Faith No More ’s keyboardist and all round multi talented artist Roddy Bottum is celebrating his birthday today. We are showing him some love with an alphabetical journey through some of his greatest projects and most fun moments. A IS FOR ADVOCATE The article Heavy Metal Homo was published in June 1993. For Roddy it wasn’t ‘ coming out ’ as he had never hidden his sexuality, but his interview with US journalist Lance Loud made him a role model for gay fans and set a precedent for other musicians within the metal world to speak out. "I never thought it was that important. Since I went public I tend to see the prejudice that's being leveled against homosexuals. Before, I tended to think of it as a gossipy sort of a thing. Now I think of being openly gay as a political statement, something that in some small way furthers the gay rights movement." B IS FOR BE AGGRESSIVE Roddy has penned the lyrics for several FNM songs throughout the years but none of these is more personal than Be Aggressive . Mike Patton sings of male on male fellatio with conviction and bravado. "What I like about 'Be Aggressive' is that even though it's macho in a homosexual way, lots of FNM listeners probably imagine that it is a woman who is getting down on her knees and swallowing rather than a man. I guess it's easier for people to understand and deal with it that way." C IS FOR COURTNEY LOVE Before FNM settled on Chuck Mosley as their permanent front man the band played shows with different singers. In 1984 Courtney Love filled the spot for approximately four to five months. However, Roddy had struck up a friendship with Love that would endure over the years, in fact Roddy still refers to her as his best friend. According to both they began as lovers but this was short lived. In 2005 the two worked together again when he called upon her vocal services for a song on the soundtrack to the movie Adam and Steve . D IS FOR DINOSAUR JR Roddy joined Dinosaur Jr on stage as they played the last of their seven 30th Anniversary shows in 2015. "I got to play guitar with Dinosaur Jr tonight. I was invited. by J. a shining highlight in my life." E IS FOR ELASTIC Crickets is an electronic trio featuring Roddy, JD Samson, and Michael O'Neil. The group released their self-titled debut album in July 2020. The first single, Elastic , represents the band's experimental song writing nature, and is an attack on toxic masculinity. F IS FOR FAMILY & FRIENDS If you follow Roddy on his social media pages you will know that he is very close to his family. Roddy grew up with three sisters and was taught to play piano at an early age by his mom, who sadly passed away in 2020. It seems that Roddy makes deep connections with people - which last. His friendship with Chuck Mosley is an example, it continued after Chuck left FNM all the way until he passed in 2017. G IS FOR BILLY GOULD One of Roddy's oldest friends is FNM bandmate Billy Gould. The two grew up as neighbours in the prosperous Hancock Park district of Los Angeles and attended Loyola High Catholic school together. "Our neighbourhood was pretty sterile, very Hollywood. In some instances it was an exciting place and in others a dull one. But the chemistry of us getting together always meant mischief. We just always ended up causing trouble, climbing trees and throwing things at cars. We used to make bomb-threat calls too. I remember this one time, we made a bomb threat when we were 10 years old and called up a Safeway supermarket near my house. Then we were so cocky, we walked up to see what had happened there. Of course there was chaos, the bomb squad was there, people had been evacuated but we walked right up to the manager and said 'Hey, what's going on?'" When Roddy was 18 he relocated (with Bill) to attend San Francisco State university as a film student. In 1983 he joined Bill and Mike Bordin in the band Faith. No Man replacing Wade Worthington on keyboards. Roddy, Bill and Mike changed the band name to Faith No More in 1984. H IS FOR HIFIKLUB In October 2020 French experimental rock trio, Hifiklub released Things That Were Lost in the Fire. Roddy delivers dreamy spoken-word over some very funky tunes. "It was a crazy idea, to go to France and record. I said, ‘yes’ in a particularly adventurous mood and thought a French adventure would be a lot of fun. I didn’t know the guys very well, we’d only met once and though we’d worked on a smaller project before, a full record of spoken word seemed like an insane project to jump into. I love insanity." I IS FOR I’M REED FISH Roddy has composed music for several movie soundtracks Adam & Steve (2005), I'm Reed Fish (2006), What Goes Up (2009), Kabluey (2007) and Gigantic (2008). In 2010 he scored the documentary Hit So Hard about drummer Patty Schemel and Fred: The Movie for Nickelodeon. However in a recent interview Roddy suggested that soundtrack work had not been rewarding and encouraged him to follow different musical avenues. J IS FOR JOEY HOLMAN Roddy and Joey met when the later reached out about an Imperial Teen song that he liked. Joey attended a show and eventually the two traveled across California. On their journey they began writing music which would become the Man On Man album. "It was an interesting journey writing music together. Though we're both musicians, we hadn't written together before we went to California. It's kind of a stretch. I always admire when couples do things together in any realm. Creatively though, it's especially intense. I've never created and written with a boyfriend before, so that was completely new. We had to develop a language and mutual respect and a way of listening that was different than just being in a band with friends. There are so many more levels and more nuances involved in a relationship." K IS FOR KEY-TAR Although Roddy has never used a key-tar on stage he is seen rocking a hand held synthesizer with comedy consequences in the low budget video for Everything's Ruined . L IS FOR L7 The female grunge outfit joined FNM on the Angel Dust tour and quickly became friends with Roddy. There is some great footage of Roddy and Jennifer Finch hanging out on the ferry included on the documentary film L7 : Pretend We're Dead. Roddy also contributed to the song Riding with a Movie Star for L7's 1994 album Hungry For Stink . M IS FOR MOTHERFUCKER Only Faith No More would release their first new material in seventeen years and make sure it was unplayable on radio because of it's lyrical content. Between them, Roddy and Patton chant the phrase 'mother fucker' approximately twenty five times. The song is composed by Roddy and not only features his luxurious piano precision but it is the first song on a FNM album during which Roddy takes lead vocals. "It felt like a really nice statement to put out into the public, to let people know we’re not playing any games. We don’t really care if it’s on the radio. It’s sort of offensive and playful and bold and maybe a little bit antagonistic. Just the word itself was a fun thing to put out there. But yeah, it’s totally different than the rest of the record. It’s me singing on it, which is a little bit different, and it’s really simple and stripped down. Something called “Motherfucker” just felt like a nice place for us to kick off a new chapter for Faith No More." N IS FOR NASTIE BAND In 2019 Roddy joined twin brothers David and Tradd Sanderson, and visual artist Frank Haines among others in the leather clad doom-metal group Nastie Band . They released their debut self-titled album in July of the same year. "The Nastie Band is absolutely no rules whatsoever, it's all of us in a room, encouraging each other to stretch as far as we can go, there's no parameters and no rules. The more outlandish, crazy ideas, the better, that's what everyone aims for. It's an unspoken thing in terms of what we want to do, and once in a while it comes up, what we don't want to do, but it's mostly unspoken and comes out when we perform." O IS FOR OPERA In 2016 Roddy composed a mini-opera called The Ride , for the Experiments in Opera (EiO) Story Binge series. The opera was about two gay men from different generations who bicycle from San Francisco to Los Angeles for an AIDS charity, based on his real life experiences. In 2017 he took Sasquatch: The Opera to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland for a full month. Sasquatch: The Opera tells the story of a hillbilly family who con tourists in search of the mythical monster known as Bigfoot, until the daughter, Dodder, meets him and falls in love. P IS FOR PRINCE During the nineties FNM were renowned for their unconventional and often hilarious interviewing technique. They would steer conversations away from their music and instead talk about the traps of being famous and unrelated subjects. In 1991 FNM shared the stage with the late pint sized pop star Prince at Rock In Rio II , Roddy broke through his heavy security line for a chat. Steffan Chirazi quizzed the keyboardist on their meeting in issue 329 of Kerrang! Magazine. "A lot of people have told me he's really shy, but I just think he's really clever and crafty," furthers Bottum, the man who's got closer to him than any media for the last few years. "He looked like he was so fucking bored and he's chosen this place to be bored, which tells you he's looking for some company. So I didn't feel bad at all for going up and talking to him. I think I asked him how his show went and he just said 'Fine' - all - one - word answers - and I told I went to see him once at Wembley and I was so far away I couldn't see him at all.....I even told him that was the day in my life I realised I needed glasses!" He didn't even react when you told him he was responsible for a major realisation about your personal health? "No, not at all. " What a bastard. "Well I thought it might bring him out if his shell, but he just sort of liked at me and smiled. But I wouldn't say he's an arsehole." Did you feel the aura? "I smelt the magic. He smelt very purple, lavender maybe. A strong smell but subtle at the same time. Not masculine definitely, but what fragrance is? Almost feminine but more spacey.... "I did come away from the conversation regretting I didn't ask him a little more, that I didn't just unashamedly ask him something off the wall like how big his dick is. It might well have brought him out if his shell, caught him by surprise." Do you think he's a space cadet? "He seems a little spacey, but he's up something." Q IS FOR QUARANTINE The Covid 19 pandemic forced many musicians and artists out of work but Roddy used the time to create as much new music as possible. Man On Man being the main project. However Roddy also shared another twenty five solo compositions with us. R IS FOR RUBY SPARKS Blink and you will miss his him - but Roddy made his acting debut in the 2006 romantic comedy-drama Ruby Sparks alongside Paul Dino and Valerie Faris. Roddy plays a DJ and is on screen for ten seconds without a word. S IS FOR SPARKS In 1998 Faith No More and Sparks released a version of the 1974 hit This Town Ain't Big Enough For Both Of Us. Roddy has been a fan since 1975 when his first heard This Town on American Bandstand and was smitten. Roddy says that one of his career highlights was meeting Ron and Russell Mael for the first time. Sparks performed with FNM on two occasions and more recently Roddy appeared in the documentary Sparks Brothers directed by Edgar Wright. “I get the sense that Sparks put a lot of thought into their presentation and how they come across. Faith No More does too. We started employing ways to (mess) with our audience early on." T IS FOR TYREL Roddy was cast as Dylan in the 2018 drama film Tyrel , written and directed by Chilean director Sebastián Silva. "It was a weird process to go through. Actors are weird to me, I don't really trust people who do that professionally, or I hadn't before, it's like a weird game to play. The trickery of emotions and faking, it's a sort of simplified version of my take on it, but it was a weird place to go. The director was one of my best friends, and I trusted that the situation was going to go well, and it did. Caleb Landry-Jones is amazing, and Chris Abbott, Michael Cera, Jason Mitchell, they're all at the top of their game and really good at what they do, so following their cues was pretty easy, actually. I'd do it again for sure. After I did that movie, if someone asked me what I did, I'd say I was an actor, it just made me laugh." U IS FOR UNDERWEAR Our man loves to pose in his underwear and why not, even at 58 he still has the figure. It would seem to have begun in 1989 when Ross Halfin captured the famous shot of FNM in their underwear for the cover of From Out Nowhere picture disc. Roddy would yank his pants down and perform in his y fronts during the Angel Dust Tour . More recently, and especially with Man On Man, Roddy strips down regularly in a photo shoot. V IS FOR VIOLATING YOUTUBE POLICY Man On Man released their debut video for the song Daddy which featured Roddy and Joey embracing and kissing in their underwear. In a message to the group shortly after the clip’s release, an employee for the platform said it had removed the video for violating “our sex and nudity policy.” After recognising that the video was not sexually explicit, and was promoting equality and diversity is was reinstated. “Even if YouTube does value and promote diversity, the truth is, the industry is still playing by straight men’s rules. It’s devaluing when we see Google monopolize on our Pride but do so little to actually enhance and protect the LGBTQIA+ digital experience. We’re asking for an equitable playing field.” W IS FOR WE CARE A LOT Roddy co-wrote the lyrics to the song We Care A Lot for their debut album of the same name in 1985. Due to his rap influences including Run DMC he helped to bring hip-hop into FNM's early sound. However Roddy's other influences such as Kraftwork and Elton John were essential in developing his keyboard technique. "My first keyboard that I used on We Care A Lot was an Oberheim, and that was such a key sound to what we were doing. I actually got that keyboard from this dude in L.A., we pooled all our money and bought this Oberheim from a guy named Dwayne Hitchens. He had just finished the score to Flashdance on that keyboard. And we thought that was hilarious, that we had the Flashdance keyboard. We were like, 'Oh this is magical.' It was so fucking funny. Now we played those shows in California with Chuck, and I was at this guitar store before the gigs checking out keyboards and I picked up this reissue of that old Oberheim that I had and I used that keyboard. The Oberheim is what S U R V I V E use, I believe, for the Stranger Things score as well." X IS FOR EMAX Roddy used his Oberheim on the first two albums. When his sounds developed he needed a more powerful keyboard and from 1989 to 1995 he switched to a E-mu Emax. Y IS FOR YOO-HOO In 1994/95 Roddy formed the indie pop band Imperial Teen (originally called Star 69) with Will Schwartz (guitar/vocals), Lynn Truell (drums/vocals), and Jone Stebbins (bass/vocals). In this band Roddy explored his pop song writing and performed guitar and vocals as well as keyboards. The song Yoo Hoo featured on the band’s second album What Is Not to Love released in 1998. The song featured on the soundtrack to Jawbreaker a 1999 American black comedy film starring Rose McGowan, who also appeared in the video for the song. Z IS FOR ZOMBIE EATERS Roddy single handedly made keyboards cool after the hair metal organ power chords of the eighties. By the time we got to The Real Thing Roddy had developed a distinctive style of creating atmosphere. Classic examples are Woodpecker From Mars and Zombie Eaters.

