N AN AFTERNOON IN EARLY APRIL, IN A CHILLY WAREHOUSE space in a Cottonwood commercial park, Maynard James Keenan steps into the restroom. But he doesn’t come out. The man who emerges is Agent Dick Merkin, an unsettling personage with bad newscaster helmet hair — black streaked with white — dark glasses, and bold red lipstick. And he’s ready for his photo shoot. Merkin’s just one of the characters Keenan portrays as part of his band Puscifer. And after five years of no live performances, Puscifer is finally getting back on the road. The Existential Reckoning Tour (named after the band’s 2020 album) kicks off on Thursday, June 9, in Las Vegas. It’ll stop in Phoenix, at Arizona Federal Theatre downtown, on Saturday, June 11. Keenan, who’s lived in Jerome in central Arizona for more than 25 years, says hometown crowds hit differently. It “for sure” feels different to perform in his adopted home state, he notes. “It’s not so much pressure as just you know you have friends out there. So it can be as distracting as it is inspiring, because you want to do well for them.” Keenan only had about two weeks for rehearsals for the Puscifer tour; the European leg of Tool’s tour just ended in late May. But he says switching from project to project isn’t the problem — if anything, sched- uling is the bigger challenge. Changing from a Tool mindset to a Puscifer mindset “is easy,” he says. “Different set of people, different conversations. Put a different wig on, different outfit, and it ends up just changing your perspective. They’re different songs and you’re approaching them differently.” But finding time to tour with two different bands? That’s trickier. “You’re trying to cram three years of touring into one year, and you just have to do it. So you just figure it out. Of course, all the bands have to compromise and figure out how to work around each other, because that’s just it. Even if you want to do 60 shows, I’m sorry – you’re going to get 45. There’s going to be a compromise back and forth just because we’re trying to catch up.” Fans who caught Puscifer’s “Existential Reckoning: Live at Arcosanti” livestream performance in October 2020 will see a lot of similarities in the shows on the tour, although the band will be playing more than just the songs from their latest album. The visuals in the livestream were the brainchild of Puscifer guitarist Mat Mitchell, Keenan says, so for the tour, “a lot of the stage design is Mat and working with Sarah Landau, our [lighting designer], coming up with various things.” The point is to design a visually striking show that can work in the many different venues of the tour. “That way, we can present it in various places. If we do it >> p 16 14 JUNE 9TH– JUNE 15TH, 2022 PHOENIX NEW TIMES | MUSIC | CAFE | FILM | CULTURE | NIGHT+DAY | FEATURE | NEWS | OPINION | FEEDBACK | CONTENTS | phoenixnewtimes.com
