Tool's Maynard James Keenan suffering from lung damage after coronavirus
He is still battling the 'residual effects' eight months on
Tool, A Perfect Circle and Puscifer frontman Maynard James Keenan has opened up about the “ugly” after-effects he’s still suffering after contracting coronavirus earlier this year.
The 56-year-old singer recently spoke to AZ Central about his upcoming Puscifer record ‘Existential Reckoning’, and revealed he was diagnosed with coronavirus at the end of February and he’s still recovering eight months later.
“I'm still dealing with the residual effects (of coronavirus),” Keenan told AZ Central. “But it was ugly. I survived it, but it wasn't pretty. So, I definitely had to deal with that.”
Commenting on why he hasn’t previously spoken about his coronavirus battle, Keenan said: “I kind of didn't want to run around screaming it. But it's real. And there's after-effects. I had to go through some major medications to undo the residual effects. Still coughing. There's still lung damage.
“Several of my friends (had coronavirus), too. Very not old people, young people, in shape, runners, who contracted it as well. And they're still dealing with some of the after-effects. I lost a few family members.”
Asked if he’s feeling better now, Keenan replied: “Well, no. I still have the cough. Every other day, I have these coughing fits because my lungs are still damaged at the tips. And I just got over the inflammation that was going on with my wrist and hands. I had an autoimmune attack on my system in the form of, like, a rheumatoid arthritis.
“Basically, from what I understand, it attacks weird spots and it's random. So that's what I got. That was my prize.”
Commenting on people who opt not to wear masks, Keenan said: “It's just an absurdity. We wear seatbelts. We don't smoke in trains, planes or taxis anymore, or even restaurants. There's reasons for those things. I don't know. I feel like there's this twist on the idea of personal freedom where somehow freedom is you being able to walk into anybody's house and take a dump on their meal or shout ugly things at their grandma.
“That's not what freedom is. Freedom is the ability to pursue your lifestyle, pursue what you want to do for your family, for your future, what education you want to get. And with that freedom comes a responsibility to look out for yourself, for your neighbor, for your family, for everybody. So there are some compromises that come along with freedom. I'm not sure why that's so difficult to grasp.”
Puscifer’s fourth studio album ‘Existential Reckoning’ is released on Friday 30th October 2020.
Tool released their first album in 13 years, ‘Fear Inoculum’, in August 2019. The tour in support of the record included at headline slot at Download Festival last year.