Paul D'Amour (born May 17, 1967) is an American musician and was the first

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

ist for

Tool A tool is an object that can extend an individual's ability to modify features of the surrounding environment or help them accomplish a particular task. Although many animals use simple tools, only human beings, whose use of stone tools dates ba ...

. His bass sound is recognized by the aggressive picked tone he developed with his

Chris Squire Christopher Russell Edward Squire (4March 1948 – 27June 2015) was an English musician, singer and songwriter best known as the bassist and backing vocalist of the progressive rock band Yes (band), Yes. He was the longest-serving original memb ...

Signature Rickenbacker 4001CS, which can be heard on Tool's first full-length album, '' Undertow''. Since March 2019, he has been the bassist for

industrial metal Industrial metal is the fusion of heavy metal and industrial music, typically employing repeating metal guitar riffs, sampling, synthesizer or sequencer lines, and distorted vocals. Prominent industrial metal acts include Ministry, Nine In ...

band

Ministry Ministry may refer to: Government * Ministry (collective executive), the complete body of government ministers under the leadership of a prime minister * Ministry (government department), a department of a government Religion * Christian ...

Biography

D'Amour was born in

Spokane, Washington Spokane ( ) is the largest city and county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It is in eastern Washington, along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south of the Canada ...

. Originally a

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

player, D'Amour became Tool's bassist after being introduced to the band by guitarist Adam Jones. Like Jones, D'Amour was in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

because of his wish to enter the

film industry The film industry or motion picture industry comprises the technological and commercial institutions of filmmaking, i.e., film production companies, film studios, cinematography, animation, film production, screenwriting, pre-production, post ...

. D'Amour built movie sets and worked in an art department on music videos and commercials. D'Amour left Tool in 1995. According to drummer

Danny Carey Daniel Edwin Carey (born May 10, 1961) is an American musician and songwriter. He is the drummer for the American rock band Tool. He has also contributed to albums by artists such as Zaum, Green Jellö, Pigface, Skinny Puppy, Adrian Belew, Carol ...

, D'Amour left the band because he wanted to play guitar rather than bass. D'Amour corroborated this in 2020 saying, "I always wanted to do other things, and it felt like I was too much in a box with that band ... I'm not just a bass player; I'm a creator, I wanted to have a bigger role, and it just wasn't happening in that situation." After his departure from the band, he formed the psychedelic pop band Lusk with

Brad Laner Brad Laner (born November 6, 1966 in Los Angeles, California) is an American musician and record producer best known for his work with the shoegaze band Medicine, which he founded and led. Prior to Medicine, he was involved in avant-improv ban ...

Chris Pitman Chris Pitman (born November 16, 1961) is an American musician best known for his involvement with the hard rock band Guns N' Roses. A multi-instrumentalist, Pitman is known to play keyboards, guitar and drums, in addition to his role as a lead o ...

(future member of

Guns N' Roses Guns N' Roses is an American hard rock band from Los Angeles, California, formed in 1985. When they signed to Geffen Records in 1986, the band comprised vocalist Axl Rose, lead guitarist Slash, rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin, bassist Duff McKa ...

), and Greg Edwards of

Failure Failure is the state or condition of not meeting a desirable or intended objective (goal), objective, and may be viewed as the opposite of Success (concept), success. The criteria for failure depends on context, and may be relative to a parti ...

and

Autolux Autolux is an American alternative rock band consisting of Eugene Goreshter (vocals, bass), Greg Edwards (vocals, guitar, piano) and Carla Azar (drums, vocals). The trio formed in 2001 and have released three full-length albums, ''Future Perfect' ...

. In 1997, they released their only album, entitled ''

Free Mars ''Free Mars'' is the only album by the experimental psychedelic rock project Lusk, released in 1997 in a Digipak-style case. The album features an appearance by Tool drummer Danny Carey, as well as an assortment of artists and musicians from the ...

''. Soon after his departure from Tool, D'Amour played guitar in a group named

Replicants A replicant is a fictional bioengineered humanoid featured in the 1982 film ''Blade Runner'' and the 2017 sequel '' Blade Runner 2049'' which is physically indistinguishable from an adult human and often possesses superhuman strength and intel ...

