Faith No More (2005)
Interview Background
Woah! Faith No More's Mike Patton! Considering he’s been known to eat journalists for breakfast (not to mention shit and shoelaces), when Mike Patton made himself available to promote his collaboration with hip hop stalwarts The X-ecutioners, I was excited. Far from the monster rock fables from the bad old days of Faith No More suggested, Mr Patton proved a charmer. Once we’d chatted about the General Patton project for 10 minutes, the San Franciscan answered questions about his lengthy career, offering snorts of condescension, rich sarcasm and candid humour. When Faith No More finally got back together on stages around the world in 2009, the enigmatic alternative group barely did any press. This fact only enhances my delight at sharing the below conversation with Mike Patton, even if it wasn't quite a 'proper' Faith No More interview.
The following is an edited version of an interview first published in Rip It Up, March 2005.
Mike Patton - The X-ecutioners Song
by Scott McLennan
When it comes to rock vocalists of the modern era, not even Prince Rogers Nelson comes close to exhibiting the versatility of Mike Patton. Journeying further away from mainstream attention after the break-up of his original bands Mr Bungle and Faith No More, Patton has spent the last five years working on projects that encompass soundscapes (Fantomas), heavy rock (Tomahawk), lounge grooves (Lovage) and even more askew musical voyages.
After appearances on both Handsome Boy Modeling School’s White Music and Bjork’s Medulla albums in the past six months, Patton has now turned his hand to a hip hop project, collaborating with acclaimed New York City turntablists The X-ecutioners on General Patton Vs The X-ecutioners, an album that illicitly samples Hollywood greats, offers enticing passages of trademark Patton growls and musically covers a diverse amount of ground.
“Well hey - glad you like!” Patton offers when congratulated on another release that rips up the musical rulebook.
Having taken fans on some extreme sonic rides over the past 20 years, where does the General Patton release sit on the Mike Patton Scale Of Musical Idiosyncrasy?
“I don’t really have a scale, you know!” Patton chuckles enthusiastically. “Strange as it may sound, when every record comes out it sounds as normal to me as the next one I do, but out in the real world is when you find people bringing out their measuring sticks to see how weird it actually is.”
While General Patton Vs The X-ecutioners features Spanish grooves, menacing jazz and even snatches of doo-wop, the habitual film samples offer a linear point of reference throughout. Soundbites from movies such as Dirty Harry and Beverly Hills Cop wouldn’t come cheaply, not to mention the red tape in gaining clearance.
“It was really, really, really difficult,” Patton states in a sombre manner. “It was so difficult to sample them and use their voices without permission I can’t even tell you!
“I have no recollection of said samples!” Patton continues with a laugh. “Not guilty, your honour! That’s the way small labels deal with copyright, my man! Actually, most of that was all the X-ecutioners’ doing anyway, so if anyone comes calling I’ll give them their number over there in New York.”
After a set of impromptu live dates together that acted as a prelude to the recording of General Patton Vs The X-ecutioners, Patton is now looking at taking the concept on the road later in the year.
“I suppose I had a fantasy of doing a record with a turntable crew for five or six years. I did some live shows with the X-ecutioners that were completely improvised to see if there was some chemistry or how they would respond to the musical problems I threw at them. I realised that these were probably the guys, so after the shows I said, ‘Let’s do a record. It doesn’t have to be improvised - we can work all sorts of stuff out and I’ve got an approach you might like’. We drew up a little game plan and we went from there.”
Patton is one of the most prolific names in music, with his name appearing at regular intervals on albums by a variety of boutique artists and commercial stars. Considering the gravity of his vocal abilities, Patton’s additions to Bjork’s Medulla record of last year were disappointingly minimal.
“One thing about a collaboration is you go in there, you trust what they are doing and ultimately it’s their say,” Patton states. “You’re just a tool in their ultimate plan. Bjork was great in the studio and for the most part knew exactly what she wanted, so for that I’ve got to tip my hat.”
