Watch Tool rock iconic Phoenix venue The Mason Jar in the early ’90s

Recently, prog-metal legends Tool put on a pair of raucously captivating concerts for packed crowds at Footprint Center in downtown Phoenix.

The two shows, which were part of Tool’s tour in support of their fifth studio album, “Fear Inoculum,” featured mind-bending visuals, a thunderous and intricately crafted rock cacophony and the haunting vocals of frontman (and Arizona resident) Maynard James Keenan.

Tool's performances at Footprint Center were surreal, spectacular and sublime. They were also worlds removed from the band’s first-ever gigs in the Valley 32 years ago at The Mason Jar, the iconic and now-defunct Phoenix rock club.

During a six-week period in the summer of 1992, Tool played three memorable shows at the divey venue located at Indian School Road and 23rd Street, now home to The Rebel Lounge. The band — which also featured drummer Danny Carey, guitarist Adam Jones and original bassist Paul D'Amour —had just dropped their debut EP, “Opiate,” and were in the midst of a club tour across the U.S.

Back in those days, Tool weren’t prog-metal titans with a cult-like army of fans or multimillion-dollar concert tours. Instead, it was a raw and intense version of Tool that were frequenting rock clubs and were on the brink of breakthrough success.

The band had been a part of L.A.'s cutting-edge rock scene in the early '90s. They'd been playing club shows to growing crowds who discovered the band's aggressive sound, impeccable musicianship, and captivating performances through word-of-mouth.

Tool was building a buzz among rock fans in the early '90s and even people involved with the music industry in Phoenix were learning about the band. One was Franco Gagliano, then-owner of The Mason Jar, who ended up booking Tool at his club in summer 1992.

How Tool ended up playing The Mason Jar

Tool’s first gigs in Phoenix came about because of Gagliano’s connections with John Branigan, the band’s longtime booking and talent agent. The two had met at an early ’90s music seminar in L.A., hit it off and went drinking afterward at rock clubs. Eventually, they wound up at a loft and party space shared by Tool and fellow metal band Green Jellö (now known as Green Jellÿ).

“We went to The Roxy and the Coconut Teaszer and then after we went to a party at a (loft) where Tool first started,” Gagliano says. “This was back when nobody knew who they were. And they gave me one of their tapes.”

Months later, Branigan called Gagliano about booking Tool, who’d since begun blowing up.

“He told me, ‘Franco, remember the band we were partying with? I think they're going to be real big,” Gagliano says. “And before (long) I booked them at The Mason Jar because they had a great relationship with John Branigan.”

Gagliano wasn’t the only Valley resident with connections to the music biz hearing about Tool.

‘Rock that was so far ahead of its time’

Annah Moore, who played guitar at the time with local metal/thrash band Thunderin' Reign, heard about Tool from a friend of a friend working at now-defunct Hollywood rock club Raji's.

"He said, ‘You guys should check them out. They're really pretty amazing.’ So we went right to Zia Records and picked up the (‘Opiate’) EP. And it was like, 'Wow.' We were so blown away,” Moore says. “As a musician and a guitar player, it really blew my mind because it was rock that was so far ahead of its time, in my opinion. It was intricate and had so much depth. We fell in love with it.”

Gilbert resident Anthony Savastano was also clued into Tool by a friend.

“Back in 1992, my friend busted out ‘Opiate’ and told me about how I needed to hear it,” Savastano says. “By the time I got to ‘Part of Me’ on the album, I was changed, bro. I was like, ‘This is unbelievable.’”

Savastano says it was a catalyst for his Tool fandom. And when he heard the band was playing The Mason Jar a month and a half later in June 1992, he made plans to attend with his friend Jeff Nichols, then the co-owner of now-defunct Tempe rock club Boston’s.

“I dragged his ass there,” Savastano says. “I said, ‘Buddy, there’s no way you can miss this.”

'An intimate, crazy gig'

In her 2016 biography of Keenan, “A Perfect Union of Contrary Things,” writer Sarah Jensen described how early Tool shows delivered “furious aggression tempered by subtle humor, ambiguous lyrics that demanded attention, solid musicianship and the shock of unexpected tempo” and a “wiry, manic frontman with a piercing scream and an unrelenting stare he fixed on the middle of the captivated crowd.”

