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A Perfect Circle

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A Perfect Circle
File:APerfectCircle.jpeg
Left to right: Josh Freese, Billy Howerdel, Jeordie White, Maynard James Keenan, James Iha
Background information
OriginCalifornia
Years active2000–present
MembersJosh Freese
Billy Howerdel
Jeordie White
Maynard James Keenan
James Iha

A Perfect Circle is 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. During the recording of Tool's Ænima album, he played demos of his music to Tool's singer, Maynard James Keenan, who, although Howerdel originally wanted a female singer, offered himself as vocalist should Howerdel form a band.

History

Joined by The Vandals drummer Josh Freese, 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. While the band's first single, "Judith", brought some comparisons to Tool, the album is quite different.

Between Lenchantin leaving the band for Billy Corgan's new band Zwan and van Leeuwen becoming the new tour 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.

To separate his appearance from Tool, Keenan wears a long wig on his otherwise bald scalp at all A Perfect Circle live appearances, photo shoots and music videos. During the band's first tour, this was a long purple wig, but now seems to be various colours and styles from one live performance to another.

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.

Due to Keenan's commitments with Tool, A Perfect Circle experiences a considerable amount of downtime during each Tool album recording, release and tour. This makes the band extremely dynamic in terms of its members. During the downtime, other members of the band seek other projects which can unfortunately mean they are unavailable when APC is reformed, which was the case with both Troy van Leeuwen and Paz Lenchantin. As of May 2005, Keenan is recording with Tool, Howerdel is planning a solo album, and White is touring and performing with Nine Inch Nails. Iha is currently touring with Vanessa and the O's in Europe. On December 6, Freese took over as drummer for Nine Inch Nails, replacing Alex Carapetis. Carapetis had joined Nine Inch Nails' fall 2005 tour on October 7, due to issues with Jerome Dillon, NIN's previous drummer.

Latest Line-up

Note: While the above is the latest line-up to appear live, as of the release of eMOTIVe and aMOTION, it is unclear as to who exactly is in the band. As there will be no activity from A Perfect Circle for a number of years (due to Maynard James Keenan's commitment to his other band Tool), it is assumed the band will be reformed for the next album depending on which musicians are available. Billy Howerdel has mentioned in November 2004 that the band will definitely contain Keenan and himself, and most likely Josh Freese.

The liner notes of aMOTION list the members of the band as follows: Maynard James Keenan, Billy Howerdel, Josh Freese, Danny Lohner, Paz Lenchantin, Troy Van Leeuwen, Jeordie White, James Iha and Tim Alexander.

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.

It's assumed the next incarnation of the band will most likely contain an arrangement of the above musicians.

Discography

Studio Albums

Compilations

Music Videos

Trivia

  • 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) and Constantine (2005) as well as CSI: NY (season one).

See also

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