Faith No More The Real Story by Steffan Chirazi was released on February 24th 1994

On February 24th 1994 Castle Communications released the The Real Story, a detailed history of Faith No More up until the end of 1993 written by Steffan Chirazi.

The Real Story was Steffan’s first published book and the first official chronicle of FNM. It stands today as one of only two books written with the help of the band - Small Victories by Adrian Harte is the second.

Steffan’s career in journalism began at age 15 when he interviewed the legendary Motorhead frontman Lemmy in 1983. Originally from London Steffan moved to San Francisco and was introduced to Faith No More by his friend Metallica bassist Cliff Burton. Steffan began writing articles championing the Chuck Mosley fronted band in magazines including Sounds, Kerrang!, and RIP. He was the first to report on FNM and was present for most of the major events in Faith No More’s career including Mike Patton's first show, Rock In Rio II, Jim Martin's sacking.

Steffan and Jim’s friendship endured and the ex Faith No More guitarist was ordained and married Steffan and his wife in a beach ceremony.

Steffan is currently the editor of So What! Magazine, Metallica’s official in-house publication. He also co-hosts The Metallica Report, a weekly podcast providing official updates and deep dives into the band's activities.

For those who weren't lucky enough to bag a copy of The Real Story three decades ago, here is the introduction.

FAITH NO MORE  'From The Author'

This book gives you the first true and genuine account of everything that Faith No More have been through in their 11 year career.  It is incomplete in the respect that the band are nowhere near the end of their career. Doubtless there will be a whole lot more to document in the years to come.‘The Real Story' is made up of original quotes from the five current band members, ex-singer Chuck Mosley and producer Matt Wallace. All were interviewed between February and September of 1993 exclusively for this book. Warren Entner and John Vasillou at WEM Management felt it best not to make any comments, as they still work with the band. There are also two transcripts in the 'Onward' section from which some material was used for magazine features, the reason for their inclusions are explained within. Faith No More agreed to help me tell 'The Real Story', despite the fact they will receive no money from its sales. Each band member donated some of his free time to talk about their life, and the band's history, The copy has since been checked for accuracy, but in no way has anyone from Faith No More tampered with the flavour of any portion of the text. It was a dream situation. I whole-heartedly thank Bill Gould, Mike Patton, Jim Martin, Mike Bordin and Roddy Bottum for their unflinching honesty and their ability to leave me alone once they had given me their input. I also thank them for being the most interesting band to emerge in the last decade. I thank Matt Wallace for his unique insight and vision of the band. And I thank Chuck Mosley for talking about what must be a very difficult subject for him to deal with. I hope he has good luck with his latest project, Cement. I must also thank Warren and John for their total support of my endeavours over the years, their trust, and the fact that they never once interfered with this project.I would also like to say a big 'thank you' to Phil Scott for starting this whole ball rolling, to Laurie Pryor for wanting and believing in this book, to Sonia Bailey for helping the paperwork shuffle along, to Eugene Manzi for his help through the years, to Mary, Ann and Neil for just being, to Steve Stolder for helping me learn a little more about Grammar, to Lonn Friend for consistently supporting my work and to Geoff Barton for taking me in during the Summer of 1983 and sticking with me ever since. Oh, and thank you Deanna for the title!Thanks also to Cliff Burton (RIP) for introducing me to Faith No More way back when. He may be gone but he isn't forgotten.

This is a book for people who like truth. There is no fabrication, and there are no lies in these pages. 'The Real Story' is for fans, both of Faith No More and rock music. 

Kerrang! | January 1993 | KKKK

THIS BOOK has big pictures. This is so the little girls can wank over Mike Patton. Every biog worth its salt must have the Stain Factor; no stain - no gain. Journeyman hack Chirazi is a close personal friend of Faith No More, so his book is minutely detailed. He describes these five knobheads as  "the most beautiful time-bomb in the history of modern music", so you can presume that such a close friendship might just have affected the author's perspective. Nowhere in ‘The Real Story' does he say that FNM are yesterday's news. Several major typographic fuck-ups excepted, it's also a relatively entertaining and incisive project. Written with passion and real on the spot interviews included.