Bjork once claimed it was her fish famously flailing about in Faith No More’s breakthrough Epic video - what’s the truth?
“Man! This is like the fourth time I’ve been asked this question in a week. It’s funny - previous to that I hadn’t heard it in 10 years! That was her story and I guess I’ll have to stick with it.”
With upcoming projects including a Massive Attack collaboration, the Peeping Tom project with Dan The Automator and numerous soundtracks, Mike Patton has little time to look back at what he’s already achieved. The San Franciscan wasn’t even aware of the latest compilation assembled for his most popular venture, Faith No More.
“Which one?” Patton enquires when asked of his thoughts regarding the latest hits package, This Is It. “I don’t know that one. The one I heard about was called Who Cares A Lot or somethin’. Yeah, beats me. As you can see I’ve got my finger on the pulse.”
So you and the band have no approval over these releases?
“Hell no!” Patton vigorously asserts. “Part of recording for a large record label means sacrificing and surrendering the rights to your own music, so they can repackage, re-release, remix and resell anything they want because they own the music. This can happen from now until the end of time.”
Is it a desecration of your legacy?
“Oh I don’t care what they do with it. I don’t have any control over it so it doesn’t do any good to worry about that sort of thing! I remember right around the time that Faith No More was winding down but we hadn’t officially broken up yet we went into our label for some sort of meeting and I remember seeing on a blackboard of upcoming releases: Faith No More Greatest Hits! None of us knew anything about it and we didn’t plan anything like it! Obviously they knew we were going to break up before we knew we were going to break up! Needless to say I freaked out and said ‘What the fuck is this?!? Who the fuck?!?...’ I’ve learned since that point that there’s no use in fuming over it - it’s their music and they will do what the fuck they want with it.”
Would intervention from a psychotherapist a la Metallica’s documentary Some Kind Of Monster have helped the notoriously rift-filled Faith No More at all?
“Oh God! Are you fucking kidding me?” Patton splutters. “We would have sooner slit each other’s throats! God bless us, ‘cos from what I’ve heard, that movie is like Spinal Tap and the guys just don’t even know it!”
General Patton Vs The X-ecutioners (Shock/Ipecac)
Unpublished Interview Material
Is there a Mike Patton fanbase that purchases all your music or do you think different fans pick up different albums?
"I really don’t know. I hope it would be a little bit of both, but you can’t choose your fans the same way you can’t change your relatives. If they’re out there and listening, I don’t care who they are – as long as someone’s interested at all."
In Bjork’s Making Of Medulla video you’re in the sound booth singing a part that sounds like a dolphin in rewind. Was that utilised on the finished album at all?
"I’m not sure about that bit – I only saw that documentary once. You could be right – I don’t know! There’s a lot of stuff that she had to make executive decisions on as there was a lot of stuff she had people do."
Apart from the obvious war references in the title and artwork of General Patton, on both Duelling Banjo and your Handsome Boy Modeling School tune Are You Down With It you’re showing further aggression about war. How passionate are you politically?
"Not at all. In fact, less than zero. I sometimes will inject non-committal issues in there because they are fun to play with and they fire people up. On this record people have taken it and run with it, which is pretty funny! (chuckles) I had this [General Patton] concept probably a few wars ago, so there’s not much to do with what’s going on now. For me it’s more about creating a specific musical universe that is independent of space and time periods. To me this record could have been made in the ‘50s or maybe 50 years from now – I’m not sure, but it’s got a set of rules and regulations and it lives and exists on its own. That’s what I’m trying to do. To me this is a record that has commercial bits, it’s just how you hear it. I don’t set out to make uncommercial or unpopular music or anything, I make music that feels natural to me and represent it accordingly and package it accordingly. That automatically eliminates things like MTV, but it’s what I feel is appropriate. I’m not going to take my budget for the video and blow it on some hot shot video director – I’m too old for that."
You say you’re too old, but you’re not even 40 yet. You’ve been in the game since the mid ‘80s and travelled through so many genres, but are there many left that you need to get through?
