Greg Puciato’s “Fuck Content” Livestream was an Intimate, Mind-Blowing Musical Experience [Event Review]

On December 11th, Greg Puciato performed material from his debut solo album, Child Soldier: Creator of God (CSCOG), as an isolated audio/visual experience for 15 dollars U.S. admission. Puciato released CSCOG early in October, ahead of the scheduled release date due to an album leak (the last thing ANY artist right now needs is an album leak during a pandemic).

Looking for a way to deliver a CSCOG performance, Puciato started developing Fuck Content as a short film/home video debuting as a streaming event. What developed is a ten-song live performance and four new studio songs that include behind-the-scenes footage of both the live shoot and the studio recordings. Footage during filming showcases Puciato along with Chris Hornbrook (drums), Nick Rowe (guitar and keys), Jeff Geisser (bass), and Steve Evetts (producer in-studio) creating the live footage. But we also see them developing the new studio material, making decisions on how it might be presented as the final product that was put out for streaming for 48 hours on the Federal Prisoner website.

Exclusive product was released to accompany the live stream in lieu of not offering touring merchandise. Two very limited 2LP vinyl pressings of the Fuck Content live set and the four new songs. An assortment of Jesse Draxler-designed merch/apparel. A new super limited (250 copies) special vinyl variant of Greg Puciato’s CSCOG; along with a Blu-ray of the visual Fuck Content component. This exclusive merchandise was only made available during the 48-hour streaming window.

After a virtual “lobby” with a chat room component that launched a half-hour before the event, Fuck Content was unveiled to the world at 3 pm/6 pm EST. The slowly building audio ambiance grew in volume to reveal Puciato and Nick Rowe perched atop bar stools cast against smoke machines as they run through the sombre “Heaven of Stone” in an intimate acoustic fashion. Some glitchy interference derivative of VHS tape interference serves to transition us into the next song, “Creator of God,” performed in stark lighting with the full band from an assortment of camera angles.

Artwork for ‘Fuck Content’ by Greg Puciato

From here, we are treated to a mixture of material from CSCOG and introduced to the four new studio tracks by way of different camera techniques and glitching effects for the next hour. CSCOG is an eclectic album of varied styles, touching on Puciato’s vocal prowess’ diversity as often as it touches on its myriad of musical genres. The album’s refusal to stick to any one music genre is part of what makes it so great, a character trait amplified by this live stream presentation. A mixture of steady and handheld camera movements strengthens this performance, allowing the viewer to see it from vantage points impossible compared to standing at a stage in a live venue. There were moments filmed over Puciato’s shoulder that felt like he might break the fourth wall and back right out of the viewer’s monitor and bump into them.

Puciato released his solo album and the Reluctant Hero album (read our review here) by Killer Be Killed (with Max Cavalera, Troy Sanders, and Ben Koller) within weeks of each other this fall. With two of the very best albums of 2020, he has essentially achieved a triple crown for output this year with Fuck Content, arguably the best live streaming event of 2020.

Greg Puciato’s “Fuck Content” Setlist:

1. Heaven of Stone
2. Creator of God
3. Absence As a Presence (studio)
4. Fire For Water
5. Deep Set
6. Do You Need Me to Remind You?/Absence snippet
7. Don’t Wanna Deal (studio)
8. Down When I’m Not
9. Roach Hiss
10. Crazy All Around (studio)
11. Fireflies
12. Evacuation
13. September City
14. Lying at the Bottom of the Sky (studio)

Greg Puciato live by Jim Louvau