Sat. Nov. 10 

Tool. You love 'em but they're so rarely ... around. We're talking about the prog-metal band that put some brains back into a genre not necessarily known for it. Singer Maynard James Keenan, Tool's main man, is an ambitious sort, with all sorts of other projects going on, so Tool fans had to wait five years before its latest CD, "10,000 Days" came out. The band, which formed in 1990, had already hit its stride in '93, during the Lollapalooza tour. Tool is currently on tour, but not in our neck of the woods. Your alternative might be TOOLfist, a New York-based tribute band fronted by singer Jose Andrade. He formed the band, he says, because "I just couldn't stand not hearing Tool music live for years. That's just plain torture." When he put the quartet, TOOLfist together, he says he did so "with the utmost respect for the intricacies, delicacies and composition of the music that is Tool. Tool fans are a finicky eclectic bunch that expect and certainly deserve to have their beloved band represented properly." If you talk the talk, you gotta walk the walk. They do play songs from every Tool album, and will do so at the Honey Fitz Pub in Malden Saturday Nov. 10 around 9 p.m. You can also check 'em out in advance at www.toolfist.com or www.myspace.com/toolfist. Admission: Just $5.

142 Pleasant St., Malden, 781-324-0111 www.honeyfitzpub.com