A Perfect Circle are “working towards” new music, following them kicking off their first UK tour in eight years and releasing the standalone single ‘Starless’.
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The new track from the band dropped in a surprise release last month, and marked their first since the track ‘Kindred’, which featured on 2024’s ‘Sessanta E.P.P.P.’ alongside contributions from Primus and another Maynard James Keenan-led band, Puscifer.
Since then, they have kicked off their first UK and European tour dates since 2018 – breaking out the new single for the first time at London’s O2 Academy Brixton, alongside some fan favourites and deep cuts.
Now, guitarist and founder Billy Howerdel has opened up about if fans can expect them to release a new album anytime soon.
“There’s more [music] underway. And in the spirit of soft deadlines, I’m not gonna give you the date, but we’re working toward something,” he told Minneapolis’s 93Xradio station.
“We’re on tour, and it’s hard to get solid things done when you’re out here. I sometimes optimistically think that’s going to happen, [but now, for example] we’re six shows in and this is the first day I really slept,” Howerdel added. “So to get real cracking on the new album, I need a couple more of these days to line up over the next tour.”
Howerdel formed A Perfect Circle in 1999 alongside frontman Maynard James Keenan, and members have included Nine Inch Nails drummer Josh Freese – who is currently on tour with them – Pixies’ bassist Paz Lenchantin, Smashing Pumpkins’ James Iha, Queens Of The Stone Age’s Troy Van Leeuwen and more.
Speaking about working with Keenan, Howerdel told the radio station that he “feels more creative with him” than other musicians, and has always admired the “focus” and “great work ethic” of the singer, who also fronts Tool and Puscifer.
“He’s at least in the top three hardest-working people I know that have real vision, conviction, a vision that he’s gonna execute and be tenacious about it,” Howerdel explained. “And he’s like that with music. Once the train starts rolling, it’s rolling. Then that feels good.”
While A Perfect Circle have shared the standalone single ‘Starless’ and featured in the aforementioned 2024 ‘Sessanta E.P.P.P.’, they haven’t shared a full album since 2018’s ‘Eat The Elephant’.
That was their fourth record, following on from 2000’s ‘Mer De Noms’, 2003’s ‘Thirteenth Step’ and 2004’s ‘eMOTIVe’.
As well as their headline European tour dates, the American rockers will make festival appearances at Rock Werchter, NOS Alive, Rock AM Ring and Mad Cool later this summer.
From there, they’ll join forces with Puscifer at the end of the year for a joint tour across South America, Australia and Japan.
Keenan will return to the UK in November for a headline tour with Puscifer too. Visit here for tickets to A Perfect Circle dates and here for Puscifer tickets.
Earlier this year, Maynard James Keenan spoke to NME about his time balancing three bands, as well as running his own wine company Caduceus Cellars – and explained whether the busy schedule has led to him wanting any downtime away from touring commitments.
“You only live twice, so I have to – I don’t want to say, ‘Strike while the iron’s hot’ because that sounds like such a Wall Street trader douchebag statement – but when you have the inspiration in front of you, and if you have the energy, you should listen and respond to it. I don’t really see any reason why you shouldn’t,” he said.
He also opened up about if he had considered bringing his ‘Sessanta’ tour – a three-way headline tour with A Perfect Circle, Puscifer and Primus – over to the UK after seeing the huge response from fans in the US.
“I’ve thought about it, and I think we tried, but the problem with bringing something like that over to Europe and the UK is the expense,” he explained. “I want to bring it over, but also I feel like Puscifer, A Perfect Circle and Primus all need to come up with a new album, or a new set of songs, or just something to make it more appealing to do it again.”