It’ll be the second night of Sessanta at Talking Stick Resort Amphitheatre, Keenan’s birthday tour that brings together his bands Puscifer and A Perfect Circle, along with Primus, for a night of music and celebration.
And what does Keenan want from his audience on this auspicious occasion?
He wants them to put their goddamn phones away.
“You’re annoying the person behind you,” he says. “They shouldn’t have to watch the show through your phone. It’s not going to look good. You’re just wasting your time.”
He emphasizes the importance of being present in the moment, a solid modus operandi for any concertgoer, but that focus on intentionality, on engaging with life directly, is exemplified in everything Keenan has accomplished in 60 years.
Three bands, including the legendary Tool. Multiple vineyards around Arizona. Tasting rooms in Jerome and Scottsdale. Two restaurants in Cottonwood: Four 8 Fried Chicken, a new concept that Keenan opened the day before our interview, and Merkin Vineyards Hilltop Winery & Trattoria. Two Brazilian jiu-jitsu dojos in the Verde Valley – just earlier this month, Keenan earned his black belt in the martial art.
Keenan doesn’t look 60; he’s fit and energetic. And he doesn’t act 60, opening another restaurant in Cottonwood in the brief downtime between the recently ended Tool tour and the kickoff of Sessanta.
But he’s got 60 years’ worth of experience, perspective and dare we say, wisdom, which he shared with Phoenix New Times up in Cottonwood in March, when we talked about Sessanta, work and reflecting on life on a milestone birthday.
Quotes have been edited for length and clarity.
Phoenix New Times: Cinquanta, your 50th birthday show in Los Angeles, was a one-night concert with Puscifer, A Perfect Circle and Failure. When did you start thinking about a 60th birthday event?
Maynard James Keenan: Of course, (there were a) lot of things going on between then and now, but the idea, the seed was planted about five years ago, and I went, “You know, let’s do it again, but do it for the 60th,” but then it was a matter of figuring out who was going to be a part of it.
How did you choose Primus to come along on the tour?
It just made sense. I’ve worked with those guys for years. Les (Claypool, of Primus) has worked with Danny (Carey, Tool drummer) and Justin (Chancellor, Tool bassist) on a couple things. And Tim (Alexander, Primus drummer) was on A Perfect Circle music, he was on Puscifer music, he was my neighbor here in Jerome for a while, so yeah, it just made sense.
What can people expect at Sessanta?
They can expect to be very angry if they show up late, because there is no opener, the show starts right off the top, so be in your seat as the show starts. Don’t miss the opening.
What’s the format like?
Well, it’s just very similar to the Cinquanta. It’s a rotation, band rotation, we all basically hang out in spots on the stage. You step up, you play your songs, you sit back down while the other guys play their songs. Of course there will be some guest appearances, we’ll be guesting on each other’s songs. Everybody’s going to get to do about nine or 10 songs.
You’re quite adamant at all your shows that people put their phones away. Why is that?
It’s rude. Not to us, I mean, I just did a whole photoshoot. I’m not afraid of cameras and I’m not afraid of phones. I’ve got mine right here. It’s a very useful tool.
There’s no way you can actually capture what’s happening in that live moment on a phone. You’re missing the opportunity of actually absorbing in real time what’s happening. The art of storytelling. Being able to actually recount what you saw without having to record it. Training your brain to live in the moment and see the thing, but more importantly, stop annoying the person behind you. It’s annoying, it’s distracting and it’s distracting for us, too. So put it the fuck away, grow the fuck up. It’s only two hours. And at the end of the show, we usually let you film a song, so you get your souvenir.
Have you ever, at the end of a show, decided against letting the crowd film?
Absolutely, if we have to throw out a dozen people because they’re being arrogant assholes, selfish pricks. You’re annoying the people around you. I know there’s all kinds of arguments, like, “Well, the removing all those people is annoying.” Uh-huh. It’s called consequences. This is what happens here. You do it in a theater, you do it at a play, you do it at an orchestral performance, you get removed. You don’t get to do it. Do it at an opera, you’re leaving. It’s rude. You’re here to experience a thing. You paid all that money to be here to witness what we do, not what you do.
How much of Sessanta is collaborative and how much was you saying, “This is what I want?”
