In September, the band officially announced the end of their hiatus, indicating they would again return to live performances. Keenan, Howerdel, Freese, and Iha all returned to their respective roles, though, with Lenchantin and White unavailable, the band recruited Matt McJunkins , touring bassist for Ashes Divide and Puscifer, to join as bassist. The performances, running through the end of 2010, included traveling to five separate cities for three nights of shows in each city, with each night containing a complete, in-order performance of one of each of their three albums – Mer de Noms , Thirteenth Step , and Emotive – notably being the first time most of the material from the latter had ever been performed live. Throughout the year the band would discuss the prospect of new material, but with uncertainty. Keenan continued to insist that logistics and industry trends made recording another full album unlikely, and that single one-off songs would be more likely. Howerdel noted that he had been writing material and presenting rough demos to Keenan since 2008, but that much of the material was in a state of flux, some being accepted by Keenan as potential A Perfect Circle material, while other being rejected by Keenan, and/or saved by Howerdel for a prospective Ashes Divide release in the future.
End of hiatus announced
Written by
in