Greg Puciato

On March 1, 2020, Puciato premiered the single "Fire For Water" on BBC Radio 1, featuring Dillinger original drummer Chris Pennie. The next day, he released a music video for the song on Revolver. The single is the first off his upcoming debut solo album, Child Soldier: Creator of God, which will be released through Federal Prisoner. On May 1, Puciato released the second single "Deep Set" alongside its video premiered on Consequence of Sound. Both 12-inch vinyls were limited to 250 copies and each sold out within hours, respectively, but digital editions remain available.

Puciato wrote the foreword for Jesse Draxler's 2018 visual arts book Misophonia. On February 12, 2019, the singer released a book of poetry and photography titled Separate the Dawn, through Federal Prisoner. The book was written during the Dillinger Escape Plan's last tour and its release date marked the second anniversary of the band's accident in Poland. The initial 1000 hardcover copies were followed by a second pressing of 200, each selling out within four days.

On December 6 and 7, 2019, Puciato, along with former Dillinger drummer Gil Sharone and film composer Tyler Bates, joined Jerry Cantrell of Alice in Chains for two full shows of Alice In Chains songs and Jerry Cantrell solo material. The sold-out concerts were Cantrell’s first solo concerts since 2004.

On June 15, 2018, the band announced that a new album called Infinite Games would be released on September 28, as well as the formation of a label named Federal Prisoner with frequent visual collaborator and fine artist Jesse Draxler.

In June 2018, Puciato announced the formation of the record label and art collective Federal Prisoner for the release of the Black Queen's second album Infinite Games. Co-founded by him and visual artist Jesse Draxler, he called the label "as much an act of refusal as it is a statement of intent", further elaborating in a blog post for Spotify that they would be "giving more than we would be gaining" by signing to an outside label, and that "everything I used to see as help, I suddenly saw as unnecessary at best, and a liability at worst."

In 2018, Puciato revealed that in recent times he had been diagnosed with attention deficit disorder and has subsequently treated it. He has struggled with panic attacks and agoraphobia as well.

In 2018, Puciato explained that he has a "really big gag reflex" for artists who are not genuine with their audiences. He has criticized Puddle of Mudd, Fall Out Boy, and Jared Leto of Thirty Seconds to Mars, the latter whom he called a "poser".

In 2017, detailing his vocal composition and recording processes, Puciato stated, "I don't leave anything out of the realm of possibility when it comes to vocal style, as far as getting what I want. I'm more interested in capturing or amplifying the emotion of the song". He compared writing a song to a "morphing straight line", rather than a "collection of parts". Despite the genre disparity, Puciato follows the same approach in writing for both the Black Queen, characterized by moody electronics, and the Dillinger Escape Plan, featuring complex rhythms and violent changes. Before composing many songs, he usually listens to their instrumentals hundreds of times, in different situations, immersing himself in their structures until a "breakthrough" happens, usually involving a short verse, and then his writing naturally progresses.

Following the disbandment of the Dillinger Escape Plan in December 2017, Puciato started intensive cardio routines in order to, among other things, avoid experiencing "chemical tour withdrawal" due to "expell[ing] a small nuclear reactor's worth of energy ... [after] 17 years [of being] nearly every night on tour".

On February 12, 2017, during their European farewell tour, the Dillinger Escape Plan was involved in a vehicle crash after a truck collided with their bus near Radomsko, Poland. Thirteen people were injured, but the band members were not seriously hurt; Puciato tore a quadriceps, which he did not treat immediately and worsened. However, he later revealed that he began to suffer from serious mental health issues during this tour, including panic disorder and hypochondria, but his symptoms became "almost unlivable" after the accident and led him to seek treatment.

Since the Dillinger Escape Plan broke up in December 2017, Puciato has released several series of limited records through Federal Prisoner. This partially stemmed from Puciato's experiences with people in the music industry who focused on the number of sales or looked for the prestige gained by involving themselves in large labels-brands, which he believes tampers the creative authenticity-if they have any-of artists. In 2018, he further added, "[Some musicians are in] this imaginary cage of, "I gotta keep getting bigger! We need to do more than we did last time! We need to sell more!" No, you don't! That's madness. Are you trying to be Walmart? ... You want to give people something when you do something, everytime you do anything or say anything, otherwise you're just trying to draw attention or take their money."

