Those of you familiar with the cerebral drumming of Danny Carey in the heavy prog-rock group Tool are about to experience a darker side of his musical personality – as a member of Pigmy Love Circus. Formed on the mean streets of Los Angeles in 1987 alongside Jane’s Addiction, L7, and Hole, Pigmy Love Circus is a cross between metal and modern punk. “The Pigmies’ music is basically burly biker rock with a sense of humor,” Carey says, smiling. “It’s a straight-ahead power thing and more about an energy transfer, where Tool has much more of a finesse thing going on.”

Carey saw The Pigmies perform in an LA club and loved the energy and the music. He became friends with the band, and after a few years and a couple of drummer changes, eventually joined the band. “I joined The Pigmies around the time we put Tool together,” Carey recalls. “But when Tool took off, I had to bail on The Pigmies.”

It just so happened that Carey recently had some downtime from Tool just as the drummer for The Pigmies hurt his back. So Carey joined the Circus again. The band’s new release, The Power Of Beef, was recorded over the last two years in Carey’s Hollywood loft, with Danny impressively handling the recording, mixing, and production duties. “I have a Pro Tools rig and a rehearsal space where Tool rehearses and writes,” he says. “Since I knew how to operate the gear, I was elected to do the recording.” Advertisement

Carey uses the same drumkit and cymbal setup for The Pigmies as he does with Tool, except he leaves out the electronics. He’ll be touring with Pigmy Love Circus in support of The Power Of Beef until the end of the year, when he will begin writing new material for Tool. Danny will also be doing some gigs around Los Angeles with Tribal Tech drummer Kirk Covington (who will be playing keyboards) and Pigmy guitarist John Ziegler in a fusion project that Carey hopes to record as well.