Last week Keith Caputo — now going by the name Keith Mina Caputo — announced his… her? I guess her… status as a transexual who has already begun the process of gender reassignment. Now fan filmed footage of Life of Agony performing with Keith Mina in all her glory has surfaced. Check it out below.

It’s hard not to notice just how not-weird the performance seems, even with Caputo’s new look; I mean, it’s not as though half the singers in metal don’t kinda look like women anyway, and Caputo’s voice and stage presence do not seem to have changed one bit. If I didn’t know what was going on and was just watching this, I’d probably just think “Oh, Keith Caputo has long hair now.”

In any case, I would like to second Vince’s endowment of props to Caputo — the way she’s been handling this situation is incredibly brave.

 -AR

[via Sebastian Bach's favorite website]

Life of Agony frontman Keith Caputo posted pictures of himself dressed and made up as a woman on his Facebook page months ago. At that time, while fascinated, I chose not to report on it because I didn’t think Caputo would want his name tossed about in public.

But I was wrong to make that assumption; these days he — excuse me, she — has become increasingly more vocal about her status as a transsexual, as reported by Metal Insider and Metal Injection. From Keith Caputo’s Twitter on July 7:

LOA has already gone in2 isolation & it’s got nothin 2 do w me transitioning. my boys love me regardless of my life choices!

and in case there was any doubt about the meaning of “transitioning:”

M2F transexuals like mê are the women who give up male privilege for femininity! Threaten the patriarchy! #TransLib#WhippingGirl

That clears it up, no? It’s important to note, though, that Caputo has not undergone a sex change operation (yet, anyway). HornsUpRocks intercepted this Tweet by Caputo a few days after the above:

Dying to make love to my lady. Haven’t seen her in 2 months. Dying to hold her & be held. Never letting her go. Just a few more days. The Art Of Love!

I can’t say I entirely understand what this all means for Keith’s sexual orientation, but does it really matter? Transexual, gender reassignment, gay, straight, tall, short, skinny, fat… we’re just happy to see Keith expressing his true self. It takes a tremendous amount of bravery, especially as a public figure, and double especially as a public figure in a genre as everything-phobic as metal, to challenge widely held standards of sexuality and gender. Congrats, Keith.

-VN

The new William Rot (is that his real name?!?)-directed Keith Caputo video, “Bleed for Something Beautiful,” is, in fact, quite pleasing to the eye (the naked lady doesn’t hurt, either). It also really reminds me of a douchie Calvin Klein ad. So I’m a little torn between the fact that I do like the way the video was shot, and the fact that it isn’t metal, like, at all. And that I think stupid hipsters might really be into it.

Also, the song is not that memorable. I appreciate what Caputo is going for, I just don’t dig it that much.

Watch the Caputo clip below, then let us know your thoughts in the comments section. As though you needed our permission.

Caputo’s latest, A Fondness for Hometown Scars, is out now… in Europe.

-AR

Big ups to MetalSucks commenter Porkspam for pointing out the striking resemblance of Life of Agony’s singer Keith Caputo to a Troll, that creepiest of vintage children’s toys.

I’m actually a big fan of Life of Agony and especially Keith as a performer… but come on, this is funny.

(See also our recent posts about Alexi Laiho of Children of Bodom’s resemblance to Avril Lavigne and Matt Heafy of Trivium’s resemblance to actress Summer Glau)

-VN