According to The Range Place, Puciato has a Verdi baritone voice type and, as of August 2016, his recorded vocal range spans from A1 to C6, reaching 4 octaves, 3 notes. In addition to his range, reviewers have highlighted his versatility, which may vary drastically in a single song, and unusual harmonization; both characteristics display features more akin to other genres than to heavy metal. His diverse techniques cover crooning, screaming and, as stated by Ultimate Guitar, "so many different noises and sounds that don't even present themselves as human", comparing him with a "computer". His singing often includes a "come-hither falsetto" and an "adenoidal quality". As regards his harsh vocals, journalist Calum McMillan singles out the rare "variation in tone and control" he attains, while MetalSucks calls it "surprisingly-well-enunciated" and "unmistakable ... to just blend in with metal's interchangeable screamers". Chris Corfield at Dawsons.co.uk considers Puciato one of the best examples of a singer who masters all heavy metal's various vocal styles.

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.

He announced in an interview with Revolver Magazine that he was involved in a new band with Josh Eustis and Nine Inch Nails/A Perfect Circle guitar technician Steven Alexander, called the Black Queen, with a release originally expected at some stage in 2014. The band posted their first song, "The End Where We Start", and an explanation for the long wait in June 2015. The debut album Fever Daydream was self-released on January 29, 2016, debuting at number 2 on the Billboard Electronic chart.

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 Michael Crain with a baseball bat, before dumping him out of a van which frontman Justin Pearson is driving. In December 2016, Puciato appeared as a dancing shadow figure in the Drab Majesty video "39 By Design".

He and the Dillinger Escape Plan repeatedly joined the stage with Nine Inch Nails during their 2009 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"). On November 19–20, 2009, as part of the Chi Cheng benefit show at the Avalon Hollywood, he sang the Deftones songs "Passenger" and "Hexagram", both with Chino Moreno, as well as the Metallica classic "Battery" alongside members of Deftones, Metallica, System of a Down and Children of Bodom. He performed "Passenger" again most nights on the 2011 Deftones/Dillinger Escape Plan North American tour. On May 4, 2015, Puciato and Andrew Kline of Strife were invited on stage by Cavalera Conspiracy in Los Angeles for a cover of "Pay to Cum" by the Bad Brains.

In early 2015, all of Puciato's personal belongings were stolen while he was relocating to a new place.

—Alternative Press on Puciato's stage performances with Dillinger, 2019

Later in February 2011, Max Cavalera, in an interview with Swedish magazine Metalshrine, revealed that he and Puciato 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. It was released on May 13, 2014.

In a 2013 interview, Puciato said that he does not "have a filter" on his statements, live performances and songs' lyrics, and in the past he thought that this "was a plus". He claims that this led his social media to become a "distraction" and distorted their original intention, which was to have a closer relationship with his fans. Eventually, he close them all in late 2012, including Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

For the most part, Greg Puciato has avoided addressing his personal and family relationships in order to respect their privacy. In 2012, it was reported that he was romantically linked to former pornographic actress Jenna Haze. After this surfaced, the singer expressed uneasiness yet thought that it was "somewhat unavoidable" due to their public profiles at the time.

In January 2012, the singer ended up with the assistance of emergency units after ingesting hallucinogenic mushrooms mixed with other substances, which had caused what he described as "something in between a near-death experience and a near-out-of-body experience."

From around 2011 to 2013, Puciato had many experiences with psychedelic drugs.

The singer's athletic body has drawn the attention of media and fans. Puciato started working out at fifteen because he saw it as a healthy hobby besides music and "just kept going with ... [because] it kinda kept me out of a lot of trouble - I mean, I don't really drink or do drugs or anything like that. So it's like what else do you do?" In a 2010 interview with ESPN, Puciato revealed that he had considered becoming a professional bodybuilder, but ultimately changed his mind because "that industry has turned into a freak show". By 2018, he had reduced his weightlifting sessions drastically and in turn shifted them into many forms of aerobic exercises, which was preceded by a reassessment of his motives behind training. That year, he said that "hilariously, I’m probably in the best conditioning of my life right now to do something like play Dillinger shows, and I don’t really even need to be."