Faith No More 's third studio album The Real Thing was released on June 20th 1989. The album has since become a classic, it has been described as a seminal record, credited with inspiring a generation of new music, captured the hearts of fans and been cited as a defining influence on many artists. Join us in celebrating the anniversary of this incredible groundbreaking record. A IS FOR '...album of the year' The Real Thing is still revered by critics and fans thirty five years after its original release on June 20th 1989. Despite rave reviews at that time the record took more than 12 months to achieve the success it truly deserved. However, partly due to extensive touring, MTV exposure and some crafty marketing, by the end of 1990 TRT was heralded as ‘album of the year’ by the music press. The Real Thing was also nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance category in 1989 and Epic was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance in 1991. '...with a platinum album, The Real Thing, and a Top Ten single, "Epic." Saving rock'n'roll from itself. It's a dirty job but someone has to do it.' - Spin 'An absolute barnstormer of an album from start to finish' - Metal Forces 'It's the real thing and it takes some beating!' - Kerrang! B IS FOR The Berlin Wall On November 9th 1989 The Berlin Wall came down. Faith No More were in Berlin the same day to perform a fourth German date on The Real Thing tour at The Loft. It is one of those historic events on FNM's calendar that the band truly recall. Adrian Harte covers the event thoroughly in Small Victories : The True Story of Faith No More "It was our third time in Berlin, and we could tell something was up. The first two times we went, it was fucking scary. We had guns pointed at us. There were dogs under the fucking vehicles." - Mike Bordin The band were backstage preparing to return for their encore when the club manager spread news of the wall coming down. Tim Dalton was Faith No More's tour manager at the time and spoke on his blog about the gig. “FNM closed their set with a very appropriate encore version of the Black Sabbath song ‘War Pigs’. Klaus had made it to the band during the main set/encore pause and in broken English/German had told the band the news of the wall. ‘Big Sick’ Jim Martin played the first of two solos and Mike Patton, screamed, “der Mauer ist weg! Der Mauer ist weg!” No one knew what the American rocker was on about. War Pigs continued and Patton screamed something about Satan. Then, ‘Big Sick’ Jim ventured another Gibson Flying V guitar solo and Patton gurgled, “Thank you, Berlin, fucking night, see you later, man. And guess what? The wall is gone?” he said, laughing maniacally. Luckily I recorded this encore, all eight minutes plus of it, and it was released as the B side of the single Epic." C IS FOR The Cult Song On October 30th 1989 FNM released From Out Of Nowhere , their third official single. It was the first single released from The Real Thing and the band's first to feature Mike Patton on vocals. "That song came from Roddy. That’s completely Roddy’s melody, so maybe it was deliberately pop. But it was originally called “The Cult Song”, because it reminded me of The Cult." - Bill Gould It was the first song Patton wrote lyrics to, and the first the band rehearsed. "The first song I heard with Mike P was 'Out of Nowhere'…we had a rehearsal recording and he came over to my house to work on his vocal ideas to a few songs. I hadn’t heard his voice recorded before, and within 30 seconds of hearing his contribution, it almost freaked me out on how well it worked. And it wasn’t even in a control room, per se, but I could hear it and it was quite exciting." - Bill Gould D IS FOR Alex Delarge Falling To Pieces was the third single release from the album and hit record shelves on July 2, 1990. In an attempt to repeat the success of Epic team FNM re-enlisted the video directorial services of Ralph Ziman (See Z). During the music video we witness Roddy Bottum and Bill Gould 's trademark stage moves and Jim Martin 's imposing stature - throw in a little creepy stop motion - all saturated with lurid colours. Patton has a full fancy dress wardrobe including a bloodied surgeon, a Flava Flav timepiece and lederhosen. The most striking outfit however is a tribute to the main protagonist in Stanley Kubrick 's 1971 film A Clockwork Orange . E IS FOR Easy Like Sunday Morning... FNM have been playing The Commodores classic Easy in their live set since the TRT era, the earliest record of it being played is at Rock City on April 25 1990. According to setlistfm.com the band have played it live 418 times and it is their third most played song after Epic and We Care A Lot . Faith No More decided to add Easy to their set as a counter balance for their faithful version of War Pigs by Black Sabbath , which they had been playing to audiences since Chuck Mosley 's days: "First off, we did it live. We used to do (Black Sabbath's) 'War Pigs', so the meat heads started coming just to hear us do that all the time, and Jim's chest was puffing out. He got to be Mr Black Sabbath, so we decided we wanted to do 'Easy' to fuck with people. We heard It on the radio and went, 'This is a great song, let's do it!'' - Bill Gould F IS FOR '...fucking brilliant!' In 1989 Slash records embarked on an advertising campaign which featured flattering but cheesy quotes from leading rockers of the day including: Metallica, Def Leppard and Guns 'n' Roses . Axl Rose and Slash were both particularly vocal about their love for The Real Thing. So, in a plot boost album sales, huge billboard posters were pasted onto walls all over Europe featuring the slogan 'Slash says: Faith No More is fucking brilliant...' Unfortunately the band themselves did not share their record company's enthusiasm and spoke about the poster campaign to Rolling Stone in 1990. "It's like, 'Can Axl loan me twenty bucks?' I mean, it's cool that those people gave quotes to help us out, but it doesn't change your life." - Mike Bordin "They made up these posters in Europe. It was so embarrassing, man." - Bill Gould "That's the worst. When you drive into town and see that poster and you're in your fucked-up van, you just want to get out and rip it down." - Mike Patton G IS FOR ' The good, the bad and the ugly...' Big, Sick and Ugly Jim Martin and producer Matt Wallace went in search of the perfect guitar tone for TRT . They visited Rick Rubin , who was producing Wolfsbane ’s Live Fast, Die Fast album, to watch engineer David Bianco in action. They returned to Studio D in Sausalito and spent three days trying to find the best guitar sounds. Wallace and Martin adopted a morning ritual before guitar tracking began each day. 'We always played the original version of ‘The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly’ by Ennio Morricone. We would put that on the cassette deck, and we’d literally turn up the monitors as loud as they could get, which was really loud. And we’d just stand there and listen to it and then we would salute the speakers, and we would salute each other. And then after the song ended, we’d go right to work and start doing guitars. The energy, and the spirit, and the vibe of that record was really inspired by that song and that music. It was that sense of grandeur. We really wanted something that was big and panoramic and huge.' - Matt Wallace H IS FOR ‘The head of the Faith No More Spiritual and Theological Center’ In the summer of 1991 Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey hit cinemas in which time-travelling dudes Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter returned to save the future from evil by harnessing the power of heavy metal music! B-Side The Perfect Crime from The Real Thing (previously recorded under the title Sweet Emotion ) was included on the official soundtrack. Big Jim also made a glorious appearance in the movie as Sir James Martin head of the Faith No More Spiritual and Theological Center. His lines were: 'Station' and '...what a shithead!' I IS FOR I-Beam On November 4th 1988, Faith No More played at the I-Beam in their hometown of San Francisco. This was their first live performance with Patton fronting the band. Steffan Chirazi wrote this preview. FAITH NO MORE - I Beam SF. Your chance to check out the new version of the SF funk/punk/metal/rap kingpins. New vocalist Mike Patton of Mr Bungle has come on board to replace Chuck Mosely. Early indications are that the group's moving in a more metal direction. These guys are god-like in England by the way . - Bam Magazine This show was to judge public reaction to the new music and more importantly the new singer. The reaction of the crowd was not all positive and not all returning fans were taken by the radical change in vocal style. 'The first show I did was in San Francisco about November 1988, and after the gig the bouncer brought this note back and said, 'Some girl asked me to give this to you' I'm like, 'Oh great, cool, neat- my first groupie!' And silly me, the note read: 'You stupid, sexist, macho asshole. What are you doing? Get off the stage. Where's Chuck? He rocks... All this stuff you know. I just went, 'Killer! I'm going home' ' - Mike Patton FNM returned to the I-Beam in April 1989. It is on this night that the band recorded footage for the From Out Of Nowhere video and when Patton cut open his hand requiring microsurgery! "A couple of months ago, Patton could have written a symphony of misery. The occasion was a video shoot for the new LP at an I Beam gig. First, Patton cracked his front tooth in half on his mike stand. Then, during the band's cover of the Black Sabbath number, "War Pigs," Patton lost his footing, tumbled forward and smashed his hand against a broken bottle on the edge of the stage, severing a tendon. He finished the show and, the next day, spent 5 1/2 hours in microscopic reconstructive surgery. "The nerve is growing back," he said, "and we got it all on film."" - Michael Snyder - San Francisco Chronical J IS FOR Justice For All! Metallica  released their forth studio album ...And Justice for All  on August 25, 1988. The bay area metal titans played 219 shows during the Damaged Justice tour. During their 13 months on the road Metallica were joined by various support acts including Danzig , Queensrÿche , Mortal Sin , The Cult  and our very own Faith No More. From a marketing perspective this touring line-up was the perfect marriage; Metallica gained an up and coming companion, and FNM played to a new audience - which in theory should have translated into more LP sales. FNM however found no love from Metallica's fanbase and instead relished in throwing insults at the crowd. Adrian Harte  mentions such events in Small Victories : The Real Story Of Faith No More In Salt Lake City, on only their fourth show on the tour, agitator in-chief Bill Gould asked the crowd, "Are there any Mormons here tonight?" When the inevitable and desired chorus of boos arrived in response, he launched into his well-practiced tactic for winding up crowds: a ten-minute one-note bass solo. Mike Bordin recalls, "Bill’s bass solo was well known. They’re the guys in the zoo that are going to poke the fucking animal just to get a reaction. If everybody’s happy and cheerful, I think some of the guys don’t feel they’ve really done their job." "Us playing for their fans was a stretch," says Bottum. "They weren’t that open-minded. I remember trying to go to a Metallica show in San Francisco, and I was wearing a full red long-johns union suit and big white puffy tennis shoes and a yellow rain slicker, and it was not cool for the Metallica people. I got laughed at and called names, which I was OK with. But it was like, Wow, you people like live in caves." K IS FOR Kerrang! The UK rock and metal music magazine has a history of posting some of FNM's most honest, humorous and sometimes painful articles - written by such names as (legendary FNM journalist and comrade of Jim Martin) Steffan Chirazi , Mike Gitter , Paul Brannigan and Chris Watts . These were accompanied by some of the most iconic FNM photographs captured by the omnipresent cameras of Ross Halfin and Mark Leialoha . Of course FNM have adorned many other publication covers along with many more great articles, but Kerrang! has given up the front page more times than any other magazine. From 1989 t0 1991 FNM were cover stars five times, with fifteen full features, countless posters and a name drop almost every week. L IS FOR ...Legacy? The impact TRT had on the metal scene in the late eighties is undeniable, FNM's style and attitude was a breath of fresh from the hair glam rock of the time. The band paved the way for an alternative revolution, FNM made keyboards cool, sewed the seeds for future music and changed lives! The Dillinger Escape Plan frontman Greg Puciato named The Real Thing as one of the albums that changed his life. 