For my final rock ‘n’ roll show of the year I decided to go with something truly unique. Something I’ve never seen before; a Puscifer show. What I got was a mix of Mexican wrestling—in the form of something called Luchafer—opening up for one of the most incredible performances of unadulterated musicianship, lyricism, and avant-garde rock music that I have ever heard before.
Puscifer is clearly one of the most uncomfortable names to pronounce in the biz today, and to be quite honest, whenever someone asked me what band I was going to see in the days before the show I always took a minute to brace them for a slightly uncomfortable moment, then we had a laugh. Puscifer is the brain child of eclectic Tool frontman Maynard James Keenan. He’s put together a band of musicians who defy everything conventional you know about metal, progressive, and experimental music.
Along the way, Maynard has figured out how to deliver this with a sort of socially conscious message without being overly aggressive and only slightly offensive. It’s more like a “you get out of this music what you put into listening to it” scenario. And Puscifer’s style of music is certainly something you don’t just put on in the background, but instead you pay close attention because it demands it.
To be honest I’ve always sort of dismissed Puscifer because their album artwork and Midwestern clichés seemed a bit silly to me. But I got a copy of their latest album Money Shot and I instantly became a fan. It’s aggressive music with thought-provoking lyrics layered over beats that are set upon time signatures that keep you guessing without pissing you off.
But the real surprise is how the hauntingly beautiful Carina Round’s voice and antics mesh so fucking perfectly with Maynard. I couldn’t look away or get enough of how these two play off of one another’s energy, it’s quite otherworldly.
So what’s the deal with the Mexican wresting as an opening act? I have no idea, but it was a welcome departure from having some mediocre shoegaze band that probably would have been on the bill otherwise.
If I had to summarize the story of what they call Luchafer, it would probably be something like this: A band of superhero wrestlers run into their sworn enemy, start kicking ass, then the real villain of the story gets them shitfaced drunk—and conquers them all. It was fun, entertaining, and a blast to shoot as a photographer.
The wrestlers of Luchafer seemed to set the stage pretty awkwardly for Maynard and company, but it turns out that these unsung heroes would actually supplement the show by bringing in an element of drama and quirkiness that took the show to an entirely new level of awesomeness.
At the end of the day though, it was the intricate balance of brilliant lyrics, aggressive time signatures, extraordinary musicianship, and downright poetic genius of Maynard and Carina that made this one of the best shows I’ve seen this year and quite possibly in my life. Don’t miss this one folks as it is a mind-blowing spectacle for the ages.
As as for the Money Shot well, it’s certainly going to be on my top albums of 2015.
