The video itself was a prelude for last weekend’s spectacular Billy D And The Hall Of Feathered Serpents Featuring Money $Hot By Puscifer livestream, which saw the group perform their third album in its entirety, replete with a cast of Luchador wresters.
Up next we have the release of Existential Reckoning as a beautiful European exclusive picture disc vinyl, so you can now revel in its beguiling artwork all over again (“Daniel Martin Diaz is an incredible artist,” praises Maynard, “I highly recommend you check out his work”).
Here, K! catches up with Maynard to find out what’s next for this most exciting and unpredictable of bands…
Let’s begin with the desert dwelling scamp Billy Dee in the Bullet Train To Iowa video. It’s hard to tell whether to feel sorry for him or revere him…
“He’s a total fuck-up. He's just that selfish unconscious part of all of us that just keeps fucking up fast, and it’s picking up speed no matter what he does. He's got an extremely patient wife named Hildy, but even she's lost her patience at this point.”
Yet no matter what terrible things also happen to him, he just seems to roll with the punches…
“He’s our alcoholic Winnie The Pooh.”
People often talk about how music enhances the world of characters as they appear in films and TV. What have characters such as Billy Dee brought to Puscifer’s music?
“They bring pieces of us that are positive, pieces that are negative, and give them a way to vent. Quite a few of those characters are not really directly connected to the music; they’re more of a vibe for a perspective and point of view. In a positive way, and in a confusing way, it ends up opening up more possibilities – and sometimes you end up more confused than when you started. It ends up being a nice puzzle.”
It’s reassuring to hear that sometimes even you are confused by your own creations…
“Yeah (laughs), it’s absolutely baffling, like, ‘How the hell are we going to paint our way out of this [narratively]?’ But it's a good puzzle to have, it keeps you sharp.”
Given the cast of characters in Puscifer and the fact you’re still pouring a lot of creativity into it, to what extent do you still see Existential Reckoning as a work in progress – that releasing an album is only ever part of the process?
“We’re actually working on a rework album, but I have no idea when it will come out because everything with COVID and holidays threw a wrench in some of it, but it is getting done. We don't have anything scheduled yet for it to come out, but those are songs that are going to probably change direction, and when we go out and actually tour them, they’ll probably evolve as well.”