In recent months, Maynard James Keenan hasn’t been shy on his opinions about the state of the world we currently find ourselves inhabiting. He’s already spoken out freely against violent oppression and voiced his opposition to fundamentalist extremism.
Much of his growing unease and frustration at the state world was also channeled into his latest musical venture, Puscifer‘s fifth studio album “Normal Isn’t“. As he’s said many times in the press, that title is a direct reference to the absence of ‘normality’ he sees in modern times.
In a newly published chat with Louder, Keenan, who is also known for fronting alternative metal juggernauts Tool and A Perfect Circle, spoke with serious concern over the lack of empathy and humanity being displayed by society as a whole. He stated:
“I don’t know if you noticed, but the f*cking world’s on fire and I don’t think there’s enough buckets around to help put it out. There’s a lot of people that don’t seem interested or even notice that it’s on fire. We’ve lost the f*cking way. I think the ability to talk to each other is vanquished. It’s been unplugged. Frustrating times.”
That sentiment of a disconnect on a personal level is one also shared by Lamb Of God vocalist Randy Blythe, who like Keenan feels that the world of siloed algorithms and digital dopamine feeds, paired with bad actors and an ever-present culture war, has effectively severed previously cherished communal ties. Blythe told Kerrang! earlier this year of his concerns about how society has been steered away from a sense of community in that sense, stating:
“Most people are more isolated than ever. How many people know their neighbours? I know mine. Several of them have the key to my house. They can come and go when they please. I’ll watch their dog. They’ll watch my cat when I’m out of town. If they need something, they can just come in the house. It’s not a problem. Why? Because we are building community.”
While Keenan‘s views might not echo those of Blythe to the letter, it’s clear that both feel that the prevalence of technology and manipulative tactics employed by social media giants, and other nefarious individuals, have had a damning effect. Addressing his own political ideology, Keenan told Metal Hammer:
“I lean left, but I’m definitely centrist because it’s more about education and it’s about understanding motivation, and I’m absolutely abhorrently opposed to fundamentalist extremism. And there’s a whole bunch of those these days – right, left, centre, extremist people that are just latching on to a thing and they can’t move.
They are stuck, they’re going to die on this hill over stupid sh*t. And that’s the nature of the programming, of the AI, of the algorithms, feeding that dopamine addiction. We’re just being f*cking puppeteered.”
Keenan, who at one point was primed for a military career in his young years, was quick to point out though that he tends to practice observation through his artistry as opposed to unbridled activism:
“I’m not a politician, I’m not a soldier – I was a soldier, but I’m not a soldier. My only primary motivation is to see what I see, report the story. All I can do is what I know how to do, which is to tell stories, sing songs, make food, get you drunk. That’s all I can do.”
As a father of two, Keenan has alarmingly already seen the prevalence of politics creep into the life of his 10-year-old daughter. He told the aforementioned publication that he overheard her discussing Project 2025 with her friends. Project 2025 is a highly controversial initiative that was published in 2023 by the Heritage Foundation. It outlined many divisive right-wing aligned policies that some claimed would serve as an framework for Donald J. Trump‘s second term as U.S. President.
While initially disavowed by the Trump campaign during that election cycle, various initiatives outlined in Project 2025 have since come to pass. Keenan himself spoke of just how different his own upbringing was in contrast to that of his own daughter, for her to be aware of a contentious political at such a young age:
“I have a pretty good idea of what I was doing at the age of ten. But she’s with her friends talking Project 2025. Can you imagine being ten years old talking about that sh*t?”
