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On April 3rd 1993 Faith No More released their four track EP Songs To Make Love To . The maxi-single includes the cooler version remix of Easy which adds a horn section (Roddy Bottum sample patch), Das Schutzenfest , Midnight Cowboy and the band's cover of the Dead Kennedy's classic Let's Lynch The Landlord . Metal Hammer | April 1993 Faith No More have always been an odd bunch and this EP confirms that! They have already released their smooth version of the Commodores classic Easy on single yet here it again accompanied by a couple of strange covers. Midnight Cowboy movie theme (taken from their truly bonkers but brilliant album Angel Dust) and the Dead Kennedys punk out song Let's Lynch The Landlord. The most zany track is a oompah ditty called Das Schutzenfest complete with Mike Patton singing in German! If you like your music with a little madness go buy it, but if you are still clinging on the metal version of FNM, don't.

It's been thirty one years since Faith No More released their fifth studio album King For A Day Fool For A Lifetime . We are celebrating this momentous anniversary with an A to Z . A is for Alphaville Some of the lyrics from the fifth track on the record, Star AD , also appear in dialogue from the 1965 French film Alphaville directed by Jean-Luc Godard . 'When you die...You'll become something worse than dead.....You'll be become a Legend'. A wonderful critique on the trappings of fame and the narcissistic behaviour of particular rock stars . B is for Bearsville Faith No More chose a change of scenery to record King For A Day... The band retreated to Bearsville studios, an isolated live-in facility near Woodstock in upstate New York. Some former residents were: Meatloaf, The Isley Brothers, REM, Fear Factory and Jeff Buckley. "Oh my God, kids, there's not much to do out there in Bearsville, nothing with a capital 'N'! It'd be Saturday night and we'd hear the crickets chirping in the woods. The most entertaining thing that happened to me was I caught pneumonia, which kept me from being stir-crazy for about a week. The sickness debilitated me to the point where I lost my cabin fever!” – Bill 1995 | Kerrang! C is for Caca Volante Windows 95 and Internet Explorer were introduced in 1995 revolutionising the art of web surfing - however slowly compared to today's technology. Faith No More’s first online fan page was launched in the same year by Andy Couch who to this day is still involved with FNM’s online content. Fan friendly tech nerd Bill Gould embraced Caca Volante ’s content of facts, photos and screensavers which brought fans together in the first community. "The precursor for CV was “The UnOfficial Faith No More Page.” and I put it up in Nov. 1994. Around the same time Hal Turner and Marc Schoenen created a mailing list, which they called “Caca Volante.” They emailed me through my website to tell me about the mailing list. In early 1995, with their blessing, I renamed my site. The name itself was coined by Jai Young Kim." - Andy Couch 2025 D is for Dean Menta Dean replaced Trey Spruance after only four months as FNM's guitar player. Dean had been Roddy Bottum 's keyboard tech in 1992 and was enlisted by the band to tour KFAD/FFAL . Dean had previously been in the San Francisco-based alternative rock band DUH which also featured vocalist Greg Werckman - who would later co-found Ipecac Recordings with Mike Patton . "I initially started working with Faith No More on the crew during the Angel Dust tour. I was doing computer consultancy with regards to music software programs. What I basically did, and still do, are all sorts of sequencing and hard disk recording stuff. Roddy got my name and number from somewhere, so I started hooking up with him every so often trying to teach him more about computers and then I went on tour with him. I guess he'd never had a roadie before, he and Billy used to share the same guy, but on the Guns N' Roses tour they wanted a separate person for each job. I'd never done keyboards before, never been on the road, had no prior experience of bands at that level." - Dean 1995 | Hot Metal E is for Eric Drooker New York artist Eric Drooker provided the album and singles cover art. The image of a subway police officer desperately hanging onto a snarling dog first appeared in the graphic novel Flood! | A novel in pictures released in 1992. "The subway, to me, represents the unconscious state of the masses, who race through underground tunnels, speeding backward and forward in time." - Drooker 2013 "We were all thinking about album design and this photo really stood out to us as something that paired well with what we were trying to achieve with our music." - Bill 2016 | fnmfollowers Eric Drooker 1992 F is for Full Metal Jacket 'First to go last to know - We will defend to the death your right to be misinformed' . The title of track 13 appears on a banner in the Stanley Kubrick movie Full Metal Jacket. Although we have no evidence that Patton lifted the song title from the movie, we do know that he is a Kubrick fan and film buff so it's highly likely. G is for Guitarists... At the end 0f 1993 after eleven years Jim Martin and FNM parted ways and the hunt was on for a new guitar player. Justin Broadrick from Godflesh and Ralph Spight from Victims Family were both considered. As was Killing Joke 's Kevin ‘Geordie’ Walker. "He’s a great guitar player. One of the best I’ve ever seen. He would have been amazing, but he is so distinctive. I think he would have rendered us into a Killing Joke cover band." – Bill 2015 | Small Victories by Adrian Harte Although more obviously known for the Album Of The Year  era in FNM history, Jon Hudso n was also considered to replace Big Jim in 1994. His own band Systems Collapse  was no more so Jon and Bill worked on some ideas together. Ultimately the band opted for Trey Spruance .  "I wasn’t surprised when they picked Trey. He and Patton had played together since they were kids, so he was a known quantity, and he was obviously very talented. It seemed like the perfect match to me."  - Jon 2015 | Small Victories by Adrian Harte H is for Hey Hey It's Saturday! Faith No More’s TV appearances are the best - great quality footage and sound but with the passion of a live show. During the KFAD/FFAL tour FNM appeared on MTV, The Word, The Jon Stewart Show, Conan and Top of the pops… twice! In Australia the band performed Evidence live on Hey Hey It’s Saturday - Patton’s pitch perfect falsetto, Roddy’s painted nails and Bill’s double bass made for unmissable watching. I is for I Started A Joke FNM have always picked some rather eccentric songs to cover and the b-sides from King For A Day... were recorded sometime after the sessions at Bearsville in Bill's home studio featuring Dean on guitar. The band's cover of the Bee Gees classic I Started A Joke was released after FNM split by the record company as a single in 1998, to promote the greatest hits album Who Cares A Lot? . "We were in this bar in Gwaum, god, it was so twisted! You see, Gwaum is like a rock in the middle of the ocean; they have like two million snakes per mile -- they have so many snakes that they have killed all the birds, they have no more birds in all of Gwaum. So, we're sitting in this bar and they have posters of hard-core porn videos all over the wall. It was a regular bar, and they had animal porn on the wall! And we're like, 'What the hell is this?!', and in the corner of the room they had this karaoke machine and they were all singing the words "I started a joke ..." and there was this bouncing ball so they could follow the words. The lyrics were so pathetic and depressing that we just said 'We have to do this song!' It's the most miserable song I ever heard in my life!' " - Bill 1995 | Livewire J is for Jai Young Kim Multi instrumentalist and producer found himself in Brilliant Studios SF during the mixing of KFAD/FFAL . He conducted the most revealing interview with members of the band, getting some real information