Out of all the livestreams that rock bands offered fans during the pandemic, Puscifer’s Existential Reckoning: Live at Arcosanti was certainly one of the best. The group went all out in putting together an enthralling outdoor stage set-up, and timed the performance’s conclusion perfectly with a sunrise. As it turns out, Puscifer – singer Maynard James Keenan, singer/multi-instrumentalist Carina Round, and multi-instrumentalist Mat Mitchell – still fancy providing fans with livestream performances (despite having been able to finally tour once again in the flesh this year). Case in point, the band is streaming two new offerings: V Is for Versatile: A Puscifer Concert Film and Parole Violator: A Puscifer Concert Film. The core trio of Keenan, Round, and Mitchell are joined by Juliette Commagere on keyboards, Failure’s Greg Edwards on bass, and Gunnar Olsen on drums.
In V Is for Versatile (which as its title hints at, features music from 2007’s V Is for Vagina era), the fun begins with Keenan dressed in his modern day Puscifer get-up (as agent Dick Merkin) — black wig with white streaks, ruby red lipstick, shades, etc. — discussing extra-terrestrials, cloning, and celebrities! After more than three-minutes of this opening mumbo jumbo, the performance finally begins, with Keenan now dressed up similarly to Raising Hell era Run-DMC (and offering a few costume changes throughout).
Instead of giving the viewer a bombastic stage show (as they offered on the aforementioned Existential Reckoning: Live at Arcosanti), V Is for Versatile captures the band performing in a studio — Studio 3 at Sunset Sound in Los Angeles, to be precise. The opening number, “Queen B,” proves to be one of the best, as the repeated drum bit and meditative backing vocals create a hypnotic effect. And while we’re discussing drumming, Olsen deserves a shout-out for offering up beats that are played so precisely time-wise (specifically on such tunes as “Vagina Mine”) that it sounds like samples or loops at times. Also mixed in are several pre-recorded skits and bits, including Keenan assuming the role of a foul-mouthed military man.
For the second livestream, Parole Violator, selections from 2011’s Conditions of My Parole are spotlighted, and once again, begins with a skit — with Keenan reassuming the role of the obnoxious “Billy D,” offering up some drunken jibber jabber in a bar, while sporting his blond (albeit flagrantly unkempt) hairdo. Unlike V Is for Versatile, the Parole Violator performance is much more of a production right from the get-go (filmed at the Wiltern Theater in LA).
The set-opening “Tiny Monsters” sees the entire band dressed in black (with Keenan and Round sporting matching cowboy/cowgirl hats), with multi-colored lights illuminating the performers and images flashing behind them on a humongous screen. Billy D returns at various times throughout (in a prison cell), before such additional musical highlights ensue, including “Monsoons” (with quite heavenly-sounding vocalizing from Keenan and Round), the title track (which sees the group now performing outdoors around a fire, in what appears to be a trailer park), and “Tumbleweed” (which again features outstanding vocal duetting from the two singers).
While it’s up to personal preference when choosing between the original recordings or these new live performances, there is certainly a whole new sonic dimension to be enjoyed via these new, full-band renditions that comprise V Is for Versatile: A Puscifer Concert Film and Parole Violator: A Puscifer Concert Film.
As of now, both concert films are available to stream through Tuesday (November 1st) at noon PT / 3 p.m. ET via Puscifertv.com. Album companions for both livestreams are available on CD and vinyl at this location. Fans can also catch Puscifer in person on their current North American tour, which runs until a November 22nd date in Prescott, Arizona. Tickets are available via Ticketmaster.
Gallery – Still Images from Puscifer’s V Is for Versatile and Parole Violator concert films (click to expand and scroll through):