A PERFECT CIRCLE Signs Worldwide Deal With BMG, Announces New Album

BMG has announced it has signed a worldwide recording deal with multi-platinum rock band A PERFECT CIRCLE. The band is in the studio working on material for a new full-length album, to be released later in the year.

A PERFECT CIRCLE formed in 1999 with principal members Billy Howerdel (ASHES DIVIDE) and Maynard James Keenan (TOOL, PUSCIFER) creating a fluid band where lineups were free to shift with each ensuing album. The band's current lineup is Howerdel, Keenan, James Iha (THE SMASHING PUMPKINS),Jeff Friedl (DEVO, THE BETA MACHINE) and Matt McJunkins (EAGLES OF DEATH METAL, THE BETA MACHINE).

Howerdel said: "We just signed a new record deal with BMG! Looking forward to sharing new music with you soon. New APC-2017!"

Jon Cohen, EVP Recorded Music at BMG, said: "We're thrilled to welcome A PERFECT CIRCLE to BMG and excited to present their highly anticipated new music to the world. Their uncompromising approach, vision and legion of fans have made them one of the most artistic and commercially successful acts in rock."

Howerdel recently said that the band has "every intention" of making new A PERFECT CIRCLE music available to fans in 2017 as it heads out on tour. Speaking with Billboard, Howerdel said: "We're not promising anything, but I have every intention of doing my best to have us playing some new tracks during this run — with the idea that new music is coming very soon after."

The band's tour — its first full-fledged trek since 2011 — kicks off on April 6. The schedule will include appearances at the Welcome To Rockville, Fort Rock and Carolina Rebellion festivals in late April and early May, along with a closing night stop at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles on May 7.

A PERFECT CIRCLE has been largely inactive on the recording front for the past 13 years, with only a new song titled "By And Down" surfacing on a hits collection in 2013.

The group was an instant success when it first came on the scene in 2000 with its debut album, "Mer De Noms", and Howerdel explained a while back how he felt about the band's early success. "I was appreciative then, I'm certainly appreciative now of how everything came together — how all the forces came together and made it happen, and all the timing worked out, with the NINE INCH NAILS tour, opening for them, and, you know, having key people at Virgin Records believe in us and ferociously campaign to market the band in the right way, and Maynard's reputation with TOOL in place... everything just came together."

During the time that the band has been mostly on hiatus, Howerdel launched an act called ASHES DIVIDE, while Maynard James Keenan toured and recorded with TOOL and PUSCIFER while also running a winery.

Howerdel said: "To be honest, I thought [a comeback] would be a few years earlier... It felt like a few years ago it was going to happen, but this is just the way the schedules lined up. But I'm always excited to get the machine back up and going."

Photo credit: Tim Cadiente