Tool [ tickets ] fans--who by now are used to long waits--can expect the band's members to embark on side projects before working on a new album, drummer Danny Carey told LiveDaily.

"I think it's a healthy thing," Carey said in a recent telephone interview from Cincinnati, OH. We need to kind of get away from each other, at least for a few months, and play with other people or just grow in different ways so when we get back together we have something fresh to say to each other. It keeps us from repeating ourselves and it keeps the material a little more alive."

The most notable Tool [ tickets ] side project is vocalist Maynard James Keenan's A Perfect Circle, though it's unknown whether Keenan will revive A Perfect Circle during Tool's upcoming break.

In the meantime, Tool--which also includes bassist Justin Chancellor and guitarist Adam Jones--will continue touring in support of its No. 1, million-selling album "10,000 Days," released five years after 2001's "Lateralus."

Carey talked to LiveDaily about Tool's latest tour, the length between albums and whether or not the "art rock" label sticks.

How's the tour going so far?

It's going really well, actually. The shows have been selling really good and getting lots of big crowds. It's been a lot of fun.

I was reading reviews online today and there are cities you've visited three times in the last 13 months--and sold out.

That's pretty crazy. We aren't used to it. It's kind of nice. It's a big compliment, that's for sure.

To what do you attribute Tool's popularity in concert? Do you think it's your live show, the singles you've released?

I think the word's kind of getting around about the show. We try to put a lot into it. I think it's paid off now. People are getting really good shows now, that's for sure. I think the word has gotten around that the tickets are worth it. Our crew's been really good. We've had the same guys out for the whole year, so now they really know the songs well and it's all really locked together--all the lighting, video and everything.

You've been touring for almost two years. How do you keep the momentum up?

I guess we try to keep certain areas during our set where we get to improvise and keep changing things, and we keep trying to add new songs along the way too as much as possible. It keeps it fresh for us, though. That's all we need on stage. As long the cylinders are firing, it just becomes contagious in the crowd.

Have you started writing new material?

No, we usually aren't very good at writing while we're on the road. Occasionally, we'll have a little jam at a soundcheck or something like that. But most of the songs we've ever written, we just do in our space when just the four of us are there alone. We work much better when no one else is around. You have to get into your creative zone, you know, when you have control over the environment a little bit more.

You've been dubbed an "art rock" band. Do you think that's an accurate label?

Well, we kind of grew up on those bands. I did, for sure, so I think it's a compliment. We put a lot into our artwork on the albums and our artwork that goes down for the live show and create a whole new reality, if you will, for people. In that way, I guess we are. We try to pick up where, say, Pink Floyd, or some of the bands who are really into presenting a whole new reality, left off.

I read that there may be a Tool movie in your future.

We talked about it for a long time. There's no definite plan yet. We probably won't do one until we do another record, I'm thinking, so it'll be awhile down the line when we pull that off. We're doing really well just doing our albums and doing the live shows, so there's no reason to interrupt that process now. To take on something like a movie would mean probably at least three years in the making, so it'll be a big vacation in the public's eye. I don't think we're ready to go that route yet. Somewhere down the line we may. We'll see how it works out.

Would it be a behind-the-scenes film?

No, more like a fictional animation. We'd probably do it all stop-frame animation and go that route. Like a Pan's Labyrinth sort of thing or something like that.

You said you weren't ready to go that route because it would look like an extended vacation in the public's eye. Are you conscious about the space between record releases?

Well, yeah, we have to be, somewhat. We're lucky that we're accepted, that we can take five years in between records, where most bands can't get away from that. It's not like we aren't conscious of it. But we really just don't want to come out and repeat ourselves. I think that's what it takes. You kind of have to grow as people and have time to sort of have a sabbatical and learn something new on your instrument before you can make another record and not repeat yourself. We try to be more conscious about the quality of the product rather than how long it takes to put it out.

Describe your songwriting process.

We do just kind of long, freak-out jams when we first get back together after our breaks, and maybe do that for a few months--just have these long crazy jams and keep the tape machine rolling. Then we find the really cool parts of them that pop up along the way and find ways to piece it all together and make songs out of all these weird jams and things. Some of them fit together really quickly and some of them take a lot of work. Some tunes we can write in a couple of days, but they're pretty rare. Some of the other ones, we work on for up to two months before we can get the arrangement right and stuff. It's a lot of hard work and all four of us are in the room together banging it out. I think it's worth it that way, even though it's a little more painstaking, because you hear a lot more of the personality of the band that way when it's a more organic process.

What do you hope people get out of your live show?

Inspiration, one way or another. We hope that they learn something. We hope they get inspired to do something themselves. Everybody looks to get something different out of a rock concert, I think. We hope we provide the vehicle. Like any other artwork, we want to take people onward and upward.