"There are some things that I’m working towards and, looking in the crystal ball, that I could get excited about. Most of them just involve making records at home rather than going to Boise, Idaho and playing to 50 people. I’m excited about recording projects and soundtracks and things that I can do at home and ways of being creative that don’t necessarily involve touring. That’s the thing you’ve got to put a quota on, because that shit can kill you. As great as it is, you’ve got to watch it."
Was this General Patton release the first that you’ve mixed and produced alone in your studio?
"Actually yeah, it is. It was a learning experience and I thought this was the perfect project and record to experiment on. I’d worked with computers and whatnot before but I’d never done anything top to bottom on my own in that realm. I’m glad I’ve done it because now I feel like there’s no going back."
Did you just record your vocals in your home studio and send them through to Dan The Automator for the Handsome Boy album as well?
"Absolutely, just here in San Francisco. A lot of things I’ve done – collaborations or pieces for other people’s records I’ve done in the same way – at my house on my own. In terms of recording bands and my own projects, when there’s a lot of live instruments involved it’s a whole different ball of wax. You’ve gotta know where to put the mic and there’s a lot of intricacies in getting it to sound the way you want it to sound. For the most part I’ve never really done that side of it myself. A record like this where there were a minimum of live instruments seemed like a good place to start."
You mentioned soundtracks a moment ago – how involved are you with that side of things?
"I’m kinda getting my feet wet now. I’ve got one on the table and another in the near future. I’m kinda looking forward to seeing what happens. I know I can do it, but I’m not sure how much I’ll enjoy it - we’ll see. Any musician who’s got his ears screwed on straight perks his ears up when he hears a movie soundtrack. There’s a lot of possibilities there, and I’ve been a fan of soundtrack music for a long time now. By the same token, I don’t have any connections to that world – it’s a whole other scene. I’m not eager to start going to parties and rubbing shoulders with music supervisors if you know what I’m saying! Nothing has really ever landed in my lap and I’ve never aggressively pursued it, but I always figured there’d be a time and place for it and thought when it comes I’d love to try it. That’s all coming soon and something I’m looking forward to."
Something else of yours I believe is coming soon is the Peeping Tom project you’ve been working on with Nakamura – is it a continuation of the Lovage vibe?
"No, it’s not like Lovage at all. A couple of the tracks I did with Dan have that flavour, but ultimately I decided to do it with a bunch of different producers because I wanted a lot of different approaches and sounds. Dan is doing two or three tracks, but there are six or seven other producer types that I’ve been working with on this thing, so I should have it down by the end of this year. And good fucking riddance – I’m glad to get it out of my house man, believe me!"
Has it got some bad vibes attached?
"No, it’s just that when you work on something for too long… some people love to take a long time working on something and love to keep nurturing this little creature and breastfeeding it. Me, as soon as I give birth, ‘Get the fuck out of my house!’. That’s the way I see it. I’ve literally written a couple of these pieces a few years ago, so they’ve worn out their welcome and I’m eager to get them into the outside world and let them take on a life of their own."
INXS have their new reality show to find a lead singer crossing the globe at the moment…
"Oh (Patton gets excited) I heard about this last night from another Australian interviewer – I had no idea!"
I can’t help but feel we all would have been saved the pain of another reality show if you had just accepted INXS’ original offer to replace Michael Hutchence.
"You know what? You deserve it! (laughs devilishly hard) We all deserve it! Why should I do the world a favour? This is beautiful – it’s what they should have done from the beginning. I think I’ll take a raincheck on reapplying. I’ve had an idea though – have you heard how Flavour Flav is on a reality show over here?"
Is that the one with Brigitte Nielsen?
"Yeah, well INXS should get Flavour Flav to sing for them!"
When the final book of rock‘n’roll history is penned, what will be written of the enigmatic Mike Patton?
"Ah, I guess ‘bah humbug!’. How about that?"
Very Dickensian.