, a

cover band A cover band (or covers band) is a band that plays songs recorded by someone else, sometimes mimicking the original as accurately as possible, and sometimes re-interpreting or changing the original. These remade songs are known as cover songs. Ne ...

that included

Ken Andrews Ken Andrews (born Kenneth Andrew Doty; June 18, 1967) is an American musician, singer-songwriter, and record producer. Andrews was born in Seattle, Washington, and attended film school in Los Angeles before his band Failure received a record de ...

and Greg Edwards from Failure, as well as Chris Pitman. They released one self-titled album in 1995, with a guest appearance from former Tool bandmate

Maynard James Keenan Maynard James Keenan (born James Herbert Keenan; April 17, 1964) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, actor, and winemaker. He is best known as the singer and primary lyricist of the rock bands Tool, A Perfect Circle, and Pusci ...

. In early 2005, D'Amour wrote and performed under the name Feersum Ennjin. The name is inspired by the science fiction novel ''

Feersum Endjinn ''Feersum Endjinn'' is a science fiction novel by Scottish writer Iain M. Banks, first published in 1994. It won a British Science Fiction Association Award in 1994. The novel is sometimes referred to as Banks' second science fiction novel no ...

'' by

Iain Banks Iain Banks (16 February 1954 – 9 June 2013) was a Scottish author, writing mainstream fiction as Iain Banks and science fiction as Iain M. Banks, adding the initial of his adopted middle name Menzies (). After the success of ''The Wasp Factor ...

, an author whose novel ''

The Wasp Factory ''The Wasp Factory'' is the first novel by Scottish writer Iain Banks, published in 1984. Before the publication of ''The Wasp Factory,'' Banks had written several science fiction novels that had not been accepted for publication. Banks decided t ...

'' was conceptual inspiration for Lusk as well. The project released a self-titled EP on Silent Uproar Records. In 2011, a self-titled LP was released on Dissociated Press, featuring some songs that had been released previously and some new ones. On the first track of the LP, "The Fourth", former

band-mate

plays drums. D'Amour also played bass in the band Lesser Key. The group consists of Andrew Zamudio (vocals), Brett Fanger (guitar), and Justin Hanson (drums). The band "represents an exploration into personal and artistic freedom." On July 26, 2013, the band released a video of their debut single "Intercession." Their debut EP was produced by former Tool producer

Sylvia Massy Sylvia Lenore Massy is an American record producer, mixer, engineer, instructor and author. Massy is renowned for her multifaceted production/mixing and engineering skills, with her first major breakthrough occurring with 1993's '' Undertow'', th ...

and released on April 1, 2014 on

Sumerian Records Sumerian Records is an American independent record label based in Los Angeles, Washington D.C., and London. The label was founded in 2006 by Ash Avildsen.Ministry Ministry may refer to: Government * Ministry (collective executive), the complete body of government ministers under the leadership of a prime minister * Ministry (government department), a department of a government Religion * Christian ...

as the band's newest bass player, replacing

Tony Campos Antonio Campos (born March 8, 1973) is an American musician. He is the current bassist for industrial metal bands Static-X and Fear Factory and the vocalist and bassist for Asesino. He is a former bassist for metal bands Prong, Soulfly, Minis ...

Selected discography

;With Tool * ''

Opiate An opiate, in classical pharmacology, is a substance derived from opium. In more modern usage, the term ''opioid'' is used to designate all substances, both natural and synthetic, that bind to opioid receptors in the brain (including antagonis ...

'' (1992) * '' Undertow'' (1993) ;With Replicants * ''

'' (1995) ;With Lusk * ''

'' (1997) ;With Feersum Ennjin * ''Feersum Ennjin'' (2011) ;With Lesser Key * ''Lesser Key'' (2014) ;With Ministry * '' Moral Hygiene'' (2021)

References

External links

* *
Feersum Ennjin official band website

Artist page on Silent Uproar Records
* {{DEFAULTSORT:D'Amour, Paul 1967 births 20th-century American bass guitarists 21st-century American bass guitarists Living people American heavy metal bass guitarists American male bass guitarists Musicians from Spokane, Washington Tool (band) members Ministry (band) members Replicants (band) members Progressive metal bass guitarists Alternative metal bass guitarists American experimental musicians Industrial metal musicians