on the songs and lyrics. Jai Kim would go on to produce the second Secret Chiefs 3 album and eventually join the band on keyboards and organ. JK: All right. "The Gentle Art of Making Enemies." RB: Angst-ridden. Good punctuation. Good definition and instruments for me. No keyboards. JK: So what'd you do on this song? RB: Just danced around. Moral support. TS: He wrote choreography for the rest of us as well. K is for 'Kill the body and the head will die...' The What A Day lyric 'Kill the body and the head will die', is a phrase that appears in Hunter S. Thompson 's 1971 novel Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas . Before he was Patton's manager Greg Werckman worked for an agency in NY representing lecturers, Thompson was one. ''He was an overrated asshole, in my opinion. Treated people very poorly and was out of his mind. He lost his creative talent many many years before his death. A sad man. I have many stories, but would rather not add to his myth.'' - Werckman 2019 | fnmfollowers L is for Loris Holland The spectacular song Just A Man featured real orchestral strings and a choir, it was Guyanese born composer Loris Holland who was behind the orchestration of these amazing accompaniments. Holland had previously worked on Jeff Buckley ’s album Grace . Onita Boone was one of the vocalists in the choir. "They were awesome! Nice guys. easy on the eyes and quite personable! I enjoyed them. They explained to us what they wanted and we did it. I don't remember the session being long. In fact, it was short and easy. We had a nice time. Everyone was happy and we had no idea who they were until much later. They were humble, down to earth guys!" - Onita 2013 | fnmfollowers M is for Marcus Raboy Faith No More first worked with music video director Marcus Raboy during the filming of Another Body Murdered . Raboy returned to direct the video clip for Digging The Grave a year later. The dark and mysterious scenes captured are reminiscent of a 1950s film noir crime thriller. The video showcased the band's fresh new look and sound. FNM stand out in his catalogue of film making credits as the only non rnb/pop act. N is for Nirvana It is often discussed whether the lyrics of Ricochet refer to the death of Kurt Cobain – the working title for the song was Nirvana and the words could certainly be compared to the circumstances of Cobain's suicide. Roddy was close to the singer and his wife Courtney Love and spent time with Kurt before his tragic passing. "It was written the day that Kurt died. That's just why it was called "Nirvana." (Pause.) I like that one. The vocal harmonies are really great. And those are my favourite lyrics on the record." – Roddy 1995 In February 1995 Mike Patton addressed the meaning of his lyrics with NME. Several lyrics on 'King' seem to snarl against the trap of celebrity, entrapment and the ageing process. But Patton dismisses any suggestion that the Kurt Cobain saga had any effect on him ("I didn't know him or anything"). As a singer in a rock n roll band who may have gone through some of the same things that he did, you had no thoughts or feeling about the whole business? "What can I say? (Laughs). What can I say? I'm sorry? Bad things happen, y'know? I'm sure it wasn't as great as everyone thinks it was." What wasn't? "His suicide, I'm sure wasn't such a glamorous event." O is for The Old Trout Following in tradition FNM began their album tour in the UK. On February 28th, the day Digging The Grave was released as a single, the band played a low-key date at The Old Trout in Windsor. Billing themselves as NEW FAT BASTARDS they performed to 200 people and introduced fans to new guitarist Dean Menta. This gig appeared at number 63 on Kerrang! Greatest Show of All Time in 1997. P is for Portishead Faith No More have added adlibs into there own songs during live performances since the days of Chuck Mosley , not to mention a huge catalogue of cover songs. Each era seems to have a different preferred song - during the KFAD/FFAL era the band opted for two! Firstly a slick rendition of Glorybox by UK trip-hoppers Portishead and the other was Zombie by Irish rockers The Cranberries . Q is for Quotes The band often say the most weird and wonderful things in the music press. Sometimes they can be poetic or even prophetic, mostly they are just puerile and sharp-witted. In February 1995 there was less talk of masturbation, turds and murder and more cynical discussion on the state of the business they were in. Patton spoke with NME and made a comment which sums up his approach to lyric writing perfectly. “I can’t actually write words before music. The words are the last thing, before the words I hear sounds. Sometimes the words have no connection to anything, they just have to fit the sound.” R is for Rent-a-car The narrow dirt roads which lead from civilization to Bearsville studios would be responsible for several car accidents involving members of the band. '...the two Mikes—Patton, who was driving, and Bordin—were involved in a serious smash in which their car flipped over. The driver of the other car was seriously injured. ‘I know it freaked Mike out a lot,’ says Bordin. ‘I feel bad for the guy who was in the car, and I feel bad for Mike for being behind the wheel.’ The band were subsequently banned from hiring cars from the only car hire company around.' - Small Victories by Adrian Harte S is for Spit! Faith No More ended their 1995 tour in South America, returning like heroes to Chile. On 8 September the band shared the stage with Ozzy Osbourne, Alice Cooper and Megadeth at Monsters Of Rock Festival . The most amazing and unsanitary scenes were captured on film when the front rows of 50,000 strong crowd spat at Patton to show their appreciation. Instead of being repulsed Patton opened his mouth! "I remember all of us were really into the spit. That was a high energy show we gave them. It was September 11, so it was the anniversary of the coup. People were really jacked up, and we fed off of that. People liked to spit. We were totally fine with that. He [Patton] had no problem with that. He did what he had to do." - Bill 2014 | Small Victories by Adrian Harte T is for Trey Spruance The Mr Bungle guitarist joined the ranks of FNM and began writing with them 1994. His unique style and knowledge of different genres helped to create some truly remarkable music. Trey would also add keyboards and helped with string and vocal arrangements. Trey left the band after KFAD... was recorded and didn’t play the songs live until 2011 at the Maquinaria Festival in Chile - when the band treated the crowd by playing the album from beginning to end. "We knew we had songs that worked. We tried out a lot of guitarists and Trey definitely understands our language. He had his own very capable language and is able to lock into what we're thinking too. It's exciting to be able to finally get in and do the album we've been waiting to do all this time." “If anything, we did everything possible to convince ourselves that he wasn't the right guy. Patton had said that Trey was going to be our man, but he didn't even want to deal with the idea. He's known him for years and the last thing he wanted was to be in another band with him, but in the end we were hurting ourselves by avoiding him so hard. For a long time it was too obvious, and we were fighting the obvious - but there comes a time where you have to realise who the right guy for the job is." – Bill 1994 | Kerrang! U is for Ugly In The Morning Patton’s lyrics on KFAD/FFAL were often charged with menace and self loathing, and even in songs which suggest joy and elation it’s easy to find the undertone of despair . Patton’s technique of creating tragic characters to inhabit whilst telling his stories of banal themes is a work of genius. Whilst his contemporaries bleat on about love he continues to explore the darker side of the human condition - a hangover, narcissism, toilets! Doesn't matter how much you think Or the number of hairs in the sink I did it to myself