Tool bassist Justin Chancellor dressed up in a Willy Wonka disguise to prank the band’s support act on tour – watch the footage below.
Californian alt-rock trio Night Verses were the victims while wrapping up their support duties on their European tour in June.
Yesterday (August 20), Tool posted a video on social media of Chancellor wearing a Willy Wonka disguise alongside members of the band’s crew in animal costumes as they invaded the stage during an instrumental breakdown in Night Verses’ set.
Understandably, the band members were a little confused to see Chancellor carrying a cane onstage and trying to conduct them – though, to their credit, they didn’t seem too bothered by the antics and were able to complete the song without missing a beat. Check out the moment here.
Given Tool’s track record of pulling light-hearted pranks on their support bands, Night Verses may well have been expecting some tomfoolery.
During Blonde Redhead’s last opening set for Tool in 2022, the band’s frontman Maynard James Keenan stormed the stage along with crew wearing blonde and red wigs. And, once, Keenan even targeted his own bandmate – drummer Danny Carey’s spare drumstick got replaced with a dildo.
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As part of their European tour, Tool hit the UK for shows in Birmingham, Manchester and London. In a four-star review of their show at London’s The O2 on June 3, NME said: “Putting all else aside, this is the perfect manifestation of where Tool are at now. No aspect of the set has been designed without scrutinous detail; with only these four musicians capable of pulling off such a spectacle with this much prowess and without alienating through self-indulgence. One may long for a tad more of the grit and fury of the past, but this is the result of 30 years of evolution. This is their vision. Only they can do this.”
Earlier this year, Chancellor spoke with NME about the pressure from fans to release new music – the band’s last album, ‘Fear Inoculum’, came out in 2019. He said, “The only pressure comes when we announce that we’re working on something new, because then we have to make our own predictions for when it’ll come out, and obviously you feel like you let people down if you don’t release it in a certain amount of time.
“It’s a nice feeling that people still want new stuff, but also they’ve got to understand that it’s not the easiest thing to do. It’s not a simple thing and it’s not always a natural thing that comes at the time you want it to come. Art is a very strange animal and it has its own schedule.”