'This was one of the first truly 'free' albums I ever heard. Something that felt less like branding and more like expression, more identifiable and exciting to me than anything else I had encountered.' In 2009 Krist Novoselic stated that FNM paved the way for Nirvana . "Living on the margins for so long, living in the underground scene it's like: 'Oh this will never catch on. But it did, and it was starting to change where you had bands like Faith No More and Jane's Addiction. They were these rock bands but they were more like alternative or edgy. Then they paved the way for Nirvana." In 2023 Slipknot singer Corey Taylor stated that watching FNM perform Epic on the MTV Video Music Awards gave him a reason not to take his own life and become a musician. 'Watching Mike Patton not give one red fuck about anyone in that audience was life-changing. He was dressed the way I wanted to dress, his hair looked fucking rad, and him and the band sounded incredible.' In 1997 Korn 's guitarist Brian "Head" Welch listed it as an album that changed his life. 'Faith No More moved me in a different way, a way more than anything else. It totally changed my direction. It said to me that you didn't have to follow a certain path, that you could just create anything, go out and mess around with anything, that there were no rules.' M IS FOR Milli Vanilli FNM have always had a reputation for being as obnoxious as possible to the music press - spinning elaborate tales, talking about taboo and often disturbing subjects and downright lying! During the nineties they became infamous for hilariously berating artists and pushing against pop culture, which often got them into trouble. Bon Jovi, Poison, Lenny Kravitz and Guns 'n' Roses were just a few who were in the firing line. After the TRT release party at The Roxy in Hollywood Faith No More headed to a party at The Rainbow (known as a hangout for rock musicians and their groupies), here the band had an infamous encounter with notorious 80's pop fraudsters Milli Vanilli. "I think, they're two of the most beautiful and ugly people I've ever met. Can't sing, can't dance, big hits, pure genius. Two of the whitest black people I have ever seen. No soul, nothing - they can't even say their f**king names. It was so glorious when they got out of the limo, they just looked at Bill and I and went, 'Uuhh' Going upstairs to that reserved section where they only let women in - what a huge front because they're homosexual! But they did come down to dance to their own video. Although it was a poor rendition, I showed 'em, I went for it dude. One of the guys looked at me when we were finished and gave me the thumbs up!" - Patton N IS FOR Nestles During the touring of Introduce Yourself FNM added Sweet Dreams , the Nestles White Alpine theme , to their set. However, the cover was made most memorable by Patton during The Real Thing tour often dropped in the set before the metal crunch of Surprise! Your Dead! . Similar to the band's cover of Easy , Sweet Dreams was delivered beautifully without a hint of sarcasm, in fact many would be forgiven for believing the song was their own. O IS FOR Ozzy "Most of us weren't really weened on Black Sabbath. Just like two big Black Sabbath devotees, Jim and the drummer Mike. I f* * kin' hate those guys, to tell you the truth. I never really got into 'em. I never even owned one of their albums before I joined this band, and then we went to Warner Brothers and they gave us all these Cd's. I didn't like most of them so I traded them in! I mean I like that song, and I have a couple of the albums and there's some good songs on 'em, but ... I don't know, I Just can't relate to a lot of it." - Mike Patton Ozzy Osbourne's unique tone had a profound effect on two members of FNM, Jim Martin and Mike Bordin . FNM added Black Sabbath 's War Pigs to their live set when Chuck Mosley was in the band but it was recorded in the studio for The Real Thing . Puffy's dream of connecting with his hero was realised on November 9th 1990, when FNM were joined onstage by Ozzy for a performance of War Pigs at the forth birthday party gig for RIP Magazine at Hollywood Palladium. P IS FOR Jeff Price The cover art of The Real Thing was created by resident Slash Records artist Jeff Price who also created the cover of Introduce Yourself. The flame and splash emblem, which was taken from Milk Drop Coronet by photographer Harold Edgerton , has now become instantly recognisable and a part of FNM legacy. However, the band were at loggerheads with their record company and would have prefered to simply use the FNM star of chaos. Extract from Small Victories : The Real Story Of Faith No More Bill Gould and Roddy Bottum, in particular, had always been involved in the band’s artwork. Bottum: ‘Our covers were problematic. This one was typically hideous. I hate it now, and I wasn’t crazy about it then. It was for lack of a better image.’ Being Faith No More, such disputes were aired proudly in public. The following January, the Chicago Sun-Times reported: Faith No More finished its latest album in two months. The record company spent twice that long working on the album cover. After all that, the group doesn’t like the way the cover looks. ‘I think it’s pretty awful,’ vocalist Mike Patton said, describing the cover for The Real Thing. The artwork depicts a portion of the Earth being swallowed up in flames. ‘Part of the way it turned out was our fault, because when [the record company] came around and asked us what we wanted, we just said, “We don’t know.”’ Q IS FOR Quinta Vergara The Viña del Mar International Song Festival is held at Quinta Vergara park in Chile and was founded in 1960. It mostly featured traditional South American acts until the eighties when pop and MOR acts like Sheena Easton and Air Supply made it onto the line-up. In 1991 organisers decided it was time for a change and Faith No More were scheduled off the back of their mind-blowing show at Rock In Rio. These two headlining nights captured the imagination of the Chilean youth and forged a bond with Chile that lasts to this day. R IS FOR Red Hot Chili Peppers As tedious as this 'feud' has become for FNM fans, we had to include it. In Kerrang! issue 292 of June 1990 Anthony Kiedis made some comments about Patton which became the headline for the article. “My drummer says he’s gonna kidnap [Patton], shave his hair off and cut off one of his feet, just so he’ll be forced to find a style of his own.” This of course fuelled the press to push for a response from Patton in pretty much every interview to follow during 1990. Patton responded in his fabulously brattish way. "That's a dumb thing I've got absolutely nothing to do with. I don't care. I really don't. Reading that article gave me a good laugh - it sounded like old Anthony felt a little threatened, I dunno. If he wants to give me press instead of his band, his girlfriend or whatever, that's fine by me. I'm sure he didn't count on it getting slapped on the cover of Kerrang! Then, after that, they called me up right afterwards, asking me to do a rebuttal. What is this, Bon jovi vs Axl Rose? I don't need it." - Mike Patton "I don't have a clue. It just kind of came out of the blue. I mean, I could speculate, but I really don't know. It doesn't bother me a bit. I got a real big kick out of it. to tell you the truth. I mean, if he's gonna talk about me in interviews, that's fine - it's free press! It's pretty out of line. Either he's feeling inadequate or old or I don't know ... That's beat, but I have no reason to talk shit about him." - Mike Patton "I'd really like to set all that straight. What he doesn't realize is that I am Anthony Kiedis, and I'm the raddest dude. Let me tell you, I'm in the greatest band, and it's so cool. But all these jerks, one of which is that Mike Patton asshole, all want to be me. So I'm gonna get him, and I'm gonna get him good." - Mike Patton S IS FOR The Sailor Song Surprise! You're Dead!  was one of the first songs that Jim Martin and Mike Bordin began work on in the summer of 1988, however the genesis of the song was much earlier. The riffs were written during jamming sessions between Jim and his childhood friend the late Cliff Burton .  While the lyrics talk of murderous undoings, torture and destruction it's Patton's delivery that makes us believe he is playing a tongue in cheek character rather than committing to Martin's vision.  "Yeah, read the lyrics. They're really ridiculous. The song kinda sounded cartoonish so I wrote that kind of lyric to it. Hey, I listen to a lot of Slayer." - Mike Patton In 1993 FNM released Video Croissant a VHS compilation of their promo clips. Included was  Surprise! You're Dead!.  The short film was stitched together by Bill from footage captured on a hand held camera during the band's 89/90 tour in Europe and America. As a black and white Patton mouths the lyrics whilst sat in a public toilet we can further understand the irony of the song.  T IS FOR Top of the Pops During their touring of TRT the band made many memorable appearances on TV including a stunning performance on SNL introduced by the actor John Goodman. But the most fun was their appearance on UK music show Top of the Pops. Long before Nirvana famously made a mockery of the 'play along to the backing track rule' Mr. Patton hilariously refused to lip-synch and left us in no doubt whatsoever that he was not singing the song. Jim 1990 - "It was fucked up. They made us hangout all day..." U IS FOR Underwear Their are a select few photo journalists who have recorded FNM's career. The legendary Ross Halfin in particular has managed to capture some of the most iconic promo shots of the band. His portraits have been used on album and single covers, posters, t shirts and more. Possibly the most iconic photo of FNM is the infamous underwear pose - taken in 1989 and used as the cover of the From Out Nowhere 12” picture disc, posters and a fabulous shirt. The portrait perfectly captures FNM’s mischievous characteristics, even if Big Jim wasn’t playing ball. ‘I remember it was one of the first big photo shoots for us set up by London Records. Ross Halfin, 'Famous Rock Photographer', was pretty aggressive, barking orders and abusing band members, particularly Puffy. He ordered everyone to strip down. I said 'forget it' (I thought it was dumb). The other guys did, he snapped the picture and at that moment, I understood why he was famous…’ Jim V IS FOR Vocalist Needed After the departure of Chuck in 1988 FNM were in need of a new singer, Mike Bordin began the search. "I wrote this note, and gave it to Slash of Guns N' Roses to distribute throughout their network which of course he didn't do. The note said: 'Faith No More need a f**king singer. Must not have huge ego, must not stuff sausage down pants, and must be able to go for throat'." - Bordin It wasn't long before FNM settled on twenty year old Mike Patton . Even though Patton did not contribute music composition on TRT he wrote the lyrics to the entire record in less than two weeks. 