again I know how piggy feels He starves without missing a meal V is for Velvet Hammer Mike Patton has had a romance with foreign languages for some time. It was during 1994 that he married an Italian and relocated to Bologna - his inspiration for an album of Italian pop music later called Mondo Cane . KFAD... saw Patton's first genuine bilingual flirtations, he recorded the song Evidence in both Spanish and Portuguese. The Latin flavoured song Caralho Voador , working title of Velvet Hammer , translates from Portuguese as 'Flying Dick' . During the middle section Patton sings in Portuguese which is roughly translated as:  'I can't drive... With my index finger... up my nose.' W is for Two Wallaces Matt Wallace , often considered as the George Martin of FNM, recorded and produced the first four Faith no more albums. His skills added to their distinctive sound, his touch on songs like We Care A Lot , Epic and Midlife Crisis helped in their success. However for KFAD/FFAL the band turned to producer Andy Wallace to take their music in a different direction. Andy had worked with some of the biggest names in rock and his style certainly suited the change in direction FNM had taken. "Everything that happened regarding the making of that album is part of the story. Working with Trey was very stimulating, things came together much more easily we were used to. Andy Wallace was the first producer we worked with outside of Matt, and his approach was definitely different, and we learned a lot from it. Then there’s Bearsville Studios — when I hear that album I still get mental images from recording at that place." - Bill 2016 | fnmfollowers “After Angel Dust, I felt like I had taken the band as far as I could. Maybe with a different producer, maybe they could go further. It was an act of love, for lack of a better phrase, where I just thought I wanted to let them run free.” – Matt Wallace 2015 | Small Victories X is for eXcrement lives forever... Track 6 on King For A Day... is the most metal the band get on the record, not too dissimilar from the repetitive beats of the We Care A Lot [1985] album. Cuckoo For Caca is a hideous masterpiece, on the surface the lyrics describe Patton's Angel Dust era shit eating hobby perfectly. However, poke a little deeper and it could be perceived as a metaphor for drug abuse. In 1995 Patton addressed the meaning while talking to NME in Venice: NME: "Would you call it a shit-eating manifesto?" Patton: "I really don't remember. If I could sit here and write the words out I might be able to remember." NME: A lyric sheet is laid before him. Patton: "it's just....shit. Shit is...shitty people, garbage, everything. What do you think it's about?" Y is for Yamaha In 1995 HM Magazine published an interview with Mike Bordin 's drum tech Feely . Feely had some cool stuff to say, and we all know being good gets you… "All the toms are birch, even the kick drum is birch. This creates a really dark sound, it's like swamp water. The snare is maple though, which has a clear, sharp sound, and when you put the two together, it's crystal clear, the sound cuts right through." "We took all the toms to a drum doctor to get the bearing edges made sharper. When they leave the factory, the edges are sometimes a little rounded. "Sharpening the edges creates less resonance. Mike hits them so hard and you don't want them ringing out for ages and ages. We try to create a sound that is deep enough to boom out heavily, but not one so low that it just gets lots in the mix." Z is for Absolute Zero Unbelievably this song did not make the album however it was available to fans on the b-side of Digging The Grave . It has to date only been played live once at Maquinaria festival in 2011.

Over a decade ago on March 23rd 2015 Faith No More released Superhero as the second single from Sol Invictus on 7” vinyl. 'Superhero chucks machine-gun drums, tightly coiled basslines, pianos and a widdling guitar into the crusty San Francisco quintet's arenas cement mixer. The pick of 47-year-old singer Mike Patton's growled lines is "Ain't no grave gonna keep this body down".' NME As American fireworks lit up the sky in celebration of Independence Day across the pond the UK lit up the sky with a different kind of firework for fans of FNM - two brand new songs! July 4th 2014, at British Summer Time festival in Hyde Park London, FNM were back after two year’s absence from the stage. Dressed as priests they walked out to Mike Oldfield ’s Exorcist Theme . The set compromised of a short greatest hits selection after which Mike Patton became possessed by the persona of Father Karras and threw holy water at the feverish crowd… ‘Power of Christ compels you! Power of Christ compels you! That's all I got. Your mother sucks cocks in hell!’ Faith No More then launched into the deep groove of Superhero for the very first time. 'On Super Hero, there are a lot more layers. It has a lot of energy; it's driving and forceful. To me, that's what Faith No More should sound like.' - Roddy Bottum | Oc Weekly | 2015 It wasn’t long before it was clear that FNM were in the studio and a new album was in the works. Four months later and FNM released Motherfucker , their first single in sixteen years, with a surprise close quarter performance at Amoeba Records in their own neighbourhood of San Francisco. One of the five songs played was Superhero . In January 2015 camp Faith No More announced Superhero would be their follow-up single, and in May their long-awaited seventh studio album Sol Invictus would be released. The studio version of Superhero was revealed on March 2nd via Marvel and the Radio 1 Rock Show . Bill Gould , spokesman for FNM, was interviewed by both. “‘Superhero’ actually just started from the sound of the song, where it has these pounding drums and… throbbing kind of pulse, and we just called it the ‘Superhero’ song. Because, a lot of the ways we write we visualize things,” Gould, a lifelong Silver Surfer fan, said. “While we write music we’re talking about chord changes and different things like that. What we do is we describe scenes together, and we can visualize the scene and the music kind of comes. “We kind of make movie scenes for movies that don’t exist,” added Gould. “‘Superhero’ was one of those where it was definitely a superhero comic. That was just the vibe of the song, and when [Faith No More singer] Mike [Patton] came to me writing words about it, we were already calling it ‘Superhero.’ So it’s kind of like in the DNA; it’s a comic strip.” The vinyl was scheduled for release on March 17th, however adverse weather meant production was postponed and the single was instead released on 23rd March, 2015. "It seems that crazy weather that hit the East coast the past few weeks, closed down the production plants for several days and delayed the Faith No More Superhero seven-inch just a bit. It will now be in stores on Monday March 23rd. We truly appreciate your support and understanding!" - Ipecac Recordings The song was mixed by Bill and Matt Wallace and mastered by Maor Applebaum . The B-side was the Battaglia remix by Alexander Hacke , also available as a bonus track on the Japanese edition of Sol Invictus. An unofficial SouthPark styled video was endorsed by FNM, directed by Rafael Barros.

New Improved Song was originally released on 7 inch vinyl which was free with issue 1574 of Sounds magazine on March 12 1988. The record also included songs by Jesus And Mary Chain, Head of David and The Godfathers. The song had appeared in set lists as early as 1986. The song was recorded at Studio D in Sausalito, California circa July 1986 during the Introduce Yourself sessions and produced by Matt Wallace. Chuck Mosley commented on the lyrics saying, 'Actions speak louder than words...that's what it means.' The music was later re-recorded with Mike Patton on vocals for The Real Thing with new lyrics and titled The Morning After . New Improved Song was included on the compilation CD The Very Best Definitive Ultimate Greatest Hits Collection in 2009.

