The Multi-Maynard

Maynard James Keenan claims Puscifer to be the space in his mind where his id, ego, and anima go to exchange cookie recipes. This special baked dessert may be an acquired taste, but it digests quite nicely.

For those who don’t know, Puscifer is Maynard’s solo project that encompasses art, clothing, music, video, and other odds and ends that adhere to his subconscious. “An island of misfit ideas,” is how he references this place in his mind. Busy pushing innovation, in the past month Maynard has opened the Puscifer store, released a remix album, released a video, signed a bunch of bottles of wine, and sees a positive glow for the future of our country.

Puscifer is nothing like Tool and it isn’t A Perfect Circle, it’s an electronic cluster of comforting ambience, dark lethargic grooves, and lyrics that are at times hard to swallow- they are truth. Puscifer has only produced one album, “V” is for Vagina (pictured). The others that have followed, “V” is for Viagra, and as recent as a few weeks ago, “D” is for Dubby, are remixes of the original nine songs. Welsh musician, Lustmord, stepped in and has done a great job contributing his spin for “D” is for Dubby, complimenting the release of the “Momma Sed” video. The video is very much an oil-painted peyote trip through growing pains in search of inner strength. The various creative (kinda strange) minds that wade in Maynard’s playground contribute musically and artfully. For an abridged version of collaborators: Jonny Polonsky, Tim Alexander, Tim Commerford, Brad Wilk, Joey Jordison, Ainjel Emme, Josh Eustis of Black Light Burns & Telefon Tel Aviv, Gil Sharone, Trey Gunn, Renholdër (Danny Lohner), Milla Jovovich, Lisa Germano. Their work can be found online as well as at the new Puscifer store located in the mining/ ghost town, Jerome, Arizona.

To add a different type of flair to a band, in this case a multimedia solo project that has a revolving door for all artists, Maynard opted to open the Puscifer store a month ago. Above a tattoo shop you can find Puscifer Entertainment’s audio and visual releases, art and animation, t-shirts and booty shorts, hats and condoms, and accessories for your pet.

Maynard also owns Caduceus Cellars and co-founded Arizona Stronghold Vineyard with Eric Glomski, a professional in the world of wine. They are committed to making wines by not tampering with the flavor of the fruit in order to preserve as much natural vitality as possible. Currently, they are signing wine bottles at Whole Foods stores all over the West Coast.

On his blog at Puscifer.com, Changes Come 11/05/08, Maynard recollects to when he visited The Civil Rights Museum & Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in Memphis, Tennessee. After a powerful description of walking through the memorial, “atrocity after atrocity,” he came to the spot where MLK was shot. Maynard writes, “I could feel my heart snap. And although it rarely if ever happens, I wept like a baby. We did this. People like you and I who come into the world in the same manner, walk on the same soil, breathe the same air. We did this. Will we always be capable of such monstrous acts against our brothers and sisters?” He then asks, “Where is the light?” The light was found on 11/04/08. Our country was capable of making Senator Barack Obama President Elect.

“It began to untie the knot that I’ve carried with me since that visit to Memphis. This time tears of joy. Granted, we aren’t out of the woods yet. But I see light. And today is truly a wonderful day.”

by Genette Nowak