Faith No More's Roddy Bottum tells us about everything!
IMAGE
". . .Less! I think for a lot of bands it probably works, if I was in a different band I would probably concentrate more on image. If there was a theme it might be easier, but with this band there's five completely different individuals and we don't agree on anything so everyone's connected to their own thing no matter what."
JUNK
"We're pretty much drug free. I don't foresee it ever becoming a problem for the band. The most horrific thing I've ever seen was this drug park in Zurich, Switzerland. It's insane. It's this park that's sectioned off in the city where they tell all the junkies to go. They have a shack set up and they give away free needles to the kids. It's pretty much a free market, we went down there while we were taking a walk, there's probably about 500 kids sitting around with needles in itieir arms. Shooting up. There's blood on the ground, needles alt over, mud. People walking round like zombies. people shouting 'Cokey. Sugar, Cokey!' which means heroin and cocaine. There's a big pavilion with tables set up with candles on them and spoons. People just come up, stand in line, cook up their dope and shoot it up. There's no policing at all."
KLEPTOMANIA
"I probably did a lot of shoplifting when I was a kid. It's just greed, I'd want something and I wouldn't have the money, Also it's a thrill, a big adrenalin rush. My sister got caught shoplifting in Disneyland, I think it was a pair of sunglasses or something. Disneyland's total high security, you can't get away wild anything there."
LIVING COLOUR
"I think they're a little racist in the way they're portraying themselves. The Black Rock Coalition? What if I came out with the White Rock Coalition? I mean, I understand the situation, I live in America. I've dealt with racism, seen it in my face all my life. Not in a severe way, because I'm while and I'm probably spoilt in that sense, but I think to turn around and start a Black Rock Coalition and call themselves Black Rock is selling themselves short. If they want to get something off their chests, I have no problem with that, if it's something that affects them and they want that to come out in their music that's fine. In the sense that it's bringing more black kids to gigs what they're doing is a great thing. I can't tolerate racism, but I hope you understand what I'm saying."
MORDAM (The band's first record label)
"It's pretty much one woman, Ruth Schwarz, who worked for Alternative Tentacles. When we got together we'd been looking for a record contract for a long time and we decided to just do it on our own so we pooled all our money and recorded five songs. She was working at this store in America, Rough Trade, and one of my Iriends brought the tape into the store and was playing it and she heard it. She'd thought about starting the label and she said 'OK, I'll put it out' and that was the first Mordam record. Rhythm Pigs were on the label too.
It's mostly San Francisco stuff. and it's a reflection of Ruth's tastes I guess."
NECESSITIES
"A place to go home to would be really nice. Just the basics, food, sleep, family. It's a little weird having nowhere to go home to, but we're away so much it's not worth paying for somewhere while I'm gone. My parents are in LA and I have friends I can stay with but it's a little bit tough when We get a week off now and then. I like to watch television too."
OBSESSIONS
"I used to be obsessive about smoking pot but not any more. I've been a little obsessive about smoking cigarettes lately 'cos you get into a routine and it's hard to break that. I have a sick obsession with this girl that's been going on for years. She's a completely psychotic bitch in every way possible, she does too much hash and stuff. I don't really know why I'm obsessed 'cos it's harmful to me, but I love it, I love the risk of getting slapped in the face; it's a different form of excitement. I would control it before it got dangerous, it's a good thing really. It's not bad."
PRIMUS
"Mike Bordin likes them a lot, he wears their T shirts all the time. We've just toured the West Coast and we played about four or live shows with them. They're from San Francisco. They're pretty big out there and they're getting bigger."
QUALIFICATIONS
"I can type really fast! I don't play keyboards that fast, but before the band I could make really good money 'cos I can type over 100 words a minute. Jim Martin graduated from electronic school, he's got a degree in electronics which is pretty good. As far as unwritten qualifications for this business go, you need manners."
RAP
"I haven't listened to Rap (or a while. Lately I turn it on and I can't listen to it for more than ten minutes. When 'We Care A Lot' came out I was listening to a lot of Run DMC, I was crazy about it.
"I like Rap that incorporates really interesting sampling. It works as a background, rhythm-wise, but I couldn't see us using it constantly. It's meant we've got through to a wider audience, but it's also to keep everyone happy in the band. We're all so different that we have to compromise, but I don't think anyone is unhappy with the songs we've done, although sometimes it takes a bit of coaxing!"
SPASTIC CHILDREN (Another band offshoot)
"It's kind of a hobby, I guess. Jim (Martin) and James Hetfield plus a couple of other guys in Metallica and some other friend of Jim's got together and I think they're just basically fucking around. They don't put as much into it as Mike does into Mr Bungle. They'll do a show and a million kids show up 'cos they know it's members of Metalllica."
TENSION
"It's a real problem coming to a mutual decision over something in our band. It's not just the music, everyone has radically different perspectives. We don't really get off on the tension but it's inevitable and we deal with it. The thing that I respect most about us is that we don't try to hide the fact that a lot of times we don't get along. If we were going to split because of it we'd have done so when Chuck left, but we all get along much better since he left."
UNDERWEAR
"The shots that were taken of us with our pants down were the photographer's idea. He actually wanted us naked! We did a couple of Polaroids with our bare backsides to the camera. The photographer was looking for something new, he wanted to get pictures to a British magazine without doing a typical Rock pose."
VIOLENCE AND SADISM
"Yeah, that's probably my kick. It disgusts Jim. he hates my video tapes! I'd love to see a snuff movie. I know that's terrible, but I don't think they actually exist. I think a lot of them are faked. I think there's a lot of cool imagery with it all, like bondage bracelets. I'm not violent at all, personally, but I find it all fascinating, I think it is to everyone, I'm just admitting it. The repulsion is the fascination."
WAR PIGS
"It was an easy song to do and the kids always love it. Jim and Mike Bordin are really into Black Sabbath, but I've never listened to them in my life except for that song. Mike and Jim were little Heavy Metal Monsters. Jim's grown up into a big Heavy Metal Monster."
X-MEMBERS
"Chuck Mosley (singer before Mike Patton)? The rest of the band hate him, I was his friend when everyone else wasn't and I feel I still am. It would probably annoy them, I'm sure it does if I deal with Chuck. He wanted to come to the show in Los Angeles and if I were to put him on the guest list and the other guys had seen it they would've been upset. He sued after we parted ways, which was kind of a slap in the face for us. It was a pretty ugly scene, but I'm a forgiving person. Now he's trying to get his band Haircuts To Kill off the ground, so he's taking the demo around."
YOUNG GODS
"They're my favourites. We saw them in Berlin and I was completely blown away. It's amazing, they pull it off unbelievably well. All the guy does is sampling, it's just keyboards, drums and the singer and all the panning from left to right in the speakers. All that weird stuff is all done live. It definitely influences what I do, because of all the keyboards."
ZEST
"We don't have any!"
Comments