For Fans, Faith No More ’s live performance at the Brixton Academy stands as a landmark moment in the band's history. Released 35 years ago, the live album captured FNM at a the height of their commercial success. There are three occasions to celebrate this momentous show - the original show date of April 28th 1990, the release date of the You Fat Bastards VHS on August 2oth 1990, and on February 4th 1991 when Slash Records released the audio version. Brixton is a district of South London and place of significance in British history. It has seen much unrest over the years with several riots, in 1979 The Clash told us 'You can crush us. You can bruise us. But you'd have to answer to... the guns of Brixton' , it is the birthplace of David Bowie , and it is the spiritual home of Faith No More. "We’ve made fucked-up decisions our whole career. I think that’s why the English embraced us. It feels to me that the English love to champion fucked-up Americans." - Roddy 2015 In 1988 FNM first toured outside of the US with frontman Chuck Mosley . We Care A Lot had become an underground hit on UK college radio, so the band travelled to London to expose their unique brand of hippy rock on the Brits. The first venue the band played of their fourteen show tour was at Dingwalls in Camden on January 22nd. FNM's tour received such praise from the music press and adoration from the fans that they returned to the UK four months later. This was the beginning of a mutual bond which has lasted through their entire career. In 1989 Faith No More again graced the shores of England and Scotland for fourteen dates across the two countries. However it wasn't until 1990 that the UK became truly encapsulated with the band's music. The Epic Tour was possibly FNM's most hectic tour schedule ever with dates that lasted through January, February and April due to the unexpected success of The Real Thing . The Epic tour consisted of thirteen dates in Ireland, Scotland and England including a hysterical performance on Top of the Pops during which Mike Patton refused to mime the lyrics to From Out Of Nowhere . The band played Hammersmith Odeon on April 27th and Brixton Academy on April 28th, the second of which would be preserved for posterity on the You Fat Bastards live video and album. "Brixton was an afterthought in lots of ways," Faith No More's booking agent at the time Derek Kemp explains. "We had sold out the Astoria on the previous tour, so the next logical step was to play Hammersmith Odeon. I put the Odeon on sale, and it sold very quickly. I tried to get a second night there, couldn’t get the dates, so found out Brixton Academy was available, so put the band into there. At that time, the capacity for Hammersmith Odeon, because it was all seated then, was about 3,500, maybe just a little bit less, and the capacity of Brixton Academy was around about 5,000. In two nights, the band played to over 8,000 people in London alone. " - Small Victories : The True Story of Faith No More | Adrian Harte The music press spoke highly of the show: Whether or not you appreciate the vinyl, there's no denying Faith No More are one of the most compelling bands to hit the live circuit recently. Their ingenious hybrid of rock, rap, funk and the odd classical break is transformed into something magical on stage, while the crazy showmanship of singer Mike Patton — as unpredictable a character as former vocalist Chuck Mosley — makes the show visually as well as aurally exciting. Brixton was packed and heaving, but its all starting to look a little bit too easy. The 10-legged music monsters songs — including hits 'We Care A Lot', 'Epic' and 'From Out Of Nowhere' — are so strong that the band scarcely had to try and there was the sense of a mere run through. It was only the more offbeat moments — snatches of 'Pump Up The Jam' and 'Street Tuff', the reflective cabaret of 'Edge Of The World', and the stonking encore of Black Sabbath's 'War Pigs' — that they really lit up. Faith No More need a break from touring before they become victims of their own success. Especially as, even on half power,they still blow the rest out of the water. - RIP Magazine EVER since "Walk This Way" blasted the divisions between rap and rock, many have sought to mix aggressive preaching with power chords. Much of the success of FNM's attempt at rap 'n' roll is down to the schizophrenic talents of Michael Patton. One minute, he's a black-sounding rapper, the next the bastard son of Axl Rose. The rest of the band look like cardboard cut-outs from a Seventies TV movie, and have one mission - to get as many Black Sabbath riffs into the show as possible. "We Care A Lot" teases the pogo hungry revellers with its stuttered rhythm and speed shifts. Patton flails around, adding new meaning to the phrase New Kids On The Block as he breaks into "The Right Stuff", leaving his Zappa clones bemused. The one song that sums up all that is special is "Epic". It fizzes and buzzes in rapturous splendour before blossoming into a killer chorus. It would be fair to say Faith No More are seriously demented. The twisted lyric of “Zombie Eaters” (a touching tale of a baby from hell) seems to fill them with glee, and they deliver a breathtaking performance that demands movement and sweat, at the very least. Curiously commercial, they seem to know how to lead you up the garden path, switching from blistering rock to soulful sensitivity with consummate ease. With "From Out Of Nowhere" snapping at the charts, FNM have crossed over from being backward Beastie Boys to mainstream rock gods. It's all the more weird then, to hear them give a lifelike rendition of 'The Commodores' "Easy", proving that they can turn their hands to any groove they choose. Very soon they could have the world at their feet. Expect them to stamp on it. - NME Slash Records began to pester FNM for a follow up record to The Real Thing in late 1990. But instead, to satisfy fans hunger for more, they released the You Fat Bastards VHS. And, due to its success Slash opted to release an audio version of the performance on February 4, 1991. The album was recorded by William Shapland and mixed by Matt Wallace but there were strange record company decisions made to restructure the set order and to leave out various songs. The addition of two tracks previously only available as b-sides, The Grade and The Cowboy Song , both recorded during the sessions for The Real Thing made it album a must have for fans. Last year Faith No More were practically a permanent feature on the U.K. live scene. At times it seemed that as soon as the lights went down on one show there wasn't even time to catch a quick pint before you were screaming for 'War Pigs' at their next. Their audiences were growing at an alarming rate-a couple of years ago their glory was to achieve to consecutive sell-out nights at the marquee. That would have been enough to keep a Cheshire Cat type grin upon their faces for a good month! But a year later that achievement paled before a list of dates that included The Astoria, Brixton Academy, Hammersmith Odeon and the Reading Festival. Popping back and forth across the Atlantic with alarming regularity, they journeyed much over the surface of Britain-wearing out a considerable amount of rubber In the process! And so it was deemed that the rest of '91 will be a Faith No More no more year. Too much touring of Britain. Well we suppose they deserve a break. But don't despair! To satisfy our hunger London have put out a mini live album. Recorded at Brixton Academy in April of last year it features eight live monsters. The CD version includes two extra tracks -'The Cowboy Song' and 'The Grade' which have never before been widely available. Of course no live album from FNM would be complete without their habitual encore and Black Sabbath original 'War Pigs'.It's here, planted firmly at the end of side one, bathing in all its glory. In fact the LP includes most of FNM's finest - 'The Real Thing', 'Epic', 'From Out Of Nowhere' and 'We Care A Lot'. Capturing their essential live sound to a tee, so very well that you just want to throw your body about with the sheer pleasure of it all. We're gonna place our ears between the speakers of two very powerful amps and blast ourselves 'till our heads explode! Then we're off to Faith No More heaven. See ya there! - Metal Hammer | February 1991 Faith No More’s live release from the Brixton Academy is more than a historical artifact. It’s a celebration of a band that pushed boundaries and connected deeply with their audience. The album’s enduring appeal lies in its authenticity and the raw power of the performance. As music fans continue to explore the roots of alternative and experimental rock, this live recording offers a clear example of how Faith No More helped shape the sound of a generation.

