Maynard James Keenan celebrated his 60th birthday with a new tour called ‘Sessanta’ in April 2024. He collaborated with members of Puscifer and A Perfect Circle as well as Primus’s Les Claypool for the ongoing shows.
Keenan joined a new chat with the Primus frontmant and explained to Revolver why he chose to mark his birthday with a joint tour. He shared:
“It’s just pure panic. It’s pure fear of death. Let’s just celebrate this absolutely terrifying marker. I had this idea years ago — back when we did Lollapalooza, when everybody was jamming with each other onstage in ‘93 — I always wanted to do something like this. I was actually going to do six [bands]. That just was a train wreck of an idea — so it’s three bands playing.”
New Tour Reflects The Anxiety
The singer mentioned how the performances went:
“There is no headliner. There is no opener. We don’t ever really leave the stage. We have some couches on the stage. You’re just kind of hanging out. But that way you’re going back and forth a couple of moments where you’re playing on each other’s songs. And from the EP we just did, we do the three songs and then close with something like…”
Claypool added:
“‘(Don’t Fear) the Reaper!’ Isn’t that what this is really all about? I just turned 60. You just turned 60. We do all these songs together. We have this big Shambhala on stage, and then at the end we say, ‘Don’t fear the reaper!’ [Laughs]”
Keenan’s Birthday Brought Along New Records
A special three-song EP featuring Keenan, A Perfect Circle, Puscifer, and Primus came out in March. Keenan also revealed how ‘Sessanta E.P.P.P.’ came together during the chat by saying:
“I always leave the Pro Tools and Logic stuff up to Mat Mitchell or Billy [Howerdel], and [producer] Joe Barresi a little bit. I finally dove in about a year and a half ago, where I wouldn’t let myself have my morning coffee until I at least figured out a beat, maybe a piano melody. So, I had this little folder of stuff.”
He continued:
“When this tour was coming up, I was like, I’m going to take three of these songs and farm it out: I’ll send one to Billy, I’ll send one to Mat and Carina, and I’ll send one to Les, Larry, and Tim to see what comes out of it. We actually did a little EP — three songs for commemorating the Sessanta.”
Keenan and the rest will carry their tour to The Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles on April 20. The trek will end in early-May.