On October 30, 2020 Puscifer released their first global livestream event Existential Reckoning: Live At Arcosanti. That event was so successful the band decided to perform another livestream titled Billy D and The Hall of Feathered Serpents Featuring Money $hot by Puscifer. Produced by Danny Wimmer Presents, the band would be performing their entire 2015 album Money Shot at the Los Angeles Mayan Theater, which serves as the backdrop to this story. Maynard James Keenan explained, “In this prequel to his alleged abduction during Existential Reckoning, we find Billy D trudging through what has been referred to as the Bermuda Triangle of the Southwest. As is common within the Puscifer Vortex, Time and Logic have no home out here. Let that go. Just strap in for another magnificent ride through our collective Grey Matter.” Maynard James Keenan (vocals), Carina Round (vocals, guitar), Mat Mitchell (guitar), Greg Edwards (bass), and Gunnar Olsen (drums) plus Juliette Commagere (keyboards) and Claire Acey (backing vocals) were ready to make livestream history once again.
As Maynard stated, we start off with Billy D (played by Maynard) in the desert calling his wife Hildi trying to get a ride to the bar. She promptly tells him to “F*ck you” before he makes his own way walking to find his way to the bar. He eventually finds himself in an alley leaving Hildi a message with a silver briefcase sitting there by itself. As he’s leaving the message, he explains in the voicemail much like in the movie with the aliens and the music (referencing Close Encounters of the Third Kind) he feels compelled to be where he is. Finally, a beautiful blonde woman wearing a gold and blue spandex outfit appears where the briefcase should be and he quickly hangs up saying “I gotta go!”
We see Billy D entering a bar with the briefcase and placing it on the stool. He asks the bartenders, who refer to themselves as bartesians (played by Jacob Vargas and Clifton Collins Jr.), for two shots of tequila one for himself and one for his friend, referring to the briefcase. The briefcase gets replaced with the blonde as we realize Billy D is hallucinating her. Billy D nearly gets into a fight with a bunch of Luchadors (masked Mexican wrestlers, which is an homage to the “The Remedy” video). The bartesians offer him a special drink called The Manstration. Billy D downs the drink and then slams on the briefcase that spews a white powder on him. Suddenly, Billy D collapses and passes out.
It’s then we find ourselves in The Hall of Feathered Serpents watching Puscifer perform the opening track “Gallileo”. The director takes a very cinematic take on presenting the band to the audience. It’s very hazy, slow motion, and my assumption through the view of Billy D‘s eyes as if he’s affected by a hallucinogenic drug. The style is also similar to “The Remedy” focusing the camera on instruments, hands, feet, and objects over the people performing. We do catch glimpses of Maynard and Carina in beautiful Medusa-like Luchador masks. And the music is so on point and harmoniously perfect. The guitars and keyboards blend so well, but it’s Maynard and Carina‘s vocals that truly round it out. We also stay here for “Agostina” getting some better view of The Hall of Feathered Serpents along with some killer bass riffs and tranquil keyboard notes.
As we move along we find Billy D talking under a spotlight to the audience about the comparisons between our past barbaric ancestors and humans today. He suggests that we are genetically still the same and that technology has lowered our own capabilities to problem solve compared to our ancestors and we still have that passion for violent behaviors. But, it’s our pure acts of selflessness to perform acts of kindness that define what it means to be human. The Luchadors from the bar suddenly surround Billy D and attack him. We then find Maynard and Carina in a wrestling ring with the rest of the band on the floor around it and the Luchadors rocking out to “Simultaneous”. This is such a fantastic song with amazing guitar riffs from Mat and a grooving drum beat from Gunnar. We also have cut scenes of Billy D being chased by the Luchadors in slow motion. As we slide into “Money Shot” the music is heavier and faster than the other singles and the Luchadors are now moshing outside the ring. During “The Arsonist” we get a few humourous moments of Billy D being chased by The Luchadors in a Scooby-Doo style montage.
Puscifer gets back to rocking us out with “The Remedy” and we see Billy D stumbling around the outside of the ring. The blonde woman can even be seen in the crowd. Billy D is messing with the Luchadors and right at the moment when Maynard sings, “You speak like someone who has never been smacked in the fucking mouth. That’s OK, we have the remedy”, the Luchadors toss Billy D into the ring and begin to beat on him with a variety of wrestling moves. And the music is perfectly in sync with the beat down until Billy D finds his way out and runs being chased off by the Luchadors.
The last four songs bring us back to The Hall of Feathered Serpents where you get a truly beautiful view of the theater. The band fogs it up with “Smoke and Mirrors” for the ambiance, which cinematically looks gorgeous and sounds amazing. One of the coolest shots was seeing the wrestling ring appear behind Maynard and Carina on a screen only to see the wrestlers standing on the ropes and touching the screen realizing they’re just right behind them. As we reach the end of the album we see Billy D stumbling upstairs towards a light to find himself….well, you’ll have to watch that for yourself.
I had one issue with the way the livestream was arranged. In between each song, they cut away to the bartesians mixing a drink to then present the drink as the next song title. They kept replaying the same clip over and over with only the drink naming being different. The audience kept getting yanked out of the experience for some short comedy snippet before getting back into it again. This broke up the mood too much and could have been better off without those cuts.
Overall, Puscifer and Danny Wimmer Presents presented a great livestream experience. Musically and cinematographically, everything was on point. The full track list for Money Shot is:
- Galileo
- Agostina
- Grand Canyon
- Simultaneous
- Money Shot
- The Arsonist
- The Remedy
- Smoke and Mirrors
- Flippant
- Life of Brian (Apparently You Haven’t Seen)
- Autumn
You still have time to watch Billy D and The Hall of Feathered Serpents Featuring Money $hot by Puscifer. Go over to pusciferlive.com and get your ticket and exclusive merchandise. The livestream will be available to watch until Tuesday, April 20, 2021 at 11:59 PM ET. Don’t miss out on this extraordinary event! And, when you do, stay for the credits!
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