<TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0">A Perfect Circle (often referred to as APC) is an alternative rock supergroup formed by guitarist Billy Howerdel. Howerdel had worked as a guitar tech for bands such as Nine Inch Nails, The Smashing Pumpkins, Fishbone and Tool. He played demos of his music to Tool&apos;s singer, Maynard James Keenan, who offered himself as vocalist should Howerdel ever form a band. Although initially hesitant about this, as he originally wanted a female vocalist, Howerdel eventually agreed and A Perfect Circle was formed in 1999. To distinguish himself from his persona with Tool, Keenan wore long wigs on his otherwise bald scalp for all of A Perfect Circle&apos;s music videos, photo shoots and live performances.</FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0"></FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0">Maynard, when asked at a news conference, stated that the name &quot;A Perfect Circle&quot; originates from the friendships of the band members; all of them met one another in a way resembling &quot;a perfect circle of friendship.&quot; The band&apos;s latest line-up featured Jeordie White (Marilyn Manson and formerly of Nine Inch Nails tour line-up) on bass, James Iha (formerly of The Smashing Pumpkins) on guitar, and prolific session drummer Josh Freese (also known from Nine Inch Nails tour line-up).</FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0"></FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0">Although the group never officially disbanded, A Perfect Circle has been on hiatus since 2006, having not written new material, toured or recorded; but the band&apos;s personnel have kept busy with other projects.</FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0"></FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="11" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0"><B>Mer de Noms (1999–2001)</B></FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0"></FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0">A Perfect Circle is the brainchild of Billy Howerdel, a former guitar tech for Tool. Despite initially having a female voice in mind for the group, Howerdel accepted when Maynard James Keenan of Tool offered his services as lead singer while Tool dealt with legal issues with their record label. They were then joined by bassist/violinist Paz Lenchantin, guitarist Troy Van Leeuwen, formerly of Failure and drummer Tim Alexander, formerly of Primus.</FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0"></FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0">After some rehearsals and warm-up shows, the band hit the studio. Alexander was soon replaced with session drummer and member of The Vandals, Josh Freese, but his performance can still be heard on the album version of the song &quot;The Hollow&quot;. &quot;Judith&quot;, the first single from the Mer de Noms album, is about Keenans&apos;s mother, who suffered a stroke when he was 11, Upon completion, they embarked on a number of headlining tours all over the world and played the Canadian touring festival Summersault in the Summer of 2000.</FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0"></FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="11" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0"><B>Thirteenth Step / Emotive (2002–2005)</B></FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0"></FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0">While preparing for their second album, APC lost two of its members, Paz Lenchantin &amp; Troy Van Leeuwen. Lenchantin left to join Billy Corgan&apos;s new band Zwan, while Van Leeuwen left to become the new guitarist for Queens of the Stone Age. These two were soon replaced by ex-Marilyn Manson bassist Jeordie White (formerly known as Twiggy Ramirez), and guitarist Danny Lohner, who had been involved in the production of both records thus far. However, Lohner didn&apos;t quite fit as a second guitarist, and performed only on the track &quot;The Noose&quot; on the second album. The band opted to leave touring duties to their newest addition, former Smashing Pumpkins guitarist James Iha.</FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0"></FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0">The band released their second album, Thirteenth Step, on September 16, 2003, and toured throughout North America, Europe and Japan for the remainder of the year. In 2004, the band continued touring in Australia, Japan, New Zealand and Europe, concluding touring in the late Spring in the United States.</FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0"></FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0">A third album, Emotive, was released on November 2, 2004, which contains anti-war cover songs of artists such as John Lennon and Joni Mitchell. Emotive was recorded with various different past and present members of the band, but mostly by Keenan and Howerdel. The song &quot;Passive&quot; that appeared on the album was adapted from the defunct band Tapeworm (also known as The Tapeworm Project). Tapeworm was essentially a project involving Keenan, Trent Reznor (of Nine Inch Nails) and Danny Lohner. The project never fully developed, perhaps due to contractual conflicts that could not be negotiated. During several shows on their tour in early 2001, A Perfect Circle played a cover of an unreleased Tapeworm song, then apparently titled &quot;Vacant&quot; (also referred to as &quot;Perfect Enemy&quot;). The song remained released by any artist until it appeared on Emotive as the song &quot;Passive&quot;.</FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0"></FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0">On November 16, 2004, the band released the DVD and CD set entitled aMotion. The set contains music videos of the singles, some previously unreleased videos, and some b-sides and remixes.</FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0"></FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="11" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0"><B>Hiatus (2006–Present)</B></FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0"></FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0">The future of A Perfect Circle remains uncertain. They are currently on hiatus, partly due to Keenan&apos;s commitments with Tool. They experienced a considerable amount of downtime during the recording, release and tour for Tool&apos;s previous album Lateralus, which made the band extremely dynamic in terms of its members. During the downtime, other members of the band sought other projects, and thus were unavailable when A Perfect Circle reformed.</FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0"></FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0">For now, Keenan is touring with Tool and working on his side project, Puscifer, for which he released the first album, V Is for Vagina, on October 30, 2007. Howerdel and Freese has formed a new band called Ashes Divide. Freese and White toured with Nine Inch Nails, White rejoined Marilyn Manson, and Iha is currently touring with Vanessa and the O&apos;s in Europe.</FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0"></FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0">When asked about A Perfect Circle&apos;s future, Billy Howerdel stated in a May 2006 interview with MTV, &quot;[Maynard and I have] talked about it lightly. A few months ago, it was like, &apos;If we did A Perfect Circle again, I&apos;d want to do this or that.&apos; It was a benign conversation. I think we both entertain the fact that it could happen again, but for right now we don&apos;t have any plans to do it again. We&apos;re focusing on what we&apos;re doing now. A Perfect Circle is done for now.&quot;</FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0"></FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0">The band&apos;s official website was updated September 19, 2006 with the following message: &quot;The Sleeper Must Awaken: Peace. Sorry it&apos;s been a while since we&apos;ve posted. Been busy. Billy is hard at work on his solo project and I&apos;m on the road with Tool, working on the www.puscifer.com website, and making wine in between all that. No telling when Billy will be finished with his new material, but what I&apos;ve heard is very promising. I forgot to post lyrics for 13th step and Emotive so I&apos;ll get on that soon. Check back often. Peace out. mjk&quot;. There was another entry dated September 30, 2006, announcing the launch of www.puscifer.com. As of March 2008, there have been no further updates to the site.</FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0"></FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="11" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0"><B>Possible Return</B></FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0"></FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0">A November issue of Spin featuring Keenan read, &quot;... he teamed with guitarist Billy Howerdel on A Perfect Circle, a diversion that let Keenan romp on a less dark rock landscape and yielded its own financial riches — low-hanging fruit he&apos;s been happy to let wither. Will there ever be another APC album? &apos;Um, no,&apos; is his reply. &apos;Maybe, someday, a song on a soundtrack. But an album? No.&apos; &quot;</FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0"></FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0">In a December 2007 interview with Revolver, as he discussed the other members of A Perfect Circle&apos;s recent activities and also hinted at the possibility of a reunion, Keenan stated:</FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0"></FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0">    The real problem with running Tool and A Perfect Circle at the same time was they both operate the same way. They&apos;re both live touring bands with a label, still working under the old contract mentality. So I thought it was time to let A Perfect Circle go for now and let Billy explore himself. It&apos;s tough for a guy who went from being a guitar tech [for Tool] to being in a band with a pretentious, famous singer and having to live in that shadow. It was important for Billy to go and do his own thing and really explore his own sound and let people hear what he has to say and how he would do it on his own, and then we&apos;ll get back and do some A Perfect Circle stuff.</FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT>