Three alternative rock and metal titans are kicking off their latest tour in Palm Desert.
Primus, Puscifer and A Perfect Circle, a triple threat of musical boundary-pushing, are embarking on the second leg of their Sessanta tour. Last year, the tour went across the United States in honor of the 60th birthday of Maynard James Keenan (singer for Puscifer and A Perfect Circle), and it was quite unique: Sessanta featured all three bands on one stage. The bands traded off mini-sets of three or four songs each, before all playing the same song together for the encore. Check out some cell-phone footage of the ginormous stage, and Keenan doing guest vocals on Primus’ “Tommy the Cat.”
Sessanta v2.0 debuts at 8 p.m., Thursday, April 24, at Acrisure Arena. During a recent phone interview with A Perfect Circle guitarist/vocalist Billy Howerdel, he discussed the success of Sessanta’s initial run.
“You would think it’s not that big a deal, but it is a big deal trying to get three bands to seamlessly play a set,” Howerdel said. “It’s mostly a technical thing. The biggest thing is making sure that the sound guys and gals have enough time to coordinate and make everything go smooth. It really dawned on me when I was going to add an extra microphone to my guitar rig for this extra cab, and the monitor guy goes, ‘Well that’s the last input, and it was either 250 inputs or 350 inputs.’”
Technical stresses aside, the band members found other aspects of Sessanta to be more enjoyable than headlining dates or festivals.
“Once we got rolling … it was about the most fun tour we’ve ever been on,” Howerdel said. “The pressure’s off from a headlining show, and we’ve all been on festivals, and they’re great, too, but maybe too big. We all know each other, and it was just a harmonious, fun thing, and I think that translated onstage. I know it did, because anyone who I invited to the show commented on how well it went off. It’s unique, and like nothing they’ve ever seen, and that’s what we felt, but it was nice to have that confirmed from my very picky, tell-it-like-it-is friends.”
The rotating short sets from each band allowed the musicians, in the middle of their own concert, to sit and watch the other bands perform. As the tour progressed, some band members began guesting with each other. Howerdel started jamming on some Primus tunes, and he hinted that there will be some new tunes and guest spots featured in v2.0.
“It was pretty loose in the beginning,” he said. “I joined Primus halfway through the tour, which was really great. I saw what they were up to, and then they asked me to play, and it was great. It just felt loose. This one, I know that there’s one song that I have never played, and I don’t know what I’m going to play. That’ll be interesting once we get into full rehearsals, but I’m kind of building patches and building contingency for what that could be.”
“I’m up for whatever, but Maynard (James Keenan) is going to steer the ship on the set list. He’s the one who’s got to do full duty, going from Puscifer to APC, and then also dropping in on Primus songs.”
A Perfect Circle guitarist/vocalist Billy Howerdel
Keenan was put in charge of the setlist for A Perfect Circle—the tour is his birthday celebration, after all.
“I’m up for whatever, but Maynard is going to steer the ship on the set list,” Howedel said. “He’s the one who’s got to do full duty, going from Puscifer to APC, and then also dropping in on Primus songs. It’s what he can pull off and be comfortable doing for this three-hour show.”
One of Sessanta’s highlights during the first run was a section where all three bands played through the Sessanta E.P.P.P, a three-song EP featuring brand-new songs from each band. A Perfect Circle contributed “Kindred,” the band’s first new song in six years. Howedel said the writing process for the song differed slightly from the usual collaborative process between himself and Keenan.
“‘Kindred’ started as, to quote Maynard, a sketch on a napkin that he came up with, and that’s not usually the start that we do,” he said. “Usually I’ll start a song, and he’ll respond, and then I’ll respond to what he does—kind of a leapfrog thing, but the genesis will come from my side of the room. Not always, but generally. This was different. He had a more-fleshed-out idea, and in the spirit of Maynard’s birthday, ‘Let’s do this thing where he’s cracking the code on the song and starting this thing, and then we’ll kind of interpret it where we think it’s going to go, and then build it from there.’ That was an interesting approach, and then to play it, we just banged right into the tour to play it. We only rehearsed it as a band maybe four times.”
Videos and reviews from the first Sessanta run illustrate how much fun the musicians were having. Keenan and Les Claypool (Primus) messed around on a motorized chair that led to the drum riser; drummers and bassists rolled out a ping-pong table; and so on.
“You’ve got more time to hang,” Howerdel said. “There was more downtime for me, at least. I’m usually a little busier on an APC tour, from the time I wake up to the show starting, so I wasn’t as completely slammed. … It just added to the whole social element of it. It just felt like it permeated into everything. It’s low drama, a lot of community. It’s so strange to say, but it’s a birthday tour going on its second year, and the spirit of it is celebratory.”
Howerdel said he intends to have the same amount of fun during Sessanta v2.0, even though he’ll be preoccupied—working on new material.
“This time out, I’m writing new APC stuff, so I’ll probably be a little bit more locked in a dressing room/recording studio—but I can sneak out a bit,” he said.
Sessanta v2.0, with Primus, Puscifer and A Perfect Circle, takes place at 8 p.m., Thursday, April 24, at Acrisure Arena, at 75702 Varner Road, in Palm Desert. Tickets start at $63.70. For tickets and more information, visit acrisurearena.com.