Watch the new video release from French musician and frontwoman of Savages Jehnny Beth . Look At Me features Mike Patton on vocals written and produced by Beth’s partner, Johnny Hostile .

Before Tomahawk was Faith No More . Before Faith No More was Mr. Bungle . Before Mr. Bungle was... Gemini ! Eureka High is noted for its sports teams with students graduating to play for Cincinnati Bengals, San Francisco 49ers and Dallas Cowboys. The faculty had great coaches including Mike Patton 's dad, Pat. The school also boasted a talented jazz band which included Trevor Dunn and Trey Spruance . Patton and his Mr. Bungle bandmates attended Eureka High, the largest high school in Humboldt County, from around 1979 to 1985. In their sophomore year Patton and Dunn formed a rock band called Gemini, which also included Kevin Lee McBride on drums, Earl McBride and Brett Davis on guitars. Footage of Gemini performing at the EHS 1984 talent show on March 6 gives an amazing view of Patton and Dunn's early musical prowess. In 1985 Gemini performed at the senior class night as described in the EHS 1985 yearbook. Gemini would go on to perform in Daly's Parking lot circa 1985 before the band broke up and Mr. Bungle was formed. Courtesy of Jardar @ Faith.noman.com

Faith No More 's version of the  Bee Gees  song  I Started A Joke  was released on October 26th 1998. The song first appeared on the B-side of the limited edition single release of  Digging The Grave  in 1995 and on a bonus CD available with the Australian version of  King For A Day Fool For A Lifetime  also in 1995.  It was recorded along with three more cover versions of other songs in  Bill Gould 's home studio and produced by Gould and  Dean Menta . These songs were the only studio recordings to feature Menta on guitar. I Started A Joke  was released by the record company as a single in 1998 from the greatest hits album  Who Cares A Lot?  released on November 24th, the year FNM split.  Most recently the song was available as part of Rhino's now-famous SIDE BY SIDE Series, pairing two artists with one classic song, pressed on mint green vinyl. The video was directed by Vito Rocco starring Martin Freeman in an early (pre Office / Hobbit) role and UK drag performer David Hoyle as the sensational karaoke singer. The video was released after FNM had split and was produced by the record company as part of the promotion for Who Care's A Lot , FNM had no input and Mike Patton does not star in the video contrary to some beliefs.  "The b-sides that we did were three cover songs that were actually recorded at my house. There's "The Joke" by the Bee Gees, there's a song by a band called The Brothers Four called "Greenfields", and "Spanish Eyes" by Al Martino! They all sound really good, I'm really into it! We were in this bar in Gwaum, god, it was so twisted! You see, Gwaum is like a rock in the middle of the ocean; they have like two million snakes per mile -- they have so many snakes that they have killed all the birds, they have no more birds in all of Gwaum. So, we're sitting in this bar and they have posters of hard-core porn videos all over the wall. It was a regular bar, and they had animal porn on the wall! And we're like, 'What the hell is this?!', and in the corner of the room they had this karaoke machine and they were all singing the words "I started a joke ..." and there was this bouncing ball so they could follow the words. The lyrics were so pathetic and depressing that we just said 'We have to do this song!' It's the most miserable song I ever heard in my life!"  - Bill 1995 The original Bee Gees song was from their 1968 album  Idea , which was released as a single in December of that year. According to  Robin Gibb , the melancholic melody of the song was inspired by the sounds on board an aeroplane. Bee Gees Anthology, Hal Leonard Publishing Corporation, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 1991. "The melody to this one was heard aboard a British Airways Vickers Viscount about a hundred miles from Essen. It was one of those old four engine 'prop' jobs, that seemed to drone the passenger into a sort of hypnotic trance, only with this it was different. The droning, after a while, appeared to take the form of a tune, which mysteriously sounded like a church choir. So it was decided! We accosted the pilot, forced him to land in the nearest village and there; in a small pub, we finished the lyrics [with Barry]. Actually, it wasn't a village, it was the city, and it wasn't a pub, it was a hotel, and we didn't force the pilot to land in a field... but why ruin a perfectly good story?"

Faith No More 's version of the  Bee Gees  song  I Started A Joke  was released on October 26th 1998. The song first appeared on the B-side of the limited edition single release of  Digging The Grave  in 1995 and on a bonus CD available with the Australian version of  King For A Day Fool For A Lifetime  also in 1995.  It was recorded along with three more cover versions of other songs in  Bill Gould 's home studio and produced by Gould and  Dean Menta . These songs were the only studio recordings to feature Menta on guitar. I Started A Joke  was released by the record company as a single in 1998 from the greatest hits album  Who Cares A Lot?  released on November 24th, the year FNM split.  Most recently the song was available as part of Rhino's now-famous SIDE BY SIDE Series, pairing two artists with one classic song, pressed on mint green vinyl. The video was directed by Vito Rocco starring Martin Freeman in an early (pre Office / Hobbit) role and UK drag performer David Hoyle as the sensational karaoke singer. The video was released after FNM had split and was produced by the record company as part of the promotion for Who Care's A Lot , FNM had no input and Mike Patton does not star in the video contrary to some beliefs.  "The b-sides that we did were three cover songs that were actually recorded at my house. There's "The Joke" by the Bee Gees, there's a song by a band called The Brothers Four called "Greenfields", and "Spanish Eyes" by Al Martino! They all sound really good, I'm really into it! We were in this bar in Gwaum, god, it was so twisted! You see, Gwaum is like a rock in the middle of the ocean; they have like two million snakes per mile -- they have so many snakes that they have killed all the birds, they have no more birds in all of Gwaum. So, we're sitting in this bar and they have posters of hard-core porn videos all over the wall. It was a regular bar, and they had animal porn on the wall! And we're like, 'What the hell is this?!', and in the corner of the room they had this karaoke machine and they were all singing the words "I started a joke ..." and there was this bouncing ball so they could follow the words. The lyrics were so pathetic and depressing that we just said 'We have to do this song!' It's the most miserable song I ever heard in my life!" - Bill 1995 The original Bee Gees song was from their 1968 album  Idea , which was released as a single in December of that year. According to  Robin Gibb , the melancholic melody of the song was inspired by the sounds on board an aeroplane. Bee Gees Anthology, Hal Leonard Publishing Corporation, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 1991. "The melody to this one was heard aboard a British Airways Vickers Viscount about a hundred miles from Essen. It was one of those old four engine 'prop' jobs, that seemed to drone the passenger into a sort of hypnotic trance, only with this it was different. The droning, after a while, appeared to take the form of a tune, which mysteriously sounded like a church choir. So it was decided! We accosted the pilot, forced him to land in the nearest village and there; in a small pub, we finished the lyrics [with Barry]. Actually, it wasn't a village, it was the city, and it wasn't a pub, it was a hotel, and we didn't force the pilot to land in a field... but why ruin a perfectly good story?"

