Wine

Musician Maynard James Keenan takes his performance from the stage to the vineyard in this new documentary

The list of musicians that have turned their hand to producing wine includes names like Dave Matthews, Madonna, Vince Neil and Cliff Richards, so it’s not a shock that Maynard James Keenan, lead singer of the metal band Tool, has joined this illustrious collection. But while many celebrities will lend their name, money and ‘vision’ to a brand, few take part in the day-to-day business of the vineyard, but Maynard is different and the new documentary film Blood Into Wine gives audiences a backstage pass.

If you know anything about Tool (and I didn’t before watching the film) you will know that Maynard (who is also the front man for A Perfect Circle and Puscifer) is a bit of a ‘character’. He’s been on stage in nothing but skin-tight shorts and a mohawk, head banging to lyrics such as “I am the demon cleaner who saves the day”, so juxtapose that image with the one portrayed in the film of a comic wit shielded by a pokerfaced façade, shoveling soil and planting vines by hand in the middle of the Verde Valley – one of north-central Arizona’s most arid areas – and things start to get interesting! Read the rest of this entry »