Tool’s complex 15-minute opus “7empest” is a difficult cover for anyone to attempt. Don’t tell that to 9-year-old guitar shredder Maya Neelakantan.
In the YouTube clip, Neelakantan puts on a Nandi Bushell-esque display of talent as she expertly darts around the fretboard. Adam Jones wrote some deft guitar parts for the Fear Inoculum track, and it appears he has a worthy understudy in Neelakantan, if ever needed. She even emulates his wah pedal footwork.
As she explains in the introduction to the video, Maya was inspired to play her “most favorite song” after receiving a brand new Gibson Les Paul guitar for her ninth birthday last month. Of note, Jones famously plays a Les Paul and even has his own line of signature models with Gibson.
“This is my most favorite song,” she proudly declares. “This is the hardest song I’ve ever played. And this is the first song I’m playing with my new guitar.”
In other Tool news, frontman Maynard James Keenan revealed that he recently contracted COVID-19 for the fourth time, but has since recovered. The singer just set out on a US tour with his band Puscifer, which began last night (June 9th) in Las Vegas, with tickets available here.
Below you can watch Maya nail Tool’s “7empest” on guitar.