Faith No More 's version of the  Bee Gees  song  I Started A Joke  was released on October 26th 1998. The song first appeared on the B-side of the limited edition single release of  Digging The Grave  in 1995 and on a bonus CD available with the Australian version of  King For A Day Fool For A Lifetime  also in 1995.  It was recorded along with three more cover versions of other songs in  Bill Gould 's home studio and produced by Gould and  Dean Menta . These songs were the only studio recordings to feature Menta on guitar. I Started A Joke  was released by the record company as a single in 1998 from the greatest hits album  Who Cares A Lot?  released on November 24th, the year FNM split.  Most recently the song was available as part of Rhino's now-famous SIDE BY SIDE Series, pairing two artists with one classic song, pressed on mint green vinyl. The video was directed by Vito Rocco starring Martin Freeman in an early (pre Office / Hobbit) role and UK drag performer David Hoyle as the sensational karaoke singer. The video was released after FNM had split and was produced by the record company as part of the promotion for Who Care's A Lot , FNM had no input and Mike Patton does not star in the video contrary to some beliefs.  "The b-sides that we did were three cover songs that were actually recorded at my house. There's "The Joke" by the Bee Gees, there's a song by a band called The Brothers Four called "Greenfields", and "Spanish Eyes" by Al Martino! They all sound really good, I'm really into it! We were in this bar in Gwaum, god, it was so twisted! You see, Gwaum is like a rock in the middle of the ocean; they have like two million snakes per mile -- they have so many snakes that they have killed all the birds, they have no more birds in all of Gwaum. So, we're sitting in this bar and they have posters of hard-core porn videos all over the wall. It was a regular bar, and they had animal porn on the wall! And we're like, 'What the hell is this?!', and in the corner of the room they had this karaoke machine and they were all singing the words "I started a joke ..." and there was this bouncing ball so they could follow the words. The lyrics were so pathetic and depressing that we just said 'We have to do this song!' It's the most miserable song I ever heard in my life!" - Bill 1995 The original Bee Gees song was from their 1968 album  Idea , which was released as a single in December of that year. According to  Robin Gibb , the melancholic melody of the song was inspired by the sounds on board an aeroplane. Bee Gees Anthology, Hal Leonard Publishing Corporation, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 1991. "The melody to this one was heard aboard a British Airways Vickers Viscount about a hundred miles from Essen. It was one of those old four engine 'prop' jobs, that seemed to drone the passenger into a sort of hypnotic trance, only with this it was different. The droning, after a while, appeared to take the form of a tune, which mysteriously sounded like a church choir. So it was decided! We accosted the pilot, forced him to land in the nearest village and there; in a small pub, we finished the lyrics [with Barry]. Actually, it wasn't a village, it was the city, and it wasn't a pub, it was a hotel, and we didn't force the pilot to land in a field... but why ruin a perfectly good story?"

Royal Flush Mike Peake EVERY BAND goes through a crisis. Someone leaves, someone f**ks up, someone dies. Something happens to make the rest of the band wonder if it's worth carrying on. Faith No More thought about splitting up in 1993. They'd just finished a rock-till-ya-drop, not entirely pleasant world tour supporting their 'Angel Dust' LP. Four of the band were, to put bluntly, pig sick of the fifth man - Jim Martin - and keyboard player Roddy Bottum was going through his own private hell with a bunch of personal problems. So, band frontman Mike Patton, bassist Bill Gould and drummer Mike 'Puffy' Bordin talked about calling it a day. Those words - 'splitting' - were actually mentioned. After all, what lay ahead for the increasingly malcontent San Franciscan five-piece? Another f**king album. More touring, touring, touring. All this and the band were - to coin a phrase falling to pieces. What would have been easier than saying, 'f**k it. We've made some money, we've had some fun, let's lay this f**ker to rest'. Anything would have been easier. So Faith No More came close, very close, to splitting up back in 1993. What happened instead has been well documented. They ganged up on Jim Martin and kicked the beardy-weirdo axe god the hell out of the band. They insist it was the best thing that they've ever done. But since that fateful December '93 day when Jim was given the boot. Faith No More have been pretty cagey about his dismissal. They've never really opened up. Not until now... FAITH NO More formed in San Francisco in 1980 and fooled around with several singers (including, amazingly enough, Courtney Love) before settling on Chuck Mosley in 1983. Mosley left in 1988 and, after a brief stint with Reggae punksters Bad Brains, formed his own band, Cement. Mr Bungle Singer Mike Patton then joined Faith No More and the ensuing album, 'The Real Thing', turned the band into a household name. In December 1993, Jim Martin was sacked, and was replaced by Mr Bungle axeman Trey Spruance, who worked with the band on one album - the imminent 'King For A Day... Fool For A Lifetime'. Spruance left during Christmas 1994 and was replaced by Dean Menta - a former FNM roadie. Which brings us right up to date. Faith No More, minus Menta, are in Venice in a hotel that overlooks one of the city's main waterways. St Mark's Square is about 400 yards west, and there are plenty of tourists despite the miserable weather. Things are pretty relaxed in the FNM camp, as Patton, Bordin, Bottum and Gould spend a few days touring the city and talking to journalists about their new album. But talk of Jim Martin is unavoidable. 'King For A Lifetime...' is a rebirth. An awakening. And it wouldn't have been possible if everything had stayed as it was. MIKE PATTON looks comically like a kid as he sits on a low chair behind a high table in the hotel lounge. Any writer will tell you he's not much fun to interview - by his own admission he's "not very good at it" - but he offers his full attention. He orders some espresso coffees. "After the 'Angel Dust' tour we didn't know if we were gonna be a band any more," he reveals. "We didn't want to do split up, and I think now that it would have been a stupid thing to do. "But for a coupla years we didn't confront any of the things that were wrong in our band. When you leave things to fester like that, it doesn't do any good." Adds Bill Gould, who's swapped his long locks for a goatee beard since he was last under the spotlight: "If we'd have kept on with Jim we would have broken up. In the end, Jim actually got the message that he was out of the band via a fax machine! None of us even wanted to talk to him." Drummer Mike Bordin: "This time in the studio, it was 100 per cent better. And it wasn't just because Jim wasn't there. It was Billy, Mike and Roddy and me. Let's get to work!" For God's sake -what was so bad about Jim?! "Well, that's a tough one," shrugs Bordin. "Why do people get divorced? Is it one thing? You just know. "We all felt that we could be better. We could feel it in our hearts. Yeah, maybe we were driving along at 90mph, but we knew there were a couple more gears up there somewhere so we could really f**kin' push it up. And I feel that we have. "Jim's a character, he's endearing, but I'm just over it. We were lucky to get 'Angel Dust' to turnout as well as it did. It was f**kin' difficult. It was f**kin' painful! There were two camps working at cross purposes, and that ain't good." It's been said that you had it in for Jim for years. "Whatever anyone says, we actually wanted to hear what Jim could contribute to these new songs and we really suspended judgement until then. We told him to bring some songs in and gave him some of ours to deal with." Did he do it? "Yeah, but it just didn't feel right. It felt like more of