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

In 2010, Puciato referred to Animals as Leaders as his "favorite instrumental metal band ever! ... [Their style is] refreshing. Usually virtuosity and boring go hand in hand, but this is a perfect marriage of soul-feeling with absurdly proficient guitar playing." Shortly after listening to them, he approached the band with the idea of a joint tour with Dillinger which then came about in March of that year. He has called Prurient "one of the handful of people I've met who feel like true kindred spirits" and expressed "absolute respect" for Converge and their "artistic integrity." He has also expressed admiration for Discordance Axis, calling The Inalienable Dreamless "probably my favorite grindcore album of all time", Neurosis, and The Köln Concert by Keith Jarrett.

He contributed a remix of the song "Bad Fall" on the 2009 Prong remix album Power of the Damn Mixxxer.

Puciato moved to Los Angeles, California around 2009. He cited his discomfort with the cold weather of the American East Coast as the main reason.

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 affirmed in 2012 that Spylacopa is "dead as of now."

Puciato has recorded guest vocals on several songs: "The Feast" by Genghis Tron (2008), "The Pledge" by A Static Lullaby (2008), "The Marvelous Slut" by Every Time I Die (2009), "Rise of the Fallen" by Soulfly (2010), "Year In/Year Out" by Architects (2011), "The Mighty Masturbator" by Devin Townsend (2011), "Exit Wound" by Mixhell (2012), "Monster Within" by Suicide Silence (2014) and "Torches" by Lamb of God (2015). He has on occasion joined Soulfly and Devin Townsend on stage to sing his parts. The collaboration between Puciato and Townsend came about in February 2011, after both being Tweeted by a fan expressing interest in seeing them work together. Upon hearing the vocals of "The Mighty Masturbator", Townsend remarked "Ladies and Gentlemen, Greg Puciato just tore me a new asshole. Fucking hell… AWESOME!"

Puciato is widely considered one of the greats, if not the greatest, contemporary heavy metal frontmen. In the December 2007 issue of Revolver, Puciato was voted one of the "37 greatest metal frontmen" of all time. In 2013 he was named number one by MetalSucks in their listing of "top 25 modern metal frontmen". In 2018, Loudwire placed Puciato 9th in their listing of the "Top 30 frontmen + frontwomen of the 21st century".

On June 10, 2006, the Dillinger Escape Plan played in Fredericksburg, Virginia in front of a hostile audience and one of its spectators stole James Love's guitar, leading Puciato to chase him from the stage to the parking lot where the robber got into his car, ran over the singer's foot and a member of Cattle Decapitation tossed a hammer through his windshield, yet he managed to flee. At the Los Angeles House of Blues, opening for Cavalera Conspiracy in 2008, Puciato jumped into the VIP section and threw a chair to a security guard who was "roughing up" a fan, giving rise to a near-riot and the personnel trying to drag the singer off the stage for the rest of their set. This event ended up with six police cars arriving at the place.

In 2004, Puciato sang all of the vocals on the five-song, self-titled EP of digital hardcore band Error, founded by future NIN-member Atticus Ross and Epitaph Records owner and Bad Religion guitarist Brett Gurewitz. His position was mainly considered as temporary studio work, since the band never played any concerts. Puciato affirmed in 2012 that Error is "dead as of now."

On his first live show with Dillinger, a heckler who asked for Minakakis was hit with a monitor thrown from the stage. A few shows afterward, Puciato's face was hit by a guitar, shattering a tooth and requiring emergency dentistry. During a 2002 show supporting System of a Down in Europe, audience members taunted the band and hurled chicken at them, which the singer picked up and ate. At their June 2002's Krazy Fest performance at Louisville Waterfront Park, Kentucky, Puciato set their guitar cabinets on fire, threw them into the Ohio River and leaped off into the water, unaware that the undertow could have pulled him deep beneath the surface and consequently drowned him.

At the 2002 edition of the Reading Festival in the United Kingdom, Puciato defecated 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" referring to other bands that would appear that day of the festival, particularly Puddle of Mudd and Hoobastank. The act caused much controversy and had the Dillinger Escape Plan on the verge of being banned in the UK. Upon returning to Reading in 2016, Puciato played the opening song "Prancer" sitting on an onstage couch reading a newspaper and drinking tea.