'I was really impressed with Patton. The band had already written all the music, and he was given just two weeks to come up with all the lyrics and melodies. He really rose to the occasion. He's the most phenomenal singer I've ever worked with, and when he's backed against the wall he s absolutely brilliant.' - Matt Wallace His subject matter was often laced with dark humour and disturbing imagery. Underwater Love describes drowning your lover, Edge of the World follows the misdeeds of a paedophile, whilst Zombie Eaters is written from the perspective of a baby. 'Yeah, it [Zombie Eaters] deals with my somewhat absurd fascination with babies, and birth. In many ways it is of course very beautiful, but it's also so f**king gross, grotesque: the way kids grow up and can be influenced by anything to me. Don't ask me why I think about babies and birth, it's just one of my subconscious thoughts. I pretty much write the words to fit the song, so with 'Surprise! You're Dead' type thing, I ended up writing lyrics that reminded me a bit of Slayer. 'Epic' is much more about sex and sex, we had to change some words because they were considered too obscene. Things like, 'So you lay down and you do it some more' should've been, 'fuck some more' but I guess because they were being printed and everything it was thought to be too much. 'From Out Of Nowhere' is more about people who are obsessive and feel the need to fill up on somebody else.' - Mike Patton W IS FOR Woodpecker from Mars Roddy Bottum is of course an essential part of FNM’s unique sound - bringing to the mix pop elements, adding a graceful and sometimes eerie atmosphere to the rhythmic metal crunch and writing unforgettable Melodies. On TRT he upgraded his keys to an Emu EMAX developing his arsenal of sounds - the strings patch on From Out Of Nowhere and The Real Thing , the Hammond organ on Underwater Love and The Cowboy Song and the spellbinding classical piano outro of Epic . However Roddy’s time to shine is on the record’s only instrumental Woodpecker From Mars . Roddy takes the lead melody and the spotlight on stage over a prog metal aural assault born from Big Jim's sessions with Cliff Burton . 'Billy and Mike and I would come up with loops typically, and this was along that vein. It was a melody that I went with. I’d just got the Emax keyboard, and it was a violin sound we all found exciting and live-sounding.’ - Roddy ‘That song was a fucking weapon. It’s us declaring who we are, and it’s definitely not Bon Jovi or Whitesnake, the big bands at the time. It’s much more lining up with Metallica and Slayer, although we weren’t exactly them either. We’re showing what’s next. All those things build up, build momentum, and break things loose, and then came Nirvana and they opened it up for good.’ - Bordin X IS FOR X-rated In 1990 FNM were hot property in Europe, the USA and Australia and a solo Mike Patton graced centerfolds of countless magazines around the globe. In an attempt to counteract fame and deflect attention he would engage in conversations about all sorts of x-rated subjects such as masturbation, murder and torture. This bizarre behaviour however only endeared him to fans more. 'Masturbation is a lot easier to do than relating to someone. It's like playing a video machine. You can relate to a machine a lot easier than a human being. You can just pound yourself for hours and hours and not think about it. With sex, no matter how great it is, there's always something missing. The only difference now is that I masturbate in front of people. There was this girl in Philadelphia--I hung out with her all day and we ended up in my room. I ended up masturbating while she watched. Masturbation is like this little knot I have inside of me that I can't untie.' - Patton Y IS FOR 'You Fat Bastards...' In 1989 FNM again graced the shores of England and Scotland for fourteen dates across the two countries, however it wasn't until 1990 that the UK was truly encapsulated with the band's music. This was possibly FNM's most hectic tour schedule and they were in the UK for dates in January, February and again in April due to the unexpected success of The Real Thing . The Epic tour consisted of thirteen dates in Ireland, Scotland and England. 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 by Adrian Harte Z IS FOR Ralph Ziman The accompanying video for the single release of Epic on January 29th 1990 was the vision of director Ralph Ziman . Bursting with striking visuals reminiscent of a Salvador Dali landscape - an exploding piano, terrific lightening, that Mr. Bungle shirt and Jim Martin's nod to the late Cliff Burton . The newly established MTV generation of 1990 helped channel FNM into ears and hearts of the world - Epic was played on MTV up to five times a day! The video was edited by MTV and FNM let them without realising the impact it would have. The video ends with an astonishing scene - A fish out of water which is flapping to the classical sounds of Roddy 's piano. There are stories that the fish was stolen from Bjork at a party (started by the band) but it was simply bought from a pet store round the corner from the studio. Both Gould and Ziman claim the fishy idea as their own. "The floundering goldfish was my idea. It was that kinda (cult director) John Waters thing where you try to get maximum attention for minimum money! The piano exploding was pretty cool, too." - Bill Gould "I remember, the band had one day off from touring and they were in London. The record company had phoned us on very short notice and asked us to do a music video. The y made it sound like a really low priority. I think it was being done for Warner Bros. at the time. I just made a list of things I thought we could do. Exploding piano. A fish flopping around. We literally had one day to pre-produce it. So we handed the fish off to the art department. I can't remember what it was. If it was a carp? It was a fresh water fish. We shot that in London in some studios next to the tour venue. And we wound up letting that fish go into the river when we were finished. We had a couple of them. We would let them flop around, and then we'd swap it over, and we'd shoot another one. I don't remember what kind of fish they were, but the animal handler had brought them in because they were feisty." - Ralph Ziman

On June 16th 2015 Faith No More returned to Maida Vale studios in London to record their third live set at the famous  BBC Radio One recording hub. "The Maida Vale show was interesting because we’d been on tour at the time and playing every night. The sound on stage is much much different. On stage it’s a bit of a cacophony. Maida Vale allowed us to hear everything super specifically and precisely. It’ kind of upped the ante in terms of playing together. There’s also a lot of history in that building that made the experience really special." - Roddy 2015 FNM had previously recorded at Maida Vale in 1992 and in 1995 premiering music from both new albums of the era. BBC Radio Rock Show presenter Daniel P. Carte r was in awe of FNM and when we spoke to him at Download 2018 he said," Wasn't it fantastic! One of the best sessions I've ever heard." Unfortunately it would be FNM's last performance at this iconic studio as BBC announced the venue’s closure in 2018. Set List Superhero Separation Anxiety Sunny Side Up This Guy's in Love with You (Burt Bacharach) Matador

Faith No More's fourth album was released 33 years ago. In 2022 the band celebrated with fans on their social media by sharing their views on the album over three decades after it was released. "Angel Dust for us was a dive off a high cliff, with no idea what would meet us at the bottom. It was challenging, exhilarating, stressful and at times almost terrifying. It was a real and genuine period of growth for us on many levels, and the process reinforced a confidence towards our music that would serve us well in everything we did afterwards." —Bill Gould "In a more intense version of nonconformity and proving what we weren’t, we set out to challenge those who’d listened to us and liked us and ended up challenging ourselves as a band. The process got dark. I was dealing with major personal obstacles and it went into the mix. There were high stakes and the result felt rebellious and empowering. Wouldn’t change a thing." —Roddy Bottum "Each of us put everything we had into it. All we experienced on the previous Album and Tour helped us to evolve into this one. We were challenged both internally and externally throughout the process. Very pleased with the result. Also very pleased that it still resonates with people." —Mike Bordin "Looking back , This record was the sound of us growing into our skin. Of course with this growth came some pains , but I feel proud and grateful to have been a part of it. We are a better band today because of it!" —Mike Patton We are deep diving into this masterpiece with our A to Z of Angel Dust A IS FOR Alienating your public Angel Dust was drastically different to it's predecessor The Real Thing , the album which had launched Faith No More into the mainstream and offered them such huge success. FNM were sure that fans would hate the diverse musical content of their follow up album, and record company Slash were worried that the band were alienating their fan base. FNM relished the opportunity to aggravate the situation and joked to the press that they should title the album Alienating Your Public . "We're the same band making another record, and if people say it sounds a little different then obviously we're doing something right. We're doing the same thing we always do, but we're making it interesting enough that people realise it." - Bill Gould 1992 B IS FOR Beautiful name for a hideous drug Instead the band opted for the name Angel Dust - Roddy Bottum commenting that it was ' a beautiful name for a hideous drug' . This ambiguous title mirrored the variety of genres and moods represented on the record. From easy listening to metal, from pop to avant-garde, from country and western to disco. "It has more to do with: the band itself, the sound of the band, the sound of the record, the songs on the record, the title, and the cover, going from wide to narrow. The band I think has many elements, some heavy, some beautiful. The record is balanced I think between some things that are really aggressive and disturbing and then really soothing. The title of the record is something that if you didn't know what it was , if you didn't know about any drugs, it would sound beautiful. It's just something that seems beautiful but is horrible." - Mike Bordin 1992 C IS FOR Caffeine Mike Patton has been quite open in describing his curious lyric writing methods for Angel Dust . Several lyrics were conceived during a sleep deprivation experiment in which Patton stayed awake for three days drinking coffee and immersing himself in late night TV shows. Indeed Patton seemed dependent on caffeine and was rarely seen without a cup in his hand. D IS FOR Does life seem worthwhile to you? Other lyrics on the album were borrowed from even more unusual sources. The song Land Of Sunshine includes aphorisms found in fortune cookies and lines taken from personality tests written by founder of the Church of Scientology L. Ron Hubbard. "There's these late night TV programmes that you can watch in America, they're like seminars where they teach you how to think positively and strive for your goals. It's a huge scam, it's great. I tried really hard at that and I'm still working on it." - Mike Patton 1992 E IS FOR Elevator music The last track on Angel Dust is an intoxicating cover version of John Barry's theme from the 1969 movie Midnight Cowboy . In a departure from digital sounds, Roddy Bottum used an accordion to play the lead melody. Bill