Tool and A Perfect Circle star Maynard James Keenan moonlighting again with Puscifer

Restless creative soul Maynard James Keenan offers a rare insight his working process and what makes Puscifer different from his day jobs in Tool and A Perfect Circle. The band’s new album, Normal Isn’t is out now.

When you’re in three successful bands it must be hard to know where to focus your creativity, but not for Maynard James Keenan.

The legendary voice of Tool and A Perfect Circle calls Puscifer as his “creative subconscious” and as far as he’s concerned music is one giant playground.

“No idea is specific to a project,” muses the iconic rocker behind over 25 million album sales. “I could play you a melody on the piano right now, present it to my three groups, and the final result would be completely different with each of them! Simply because I work with people who have nothing in common.

“Each of these groups of musicians would respond to that melody with their own experience, their talent, and their own way of doing things and seeing things.”

Puscifer’s new album, Normal Isn’t has been described as “where Goth meets punk” and fellow vocalist Carina Round agrees: “I think that’s accurate, as long as you understand that these two styles of music sound a certain way, but also represent a feeling, a way of life, a philosophy.

“I see Goth as something dark, a feeling of being an outsider, of having an inner darkness, which is also beautiful. Punk is about telling society and what others think of us to f**k off, going in the opposite direction, challenging the world, but above all, following who we truly are. If you take all that into account, this album is a blend of these two worlds.”

The state of the world was a driving force behind the themes of the new music.

“With everything that’s been going on lately… If you can’t make art, you’re probably not an artist,” says Maynard. “There’s so much to be gained from it.

“You know, my grandfather was a soldier during World War II. One of his most powerful sayings was: ‘If education collapses, everything will start all over again’.

“That phrase has stuck in my mind. We are capable of doing terrible things to other human beings. And we can do it again, unless we remember, unless we understand the past and what must not be repeated.”

The world appears to be forgetting these lessons. “Yes, either we forget, or we interrupt the educational process that is there to remind us of the past,” agrees Maynard. “After that, I always try to hold onto a glimmer of hope. The hope that we will eventually find our way. We always do, don’t we?

Sometimes I wonder, should we have said something earlier, tried to avoid the situation we’re in today? I have no idea. Instead of answering that question, we wrote a Gothic album. (laughs)”

The end result has been emotional for Maynard: “There’s something in each song on this album that almost brings tears to my eyes, that touches me deeply. Especially when I hear Carina’s voice blending with mine, the way these stories come to life.”

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