Does it make sense that one of the most enigmatic frontmen in all of rock music is now making his own wine — in northern Arizona?
Little about Maynard James Keenan makes sense, traditionally speaking. Keenan fronts the multiplatinum rock band Tool, and he’s been known to perform an entire show in an unlit corner of the stage — or covered head to toe in dark-blue paint.
Keenan, who also fronts the group Puscifer, is one of rock’s great mysteries. He rarely grants interviews, and the legions of fans who regularly fill arenas to hear him perform are constantly interpreting and debating his dark, intelligent lyrics.
Yet when we caught up with Keenan as he was driving north to the Petaluma, Calif., wine country, he spoke directly and with a friendly skip to his voice about his “new” side project.
Keenan is touring the country in celebration of his wine, including a couple of stops at the Whole Foods at 7400 E. Hampden Ave. from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday and Friday, where he will autograph bottles. And while people aren’t as familiar with his varietals (from his Caduceus Cellars and Merkin Vineyards) as they are his bands, he’d like to change that.
“We’re trying to get Arizona wine on the map,” he said quietly yet definitively.
Keenan’s love of wine comes from an honest place, and it might make sense to fans of his music that he’s the kind of rock star who is more likely to decompress after the show with a flavorful pinot noir than a shot of Jager.
“It speaks to me,” he said. “Some people like classical, some like jazz.”
Keenan lives in northern Arizona, about 57 miles southwest of Flagstaff in a region that reminds him of Spain or Italy more than the southern Rhone. He’s lived there since 1995, and the remote location feels right to him.
“It felt familiar,” Keenan said. “I’m from a small town anyway, so this made sense. Staring out from the back porch, the landscape looked like a lot of the places I’ve been in Europe.”
It may look like winemaking regions in Europe, but it’s still small- town America, and Keenan was met with a certain amount of resistance when he first announced his desire to start a vineyard there.
“Some people didn’t like it, of course, because it’s a small town and they don’t want to see change,” Keenan said. “They’re small and sustainable for a reason, and when people start doing random and crazy things . . . it was like, ‘Uh oh.’ ”
“But people didn’t realize that there was a wine industry there before Prohibition. There was an Italian-owned mining company there that was making wine, and they even continued to do so after the mines closed up. But then Prohibition hit, and that was the end of that.”
Keenan uses a certain percentage of grapes from California — “from farmers we’ve been working with who are fantastic artists, and we don’t want to lose those ties,” he said — but he’s focusing on Arizona grapes. When perfecting his creations, there was a lot of tasting and thought that went into the process.
“There were a lot of masters who came before us,” he said, “so you taste those wines and think, ‘I like these palates’ and ‘I like this method’ and ‘that acid level’ and ‘the structure of this.’ ”
Keenan lives within 5 to 10 miles of each of his vineyards, which dot mountainsides and isolated chunks of land around Cornville and Page Springs. These days, the vineyard is determining his schedule more than the band.
“It’s pruning season right now, but I’ve had a few things I’ve had to do so I haven’t been around a lot,” Keenan said. “But if (the grapes) are crushed, I’m around all the time because that’s when all the work is happening.
“With the music, there isn’t a set season of us touring or not touring — it’s not slated to the sun and the rain like the vineyard work. So I can let this work dictate when I can do that work, a little.”
Ricardo Baca: 303-954-1394 or rbaca@denverpost.com
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