A Perfect Circle
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| A Perfect Circle
<tr style="text-align: center;"><td colspan="3">Image:Apc2003promo.jpg </td></tr> | ||
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| Background information
<tr><td>Origin</td><td colspan="2">Image:Flag of the United States.svg California, United States</td></tr><tr><td>Genre(s)</td><td colspan="2">Alternative rock</td></tr><tr><td>Years active</td><td colspan="2">1999–2006 (hiatus [1])</td></tr><tr><td style="padding-right: 1em;">Label(s)</td><td colspan="2">EMI |
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, Guns N' Roses 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 singer.
Contents |
[edit] History
[edit] Mer de Noms-era (1999-2001)
Joined by The Vandals drummer Josh Freese who currently tours with Nine Inch Nails, drummer Tim Alexander of Primus and Laundry, ex- Failure guitarist Troy Van Leeuwen, and bassist/violinist Paz Lenchantin (later of Zwan), the band rehearsed the music that Howerdel had begun and finished their debut album Mer de Noms (French "Sea of Names"). At this time Tool was tied up in negotiations with their record label, allowing Keenan much time to complete the work.
[edit] Thirteenth Step / eMOTIVe-era (2002-2005)
Between Lenchantin leaving the band for Billy Corgan's new band Zwan and Van Leeuwen's becoming the new guitarist of Queens of the Stone Age, the band was in need of a new bassist and guitarist for their live performances. These positions were taken over by ex-Marilyn Manson bassist Jeordie White (formerly known as Twiggy Ramirez) and ex-Smashing Pumpkins guitarist James Iha.
The band released their second album, Thirteenth Step, in September 16 2003. 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 APC, 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)
A Perfect Circle is currently on hiatus, partly due to Keenan's commitments with Tool. A Perfect Circle experienced a considerable amount of downtime during recording, release and tour for Tool's previous album Lateralus. This makes the band extremely dynamic in terms of its members. During the downtime, other members of the band seek other projects which can mean they are unavailable when APC is reformed, which was the case with both Troy van Leeuwen and Paz Lenchantin. They do not plan on returning.
As of now, Keenan is touring with Tool, Howerdel is planning a solo album, Freese and White are recording with Nine Inch Nails, while Iha is currently touring with Vanessa and the O's in Europe.
Freese continues to work with The Vandals. They 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 also recently recorded drum tracks for the still unreleased solo debut of former Korn guitarist Brian Welch, also nicknamed "Head". He is also scheduled to participate in the reunion of DEVO.
Iha was asked to participate in the reunion of The Smashing Pumpkins, in order to have the line-up completed, but he has not confirmed that he will join.
Keenan recently said in an interview with French magazine Rock Hard that he thinks A Perfect Circle is over for the forseeable future. 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: "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"
[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 and nearly all tracks on The Thirteenth Step, vocals, strings, piano on Mer de Noms and eMOTIVe
- Troy Van Leeuwen - guitar on Mer de Noms and Thirteenth Step
- James Iha - guitar on eMOTIVe and touring musician
- Jeordie White - bass on Thirteenth Step and eMOTIVe
- 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
 <center>(2004) (DVD and Remix CD) |
[edit] Compilations
- Underworld (Soundtrack, 2003) - "Judith (Renholder Mix)"
- Resident Evil: Apocalypse (Soundtrack, 2004) - "The Outsider (Renholder Apocalypse Mix)"
- Underworld 2 (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" 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 |
| 2001 | "Thinking of You" | - | - | - | 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 an aneurysm that left her partially paralyzed and wheelchair-bound.
- 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 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.
- A Perfect Circle Gets their name from the line "Pull me into, your perfect circle." from the song "Orestes", on the CD Mer de Noms.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
| A Perfect Circle |
| Maynard James Keenan | Billy Howerdel | Josh Freese | Jeordie White | James Iha |
| Former members: Danny Lohner | Paz Lenchantin | Troy Van Leeuwen | Tim Alexander |
| Discography |
|---|
| Albums: Mer de Noms | Thirteenth Step | eMOTIVe | aMOTION |
| Related articles |
| Tool | Nine Inch Nails | The Vandals | Smashing Pumpkins | Zwan Marilyn Manson | Queens of the Stone Age | Tapeworm | Primus | Vanessa and the O's |
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