rhythm Of The War Drums" from eMOTIVe
- "Imagine" from eMOTIVe
- "Passive" from eMOTIVe (directed by Brothers Strause)
[edit] Singles
| Year | Song | US Hot 100 | U.S. Modern Rock | U.S. Main- stream Rock | Album |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | "Judith" | - | 5 | 4 | Mer De Noms |
| 2000 | "3 Libras" | - | 12 | 12 | Mer De Noms |
| 2001 | "The Hollow" | - | 17 | 14 | Mer De Noms |
| 2003 | "Weak and Powerless" | 61 | 1 | 1 | Thirteenth Step |
| 2003 | "The Outsider" | 79 | 5 | 3 | Thirteenth Step |
| 2004 | "Blue" | - | 21 | 19 | Thirteenth Step |
| 2004 | "Imagine" | - | 26 | 26 | eMOTIVe |
| 2005 | "Passive" | - | 14 | 14 | eMOTIVe |
[edit] Trivia
- "Judith", the first single from the Mer De Noms album, is a song about Maynard's mother, Judith Marie. Judith suffered a stroke when Maynard was 11, seen in the song Jimmy by Tool. The stroke left her partially paralyzed and wheelchair-bound. It seems to be questioning her amount of faith, even after her stroke.
- The song "Passive" that appeared on the 2004 album eMOTIVe is actually adapted from the defunct band Tapeworm (also known as The Tapeworm Project). Tapeworm was essentially a project involving Maynard James Keenan and Trent Reznor (of Nine Inch Nails) as well as Danny Lohner. The project never fully developed due to apparent contractual conflicts that could not be negotiated. During several shows on their tour in early 2001, A Perfect Circle played a cover of an unreleased Tapeworm song, then apparently titled "Vacant" (also referred to as "Perfect Enemy"). The song was never released by any artist until it appeared on eMOTIVe as the song "Passive".
- A Perfect Circle has also had songs appear in several films and television shows including Underworld (2003), Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004) Constantine (2005) CSI: NY (season one) as well as Prison Break (season one) .
- Maynard James Keenan has starred in two Bikini Bandits films.
- To separate himself from Tool, Maynard James Keenan wears long wigs on his otherwise bald scalp in all of A Perfect Circle's music videos, photo shoots, and live performances.
- During the Middle Ages, musical notation development was in the hands of the monks, who inevitably associated religious and musical phenomena. To them the three-part concept of the Holy Trinity represented religious perfection; therefore to them only triple meter was perfect meter. To express this meter they placed the geometrically perfect circle at the beginning of the plainchant. Another interpretation is that they took their name from the line "Pull me into your perfect circle," from the song "Orestes", on the CD Mer de Noms. However, all the above theories have been refuted, as Maynard when asked at a public conference, stated that the name " A Perfect Circle" originates from the friendships of the band members, all of them met one of another in a way resembling "a perfect circle of friendship."
- Paz's aunt appears as the female lead in TOOL's "Stinkfist" video
- The song "Renholder" from Mer de Noms if spelled backwards plays out as Re:D.Lohner referring to Danny Lohner.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- A Perfect Circle's official website
- Billy Howerdel Interview -T. Virgil Parker
- 2003 Interview with Josh Freese at musicfrisk.com
| A Perfect Circle |
| Maynard James Keenan | Billy Howerdel | Josh Freese | Jeordie White | James Iha |
| Danny Lohner | Paz Lenchantin | Troy Van Leeuwen | Tim Alexander |
| Discography |
|---|
| Albums: Mer de Noms | Thirteenth Step | eMOTIVe | aMOTION |
| Popular songs: Judith | 3 Libras | Weak and Powerless | The Outsider | Blue | Let's Have a War | Counting Bodies Like Sheep to the Rhythm of the War Drums | Passive | Imagine |