"(laughs) There you go!"
Woah! Faith No More's Mike Patton! Considering he’s been known to eat journalists for breakfast (not to mention shit and shoelaces), when Mike Patton made himself available to promote his collaboration with hip hop stalwarts The X-ecutioners, I was excited. Far from the monster rock fables from the bad old days of Faith No More suggested, Mr Patton proved a charmer. Once we’d chatted about the General Patton project for 10 minutes, the San Franciscan answered questions about his lengthy career, offering snorts of condescension, rich sarcasm and candid humour. When Faith No More finally got back together on stages around the world in 2009, the enigmatic alternative group barely did any press. This fact only enhances my delight at sharing the below conversation with Mike Patton, even if it wasn't quite a 'proper' Faith No More interview.
The following is an edited version of an interview first published in Rip It Up, March 2005.
Mike Patton - The X-ecutioners Song
by Scott McLennan
When it comes to rock vocalists of the modern era, not even Prince Rogers Nelson comes close to exhibiting the versatility of Mike Patton. Journeying further away from mainstream attention after the break-up of his original bands Mr Bungle and Faith No More, Patton has spent the last five years working on projects that encompass soundscapes (Fantomas), heavy rock (Tomahawk), lounge grooves (Lovage) and even more askew musical voyages.
After appearances on both Handsome Boy Modeling School’s White Music and Bjork’s Medulla albums in the past six months, Patton has now turned his hand to a hip hop project, collaborating with acclaimed New York City turntablists The X-ecutioners on General Patton Vs The X-ecutioners, an album that illicitly samples Hollywood greats, offers enticing passages of trademark Patton growls and musically covers a diverse amount of ground.
“Well hey - glad you like!” Patton offers when congratulated on another release that rips up the musical rulebook.
Having taken fans on some extreme sonic rides over the past 20 years, where does the General Patton release sit on the Mike Patton Scale Of Musical Idiosyncrasy?
“I don’t really have a scale, you know!” Patton chuckles enthusiastically. “Strange as it may sound, when every record comes out it sounds as normal to me as the next one I do, but out in the real world is when you find people bringing out their measuring sticks to see how weird it actually is.”
While General Patton Vs The X-ecutioners features Spanish grooves, menacing jazz and even snatches of doo-wop, the habitual film samples offer a linear point of reference throughout. Soundbites from movies such as Dirty Harry and Beverly Hills Cop wouldn’t come cheaply, not to mention the red tape in gaining clearance.
“It was really, really, really difficult,” Patton states in a sombre manner. “It was so difficult to sample them and use their voices without permission I can’t even tell you!
“I have no recollection of said samples!” Patton continues with a laugh. “Not guilty, your honour! That’s the way small labels deal with copyright, my man! Actually, most of that was all the X-ecutioners’ doing anyway, so if anyone comes calling I’ll give them their number over there in New York.”
After a set of impromptu live dates together that acted as a prelude to the recording of General Patton Vs The X-ecutioners, Patton is now looking at taking the concept on the road later in the year.
“I suppose I had a fantasy of doing a record with a turntable crew for five or six years. I did some live shows with the X-ecutioners that were completely improvised to see if there was some chemistry or how they would respond to the musical problems I threw at them. I realised that these were probably the guys, so after the shows I said, ‘Let’s do a record. It doesn’t have to be improvised - we can work all sorts of stuff out and I’ve got an approach you might like’. We drew up a little game plan and we went from there.”
Patton is one of the most prolific names in music, with his name appearing at regular intervals on albums by a variety of boutique artists and commercial stars. Considering the gravity of his vocal abilities, Patton’s additions to Bjork’s Medulla record of last year were disappointingly minimal.
“One thing about a collaboration is you go in there, you trust what they are doing and ultimately it’s their say,” Patton states. “You’re just a tool in their ultimate plan. Bjork was great in the studio and for the most part knew exactly what she wanted, so for that I’ve got to tip my hat.”