the same. Now, instead of one f**king difficult, strange, schizo-type record, maybe two really good records will come out of this. I really think that we made a record that's great, and when Jim gets full steam ahead he will make the picture out of his own vision." "Jim was a very vocal, very visual person," reckons Gould. "He was an image - but that's where it stopped, so when Jim left nothing really changed. Jim wasn't involved with the music nearly as much as people think. "He's the kind of person who takes well to the media. If I was his manager, I know I could sell him like a cartoon character. The rest of us are less likely to market our personalities and are more inclined to sell the music." Is there anything at all that you missed about Jim in the studio? Bordin:"No, nothing at all." Gould: "Nothing, man. It's over, We'd tried for years to sort things out and we were f**kin' exhausted." Patton: "Maybe his cigar smoke." TRENDS COME, fads go. FNM have been missing-in-action for what seems like forever. "I didn't mind that," says Bordin. "I was just desperate to get the album done right." "It's hard to take a break," Gould counters. "The big thing was wondering if we were gonna put a record out at all. "A lot of people were advising us that Jim has a very public image and that we shouldn't jeopardise everything by making changes. 'Find a way to work with him, don't do anything stupid...' So we had to deal with all this shit. Then Roddy's Dad dies and some of his friends died too. He was a good friend of Kurt Cobain, so that shook him up." But you were at least able to take stock of what you've achieved in the past five years. Your initial success came from out of nowhere. "We were falling to pieces!" Bordin laughs. "We were too busy to even notice when 'The Real Thing' broke. It was exciting, but we were busy being on tour when things really started hitting. I'm glad we didn't get to see MTV! "Having success thrust upon you is weird. You say, 'Hang on, I'm only doing what I do'. People then think you're ungrateful. "Look at Eddie Vedder What's wrong with that guy? He's the voice of a generation and he doesn't wanna do it! He doesn't wanna lead me out of the wilderness or make my life better or get me laid more often or fix my car!" Patton: "I don't remember if I enjoyed that time. To me, that period probably won't make sense for a while. It was almost like a big joke. There really wasn't any pressure, it was just like. 'Huh?' A lot of question marks. You don't learn until you start giving to people who want a piece of you, and then, suddenly, there's nothing left." What about all the, er... girls? "Yeah. Once again, you learn the hard way. You make a million f**king mistakes. But you learn. If you don't, you're a casualty. One more casualty. "People always expect you to complain about your success. To feel guilty for it. That's probably the worst thing about it. "If it was that bad, why didn't we all kill ourselves? This poo-pooing of success is very over-rated. We could have come back and made a noise album, and then we'd have been all happy, right?" Gould: "Back then we were perceived as a gimmick: a mixture of Metal and Funk and we had this pretty-boy singer We found it really repulsive. We started getting tapes from bands who were Heavy Metal Funk bands and they were saying we were their main influence! It was horrible! " 'Angel Dust' was a way for us to stretch our arms out and hold on to our identity. When Patton cut his hair and changed how he looked, it was seen as very negative. What he was actually doing was a positive thing keeping his own identity in control and not becoming like a piece of McDonalds hamburger People thought we had a bad attitude." But it must have been good when the money started rolling in? Patton: "I was very young back then, so it was strange. It didn't really seem real. I didn't do the usual Rock star thing and blow it left, right and centre - I put it in a f**kin' bank! Put it in a f**kin' bank and still lived with my parents to save rent! I did buy a car" A flashy one? "No, just a normal car." Very sensible. "Not so sensible -I wrecked it!" "The money didn't start till the 'Real Thing' tour was over," adds Gould. "It takes a year or so. We had a Platinum record, we were touring everywhere for two years and everyone was acting as if we were all millionaires. All this when you haven't even got your first pay cheque yet! It was very frustrating." How much was your first big cheque? "It was for $20,000 each - and that was an amazing day. But it's not all that much considering what we'd achieved. "If I knew then what I know now, I think I'd think twice about going into the music business. It's a very hard way to make a living, even at our level. For what we make and what we do, we're middle class Americans, really. "I'm sure all your readers think we're multi-millionaires. It's hard. It really isn't you think." FIVE YEARS after 'The Real Thing', Faith No Mo re are happier than ever. And they are almost embarrassingly enthusiastic about their new LP, which merges hook-happy, super-heavy FNM classics-to-be with a bunch of adventurous off the wall compositions.. Patton: "I can tell right now that we're gonna have a good time touring these songs live. In the past that wasn't always the case." "The new record is like being hit with a f**kin fist, with one finger sticking out!" beams Bordin. "I think this is a really f**kin' special record. I'm honestly, sincerely, really proud of it. "This is the best record we've ever done. But it doesn't just come outta your button a plate. The songs, the performance, the recording process, the tones, the mix, the mastering. It's a whole bunch of shit that makes a good album." Gould: "It's heavier, it's more direct and it's the first record where we had the guitar the way we wanted it. We always knew the potential we had, but everything was always a fight. Now it feels like we're a dog who's been let off the leash." Considering all that's been said about Jim, Trey Spruance must have seemed like an angel? Patton: "He was great. And it was a convenient thing to do. I know how he works, he knows how I work. Once we'd settled in with Trey, the writing process went really quick." But he didn't last long... "Yeah, but I wanted to give it every possibility for the situation to grow. I wasn't surprised when Trey made up his mind to leave, because it would have happened sooner or later-and if it had happened later it would have been ugly. Now we're separated it's definitely for the better, and it's not affected my relationship with him on a personal level either. I gotta record with him again soon for the new Mr Bungle record." Is there any concern that because of all the turmoil surrounding 'King For A Day...' - which features an axe man who won't be seen on tour - that it won't be perceived as a bona fide FNM LP? Patton: "Maybe but I don't think the majority of people will give a shit. I mean, the guitar's gonna sound good and it'll stop there. I mean, I've had people mistake me for Chuck Mosley! So that's the end of that!" Bordin: "The fact that he won't play these songs live doesn't matter, I because these are our songs." Gould: "I look forward to the day where we can write an album with a guitarist who can contribute as much as ; we can. A guitar player we don't have to fight with." ' What would new kid Dean Menta have to do to be out of the band? Patton: "Stop being Dean! Right now, I we've rehearsed for a month and recorded a few B-sides and that's it. It's very hard to guess how it will develop. But in terms of the band I feel more i comfortable than I have for a while. "Now I don't have to worry about turning my head this way so I don't see that guy, or feel forced to ignore something because I don't wanna fight anybody." Bordin: "The 'Angel Dust' tour was indispensable because we met Dean. He saw what we went through and respected that. He took two years of his life to hang out with us so we would know him, because he wanted to be in this band. "He said he's been been waiting for three years for this opportunity and he sure as hell isn't gonna f**k it up. I respect that."

