A Perfect Circle is an American rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1999 by guitarist Billy Howerdel and Tool vocalist Maynard James Keenan. A Perfect Circle released three of their four studio albums in the early 2000s: their debut Mer de Noms in 2000, a follow-up, Thirteenth Step in 2003; and an album of radically re-worked cover songs, Emotive, in 2004. Shortly after Emotive's release, the band went on hiatus; Keenan returned to Tool and started up solo work under the band name Puscifer, while Howerdel released a solo album, Keep Telling Myself It's Alright, under the moniker Ashes Divide. Band activity was sporadic in the following years; the band reformed in 2010, and played live shows on and off between 2010 and 2013, but fell into inactivity after the release of their greatest hits album, Three Sixty, and a live album box set, A Perfect Circle Live: Featuring Stone and Echo in late 2013. The band reformed in 2017 to record a fourth album, Eat the Elephant, which was released in 2018. After spending the rest of the year touring in support of the album, the band fell into inactivity until 2024 for a brief tour and one-off song "Kindred".
Thirteenth Step is the second studio album by American rock band A Perfect Circle, released on September 16, 2003. The album sold well, charting at the number 2 position on the Billboard 200 in its premiere week, selling over 231,000 copies and staying on the charts for 78 weeks. The album went on to be certified as gold on November 4, 2003, and as platinum on March 24, 2006, by the RIAA. Three singles were released from the album, "Weak and Powerless", which topped both the Mainstream Rock Tracks and Modern Rock Tracks, followed by "The Outsider" and "Blue", which also charted on the respective charts.
William L. Howerdel is an American musician, best known as a founding member, guitarist, backing vocalist, songwriter, and producer for the band A Perfect Circle, as well as for his former solo project, Ashes Divide. Howerdel has recorded six studio albums across his career: four with A Perfect Circle, one under the moniker Ashes Divide, and one under his own name.
Emotive is the third studio album by American rock band A Perfect Circle. The album is primarily a collection of anti-war cover songs. It was released on November 2, 2004, via Virgin Records to coincide with the US presidential election. Two singles were released in support of the album; a cover of John Lennon's "Imagine", and "Passive", a previously unreleased song originating from the defunct Tapeworm project. The album debuted at number two on the US Billboard 200 chart, though the band would not tour in support of the album, later entering a hiatus. It would be the band's last studio release until 2018's Eat the Elephant.
Amotion is a DVD–CD set released by American rock band A Perfect Circle on November 16, 2004, only two weeks after the debut of the band's third album, eMOTIVe. The DVD consists of music videos for singles such as "Judith", "3 Libras" and "Weak and Powerless" as well as previously unreleased videos for singles such as "Blue" and "Thinking of You". The CD is composed entirely of remixes of the singles from Mer de Noms and Thirteenth Step. The songs were retooled by Danny Lohner, Joshua Eustis, Massive Attack, and James Iha among others. The video album debuted at number four on the SoundScan Top Music Video chart and number ten on the Australian music DVD chart. aMOTION was certified Platinum by the RIAA on 17 December 2004.
Paz Lenchantin is an Argentine-American musician. She is best known as the former bass guitarist and backing vocalist of the alternative rock band Pixies. Lenchantin joined the band in 2014, following the departure of founding member Kim Deal, and recorded three studio albums before leaving in 2024.
Daniel Patrick Lohner, frequently known as Renholdër, is an American musician and record producer best known for his work with Nine Inch Nails and A Perfect Circle. In 2020, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Nine Inch Nails.
"Passive" is a song by American rock band A Perfect Circle. The song, originating from the Tapeworm side-project under the title "Vacant", was eventually recorded in the studio as "Passive" by A Perfect Circle around the time of the side-project's demise. It was the second single from their album Emotive, and peaked at number 14 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Songs chart in 2005.
"Judith" is a song by American rock band A Perfect Circle. It was released as the lead single from their debut album, Mer de Noms. The single was released as a 1-track compact disc single in North America, and a 4-track single on both disc and vinyl format in Australia.
Keep Telling Myself It's Alright is the debut studio album by American rock band Ashes Divide, the solo-project by A Perfect Circle guitarist Billy Howerdel. While efforts towards a Howerdel solo album were started even back in his time in A Perfect Circle during touring in support of their 2003 album Thirteenth Step, commitments to A Perfect Circle and other projects, along with some difficult recording sessions, pushed the album's US release out to April 8, 2008. It was released in Australia on April 19. Its first single, "The Stone", entered radio circulation in January of that year.