Bjork once claimed it was her fish famously flailing about in Faith No More’s breakthrough Epic video - what’s the truth?
“Man! This is like the fourth time I’ve been asked this question in a week. It’s funny - previous to that I hadn’t heard it in 10 years! That was her story and I guess I’ll have to stick with it.”
With upcoming projects including a Massive Attack collaboration, the Peeping Tom project with Dan The Automator and numerous soundtracks, Mike Patton has little time to look back at what he’s already achieved. The San Franciscan wasn’t even aware of the latest compilation assembled for his most popular venture, Faith No More.
“Which one?” Patton enquires when asked of his thoughts regarding the latest hits package, This Is It. “I don’t know that one. The one I heard about was called Who Cares A Lot or somethin’. Yeah, beats me. As you can see I’ve got my finger on the pulse.”
So you and the band have no approval over these releases?
“Hell no!” Patton vigorously asserts. “Part of recording for a large record label means sacrificing and surrendering the rights to your own music, so they can repackage, re-release, remix and resell anything they want because they own the music. This can happen from now until the end of time.”
Is it a desecration of your legacy?
“Oh I don’t care what they do with it. I don’t have any control over it so it doesn’t do any good to worry about that sort of thing! I remember right around the time that Faith No More was winding down but we hadn’t officially broken up yet we went into our label for some sort of meeting and I remember seeing on a blackboard of upcoming releases: Faith No More Greatest Hits! None of us knew anything about it and we didn’t plan anything like it! Obviously they knew we were going to break up before we knew we were going to break up! Needless to say I freaked out and said ‘What the fuck is this?!? Who the fuck?!?...’ I’ve learned since that point that there’s no use in fuming over it - it’s their music and they will do what the fuck they want with it.”
Would intervention from a psychotherapist a la Metallica’s documentary Some Kind Of Monster have helped the notoriously rift-filled Faith No More at all?
“Oh God! Are you fucking kidding me?” Patton splutters. “We would have sooner slit each other’s throats! God bless us, ‘cos from what I’ve heard, that movie is like Spinal Tap and the guys just don’t even know it!”
General Patton Vs The X-ecutioners (Shock/Ipecac)
Unpublished Interview Material
Is there a Mike Patton fanbase that purchases all your music or do you think different fans pick up different albums?
"I really don’t know. I hope it would be a little bit of both, but you can’t choose your fans the same way you can’t change your relatives. If they’re out there and listening, I don’t care who they are – as long as someone’s interested at all."
In Bjork’s Making Of Medulla video you’re in the sound booth singing a part that sounds like a dolphin in rewind. Was that utilised on the finished album at all?
"I’m not sure about that bit – I only saw that documentary once. You could be right – I don’t know! There’s a lot of stuff that she had to make executive decisions on as there was a lot of stuff she had people do."
Apart from the obvious war references in the title and artwork of General Patton, on both Duelling Banjo and your Handsome Boy Modeling School tune Are You Down With It you’re showing further aggression about war. How passionate are you politically?
"Not at all. In fact, less than zero. I sometimes will inject non-committal issues in there because they are fun to play with and they fire people up. On this record people have taken it and run with it, which is pretty funny! (chuckles) I had this [General Patton] concept probably a few wars ago, so there’s not much to do with what’s going on now. For me it’s more about creating a specific musical universe that is independent of space and time periods. To me this record could have been made in the ‘50s or maybe 50 years from now – I’m not sure, but it’s got a set of rules and regulations and it lives and exists on its own. That’s what I’m trying to do. To me this is a record that has commercial bits, it’s just how you hear it. I don’t set out to make uncommercial or unpopular music or anything, I make music that feels natural to me and represent it accordingly and package it accordingly. That automatically eliminates things like MTV, but it’s what I feel is appropriate. I’m not going to take my budget for the video and blow it on some hot shot video director – I’m too old for that."
You say you’re too old, but you’re not even 40 yet. You’ve been in the game since the mid ‘80s and travelled through so many genres, but are there many left that you need to get through?
