Greg Puciato

Greg Puciato
Greg Puciato at the Picture on festival in Bildein, Austria, August 2011
Background information
Birth name	Gregory John Puciato
Born	(1980-03-27) March 27, 1980 Baltimore, Maryland, United States
Genres	Mathcore, alternative metal, experimental metal, hardcore punk, digital hardcore, darkwave, synthpop
Occupation(s)	Musician, singer
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, bass, programming, keyboards
Years active	2001–present
Labels	Season of Mist, Party Smasher, Relapse, Epitaph
Associated acts	The Dillinger Escape Plan, Killer Be Killed, Spylacopa, The Black Queen, Error

Gregory John "Greg" Puciato (born March 27, 1980) is the lead singer of the band The Dillinger Escape Plan, The Black Queen, and the supergroup Killer Be Killed. He is known for his reckless live performances, wide vocal range, and outspoken views, having caused controversy due to both performances and interviews. He joined The Dillinger Escape Plan in September 2001 and first performed with the group weeks later at the CMJ music conference in October 2001.

In a scenario mirroring that of young Henry Rollins & Black Flag, Puciato started out as a fan of the band in their earlier days. When the band split with their singer Dimitri Minakakis (due to him wanting to focus more on Graphic Arts/Design), they searched publicly for a new singer by releasing the instrumental version of the song "43% Burnt" (off of their debut album). Puciato sent in a tape with one version of him mimicking Dimitri Minakakis and one with his own take on the song. He was contacted shortly after by the band, auditioned in person, and was subsequently asked to join. Coincidentally, the band's first release with Puciato was for a Black Flag tribute compilation, where they covered Damaged I and II.

In the December 2007 issue of Revolver Puciato was voted one of the "37 greatest metal frontmen" of all time.^[1] In 2013 he was named number one by MetalSucks in their listing of "top 25 modern metal frontmen".^[2]

Biography

Puciato also sang all of the vocals on the five-song, self-titled EP of Electro-Punk-Hardcore band Error (founded by Atticus Ross and Brett Gurewitz of Bad Religion). However his position could only be considered temporary studio work, since the band never played any concerts. Rumors spread later on, indicating Error was looking for a permanent singer.

Puciato was also involved with Spylacopa, an experimental musical project headed by Candiria guitarist John LaMacchia (along with Julie Christmas of Made Out of Babies and Jeff Caxide of Isis). Spylacopa released a self-titled EP in 2008, with vocals, as well as some guitar and piano/programming, written by Puciato. Similar programming and piano playing would appear on The Dillinger Escape Plan's Option Paralysis album as the bonus track "Chuck McChip". Puciato confirmed in 2012 that both Spylacopa and Error were "dead".^[3]

Puciato is furthermore a frequent collaborator, and guest on other shows. He lent his vocals to Genghis Tron's song "The Feast" on their 2008 release Board Up the House. He contributed a remix of the song "Bad Fall" on the 2009 Prong remix album Power of the Damn Mixxxer. He features in A Static Lullaby's song "The Pledge" from their 2008 album Rattlesnake!. He and The Dillinger Escape Plan repeatedly joined the stage with Nine Inch Nails during their Wave Goodbye Tour in North America, and in Australia (both with The Dillinger Escape Plan, and solo, performing the songs "Wish" and "Mr. Self Destruct"). He contributed minor backup vocals on the song "The Marvelous Slut" on the Every Time I Die album New Junk Aesthetic. In late November 2009 he appeared on stage during the two Deftones concerts at the Avalon Hollywood. He sang the Deftones songs "Passenger" and "Hexagram", as well as the Metallica classic "Battery", all with Chino Moreno, as part of the Chi Cheng benefit show, and then later performed "Passenger" most nights on the 2011 Deftones/Dillinger Escape Plan North American tour. In 2010 he appeared on and co-wrote(with Max Cavalera) the Soulfly track "Rise of the Fallen" on their record Omen, and has on occasion performed the song live with them. He also appears on the Architects track "Year In/Year Out" on their 2011 release The Here and Now.

