Tuesday, August 30, 2011

a perfect circle

Thank you...
Thank you to everyone who came out to see our 2011 tour.

~Maynard James Keenan

Maynard will release the new Puscifer album, "Conditions of My Parole," on Oct. 18 (facebook.com/puscifermusic), Billy is working on new music and tourdates for Ashes Divide (facebook.com/ashesdivide), James is working on his studio and music (facebook.com/jamesihamusic) and both Matt and Jeff will be working on Puscifer and Ashes Divide.

...and if you're lost, I'll back up; allow me introduce
A Perfect Circle is an rock supergroup formed in 1999 by guitarist Billy Howerdel and Tool vocalist Maynard James Keenan.
The original incarnation of the band also included Paz Lenchantin on bass, Troy Van Leeuwen on guitar, and Tim Alexander on drums.
The latest line-up features Puscifer and Ashes Divide live bassist Matt McJunkins, former guitarist for The Smashing Pumpkins, James Iha; and session drummer Josh Freese, who is best known for his work with Nine Inch Nails, but due to scheduling conflicts with Weezer (Josh's other project), Freeze was unable to tour these last months and Jeff Friedl stepped in to do the 2011 tour.

Despite having a varied cast since inception, the stylistic content of the songs has remained consistent with Howerdel as composer, and Keenan penning the lyrics.



 

A Perfect Circle at Ottawa Bluesfest: Concert Review


July 11, 2011
Ottawa's yearly Bluesfest is well underway and, in case you've missed it, 2011's lineup is a doozy. Some of the headliners include Soundgarden, The Black Keys, Blue Rodeo, Jane's Addiction and of course, A Perfect Circle (APC). While the Grammy Award winning Peter Frampton and Huey Louis performed earlier in the day, the big draw for the night was APC.

As the crowd eagerly awaited Maynard James Keenan and the rest of the band to take stage, music from The Sound of Music began playing. A Perfect Circle then came out and wasted no time performing a remixed version of their cover of Crucifix's Annihilation.

They followed up with three APC tracks: Weak and Powerless, The Hollow and the All Main Courses Mix of 3 Libras. The crowed erupted when Maynard, standing comfortably in the shadow of his bandmates, sung his lungs out during Counting Bodies Like Sheep To The Rhythm of The War Drums.

Adverse to attention, Maynard didn't speak to the crowd (except for a brief thank you at the end) and maintained his stance in a barely lit section in the back of the stage; a setting quite familiar to anyone who has seen the frontman perform with Tool.

Following their dark yet powerful rendition of Lennon's Imagine, and then a not as exciting cover of Led Zeppelin's When The Levee Breaks, A Perfect Circle finished the night with Passive, a song written by Trent Reznor for TapeWorm (a defunct project that he and Maynard collaborated on).

During Passive, Maynard exerted a loud and lengthy roar that silenced the entire crowd for a moment before they erupted once more.

Overall, A Perfect Circle delivered a solid, hard hitting performance with songs that were lengthier, reworked and definitely louder than their original recordings. They even graced us with their new track By & Down which already ranks up as one of their best.

A Perfect Circle is still on their brief tour and The Ottawa Bluesfest has plenty of good acts coming up over the next few days. If you're itching to see a concert, we'd recommend you attend either.





Playlist for the evening;

1) Annihilation
2) Weak and Powerless
3) The Hollow
4) 3 Libras
5) Counting Bodies Like Sheep to the Rhythm of the War Drums
6) People Are People
7) Blue
8) By And Down (New song)
9) The Noose
10) Magdalena
11) The Outsider
12) Imagine
13) When the Levee Breaks
14) Passive
There was no encore.

and here's the new song_____________







Spread of the Month II

_______::: Kelson :::_______