The music director and the whole production director is (Puscifer guitarist) Mat Mitchell. Puscifer Entertainment’s putting this thing on and he’s basically in charge of orchestrating the whole thing. He’s working with our lighting director, Sarah Landau, to put the actual lighting and video and stage production together. So it’s basically him in terms of how it’s going to go. As far as song choices, that comes down to me, making sure what comes where and how it runs. I end up being the one who’s directing what songs, just basically because I’m singing with two bands so I’ve got to pay attention to not doing all the hardest songs to do.
Keenan stands on the bar at his Merkin Vineyards Hilltop Winery & Trattoria in Cottonwood.
Jim Louvau
Sessanta is in honor of your 60th birthday. Are these milestone birthdays a time for self-reflection?
I think the big milestones are important. The 10-year marks are big when you get older. They can be scary. They can be inspiring. But I kind of keep busy and inspired by my father. He’s still going. It’s crazy. He had a hip replacement, and then had an injury, but still went all the way over to Helskini to ski for competitions. He’s 84 and he’s still going strong. … So when you have somebody like that who’s unstoppable, when you hit 60, it’s not that scary.
Do you get your work ethic from him?
I think I get my work ethic from Michigan. But yeah, from him, too.
How do you manage to accomplish all the things you do in your various fields?
Efficiency. I’ve kind of figured out ways to do things with yeah, efficiency. Economy of movement, I guess. We use that term in martial arts. You’re not expending extra energy when you don’t need to. It’s all about the geometry and physical structure. So the economy of movement is when you stay ahead of the energy drain. But if you have ideas, if you have some grip on the economy of movement, you can see projects through without them dragging you down.
How does that apply to fields like music or winemaking?
Diligence. You get up in the morning, you have a coffee, right? Well, don’t let yourself have a coffee till you write a riff or a beat or write a couple words. And you look back after a month and go, “Holy shit, I got a lot done.” So if you just take those extra steps and kind of whittle away at those things daily, and make them part of your routine and don’t let yourself off the hook for them – forgive yourself if you have to, if you miss a day – but be diligent about developing your skill, developing your writing, developing your winemaking, developing your cooking.
Be diligent about going through the motions because I feel like nowadays, the programming you’re receiving through media and kind of our fantasy life, that Marvel universe, a young girl gets a bracelet from her grandmother in the mail and now she’s a superhero. Really? That’s it? Because the mail showed up, she’s a superhero? Come on, man. No work toward anything, you just get to have it? That’s a very Amazon way of thinking about things. People forgot to put the work in. So if anything, at this age, I figured out you have to put the work in. I didn’t get here by getting a package in the mail and I just get to have the fucking superpower.
Just do what you love. A lot of times, we end up excelling in an area because we get praised. I think you’re never going to be happy or satisfied if you’re constantly chasing the reward, right? The extrinsic stimulation to get a thing done. You’re always going to be dissatisfied. If it’s a thing you want to do, it’s an intrinsic reward of doing the thing because you love the thing and getting better at the thing, whatever it might be. If you love doing it because you get money, you’re never going to be satisfied, because you’re never going to have enough money. You have to be happy to do the thing. All the money and that shit will come if you’re just really excited about and diligent about getting better at the thing.
You’re at an age when many people would be looking toward retirement, and you just keep adding projects. Why is that?
I have no interest in turning my brain off. They’re just puzzles. I like solving puzzles. I like fried chicken. I make good fried chicken. Now I don’t have to make it. Somebody else makes it for me and everybody else gets to enjoy it because there’s not a lot of good fried chicken in the (Verde) Valley here. I solved a puzzle, fulfilled a need.
When you look back at your life, do you have regrets?
We always have regrets about things but it’s a matter of making sure you flip those around as a learning experience in general. All your life experiences can be used as a method of introspection and rebuilding and building. They’re foundational. I don’t think I have anything – if anything, it’s how you made somebody feel. Those are the regrets that are the biggest, I think, if you’re human and you understand how you made somebody feel. That’s always bad.
I heard a quote recently: “Just because I’m not nice doesn’t mean I’m not a good person.” So that, I feel like that’s almost a marching order for myself. I’m not concerned about being nice. I’m concerned about doing the right thing and being a good person and being there for you when you need me.
Would you consider that your life philosophy, to use a cliche?
Yeah, I guess. Do no harm, but do.
Do you have plans for a personal birthday celebration?
I’ll be on stage in Phoenix with a bunch of my friends.
Sessanta. With Puscifer, Primus and A Perfect Circle. 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 16, and Wednesday, April 17. Talking Stick Resort Amphitheatre, 2121 N. 83rd Ave. Tickets available on the Ticketmaster website.
