Maynard James Keenan Shares the Weirdness and Wisdom of Puscifer

Maynard James Keenan is really into mushrooms. We know what you’re thinking, but we’re not talking about the ones that make everything look like an Alex Grey painting.

The enigmatic frontman is currently on the road, touring with longtime passion project Puscifer, but he’s quick to chat about his latest farm-to-table endeavor back at his compound in Jerome, Arizona, particularly as it relates to his restaurant, Merkin Vineyards Hilltop Winery & Trattoria.

“We have a forty-foot shipping container that was built for producing mushrooms,” he explains, adding that business partner and head chef Brett Viber helped him get into the mushroom game. “According to Brett, we got about 22 to 23 pounds this week. But when it’s in full swing, it’s about fifty to sixty pounds, so we can start selling them to local restaurants. He’s a world-class forager. He has his spots all over the Flagstaff area, where he goes up and forages for the restaurant.”

This fungal foray is an extension of what he’s already been doing at his multi-acre estate, where he’s long grown other produce, as well as continually tends to his chicken coops and waddling ducks.

“It’s about feeding people. The idea of just buying them off a truck, the sources can be inconsistent, so why not just try it?” says Keenan, who’s now 62. “We’ve been trying it for years, but we’ve been doing it wrong. It took a lot of trial and error. We finally figured it out and got with the right guy to help us with it, and now we’re firing.

“There’s a distributor that goes around the state, and you tell them what you have extra, and they do pick up and drop off, so you’ve got a local distribution system of produce,” he continues. “It’s pretty cool to be able to contribute to that and draw on that for our restaurant. You’re really getting into the weeds on seasonal dishes. It’s fun.”

It’s refreshing to see this side of Keenan and hear him speak so passionately about what he does during his downtime when he’s not on the road with one of his many musical enterprises, including Tool and A Perfect Circle. But all this organic farming work also ties into his latest release — Puscifer’s new record, Normal Isn’t — in a surprising way. While he’s not necessarily singing the praises of his mushroom haul, the act of reconnecting with the land and the community around you is a core tenet of the album, which addresses the spiraling social and political mindset we’re all experiencing and, more important, how you can pull yourself out of it.

“We’re in an existential crisis here, and just watching the zealots take over. Greed and fear-mongering have always been part of world politics, but it seems like it’s on steroids right now,” he says. “It’s good to take a step back, see what’s going on, readdress, and understand that we have to put a leash on the greed. That’s it.”

As an artist, Keenan’s never shied away from speaking his mind. He’s quick to point out that while there’s certainly no shortage of people who like shouting about problems, few offer up any answers. In his opinion, it’s as simple as putting down your phone and plugging back into reality.

“The solution has always been reconnecting, not only with each other, but with the earth,” Keenan shares. “Food matters, growing things matter, reconnecting with the environment around you, with the people around you, matters. The petty shit, worrying about what ding-dong is saying about the Pope, that doesn’t really matter. Not bombing people matters. We probably shouldn’t bomb people.”

Of course, he’s talking about the ills of the current presidential administration. On Normal Isn’t, Keenan and loyal collaborators Mat Mitchell and Carina Round take aim at “social mediots,” twats and bungholes through Puscifer’s signature absurdist sense of humor. “Self Evident” — aka the “bunghole” song — isn’t necessarily about anyone in particular. The origin is far more juvenile, Keenan admits — he simply wanted to throw in the insult, but in a way that made sense to the song.  

“I literally don’t know where the foundational lyric came from,” he says, “but I just know as it unraveled, it made a lot of sense to make sure we include the word ‘bunghole’ in a song. Emotionally, I’m eleven, I guess. ‘Bunghole’ and ‘twat.’ It’s the little things. Just put that in there to make people giggle. I mean, what else are you going to do?

“You can easily insert some recent people in there, but it should be timeless. It can apply to any bunghole, but there are plenty of current bungholes to choose from,” Keenan continues. “Have we said ‘bunghole’ enough yet?”

For the record, he only shouts “bunghole” twice throughout “Self Evident.”

Normal Isn’t is Puscifer at its art-rock zaniest. “The Algorithm” and “ImpetuoUs” are equally catchy and scathing critiques. For more than twenty years, the comedy troupe-turned-full-fledged band has continued to exist in its own Pusciverse, which is ever-expanding. For this cycle, two new characters — Bellendia Black and Fanny Grey — join the ranks alongside the well-established Billy D, his wife Hildy Berger, Major Douche, and Special Agent Dick Merkin.

“I was saying to Mat, like, three years ago, ‘What are we going to do? We have the Men in Black. We have Billy D. We have Douche. Like, what are we going to do for this?’” Keenan recalls. “Mat was like, ‘Don’t worry about it. It’s going to come. All of a sudden, you’re going to wake up one day and you’ll have it and it’ll all unfold,’ and it did.”

He credits the process of writing “Pendulum,” an unabashed new-wave tome, for aiding the overall world-building.

“Also, I had an idea for a wig I wanted to try, you know, it’s as silly as that,” he notes. “And it just lends itself to a character and you build around that.”

The trio is also working on Pusciverse graphic novels that’ll tell the entire story from start to finish. But the best way to be a part of it all is live, and the group is readying for a Red Rocks headlining spot on Sunday, May 3. Comedian Dave Hill is also part of the festivities.

Keenan is no stranger to packing Red Rocks, as Tool first performed at the iconic venue back in 1998, but this is technically the first time that Puscifer will take center stage. All his other projects, including the traveling Sessanta festival, sold out the space. But Keenan isn’t one to count his chickens before they hatch.

“Technically, until we show up, we haven’t sold it out for Puscifer yet. When I show up, then I can technically count it as a sell-out,” he says, adding that playing at Red Rocks never gets old.  

“When I was a kid, you see the U2 video, and you don’t know where they’re at, you just see it in the video, and then when you’re actually touring, like in ’98, you show up and go, ‘Oh, man, this is that place,’” Keenan continues.  

“It’s special just because it’s Red Rocks, but to have that nostalgia attached to a place that you first saw on MTV, it’s stunning,” he concludes. “To be able to take Puscifer there, as much as we’ve done to get Puscifer here, and have another project sell out Red Rocks, it means we’re doing something right.”

Puscifer, with Dave Hill, 6 p.m. Sunday, May 3, Red Rocks Amphitheatre,18300 West Alameda Parkway, Morrison. Tickets are $50.