A Perfect Circle Biography

A Perfect Circle band members
Maynard James Keenan, Billy Howerdel, James Iha, Matt McJunkins, and Jeff Friedl

The rock supergroup known as A Perfect Circle was established in the late 1990’s, bringing together Tool’s vocalist and front man (Maynard James Keenan) and guitarist Billy Howerdel. Over the years the band has experienced various changes to the lineup, bringing in other notable musicians from highly successful bands, but at the start Keenan and Howerdel were joined by musicians Troy Van Leeuwen (of Failure) and Tim Alexander (of Primus.) A Perfect Circle performed its first live performance in the summer of 1999 and was an instant smash hit.

Mer de Noms, A Perfect Circle’s debut album, arrived in the following year and rose to the top five on the Billboard albums charts. The album spawned the singles “Judith,” “3 Libras,” and “The Hollow.” Two more albums followed (Thirteenth Step in 2003 and eMOTIVe in 2004), giving audiences the singles “Weak and Powerless,” “The Outsider,” “Blue,” “Imagine,” “Passive,” and “By and Down.” A Perfect Circle embarked on a hiatus in 2005, after performing to a sell-out crowd in Denver, Colorado, and the band’s individual musicians returned to work on other projects in the meantime. Three years later, A Perfect Circle regrouped and began writing new material, although it would be a number of years before any of it was released.

A Perfect Circle returned to touring and live performances in 2010, appearing on such programs as Last Call with Carson Daly and Jimmy Kimmel Live!, and hitting the stage at such festivals as Lollapalooza, Edgefest, Boonstock Music Festival, and Rock on the Range. In the meantime, A Perfect Circle continued to write and prepare new music, and in the fall of 2013, the band released the compilation album Three Sixty and announced plans for another studio album to release within the next year.

A Perfect Circle continues to perform with the current lineup of Keenan, Howerdel, James Iha (of the Smashing Pumpkins), Matt McJunkins (of Puscifer), and Jeff Friedl. The band most recently released the box-set A Perfect Circle Live: Featuring Stone and Echo (2013.)