One of the greatest traditions of the triple j textline revolves around a band, a day and an irresistible alliterative pair.
Towards the start of each week - as though a dank breeze from the crypt has puffed an inaudible 7/4 polyrhythm over the nation - the lines light up: Tool Tuesday. Tool Tuesday. Tool Tuesday.
But what IS Tool Tuesday? Depending on who you ask, it could be a segment, a grassroots movement or a simple coincidence that got out of hand. It could be a fixture as concrete as Science with Dr Karl. It could be a whisper on the wind.
Only one thing is certain: Tool Tuesday wasn’t born in a vacuum. So what’s the truth? When - and how - did the greatest triple j tradition that never was come about? To answer that question we asked its custodians - the triple j presenters and producers, past and present, who watched over it - how the pieces fit.
Lachie Macara, triple j producer/boss 2009-2019
When I started at triple j, Rosie Beaton - massive Tool fan - was doing Super Request and that show was the perfect breeding ground for this kind of movement.
Rosie Beaton, Super Request presenter 2001-2011
I took over Super Request in the year 2001 - we didn’t even have a text line then. It was all phones, so it was hard to gauge trends other than from calls we were getting live. It wasn't until I had access to texts coming in from listeners that I noticed that Tool was always a consistent request. Everything was more transparent on the text line.
Nat Foxon, Super Request producer 2004-2010
Tool was ALWAYS requested. Always. Every hour, every day.
Tool’s fan base is unique. Forged over decades, hardened by the most brutal of precision-cut riffs. How much do they love Tool?
Zan Rowe, Mornings presenter 2005-2018
Think of how much you love hot chips and multiply it by 1,000,000. That’s coming close to how much Tool fans love Tool.
Linda Marigliano, Good Nights/Mornings presenter 2012–2019
A heap of them have crazy fan theories. If you look online you’ll find stacks of fans who think Tool have songs about stuff like prison sex and stinkfists, even though Maynard James Keenan has explicitly said every song he’s ever written has been about the thrills and spills he had at a hot, wet, wild summer camp he went to as a lad.
Lachie Macara
They probably love Tool a bit too much if I'm honest with you. It's not a two way street with the band, is it? They’re giving a lot more than they’re getting. I think every Tool fan has that moment when they meet someone who’s an even bigger stan of the band than they are. At first you're like “Damn, I thought I knew my shit,” and then after hearing 45 minutes on time signatures you're like, "nah I'm cool actually."
When did you make first contact with Tool Tuesday?
Bridget Hustwaite, Good Nights presenter
I can’t remember the exact moment I got my first Tool Tuesday request but it was definitely during one of my first overnight shifts at the end of 2015.
The text line during a Mid-Dawn was basically a messy but highly entertaining blend of cooked texts, random 4am thoughts from insomniacs... and requests for Tool, especially on a Tuesday.
I didn’t even know who Tool was, and to be honest, I still don’t get it, but this really seems to be a way of life for a number of listeners and I respect their commitment to the cause.
Richard Kingsmill, triple j group music director & 2022 presenter
Tool Tuesday happened pretty organically. People don’t get to hear Tool every day on the radio. It wasn’t helped by the band taking 13 years to record a new album either.
Why do people choose to believe in Tool Tuesday?
Richard Kingsmill
Never underestimate the power of alliteration.
Lewi McKirdy, Lunch presenter 2011-2016
It's like the other days that have something going on - you look at casual Friday for instance. Or Mad Monday. Or Thirsty Thursday. All these big events going down weekly - it was only a matter of time before some Hallmark calendar bulls**t flared up. Now each week I have to send a card to my loved ones requesting Tool.
Zan Rowe
I was once told that Tuesday is the shittiest day of the week. Monday you’ve still got the weekend vibes. Wednesday is hump day. Thursday you’re well and truly in clock off mode. Tuesday you’re in the thick of it. You can’t see the land you just left or the land you’re heading towards. You’re untethered. Tool tethers you.
Bridget Hustwaite
One time I got a Tool Tuesday request from a guy who claimed to be outside the United Nations building in New York. He said if we didn’t play 'Forty Six & 2' he’d march in there and make them move the international date line so it didn’t switch over to Wednesday. He said he’d do it as many times as it took.
Zan Rowe
Was there ever an actual, premeditated Tool Tuesday? The band revealed the artwork for the latest album Fear Inoculum – 13 years in the making – on a Tuesday. Coincidence? I think not.
Take us back to the start. Where did this dark egg hatch?
Rosie Beaton
I think the whole Tool Tuesday thing just popped out of my brain as a joke on a Tuesday. Every night had a different theme on air so I could mix things up a bit. Keep the music requests interesting. The listeners grabbed on to it like honey and a bee.
Nat Foxon
Rosie's casual idea of Tool Tuesday was a way to keep the Tool fans happy, while not having to play Tool for 10 minutes every night, therefore keeping everyone else happy. It was always an informal thing. We'd just roll with it on the night.
Rosie Beaton
I loved it. If nine minutes of Tool made them happy, my job was done.
Corynne Tait, triple j producer
Listening to Tool is like a religious experience. Rosie confirmed that for me one night when I was quite new to the job. The ABC’s fire alarms went off and the heavy studio fire doors closed automatically. I was visibly concerned, but Rosie (in classic Rosie mode) told me to chill:
"Don't worry Corynne, it's probably just a drill and if we burn, we burn to Tool."
Zan Rowe
Like almost all of the joyful moments on triple j, it’s something that happened as a total anomaly that the listeners made their own. triple j is all about community, and it’s the audience that sustains, and celebrates that in every way.
Does the fact that “Tool” and “Tuesday” start with almost the same sound mean that Tool Tuesday was inevitable?
Lachie Macara
I don't really think you could put it on any other day. Some have definitely tried. Every now and then you'd see a text come through that started with "Look I know it's not Tuesday but can you play..." but it always smelt a little desperate. Unlike the Gregorian Calendar that guides most of us, Tool fans start their week on a Tuesday so if you started playing 'The Pot' on another day you really run the risk of messing with people's internal clocks.
Zan Rowe
Yes. Even if I didn’t realise it, Tool Tuesday was my – and triple j’s – destiny.
Wanna request Tool? Download or update the triple j app and let us know. Requestival returns 6am-10pm, Monday 26 until Friday 30 September.