and Roddy commented at the time that the band's next release would be an EP of elevator music, which would refer to Songs To Make Love To . "I'm really pleased with the cover we did of 'Midnight Cowboy', because that's taken us into one direction that we've never gone before. That's the way of the future, easy listening is where it's at. We're going to come out real soon with an EP of music for elevators." - Roddy Bottum 1992 F IS FOR Funk Metal When the music press couldn’t find a convenient pigeon hole for The Real Thing they coined the phrase funk metal. FNM, who have never appreciated being labelled, hoped Angel Dust would help in loosing that particular tag. ”This whole Funk Metal thing is really disgusting. The last thing I ever want to be in is a Funk Metal band - we're gonna try to be anything except that!.... I would say that any band which plays Funk Metal, I hate, and would safely say that most of the band feel the same way." - Bill Gould 1992 G IS FOR Gratuitous sampling Roddy Bottum embraced the latest technology on Angel Dust and FNM made use of samples from many different sources. Matt Wallace had gifted the band DAT recorders which had collected samples used in A Small Victory , Caffeine and Crack Hitler . Midlife Crisis included samples from Beastie Boys and Simon and Garfunkel. Malpractice samples from Diamanda Galás "The break in 'A Small Victory' is very typical of using sound sources and being a more rhythmic keyboard player. In that particular song, the sound sources were things as opposed to programs, strings or pianos. Most of that stuff was recorded with a DAT player, just whilst wandering out and about, and then I put them into the keyboard itself ." - Roddy Bottum "It's just weirder. The record company said it was 'a little bit too far left-field' That means it's less rock. They also accused of us 'gratuitous sampling'". - Roddy Bottum 1992 H IS FOR Hangin’ with MTV FNM's famous performance for Hangin’ On MTV was aired on July 20th 1992. The band performed Midlife Crisis , A Small Victory and Caffeine for a bemused American audience. The band demonstrated their mischievous behaviour during an interview steeped with sarcasm, and with Mike Patton screaming uncontrollably over the presenters. I IS FOR I swallow I Swallow was the working title for the song Be Aggressive . Roddy Bottum penned the lyrics which describe the act of fellatio between two men. In 1993 Roddy revealed his sexuality to fans via an article in Advocate magazine. Roddy bravely telling the world he was gay inspired future musicians within a heterosexual dominated scene to come out. "What I like about 'Be Aggressive' is that even though it's macho in a homosexual way, lots of FNM listeners probably imagine that it is a woman who is getting down on her knees and swallowing rather than a man. I guess it's easier for people to understand and deal with it that way." - Roddy Bottum 1992 J IS FOR Jizzlobber Jizzlobber is Jim Martin’s main contribution to the album. Jim's attitude towards Angel Dust was strained from the beginning and he seemed disagreeable with everything from the songs, to the recording, to the album title. He worked on his guitar parts at home and due to his absence during the song writing Jim found it difficult to understand what direction the others were taking. "I just wanted to have a song of mine on the album, and I wanted to write something really horrible and ugly. The title is my idea of a joke, because I'm not really a fan of true guitar-jizz music. Of course, I can't play like Satriani or Vai any how. I feel like those guys are playing another instrument altogether." - Jim Martin 1992 K IS FOR Kevin Kerslake FNM released four music videos from Angel Dust - Midlife Crisis and Everything's ruined were directed by Kevin Kerslake. "I grew up with Billy Gould and Roddy Bottum. We were neighbours and our parents actually went to school together, so I had a life long relationship with those guys. I was also a big fan of Faith No More. We never talked about the root or the theme of this song [Midlife Crisis] , so I have no idea what it’s about, but the overall flavour of the video is torture. There are some lyrics in the song about somebody who’s lost all four limbs, so that’s where the idea of having somebody being quartered came from. When we started putting the shoot together, one of the things we quickly learned about horses is that they’re pack animals, so when you face four horses in opposite directions their instinct is not to go forward. Typically, there’s a lead horse and all of the other horses follow him. So we had this guy attached to all four horses and one of the horses reared up as another horse started charging forward. The effect of that was that one horse was actually pulling the other horse on its back, and the stuntman was right below him. Thankfully, he was very agile and he got out of the way in time, but it was pretty hairy for a minute there.” - Kevin Kerslake 2015 L IS FOR L7 Whilst Touring on Angel Dust Faith No More were joined by several support acts. In the USA alt metallers Helmet, Babes In Toyland and Kyuss. In Australia they were joined by Scarymother. In Europe support cake from all girl grunge outfit L7. A match made in heaven L7 and FNM shared a similar unsanitary sense of humour - while Mike Patton was defecting in public L7 were tossing tampons at the crowd. M IS FOR Madonna In May 1992 FNM released Midlife Crisis the premiere single from Angel Dust . The song was affectionately christened Madonna as a working title which eventually made it onto set lists. "The song is based on a lot of observation and a lot of speculation. But in sort of a pointed way its kind of about Madonna...I think it was a particular time where I was being bombarded with her image on TV and in magazines and her whole schtick kind of speaks to me in that way...like she's going through some sort of problem. It seems she's getting a bit desperate." - Mike Patton 1992 N IS FOR Nu Metal Although most of the band are sickened by the idea that their music has in any way inspired the late 90s movement of Nu Metal, it would seem that a great deal of bands from this scene have cited Angel Dust as an inspiration. In fact in 2003 Kerrang! magazine voted Angel Dust as the most influential album of all time. "Angel Dust's impact can still be felt. Whether it's first wave nu-metallers like Korn and Faith No More or such hungry-eyed upstarts as Finch or Glassjaw, the debt owed to Mike Patton and co ¡s huge: it's in the union of ferocity, instinct and groove; in the unabashed intelligence that drives it forward; in the fact that it made uniqueness not so much legitimate as compulsory. In typically perverse fashion, the members of Faith No More have spent the past 10 years denying that they ever changed the musical landscape. Open your ears to this, and you'll see just how wrong they are. INFLUENCED: Korn, Limp Bizkit, Glassjaw, Finch, Hundred Reasons, Incubus, System Of A Down, American Head Charge... " - Kerrang! 2003 O IS FOR Orange Juice In July 1992 Metallica and Guns 'N' Roses set out upon their ill-fated stadium tour. Faith No More were along for the ride and dedicated undermine the whole thing. FNM were indignant to the touring rock n' roll cliches and Axl bashing became their focus during interviews. FNM held nothing back narrating with brutal honesty and cheeky creativity. Mike Patton's Shit Terrorist alter ego gave rise to one such rumour. Apparently the singer stuffed a handful of his own feces in Axl's orange juice carton! This story has however since been debunked. "Not true. However I did piss on his teleprompter. One day I was just so bored. It was such a drag touring with those guys, I hate to say it. They treated us like shit. They paid us really well. Be we were like everyday looking for something fucked up to do." - Mike Patton 2021 Patton does confirm that he did crap in L7's juice during their 1992 tour together. "The shit story is different, that was with L7. They did not like it at all. I thought it was funny. I took a shit in their orange juice and put it back in their fridge and they figured it out, 'that's the most fucked up thing I can't believe you did that'." - Patton 2021 Hes also recalls the time he spoiled a chocolate cake for Guns N' Roses. "I was bored. I took a chocolate cake and put some of my shit inside it. Then we watched. I was hoping maybe Axl Rose would eat it. Instead our crew guy picks it up. He's about to eat it and I was like 'don't do it!' at the last second. So the experiment failed." - Patton 2021 P IS FOR Perfume commercial A Small Victory was the second single released from Angel Dust on August 3rd 1992. FNM enlisted German film director Marcus Nispel, best known for his work with C+C Music Factory, to create a very different video to anything they had previously released. Mike Patton described the video as 'slick' and compared it to a perfume commercial. The music video was nominated for the MTV Video Music Award for Best Art Direction, but lost to Madonna's song Rain . Q IS FOR Queasily Obscene Upon release Angel Dust found extensive critical acclaim. It's loud, it's aggressive and, like any rock record worth its salt, it excites at the most instinctive level. Their time has surely come . - Q Magazine Visionary venom, misanthropic majesty, grotesque grandeur Aesthetically and philosophically, Angel Dust is profoundly, putridly offensive, but I keep coming back to it, like a scab . - Melody Maker This album is an altogether impeccable display of character, imagination, humour, and a whole spectrum of musical genres wrapped up in the formidable power Faith No More are masters of. - Raw Thoroughly exhilarating, absolutely mood altering and completely addictive. - Rolling Stone Queasily obscene, inflamed, schizoid and shocking - NME R IS FOR Right Said Fred FNM revealed to us their fascination with UK gay scene duo Right Said Fred during an MTV interview in early 1992. FNM were hoping to be supported on tour by the pop group. Right Said Fred agreed, however promoters didn't see the benefits of the peculiar pairing. "We wanted them to tour America, but when we shopped the idea around the promoters - which is what you do when you set up a tour, throw some bait in the water - the reaction wasn't too good. It's too bad, cos I would go to a tour like that, out of morbid curiosity." - Mike Patton 1992 S IS FOR Sunshine Lady Four members of FNM have persistently avoided groupies.However during their headlining tour in 1992 it would seem that they encouraged the more psychotic fans. This included Karen from Clearwater, affectionately nicknamed the Sunshine Lady by the band. The Sunshine Lady carried a 400 page scrapbook of FNM and Mr Bungle with her everywhere and claimed to have met Mike Patton in past lives. "She keeps telling me that I'm going to have dinner with her parents someday, and that we're communicating spiritually. She's so happy. I mean no one should be that happy all the time" - Mike Patton 1992 T IS FOR Toodles Toodles was an antique doll which found her way into several interviews and photo shoots during the end of 1992 and into 1993. The origin of Mike Patton’s creepy companion differs from interview to interview. Whether Patton acquired her from a voodoo priest in New Orleans, dug her up in an Atlanta graveyard or bought her from an antique store in Davenport - the two were inseparable for a few months. "We're a band that encourages extremes.....so when anyone is doing things like that. I think: Well whatever you wanna do, whatever you wanna try - no matter how outlandish - just make yourself happy. Which is a healthy environment. I'm very proud of the extremes that go on in our band, I'm proud of the fact that Mike is like that. I'm proud that he carries a doll around a voodoo doll called Toodles. That's such a bizarre thing, but extremes are what we're about." - Roddy Bottum 