That’s as apt a description as any for what Tool fans witnessed during the band’s Phoenix debut at The Mason Jar on June 23, 1992. Well, the few who showed up, at least.

Gagliano estimates “maybe 15 or 20 people” came to the concert, joking that “nobody was there.”

Savastano remembers the smaller crowd worked for a rock club the size of The Mason Jar.

“The Mason Jar was a killer place. It was small but personable,” he says. “Seeing Maynard scream at like 20 or 30 people made it interesting. It was an intimate, crazy gig.”

Keenan did more than just scream. Throughout Tool’s 48-minute set, which largely featured songs off "Opiate," the barefoot and shirtless vocalist provided an almost feral performance as he prowled the stage like an animal and was a frenzied dervish of constant motion.

Unlike his current penchant for lurking in the background during Tool’s performances, Keenan was front and center onstage, rocking back and forth in front of the microphone while howling through “Part of Me” or spastically shadow-boxing during “Bottom.”

Savastano called Keenan’s stage presence a sight to behold.

“Back then, once Maynard got into a song, he would transfix his eyes on one person in the crowd and I swear the guy wouldn't blink, he would just sing the song and just star angrily at one person through the whole song it was ridiculous,” Savastano says. “His early stage presence, it was amazing.”

After seeing Tool live, Savastano says he was hooked.

“I wanted to see them as much as possible,” he says. “Back then there was no Internet, so I started calling their record label and ask, ‘Where's Tool at?’ And they’d tell me all their dates. I started doing whatever I could to see those shows.”

‘People were finding out about Tool’

Savastano didn’t have to wait long. Tool returned to Phoenix and The Mason Jar just over a month later to play on back-to-back nights on July 31 and Aug. 31, 1992.

This time, though, the crowds were larger.

“Hardly anybody was at that first show because nobody knew who they were,” Moore says. “The next few times they came through in July and August when they came through it was packed. Substantially packed. It’s like everyone came to those shows. Somehow people were finding out about Tool.”

Thunderin’ Reign, opened for Tool at the July 31 show along with former Phoenix thrash band Reckless Abandon. Moore says the experience is a treasured memory because the Thunderin’ Reign’s drummer, Craig Dodds, died just over a year later.

Moore remembers an interesting interaction with Dodds and Keenan outside of The Mason Jar before their set.

“Before we played, Craig and I were outside the Jar out the backstage door. He was prestaging his kit out there and I was helping him do that and Maynard came walking around the building. I was like, ‘Holy shit, Craig, it's Maynard,’” Moore says. “I was too excited to say anything to him, but Craig started playing "Hush," and Maynard just gave him the evil eye. It was kind of scary. Then he just walked away.”

Moore says Tool’s set that was delayed that night after Keenan briefly went M.I.A. He was found a short time later at Liquori Lounge, a now-defunct dive bar next door to The Mason Jar.

“We got up there and played. And we tore our shit down after were done playing and it was like taking forever for Tool to get on stage,” Moore says. “And they got all set up and everybody's waiting and they're like, 'Where's Maynard?' And it turned out he was over at the (Liguori Lounge) just drinking, talking to the bartender and watching TV. They found him and he was like, Okay, time to do our show.”

Former Valley resident Kevin Bogle, a friend of Dodds and fan of Thunderin’ Reign, says Keenan was very animated that night.

“I just remember being up at the front on the side of the stage and watching Maynard. He had a Mohawk back then, which was sweaty (and stuck) all over the sides of his head,” Bogle says. “He was hunched down and crouched down during the show, looking like this weird animal. I’d never seen Tool before, but they were pretty wild.”

'Those shows will always be a part of Mason Jar history'

Tool’s 1992 Mason Jar shows on June 23 and Aug. 1 were captured on camcorder by concertgoers at each gig (something that wouldn’t fly these days, given the band’s strict “no cameras” policy at shows). Both were later sold and distributed as bootlegs before eventually being uploaded to YouTube.

Savastano says he's grateful the shows were captured on video.

“Whoever brought a camcorder to those Mason Jar shows, I give them kudos. They captured those shows for posterity," Savastano says. "Now those shows will always be a part of The Mason Jar's history."