On July 23, 2010, Greg's death was faked by bandmates Ben Weinman and Liam Wilson, when they posted on their Twitter accounts that Greg had passed in his sleep. Shortly after their Warped Tour set on July 23, Every Time I Die vocalist Keith Buckley tweeted, "If Greg Puciato is dead, then his corpse just played a great set on mainstage today." debunking the rumors of Greg's death.

In February 2011 Puciato and Devin Townsend publicly decided to collaborate after both being Tweeted by a fan expressing interest in seeing them work together. The track ended up being called "The Mighty Masturbator" and was released as part of Townsend's Deconstruction album. Upon hearing the vocals, Townsend remarked "Ladies and Gentlemen, Greg Puciato just tore me a new asshole. Fucking hell…AWESOME".

Later in February 2011, Max Cavalera, in an interview with Swedish magazine Metalshrine, revealed that he and Greg were working on a full-length album, similar in style to Cavalera's Nailbomb project. The band, later named Killer Be Killed, was also announced to feature former Mars Volta drummer Dave Elitch, and Troy Sanders of Mastodon. In September 2013 the band recorded their self-titled debut album at Fortress Studio in Los Angeles with producer Josh Wilbur for a May 13, 2014 release.^[4]

In 2012 Puciato appeared as vocalist on Igor Cavalera's electronic duo Mixhell's track "Exit Wound".

Puciato has been involved with multiple band "feuds", including Avenged Sevenfold, Disturbed, and most recently Jared Leto's Thirty Seconds to Mars, the latter being mainly between fans of the two bands after Puciato called Leto a "poser".^[5]

In 2002 The Dillinger Escape Plan made national United Kingdom headlines when, at the prestigious Reading Festival, Puciato defecated in full view onstage, put it into a bag, and threw it into the crowd before smearing the rest onto himself, proclaiming "This is a bag of shit, I just wanted to show you this so you'll recognize it later on throughout the day", in reference to the quality of music he felt was appearing that day of the festival. The band's set was one of the highest reviewed of the entire festival that year, and was later included in a list of the top one hundred Reading or Leeds performances of the decade.^[6] Upon returning to Reading in 2016, Puciato played the show sitting on an onstage couch reading a newspaper and drinking coffee.^[7]

He has been outwardly critical of both organized religion and mainstream politics, and of the relationship between the two,^[8] and has been consistently supportive of LGBT rights, criticizing homophobia in metal,^[9] releasing a shirt in support of LGBT rights with The Dillinger Escape Plan,^[10] and debuting a video from The Black Queen on Out Magazine's website.^[11]

In early 2013 Puciato abruptly disappeared from all forms of social media, including Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, later saying that they had become a distraction and had misplaced peoples' focus, and that he felt "paralyzed" by them.^[12]

He announced in an interview with Revolver Magazine that he is involved in a new project with Josh Eustis and Steven Alexander, called The Black Queen, with a release originally expected at some stage in 2014.^[13] The band posted their first song, and an explanation for the long wait, in June 2015.^[14] The debut album Fever Daydream was self-released on January 29, 2016, debuting at Number 2 on the Billboard Electronic chart.^[15][16]

In May 2014 Suicide Silence announced that Puciato had contributed guest vocals to a song called "Monster Within", on the album You Can't Stop Me, their first album after the death of vocalist Mitch Lucker.^[17]

In January 2015 Puciato appeared as a murderer in the Retox video "Let's Not Keep In Touch", in which he chases and kills Retox guitar player Mike Crain with a baseball bat, before dumping him out of a van which Justin Pearson is driving.^[18]

In July 2015 Puciato appeared as a guest vocalist on the Lamb of God track "Torches."

In August 2016 he told Metal Hammer magazine that the previously announced Dillinger "hiatus" was in fact a "break up" and explained the artistic reasoning for doing so.^[19]

Musical Output

The Dillinger Escape Plan

Puciato singing while hanging head down from the ceiling

Spylacopa

2008: Spylacopa (EP)

Killer Be Killed

2014: Killer Be Killed

The Black Queen

2015: The End Where We Start 12"

2015: Ice To Never 12"

2016: Fever Daydream

Guest Work

References

External links

• The Dillinger Escape Plan's Official Facebook