"There are some things that I’m working towards and, looking in the crystal ball, that I could get excited about. Most of them just involve making records at home rather than going to Boise, Idaho and playing to 50 people. I’m excited about recording projects and soundtracks and things that I can do at home and ways of being creative that don’t necessarily involve touring. That’s the thing you’ve got to put a quota on, because that shit can kill you. As great as it is, you’ve got to watch it."
Was this General Patton release the first that you’ve mixed and produced alone in your studio?
"Actually yeah, it is. It was a learning experience and I thought this was the perfect project and record to experiment on. I’d worked with computers and whatnot before but I’d never done anything top to bottom on my own in that realm. I’m glad I’ve done it because now I feel like there’s no going back."
Did you just record your vocals in your home studio and send them through to Dan The Automator for the Handsome Boy album as well?
"Absolutely, just here in San Francisco. A lot of things I’ve done – collaborations or pieces for other people’s records I’ve done in the same way – at my house on my own. In terms of recording bands and my own projects, when there’s a lot of live instruments involved it’s a whole different ball of wax. You’ve gotta know where to put the mic and there’s a lot of intricacies in getting it to sound the way you want it to sound. For the most part I’ve never really done that side of it myself. A record like this where there were a minimum of live instruments seemed like a good place to start."
You mentioned soundtracks a moment ago – how involved are you with that side of things?
"I’m kinda getting my feet wet now. I’ve got one on the table and another in the near future. I’m kinda looking forward to seeing what happens. I know I can do it, but I’m not sure how much I’ll enjoy it - we’ll see. Any musician who’s got his ears screwed on straight perks his ears up when he hears a movie soundtrack. There’s a lot of possibilities there, and I’ve been a fan of soundtrack music for a long time now. By the same token, I don’t have any connections to that world – it’s a whole other scene. I’m not eager to start going to parties and rubbing shoulders with music supervisors if you know what I’m saying! Nothing has really ever landed in my lap and I’ve never aggressively pursued it, but I always figured there’d be a time and place for it and thought when it comes I’d love to try it. That’s all coming soon and something I’m looking forward to."
Something else of yours I believe is coming soon is the Peeping Tom project you’ve been working on with Nakamura – is it a continuation of the Lovage vibe?
"No, it’s not like Lovage at all. A couple of the tracks I did with Dan have that flavour, but ultimately I decided to do it with a bunch of different producers because I wanted a lot of different approaches and sounds. Dan is doing two or three tracks, but there are six or seven other producer types that I’ve been working with on this thing, so I should have it down by the end of this year. And good fucking riddance – I’m glad to get it out of my house man, believe me!"
Has it got some bad vibes attached?
"No, it’s just that when you work on something for too long… some people love to take a long time working on something and love to keep nurturing this little creature and breastfeeding it. Me, as soon as I give birth, ‘Get the fuck out of my house!’. That’s the way I see it. I’ve literally written a couple of these pieces a few years ago, so they’ve worn out their welcome and I’m eager to get them into the outside world and let them take on a life of their own."
INXS have their new reality show to find a lead singer crossing the globe at the moment…
"Oh (Patton gets excited) I heard about this last night from another Australian interviewer – I had no idea!"
I can’t help but feel we all would have been saved the pain of another reality show if you had just accepted INXS’ original offer to replace Michael Hutchence.
"You know what? You deserve it! (laughs devilishly hard) We all deserve it! Why should I do the world a favour? This is beautiful – it’s what they should have done from the beginning. I think I’ll take a raincheck on reapplying. I’ve had an idea though – have you heard how Flavour Flav is on a reality show over here?"
Is that the one with Brigitte Nielsen?
"Yeah, well INXS should get Flavour Flav to sing for them!"
When the final book of rock‘n’roll history is penned, what will be written of the enigmatic Mike Patton?
"Ah, I guess ‘bah humbug!’. How about that?"
Very Dickensian.
"(laughs) There you go!"
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