Stage performances by Greg Puciato, particularly as a member of the Dillinger Escape Plan, were noted for their reckless, chaotic nature. The band was already known for its shows, but the addition of the singer in 2001 led to their most infamous performances. Commenting on his athletic physique and destructive antics, Invisible Oranges stated, "There have been plenty of imposing physiques in heavy music, but few have weaponized their body the way that Puciato has. ... He treats his body like a battering ram, using it to crash against walls of other humans." The site went on to say that "Puciato is the perfect physical embodiment of the Dillinger Escape Plan's music. [Ben] Weinman smashes his guitar. Puciato smashes himself." The concerts caused him both cumulative and direct injuries, leading a news website to comment in 2013 that "Thankfully, Mr. Puciato has not, as of this writing, actually killed himself while" performing.

Puciato joined mathcore band 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 and Black Flag, Puciato started out as a fan of the Dillinger Escape Plan in their earlier days. When the band split with their singer Dimitri Minakakis (due to him wanting to focus more on his career and personal life), 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 a 2003 interview, Puciato said that the band had gone on to "mean everything to" him. He sang on every subsequent release.

Puciato was raised in Baltimore, Maryland. He is an only child. His Belarusian ancestors came to the United States from Slutsk. The parents of Puciato owned many vinyl records by artists such as Elton John, Bee Gees, Prince, Black Sabbath, Mitch Miller and Molly Hatchet, as well as an old victrola, and they bought him a small 7-inch record player. They listened to music constantly and Puciato's early memories include beating on things to drum along, and singing along, it. In recent years, Puciato revealed that he grew up in a dangerous, poor neighborhood, which "giant[ly]" influenced him in the sense that he does not "feel uncomfortable in any area," while the African-American culture of the area led to his fondness for R&B and hip-hop. As a child, Guns N' Roses was the first band Puciato was "obsessed with." Around the age of nine, he saw Metallica's video for "One", which was the "darkest thing [he had watched]" and inspired him to learn Metallica songs on the guitar. During this period, he describes his life as centered around thrash metal and Nintendo. In early 1990, Puciato went "through a really rapid musical evolution," broadening his taste to bands such as Faith No More, Primus and Bad Brains. When recalling the appearance of these or other artists such as Nine Inch Nails on TV, he viewed it as "inspiring" and said it "seemed like the weirdos had infiltrated the system, or created a new one." He recorded his first cassette at thirteen, performing original music with his best friend who was a drummer. When he was a teenager, Puciato began to write abstract poetry, his first passion, in parallel to songwriting. At the age of fourteen, Puciato started singing for a thrash metal group. While originally their guitarist, he switched to vocals because he was "too much of a control freak to let someone else sing" and could not perform both at the same time, but he continued writing the band's songs on guitar. After realizing that singing came more naturally to him, he started focusing on it and recorded himself on an eight-track recorder for many years, trying to analyze and improve his technique.

As regard his influences, Puciato stated, "everything I've ever liked I sort of make a mental impression of. A song or soundtrack or moment from a movie, or the way an entire movie feels, or simply the way an actor feels, the way a writer feels." He describes them as cumulative and not always musical, trying "to find a way [of expressing them] through me vocally." When he was a child, the performance of singers Mike Patton in The Real Thing (1989), Les Claypool in Frizzle Fry (1990), H.R. in I Against I (1986) and Chuck Mosley in We Care a Lot (1985) deeply influenced him. He would later cite Faith No More's Mike Patton and Bad Brains's H.R. as his biggest inspirations when growing up, who "opened my eyes a lot to what could be done with the voice overtop of heavy music." R&B singer Maxwell was a giant influence on Puciato's falsetto, and Death's Chuck Schuldiner, especially his 1995 album Symbolic, on his death growl technique. Other prominent influences include Loveless by My Bloody Valentine; soul and R&B vocalists Seal, Russell Thompkins Jr., Sade, 1998 album Embrya by Maxwell, Rick James song "Fire and Desire" and Carl Anderson's "Heaven on Their Minds" from Jesus Christ Superstar; Mazzy Star frontwoman Hope Sandoval; and film director Stanley Kubrick.

Gregory John Puciato (born March 27, 1980) is an American musician best known as the lead vocalist of the currently disbanded band the Dillinger Escape Plan. He is also the lead singer of the Black Queen and Killer Be Killed, in which he also plays guitar. Puciato is noted for the intensity of his live performances, wide vocal and stylistic range, outspoken views, and controversy stemming from his bands' performances and interviews.