The discography of American alternative rock supergroup A Perfect Circle consists of four studio albums, two compilation albums, one extended play, one video album, thirteen singles, one promotional single and thirteen music videos. A Perfect Circle is the brainchild of Billy Howerdel. After hearing demos of Howerdel's music, Maynard James Keenan, the lead singer of Tool, offered his services as vocalist. Howerdel agreed, and the band formed in 1999. They were then joined by bassist/violinist Paz Lenchantin, guitarist Troy Van Leeuwen, formerly of Failure, and drummer Tim Alexander, formerly of Primus. Soon after entering the studio to record their first album, Alexander was replaced by Josh Freese of The Vandals. Mer de Noms was released in May 2000, selling 188,000 copies its debut week. The band embarked on a number of headlining tours all over the world to promote the album which was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) one month after its release, and platinum just four months later.
"By and Down" is a single by alternative rock band A Perfect Circle in 2013. The track represented the first studio material from the band in almost a decade's time. The studio version appears on the band's greatest hits album, Three Sixty, while a live version appears on their live box-set A Perfect Circle Live: Featuring Stone and Echo, both released in 2013. The song peaked at number 8 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart. An alternate version of the song, titled "By and Down the River", was later released on the band's fourth studio album, Eat the Elephant.
A Perfect Circle Live: Featuring Stone and Echo is a live box set by American rock supergroup, A Perfect Circle. It was released via the band's own label, A Perfect Circle Entertainment, on November 26, 2013, a week after the release of the band's greatest hits album, Three Sixty.
Three Sixty is a greatest hits compilation released by American rock band A Perfect Circle on November 19, 2013. The set compiles songs from previous albums by the band and includes one new song, "By and Down". The album was also released in a deluxe edition which includes additional studio songs from the band's back catalog and live tracks from 2011 featured on the limited edition box set A Perfect Circle Live: Featuring Stone and Echo.
"Blue" is a song by American rock band A Perfect Circle. It was the third single from the band's second studio album, Thirteenth Step, behind the releases of the singles "Weak and Powerless" and "The Outsider". While not as successful as the prior two singles, which crossed over into the Billboard Hot 100 charts and hit the top 5 of the Mainstream Rock charts, the song was still a moderate success, peaking at number 19 on the latter chart. A remix version, "Blue ", was created by guitarist James Iha and released on the band's compilation album Amotion as well, and also received radio airplay.
Eat the Elephant is the fourth studio album by American rock band A Perfect Circle. It is their first album release in fourteen years since 2004's Emotive. While early work on new material traces back to as early as 2008, years of slow progress would ensue due to conflict between the band's chief music writers, frontman Maynard James Keenan and guitarist Billy Howerdel, largely stemming from their commitments to other projects and inability to come to an agreement on the direction to take the band. Renewed focus, alongside assistance from music producer Dave Sardy, helped propel the band into much more productive sessions across 2017, with the album being completed in early 2018. Thematically, the album covers a variety of Keenan's views on modern societal, religious, and political issues, focusing on his perceived lack of accountability in humanity. Musically, the album was viewed as an extension and maturation of their rock sound, adding more piano and electronic elements into songs for a more mellow sound than prior albums.
"TalkTalk" is a song by American rock band A Perfect Circle. It was released on February 5, 2018, as their third single off of their album Eat the Elephant. It peaked at number 17 on the US Billboard Mainstream Rock Songs chart.
Mer de Noms is the debut studio album by American rock band A Perfect Circle. The album was released on May 23, 2000, and entered the Billboard 200 at No. 4, making it the highest ever Billboard 200 debut for a rock band's first album. It sold over 188,000 copies in the first week, and was certified platinum by the RIAA later that same year. Three singles were released in promotion of the album, "Judith", "3 Libras", and "The Hollow", all of which hit the top 20 of both the Billboard US Modern Rock and Mainstream Rock charts.
What Normal Was is a solo studio album by Billy Howerdel, guitarist of A Perfect Circle. The album is his first to be directly released under his own name, and his second solo album overall, after releasing his prior album, Keep Telling Myself It's Alright (2008), under the pseudonym Ashes Divide 14 years prior.
