These Phoenix punks are playing Maynard James Keenan's new vinyl cafe
- Maynard James Keenan invited There Is No Us to play at his new venue, Queen B Vinyl Cafe, after their tour with Mushroomhead prevented them from playing the original date.
It was shortly after the August release of the There Is No Us self-titled debut album that Maynard James Keenan reached out to Jim Louvau, the rock photographer who fronts the industrial punks, to see if they were free Oct. 26 to play a grand opening weekend bash at Keenan's new space in Old Town Cottonwood, the Queen B Vinyl Café .
"I was stoked that he asked," Louvau recalls. "But we were in Cleveland that night for the last show of a tour we did with Mushroomhead. So it was super cool that Maynard extended the invite, but we obviously couldn't do it."
Thinking fast, he asked if they could do a different date. And Jennifer Keenan, the winemaking Tool singer's wife, who co-owns the business, said, "Sure, pick whatever you want."
They settled on Saturday, Dec. 14.
It's the first show by a local act at the Keenans' new venue, with another Phoenix group, Jane N' the Jungle, opening.
Queen B Vinyl Café will also exhibit Louvau's rock photography
The Queen B Vinyl Café will also host an exhibition of Louvau's photography that day, including shots of Keenan.
"It's a special thing that's not going to happen anytime soon again," Louvau, who freelanced many concert photos for The Arizona Republic as he was getting started in the business, says of combining his passion for music and photography in one event.
"This will be my first exhibit since 2019. And it'll also be the first exhibit where I'm showcasing lots of my work instead of one singular artist."
His previous exhibits focused on his photographs of Chester Bennington , the Phoenix-born Linkin Park singer who died by suicide in 2017.
"So it was exciting for me to sort of put that hat back on, kind of go through my archives and find some stuff that I wanted to print and needed a reason to," Louvau says. "A lot of the stuff is from my personal collection. My house is kind of set up like a gallery at this point. Luckily, my family and my wife are cool with it."
What is Maynard James Keenan's new vinyl cafe?
The new multi-building facility at 102 E. Pima St. in Old Town Cottonwood is an extension of the brand the Keenans pioneered at Puscifer the Store in Jerome, where they live. It features live performances, collectible vinyl (including limited-edition exclusives from Keenan's bands Puscifer , A Perfect Circle and Tool. ), coffee, wine, haircuts and more.
"The funny thing is, Maynard. he's very hands-on, on the cafe side of things," Louvau says. "He's in there draining coffee beans the same way he'll go in and smash grapes for his wine. He's very hands-on, which is cool."
Keenan and the team behind Caduceus Cellars and Merkin Vineyards opened a hilltop location in Old Town Cottonwood in 2023 , encompassing a winery and cellar, a tasting room, a restaurant, retail space, a greenhouse, a gelateria and a vineyard.
Louvau says he and Keenan have gotten to know each other pretty well this past year, mostly from bantering back and forth on the internet. He also shot another Phoenix New Times cover story on Keenan this year.
"We've known each other in passing since we started working together about 10 years ago," Louvau says. "But he started following the band on Instagram over the summer. I'm never gonna be someone that's gonna push my band or my music on other people, so it was cool that he did it on his own."
There Is No Us have been touring hard on their self-titled debut
There Is No Us began in 2015 when Louvau started working in earnest with guitarist Andy Gerold, a former member of Marilyn Manson who lives in Las Vegas.
Things have been moving fast since the August release of their album on Cleopatra Records, which led to the opening slot on that Mushroomhead tour, which took them to the East Coast, where they'd never played before.
"We went out there and we absolutely crushed it every night," Louvau says. "It was way better than we expected. The crowds were very responsive.
"Music has obviously changed so much over the years, but the one thing that's never changed, really, is you can go see a band that you don't know, and if you enjoy them, you're gonna go buy a T-shirt, you're gonna go tell your friends about them, you're gonna spread the word.
"And we saw that happen every night, which was exciting, because, unfortunately, we're living in an era where we're traveling T-shirt salesmen."
They also sold a bunch of vinyl on that tour, enough to be one of Cleopatra's biggest-selling bands of 2024.
"And like I said, we were on the other side of the country playing in all these new places," Louvau says. "That's when you take the training wheels off and see what you're made of. And I think we were all very happy with the results. We're now a touring act."
Their next tour, as support for industrial metal veterans Rorschach Test, will take There Is No Us up the West Coast to Seattle, hitting several other cities for the first time before wrapping at the Rebel Lounge on Sunday, Jan. 26.
There Is No Us at Queen B Vinyl Cafe
When:8 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 14.
Where:Queen B Vinyl Cafe, 102 Pima St., Old Town Cottonwood.
Admission:$18.
Details: queenbvinylcafe.com/shows .
Return to touring: Linkin Park to play 1st Phoenix concert since the death of Chester Bennington
Ed has covered pop music for The Republic since 2007, reviewing festivals and concerts, interviewing legends, covering the local scene and more. He did the same in Pittsburgh for more than a decade. Follow him on X and Instagram @edmasley and on Facebook as Ed Masley. Email him at ed.masley@arizonarepublic.com .
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Maynard James Keenan hosts There Is No Us band
