Maynard James Keenan has taken on some huge challenges in his life. Certainly helping to create bands as big as Tool were not easy. Juggling it with the other bands he sings for — A Perfect Circle and Puscifer — has not certainly not been an easy task either.
But what has been the hardest thing the enigmatic singer has ever done? Believe it or not, it’s Brazilian jiu-jitsu.
Keenan was a guest on the Joe Rogan Experience yesterday. While wearing a Rickson Gracie shirt, Maynard told Rogan that, out of everything he has done in his life, BJJ is the hardest:
It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life. It’s the hardest. It’s the most… I’m getting snowflakey weepy. It’s not something that you are handed. You have to do the work to get it. And I had so many injuries over the years. So much distance from this thing and I’m such a stubborn pr*ck that I have – I’ve started the thing and I’m gonna finish this thing. So that’s where i’m at with jiu-jitsu. And it’s not something that you can be handed.
Maynard later added that he is still “chipping” away at his purple belt.
Speaking as someone who is six years in and still hasn’t gotten his first stripe on his blue belt, I would have to agree with Mr. Keenan.
You can watch Maynard James Keenan’s entire three-hour interview on the Joe Rogan Experience below. However, you don’t have to listen to the entire interview. The relevant part starts at 30:30:
