Dear Tool 'Teamer'
I'm writing an OPEN e-mail - to the Band, the band's Management and UK Record Company - profoundly apologising for the fact that my review, which has appeared on TotalRock's Forum pages, of the new Tool album appears to have caused such upset.
I can only give MY truth and offer amends for any difficulties my actions may have unintentionally caused.
I honestly had NO IDEA that there was a moritorium on any of the many attendant journalists revealing their opinions of the album. In fact, to be honest, I thought I was there TO review the album. Nobody, at any stage - either before the date of the playbacks or before, during or after either of the playbacks - indicated to me that there was a press embargo on publishing any opinions of the album. Indeed, there were a significant number of journalists busily writing at both playbacks and this only strengthened any impression that people were there TO review. I was openly and clearly writing sheets and sheets of paper and even asked the sound team for clarification on timings 'for my review'.
I do not 'do' sneaky, scoop reviews; I am not a rule breaker; I have no desire to spoil any marketing plans.
I am a massive fan of the band and only wanted to 'big up' the album and provide what I hoped would be an early insight of the album to other Tool fans. I wasn't actually even sure that I would be the first to do so.
Ironically, the most common criticism my review received amongst the fans who didn't think it was yet another hoax was that I didn't reveal anything much about the album - beyond track timings.
I'm very sorry that the Band felt they needed to pull my scheduled interview for today but can understand that they must be sufficiently upset so to do.
I removed my review from the TotalRock website at about 9pm Tuesday evening 21/2 and have done my best to have it removed from other sites, too.
www.toolnavy.com have said they have been instructed to leave the review on the site as it was 'someone else's mistake' and a certain amount of forwarding has inevitably occurred.
Once again, I apologise for any upset or inconvenience my part may have played in this unfortunate event.
All the Best
Andy
Andy King
TotalRock