Thirty oje years ago we were awaiting the arrival of the new Faith No More record King For A Day Fool For A Lifetime - several nervous ideas were pulsating around our brain boxes. Would it measure up against it's masterpiece of a predecessor Angel Dust ? How would it work out without the grinding axe work of big sick and ugly guitarist Jim Martin ? And how would it sound without Matt Wallace behind the mixing desk? At 9 am on February 28th 1995 the very first single release ahead of the album DIGGING THE GRAVE the hit record stores, and shortly after that the CD, Cassette and record players of the skeptics. We were three years in waiting for new FNM material, yeah it's true we were blessed with Another Body Murdered but this single was the appetiser to a whole new album, a renaissance, with additional mysterious guitar sounds and new fucking haircuts! "Digging The Grave is what Faith No More fans crave, adding a hint of melody to the usual primal ferocity." - Raw Magazine 1995 First impressions - where the hell are Roddy Bottum's keys? Is this really Trey Spruance from MR. BUNGLE on guitar? Have FNM finally given up trying NOT to be a rock band? A few more spins - damn this song is raw and it's hard, three minutes of jump around the room brutality. In true Faith No More tradition it's different, unexpected and spectacular. Digging The Grave continues the legacy of FNM's ability to progress their sound further with every single from each album. If you compare this song to From Out Of Nowhere or Midlife Crisis , though the characteristic FNM elements are present the songs are so diverse it's like listening to a different band. Even though the band lost their heaviest metal element (Big Jim) the song is bursting with brutal guitar riffs from the eccentric hand of Trey Spruance. A whole circus tour away from Mr. Bungle yet it carves a short-lived smile on the face of FNM. We might at first think he was trying too hard to 'fit into' the band but we were proved wrong by the following album. Mike Patton's vocals still have the schizophrenic shifts between ferocious growling and powerful operatic trills that we are used to from Angel Dust , but he is angrier, his statement is sharper, and his delivery is more maniacal than ever. The noises that man can produce are astounding, like a human guitar on overdrive he screams the living shit out of the middle eight. His harmonies on the chorus are also tighter than ever. The rhythm section revisits the early days of FNM like Introduce Yourself with an adrenaline shot! Bill Gould feverishly pounding on his strings and we can only imagine how many cymbals, drum skins and sticks Mike Bordin went though to create that untamed monster beat. "On that track I wanted to get that sound we had on our first records but tighter, faster and harder. The middle section of that track came from the beat me and Bill came up with before we started trying out guitarists." - Mike Bordin 1995 The lack of keyboards was explained when the band began interviews around KFAD . Roddy faced a few personal demons and wasn't as involved with the writing and recording of the song. He appears in the video playing guitar and also took up a six string onstage throughout the consequent touring. "Yeah, I understand how that album is revered but it's not my favourite. I wasn't that present in the song writing and i was going through some tough stuff at the time" - Roddy 2013 The most notable difference to previous FNM material is the production. The band decided to use Andy Wallace who produced bands such as Slayer, Nirvana, L7, Sepultura, Rage Against The Machine, Helmet - the good shit. This was a shift from long time producer Matt Wallace . He disconnected the band from outside influence and hauled up in the isolation of Bearsville studios in New York where, according to band, they developed 'controlled cabin fever' . Andy W's skills deliver a more disciplined and compressed overall mix which changes the feel of the band's music radically from what we had heard before. "It seemed ultimately self defeating to continue to do records with the same producer. Matt did some great stuff with us but over the course if your career why limit yourself to one person? We're the kind of band that prides itself on our diversity, versatility, change." - Roddy 1995 Patton has never really elaborated on the lyrics to DTG , but finding a final resting place in death or looking for a place to hide are an obvious interpretation. "I can't actually write words before music. Words are the last thing: before the words, I hear sounds. Sometimes the words have no connection to anything; they just have to fit into the sound. I'm sure a lot of what was going into the words on the new record were things we all were going through at the time. Kind of subtle ways of getting revenge on those people. People you see everyday, situations your in everyday that maybe it's better if you don't confront them. Everyone will know what its about but no one will talk about it. It's a beautiful thing" - Mike Patton 1995 The video which accompanied the single release followed in FNM tradition - dramatic, dark and mysterious. Director Marcus Raboy, famous for hip hop videos, was enlisted after his handling of the Another Body Murdered promo clip. The single was released on 12" coloured vinyl and a double CD pack with artwork by illustrator Eric Drooker . The full illustration was revealed when the album was released - taken from Drooker's 1992 book 'Flood! A Novel in Pictures' . The snarling police dog is a perfect accompaniment to the suggested violence of the song itself. "Radio will say the our song 'Digging The Grave' is too hard for them, too metal. If we do a song like 'Evidence', then none of the metal stations will want it!" - Gould 1995 King For A Day Fool For A Lifetime was a very important and personal record for the band and they were very positive about it. "The new album was a catharsis for us. We made a record that was very liberating. I think we really learned how to use our power as a unit. I mean, I have a total submarine view of it, but I see it as more if a release type thing. There is a great amount of stress let off on this album" - Bill 1995 "The new record is like being hit with a fucking fist, with one finger sticking out. This is the best record we've ever done. But it doesn't just come out of your butt on a plate. The songs, the performance, the recording process, the tones, the mix, the mastering. It's a whole bunch of shit that makes a good album". - Mike Bordin 1995 The importance of this song in FNM's history is that it illustrates how the departure of Jim Martin affected the band's image and sound. Could the band still have that edge without the tension between members that played such an important part in the creation of previous albums, and could a happy FNM camp produce the same results? When Bill was asked on how the writing process differed without Jim he had this to say: "We've never written stuff with Jim, as a band. Usually we'd give him a tape and he'd put stuff to it because he didn't like practicing with us much" - Bill 1996 According to Puffy in an interview with an Australian radio station the departure of Jim helped them focus on the new material more. "Very to the point, very straight forward and very strong". But it wasn't entirely plain sailing and the process still was fraught with difficulties; Roddy's personal problems, Trey's departure and a nasty car accident. Patton wasn't happy with appointment of his Mr. Bungle co-member in the first place. "Trey didn't come highly recommended by the only guy in the band that knew him. Patton said, 'he's a great guitarist, he'll do the job, but he's not dependable and he'll fuck us up ultimately due to his lack of any sense of responsibly' " - Bill 1995 Although Bill also says how happy they were with the end result. "It's heavier, it's more direct and it's the first record where we had the guitar the way we wanted it. Now it feels we're a dog who's been let of the leash" - Bill 1995 A lot of fans miss Jim but there is no denying Trey is a outstanding guitarist and his input created a new phase in FNM's history. And they pull it off, DTG is an awesome tune it is all out barefaced aggressive rock! Like the bark of Drooker’s police dog there’s no fucking about. The five best ways to relieve stress: light a candle, drink less caffeine, spend time with a pet, exercise, or put on Digging The Grave - turn up the volume and bang your head for three minutes!!