There’s busy, and then there’s Greg Puciato busy. In the thick of his 16-year tenure fronting metalcore act the Dillinger Escape Plan, he got involved in several other endeavors, including wide-ranging postmetal project Spylacopa, alt-metal supergroup Killer Be Killed, and synthwave act the Black Queen. Since the band’s dissolution in 2017 he’s continued to carry a heavy workload—Killer Be Killed and the Black Queen are still going concerns, and he’s formed the record label and art collective Federal Prisoner. He’s also continued to be a go-to guest vocalist within the extreme-music space and beyond.
In the past few weeks alone, Puciato has wrapped up a tour with Jerry Cantrell where he added backup vocals and harmonies to Cantrell’s solo material and Alice in Chains hits; he’s announced he’s joining members of Fit for an Autopsy and Every Time I Die in a much-anticipated new project called Better Lovers; and he’s launched his first-ever solo tour, which began May 3 and stops at Cobra Lounge on May 14.
Puciato’s first two solo albums, 2020’s Child Soldier: Creator of God and 2022’s Mirrorcell, released on Federal Prisoner, show him at his most unchained. They’re a composite of all his influences, experiences, and interests—a Puciato sampler platter piled high with bites of grunge, experimental noise, industrial, metal, and synthwave. He’s already known for no-holds-barred live performances where he sacrifices his body for his art—he usually left a Dillinger show bruised and bloodied—and this broad musical arsenal should amp up his solo shows even further.
Puciato’s tentacles reach into many corners of the heavy-music community, enabling him to line up an ensemble for this tour that’s a draw in itself: guitarists Nick Sadler (Daughters) and James Hammontree (aka Black Magnet), drummer Noah Taylor (Destroyer Destroyer), and bassist Jeff Geisser. (Hammontree and Geisser both appear on Puciato’s recent live album, 11/11/22: Los Angeles, which documents his first show as a solo artist.) In a press release, Puciato says these dates will “possibly be the only tour under my own name for the foreseeable future,” so consider yourself warned.
The night’s openers are Brooklyn harsh industrial project Trace Amount, eclectic San Diego grindcore outfit Deaf Club (featuring members of the Locust and ACxDC), and upstate New York powerviolence punishers Escuela Grind, who recently signed to MNRK and are working with producer (and Converge guitarist) Kurt Ballou on new tracks whose theme of empowerment reflects the ethos of their live shows.
Greg Puciato Escuela Grind, Deaf Club, and Trace Amount open. Sun 5/14, 6:30 PM, Cobra Lounge, 1375 W. Lake, $35, all ages