1993 U IS FOR You ain’t never gonna amount to nothing During the groundwork for Angel Dust Mike Patton was involved from the outset and his approach to lyric writing added a unique twist to the songs. He inhabited a crowd of grotesque characters to perform tracks such as Malpractice and RV . "The words are really messed up, it's the white trash saga: You wake up. you do nothing and you talk a lot of shit .. . and that's what the song does. A lot of the tunes are like character sketches. I don't see anything wrong with that. A lot of people maybe will want to give me shit for that." - Mike Patton 1992 V IS FOR Varig Airlines The sample during the intro to Crack Hitler is the voice of famous Brazilian actress Iris Lettieri reading a flight announcement at the Rio de Janeiro-Galeão International Airport. She unsuccessfully attempted to sue the band after hearing the song. "we sampled the voice of this woman who's pretty famous in Brazil. She announced flights for Varig Airlines, we all really liked the voice and she pretty much summed up our whole Brazilian experiences. So we taped her, used the voice and now she's suing us us for using her voice without permission." - Roddy Bottum 1992 W IS FOR The Word On November 13th 1992 FNM appeared on British live Television for the first time (they had mimed on Top Of The Pops in 1990). The show was late night controversial variety program The Word. In the same year Donita Sparks of L7 dropped her jeans and underwear appearing nude from the waist down on The Word - FNM didn't go as far as this, but Bill Gould did dress as a bumblebee during the iconic performance. X IS FOR Cross dressing On December 29th 1992 Faith No More released their cover of the 1977 Commodores song Easy . The song is to this day their most successful selling single. The video is typically provocative mixing live footage from the Angel Dust tour with the band members hanging out in a hotel accompanied by a bunch of transvestites and flamingos! As Mike Patton throws luxury chocolates from a hotel balcony, Bill Gould swigs champagne from the bottle and Roddy Bottum croons over a grand piano surrounded by cross dressers it's easy to believe that this is a dig at their tour buddies Guns n' Roses. "Of all the videos we've done, it probably has our personality the most, people can find something sympathetic through a weird medium. It's almost touching that this transvestite is sitting there drinking champagne while Mike's singing." - Bill Gould 1993 Y IS FOR Youth In September 1992 Faith No More released an EP of A Small Victory remixes. The R-evolution 23 (Full Moon) Mix and Sundown Mix were re-imaginings of the original song produced by Martin Glover, AKA Youth, bassist of the band Killing Joke . These were the first Faith No More songs to be produced and engineered by someone other than Matt Wallace, plus their first exploration into the dance genre. Z IS FOR ZTV Faith No More played a show at the Col Ballroom in Davenport in September 1992. Before the show a 15 year old school boy got the opportunity of a lifetime and interviewed his favourite band for ZTV cable show before the gig. James Zahn spoke on camera with all five members of the band.

Bär McKinnon's Melbourne-based experimental collective Umlaut return this July with a brand new record. Bailey Judd Featuring Clinton ‘Bär’ McKinnon, Angus Leslie, and Shane Lieber and Danny Heifetz this album is a must for fans of the ' classic Mr Bungle' sound. The genre-shifting schizophrenic sounds spliced with wonderfully catchy melodies on the album will satisfy any fan of California whilst bringing and altogether new energy to the ears. “Danny is a unique creature and one of the best drummers I could ever hope to have on my music,” states McKinnon. “He and I have both lived in Australia for probably too long but it was finally time to include him in the process. Danny will personalize his approach to the song and by the end of the process his intuition about how to approach each song is always a delightful revelation.” Desolё captures the energy of this revitalized quartet. The songs are punchy, raw, and surprisingly accessible—a calculated detour into higher-energy, hook-forward territory that still carries Umlaut’s trademark sense of chaos and mischief. “This set of songs was borne of an intention of doing some unapologetically earnest, higher-energy songs with which to bombard our sleepy audiences,” McKinnon continues. “I think it may surprise some fans with its no-holds-barred accessibility.” For Leslie, the album represented not just a musical shift but a personal education in studio craft. “For me, making Desolё was one of the more instructive things I've done in terms of production and getting sounds,” he shares. “Initially having Idge's Soundpark studios in Northcote for a lot of the sessions, we were like kids in a candy store, with an array of organs, synthesizers, killer mics and outboard gear... Some songs like Grumpy Library were worked out meticulously, others like Vinnie were one basic track take only — we barely knew the song, which only adds to the energy.” The album’s production weaves together material recorded across three different locations, lending Desolé a richly layered, shape-shifting feel—a controlled chaos honed by experience. Overdub sessions in multiple studios included everything from “chaotic percussion sessions in Danny's studio” to “re-amplified giggling and screaming into distorted amps” at Leslie’s own. Final mixes were completed at his now-closed Clifton Hill space, with engineers Michael O’Connell and Nao Anzai helping balance the madness. As Leslie puts it: “Michael really did what I would call a bang-up job on that final stretch, alongside Nao pulling together and balancing all of our chaos.” Reflecting on the band’s journey, bassist Shane Lieber provides context for the album’s streamlined approach. “After 2 albums, a couple EPs and multiple permutations of the live band... the nightmare of trying to accommodate so many musicians' schedules and varying levels of enthusiasm led us to scale the band back to a 4-piece.” The pandemic years proved fertile ground for reinvention. “Bar had amassed a large selection of vocal pop/rock tunes that suited our new four-piece 'more keyboards on-stage than humans' line-up,” Lieber recalls. With their former drummer stepping aside, the opportunity finally arose to bring Heifetz into the mix. “Over a handful of rehearsals, we worked these tunes up... some being note-for-note recreations of Bar’s demos, others being workshopped and shaped by the band in the rehearsal room.” Track-list: 1. The Tarnished Legacy 2. Happy Now 3. Cold Sore (originally written for 'Disco Volante' ) 4. Bite Your Tongue (The Cupboard Song) 5. Every Time 6. Grumpy Libarary 7. Vinnie 8. Bumblebee Shoes 9. STFU 10. My Government is Never Wrong

The Story of how Album Of The Year was recorded. Written with the help of the band, referencing interviews with the five members and those who were involved. Album of the Year, an end and a beginning.  Faith No More toured their fifth album King For A Day for only seven months, no time at all compared to the two years plus they were on the road promoting The Real Thing . This tour was cut short so that the band could get back into the studio and work on their next record.  "Usually we put out a record every three years, and then we tour it to death for a year or so until we're sick of each other. The last thing we want to do after a tour is go right back into the studio, so on the last tour we decided to cut it short, stop while we were ahead, and get back into the studio and crank out another album while we had some momentum."  - Bill Gould 1997 However as per usual with FNM, things did not go to plan. The core members,  Bill Gould , Roddy Bottum and Mike Bordin went into the rehearsal room with ideas and soon found that was no creative connection with guitarist Dean Menta .  "We rehearsed, but we weren't coming up with anything that any of us liked. It was a drag because Dean, our guitar player at the time was really good live, but you never know if the chemistry is right until you start writing together. We tried to write for six months, but it was just a frustrating thing."   - Bill Gould 1997 Mike Patton showed little enthusiasm for the songs that had been written, finding them a little too 'poppy'.  "I was really pissed off about it. He's more inclined to not do something that's a little poppier. The first songs that we wrote, I was really happy with because they were really simple, sort of, effortless. in like that; I don't like temp changes and time changes. It's just confusing and it doesn't speak to me in any pure way. At the time he kind of wasn't into doing it. I imagine if I really pushed it, I could have got him to do something to those songs. But at the same time, if it isn't effortless for him, then I would really rather he didn't anyway."  -  Roddy Bottum 1997  "We wrote something like 12 songs, and of those 12, we probably axed eight of 'em. They're still around, they're good, but they were leaning a certain way that we didn't want things to lean towards. They were...they were just a little bit too nice. They were pop songs, but there wasn't enough feeling, enough balls."   - Bill Gould 1997 And after months with no satisfactory results the band became dispirited and for the first time in their history each individual pursued artistic endeavours outside of FNM's ranks. Patton returned to the road with Mr. Bungle to promote their 1995 album Disco Volante , a tour that would extend into most of 1996. Mike B was asked to join his childhood musical idol, Ozzy Osbourne  for the Retirement Sucks tour. Roddy co-founded the band Star 69 , who would of course become Imperial Teen and release their debut album Seasick in May 1996. Bill took a sabbatical spending a few months travelling in Europe, he alone was left to work on the album and keep FNM from an untimely end.  Guitarists Stink "We have another guitarist. I really wish I could say that "this is the MAN!" and that everything's beautiful, but we've said that three fucking times already. I don't know any longer - it's either us or the guitarists. What I do know is that guitarists stink." - Mike Patton 1997 Mike Morris , Jim Martin , Trey Spruance ..... FNM have struggled to maintain the position of guitar player since their inception. Due to artistic differences in 1996 Dean returned to his band DUH and FNM were again looking to fill the post.  Jon Hudson played guitar for Oakland based industrial / keyboard band Systems Collapse  a band who (by his own admission) hadn't achieved much success and only recorded demos.  "I was in a band in San Francisco called Systems Collapse, and the keyboard player knew Bill and the other guys, so I met Bill when Faith No More was out touring The Real Thing. It was becoming apparent that things weren't working out with Jim after the Angel Dust tours, so I wasn't surprised when they agreed to part ways. Later, Bill sent me some of the demo stuff for King For A Day. I recorded some ideas and sent them in. They were auditioning different guitar players at the time, and they obviously decided to work with Trey, which I think was a good call; he was perfect for that record. "I was pretty familiar with the band and Bill's sense of direction in terms of song writing and his approach with guitars. So, by the time he called me in early 1996, and said, 'We're in the middle of coming up with material for this next record - we were wondering if you'd give it another shot?', that was the perfect opportunity for me. "You have to be in the right place at the right time - you have to consider yourself very fortunate when an opportunity comes up. People can say, 'You have to have talent.' Sure, that's important, but there's no shortage of very talented people. You have to remember that if you do have these opportunities, you're lucky." - Jon Hudson 2015 Jon found the band disjointed and he could sense finality in the air with this album. "I viewed everything as an opportunity. I could see the pressure of trying to deliver another great record was wearing on some of the guys because they were putting their energies into other areas or projects. I felt like this might be their last record, so I wanted to make sure I enjoyed it as much as I could." - Jon Hudson 2015 Although at this time the guitar parts in FNM's music had become a function rather than an integral part of their sound, Jon did contribute to the songwriting on this record.  "We wrote some songs after he joined and he brought some of his own songs that he worked on for himself and then we started to to work on them together. That was really cool." - Bill Gould 1997 Five Become One So with the line-up complete in early 1997 the band finally got the chance to reconvene and they began to refine a sound that pleased all five members. They found direction and embarked on creating a more consistent album than KFAD , an album that was more natural to them as a unit. "We did try to keep a little more consistency because we did realize that not only are we writing it, but people have to listen to it, too. But I think the quality is right up there with anything we've done." - Bill Gould 1997 "It's got more feelings and balance than our previous albums. Possibly it's darker too. I don't think we developed too much from album to album before. But now it's easy to trace [a development]." -   Mike Patton 1997 They were inspired by the current musical trends in trip hop and computer aided compositions. "I think the intention for Album was to get back to what we started as. Plus, we were listening to a lot of Tricky, Massive Attack, Portishead, DJ Shadow at the time. We loved that shit." - Roddy Bottum 2016 The songwriting process this time around came much easier than it had in years. Using Ashes to Ashes as an example. "The bulk of that song was written the first week. We arranged it here, and then we sent Patton a tape. He was in Italy, but he came up with the lyrics and the singing right away. It was one of those songs that just clicked - one of those songs that we do most naturally. That's our sound." - Bill Gould 1997 When Patton returned from his home in Italy he brought with him two complete songs to add to the album.  "He wrote them in about a day. He was really inspired. I remember him coming over here one day, we did some stuff, and then he went home, wrote the songs, recorded them, and gave them to me the next day. He'd written everything: the drums, guitar, bass, and the lyrics." - Bill Gould 1997 Naked In Front Of The Computer Faith No More decided this time that they would handle the production of the album themselves . Basic tracks for the first dozen songs were recorded at Brilliant Studios in San Francisco, the band kept this from the record company to avoid any complications.  "If you tell a record company you're going to produce your own record, they usually don't like it. So we told them we were going to make 'demos' of these songs, but we knew all along that we wanted to keep them as final tracks." - Bill Gould 1997 "It just turned out to be that way. We didn't need a producer. We haven't been into the studio very long and then Roddy had to go on tour with imperial teen again. During that time we recorded other stuff and when everyone was back again the record was nearly finished so we could start mixing. I'm the one who was always there, I knew the recordings in all steps...so I became the producer." -  Bill Gould 1997 "And then we started back from square one, repeating the same [songwriting and recording] process. After the second time, we had something like 20 songs to choose from, and we started to realize, 'Hey, we're pretty much there.' So, in a stealth-like way, recorded our album without anybody really knowing we were doing it ourselves."-  Bill Gould 1997 After all the material was recorded the band then retreated to Bill's basement for editing and decided they needed a fresh pair of ears to help achieve the final sound of the album. They enlisted the talents of the Swans drummer turned producer  Roli Mosimann.  Bill essentially recorded and produced the album while Roli processed and edited the songs using computer technology. "Roli is the guy who did the Young Gods stuff, and he really added an interesting dimension. He's coming from an angle that we haven't explored before, which is a little bit more on the technology side. There's a little bit of programming, but the songs are still really heavy. The programming just puts the sound in a new light." - Bill Gould 1997 "Until now we everytime we did an album...we recorded that on tape and mixed it then..roli changed our point of view. he copied all the stuff to the computer and we started to edit it then. we didn't do to much of that...we just really fucked up one song in the computer. most we did were little things that really improved much. and roli also mixed the album and his extreme mixing style was really good for us." - Bill Gould 1997  "A good example of Roli's editing was the song 'Mouth to Mouth.' It wasn't sounding right to us at all. It was almost a throwaway song. But Roli really liked that one, so he ended up taking the [acoustic] drums in the choruses and moving them to the verses in Pro Tools. It gave the song a whole new life." - Bill Gould 1997 Collision "A lot of the really cool sounds in this song that sound like guitar are actually keyboard string sounds running through a [Tech 21] SansAmp. You can really mangle keyboard sounds with a SansAmp; you can get some amazing dark, ugly textures." "The odd rhythmic element in the verses. was written by our new guitar player. The verses are built around a 4+6/10 riff, and the choruses are a straight 4/4. The Spanish-speaking voices you hear later in the song are from a short-wave radio. That was Patton's idea. He has a short-wave he takes on tour. I've got one too, and you can get some really cool, eerie stuff. I noticed on the Nine inch Nails record they used a little bit of that too." - Bill Gould 1997 Stripsearch "The kernel of that song came from John Hudson, our guitar player on the last album. Writing wise, we just weren't speaking the same language as Dean, the guitarist we were touring with, I had known John for years, and he said he could provide what were looking for... so he produced this midi file of an idea he'd had and it was pretty good. We changed it just a little bit, but it was his song. The most amazing thing was he wrote a song which worked with us and we didn't have to teach him to do it! Musically we connected. I think he was the first guitar player we had where that happened." - Bill Gould 1998 "The loop in the beginning made such a difference. Before we put it in, the song sounded more like Queensryche. But after the loop, it sounded more like Portishead or something. It gave it a darker, different slant. It didn't sound like a rock band anymore. This song was also a study in layers. Getting keyboard layers to really fit can be hard. You can have five different modules, each with its own piano or string sound, but for a certain song there's always one that fits in like a glove. So we did a lot of searching for the fight kinds of electronic sounds." - Bill Gould 1997 "The percussive noise effect in the intro is Patton making noises with his mouth. My favorite part on the whole record, is the simplest thing...and that's the bleeps [in the intro of this song]. It was just a simple tone that we tapered down so it sounded like an SOS, or Morse code." - Roddy Bottum 1997 Last Cup of Sorrow "This came from me a little bit... I would say it's a little more dub like, the bass line was very dub-ish. I think I heard something like this - just a very heavy, slow song, probably like a cross between some old dub records and something like Basement Five and a band like Chrome. They were an old San Francisco band, kind of like punk that was very heavy metal, but dark and foreboding... very cinematic. Ifs depressing, but beautiful at the same time. As an album, it was our death record and it was something to feel, something we were going through. The words are from Patton, but I think we were all on the same page with this one." - Bill Gould 1998 "The toy piano idea basically started as a loop in Studio Vision, where I was playing bass and guitar. The piano was added as a rhythm element. That's all it was: rhythm. Pitchbends with a little bit of delay can be great for giving that certain unsettling feeling.Mike can do a lot of wild things with his voice, for one. But, yeah, he sang through an old Telefunken tube mic and we compressed the living shit out of it." - Bill Gould 1997 Naked in Front of the Computer "Actually, this song is about email. Patton is kind of obsessed with the idea of how people can communicate and have relationships over the computer without talking or ever meeting. So this is an extreme version of that concept. Funny thing is...the image of someone sitting naked in front of a computer might not have made sense to people a few years ago, but now everybody knows what it means. It's become part of our culture." - Bill Gould 1997 "Its about my frustrations while surfing the Internet. I won't tell you more. I think that too many people think too much about my lyrics. I am more a person who works with the sound of a word than with its meaning. Often i just choose the words because of the rhythm not because of the meaning. It was important for me that the album has a general mood that can be found in all songs and that it doesn't go in too many directions like we did in the past." - Mike Patton 1997 Helpless "The organ you hear in the verses "isn't a real organ. It's a JV-1080 patch called '50s Organ. The one thing I've noticed about the Roland modules...they might sound kind of slick on their own, but when you put 'em in with the band, they tend to sit really well in the mix. I think the guys who do the sound design at Roland are very aware of how things fit with other instruments. Anyway, that organ blended so well with the other instruments. You know it's there - it really adds, but it doesn't stand out. It's not harsh. It doesn't strike your attention that it's organ, but it really compliments the melody." - Bill Gould 1997 Mouth to Mouth "This song has an interesting story. Last year I went to Albania. I got an old car, and I drove through the country - a country that's been isolated from the world for like 30 years. So I went in there, and one thing I noticed were a lot of thug-type guys running around in leather jackets with ghetto blasters, but they weren't listening to heavy metal music: it was this loud Arabic music, and it was really inspiring."  - Bill Gould 1997 She Loves Me Not "This song almost didn't make it on the record. We almost didn't even record vocals for it because it's so different from all of the other songs. I wrote this song, and I was almost embarrassed to play it for anybody in the band because it's so soft - but at the same time it's a good song. It's like a Boyz II Men song of something. I didn't play it for anybody for, like, a half a year, and then finally I played it for Puffy. He thought we should give it a try, so I gave it to Patton, and he said, 'I wrote words, but they're pretty over-the-top.' But we went forward with it, and he really sang his ass off." - Bill Gould 1997 Got That Feeling "This is a Mike Patton 100-percent original. Basically it's a song about a guy who's a compulsive gambler. I think it would make an amazing video." - Bill Gould 1997 Paths of Glory "This song is all about a mood. It's not: 'Entertain me.' It's a vibe." - Bill Gould 1997 Pristina "This song took quite a bit of work in the studio because there are so many big open chords of distorted guitar, which doesn't leave much room for anything else. You've got room for drums, vocals, and maybe a deep bass, but trying to get the strings to cut through was a challenge. We spent a lot of time EQing and working with them to get hem placed just right." - Bill Gould 1997 Truth Prevails The album cover was down to Bill who had become intrigued with European history on his travels. The front cover is a photograph of the first president of independent Czechoslovakia Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk.  "Actually the man was an old president of Czechoslovakia who died in the '30's, but his significance is more symbolic than political. He was a very aristocratic president at a time when Czechoslovakia was one of the richest countries in the world. His funeral was HUGE (they are the shots on the album artwork) and his death took place on the eve of WW2. If there is any symbolic importance, it is the depiction of the death of a 'golden age.'" - Bill Gould 2002 As the principal founding father of Czechoslovakia, Masaryk was regarded in a way similar to the way George Washington is regarded in the United States.Even to this day, Czechs and Slovaks alike regard him as a symbol of democracy.  The liner notes for the album depict a funeral with the words pravda vítězí (truth prevails) adorning the coffin. The statement is the motto of the Czech Republic and is seen as a symbol of democracy. Roddy Bottum On Album Of The Year Going into Album of the Year felt like a changing of the guard. In a technological sense, and in an ownership sense. We'd been doing what we'd been doing for a long time - recording five records, touring for more than a decade. The production had gotten bigger, the stakes had gotten higher and the playing field was changing. Suddenly, making a record on our own was completely and realistically doable. Billy was kind of the first in our camp to get  savvy with the Pro Tools setup, and as a result, a good part of AOTY was made in Billy's basement. We did all the tracking at Brilliant Studios and Razor's Edge in SF, but the editing and production were done on our own. It was our first step in taking back what was ours in a technical sense. Kind of ironic that it was our final record....at the time, anyway. We all knew where it was going, the writing was most definitely on the wall - we were all branching out, everyone had a side project, and it felt like FNM was becoming harder and harder just to schedule. Collectively, unconsciously, individually and as a group, we were acting out. Dressing in black suits for the tour, referencing a funeral, the death of the band, the audacious titling of the record, we were fucking with our own destiny. We were definitely referencing our musical roots as well, going back to the melancholy, the sombre, the monotonous loops, the brooding keyboards. Last Cup Of Sorrow , Ashes To Ashes , Jon's involvement and writing in songs like Stripsearch and Collision ; in retrospect it feels really strong and an undeniably prolific chapter in what we ultimately set out to do. It might have been a hard pill to swallow for our fans and critics who kept looking to us for a radical change, which of course was understandable... we'd changed so many times. Maybe the change this time around was more of a 'behind the scenes' change. The way we recorded, Billy and the basement, bringing in Roli Mossiman, writing with Jon. Internally, to us it was radical. Roli had worked with Young Gods, a band we loved. He worked a lot with computers. He came in to help track and record, but stuck around to help mix. A testament to his work, we all liked him a lot and appreciated what he brought. Looking back, it seems like a good album to the world with, because it was almost a full circle return to the core of what FNM was. Of course, we had no idea at the time that we'd revisit it, it was the last thing on anybodies mind. We all needed to leave it and walk away, and not look back for a long time. The amount of angst we'd shared as a group of friends was devastating. I don't know how we survived as young people doing what we did. Friends writing together, creating together, making business decisions together, living together, 24/7 for the most part. Looking back on it, they were truly special days of our lives, particularly at the end, when the seams were busting, and the glass had overflowed. The spillage was Album of the Year, and it was an end and a beginning.

On May 26th 1992 Faith No More released their first single from Angel Dust . In an article on Consequence Of Sound ranking all Faith No More songs from worst to best , Midlife Crisis took the number one spot. The quintessential question of what is Faith No More’s single best song has, far and away, the easiest answer imaginable. By 1992, Angel Dust had done a complete 180 away from the sound generally synonymous with Chuck Mosley to what FNM is known for now: triumphant Mike Patton vocals that shine in every register, every pitch; the fluid harmonization of Martin and Bottum’s guitar/keyboard combos; perfect drum and bass coordination; blends of dark tones and obscure subject matter that leave the listener desperate for resolution. “Midlife Crisis” is allegedly about Madonna’s grasping at straws in her ’90s career, and that may be true, but this song has metal, pop, avant-garde, a musically united front with more facets than a diamond. It’s addictive and throbbing, your head on cocaine, your heaven and hell. It’s the Faith No More song. Angel dust, indeed. When released MC was received by most critics and fans with great enthusiasm. It charted highest in Austria at number 9, number 10 in the UK charts and number 1 in US modern rock chart. 'Midlife Crisis twists into a new kind of melody. The difference lies in the tunefulness, the variety of styles within the song - elements we've come to know and love with this band, but not to this degree.' - Raw Magazine 'Musically and lyrically, Faith No More aim for an oxymoronic mix of beauty and brutality with this single' - The Observer 'Lead vocalist Mike Patton growls, screeches, and roars his way through song making not-so-subtle commentary on greed, complacency, and selfishness, It's easy to laugh at the skewering of a thirty-something character in the mid tempo funk-rocker 'Midlife Crisis'. But not all of Faith No More's targets are the rich and powerful.' - Time 'On 'Midlife Crisis' Patton starts with a snide, sibilant rap, swoons upward in a jazzy, Al Jarreau-ish arc, then slugs it out in a close combat cut and thrust that's pure hardcore. The lyrics lash and lambaste some middle-class, lard ass, play-safe type who's built up a cocoon of security and comfort. The line 'Your menstruating heart' - doubtless aimed at 'wet liberals' and people who profess to care a lot - is deeply revealing. For FNM, feelings of tenderness, empathy and solidarity are threatening, female and fluid, a loathsome discharge.' - Melody Maker The mood of MC shifts between eerie verses and brilliantly euphoric choruses. Mike Bordin 's perfectly timed rhythm introduces the song. This percussive snap is one of those signature drum parts that Puffy does so well, instantly recognisable like We Care A Lot and The Real Thing . The beat includes a sample taken from Simon and Garfunkel's song Cecilia . "It was one of the first songs I heard when I was a kid and I think I sampled it cause I had a funny relationship with it. the song was kind of built around the rhythm of that sample." - Roddy Bottum Bill Gould described his bass line on MTV's Post Modern in 1992 as "a lesson in discipline, I literally play one note throughout the song" , this one note is the systematic backbone of the song. The haunting string sound of Roddy's keys add colour, however shadowy. While Mike Patton 's hoarse whispered vocal rolls in synchronisation with the percussion. Patton chooses words that are sharp and clear, and like a snake spiting venom at its prey he seems to over pronounce each syllable. His harmonies throughout the song are clever and precise, much more adventurous than those on the previous album. Jim Martin 's guitar crunch leads the chorus and brings the first light of a major key which lifts the melancholy feel. During which a familiar Patton voice gives us the most inspiring yet twisted lyrics on the album, sung with such vigoUr you can taste the sarcasm. The middle section is flooded with samples, there are noises whirring from left to right, taken from Beastie Boys song Car Thief . A screech drops us into the breakdown, which is a glorious melodic outburst that makes the listener want to stand up and thank the stars for stereo, volume and Faith No more! MC fades out with perfectly with multiple layers of Patton's chorus lines. "Everybody's responsible for this one. It was a keyboard part that started it....it was a period of time when everyone was waiting for us to come up with another record and promising us the world. All we had to do is what we do, but the way they saw we were a little defiant, which I think the lyrics reflect in a way. From my position I wanted to do a song that had only one note to the whole thing, but would still be a song. So I wanted it to have one bass part that never changed. It wasn't until we recorded it that our producer saw where I was trying to go, but at the time it seemed like shooting yourself in the foot y'know." - Bill Gould FNM have always thrived from the inner tensions caused by the different personalities of the members, it's always been a part of the process. Most of all during the writing of Angel Dust the relationship between Jim and rest of the band is documented to be highly strained. This can be heard literally within the song itself, Roddy's electronic pop sounds versus Jim's earthy rock guitar chords. The turmoil between light and dark. Like a stormy sea raging while clouds roll gracefully along high above. The band have described the track as their attempt to make a slick pop song and were surprised to find it described as dark and heavy by critics. In testament to this the song actually had the working title of Madonna which was continued be used on set-lists. "The song is based on a lot of observation and a lot of speculation. But in sort of a pointed way its kind of about Madonna...I think it was a particular time where I was being bombarded with her image on TV and in magazines and her whole schtick kind of speaks to me in that way...like she's going through some sort of problem. It seems she's getting a bit desperate." - Mike Patton 'You're perfect yes it's true, but without me you're only you.' This unforgettable line of prose surely stands out as some of the most powerful and poetic of all Faith No More's lyrics. MC doesn't obviously play out a story with characters as is the case with several songs on Angel Dust , it rather creates a mood which intensifies and shifts like Patton's schizophrenic vocals. As with most of his lyrics Patton has never really elaborated on the meaning but he has said that its not so much about a midlife crisis, as he couldn't empathise in what it would feel like, but ''it's more about creating false emotion, being emotional, dwelling on your emotions and in a sense inventing them.'' His references to Madonna we would guess are to deceive and mock the press. However Patton's preference to using a word due to it's sound rather than it's meaning seems to be the case here. As fans and critics ourselves, and from a need to gain better understanding of Patton and a song of we will analyse to attribute meaning. It's easy to recognise the theme of age or more precisely different stages of life regularly occur on Angel Dust . MC can be interpreted in many ways, one popular theory is that song is a story of child abuse and violence passed on inherently from father to son. This behaviour resulting in self loathing and an uncertainty of ones self control. The video for MC is arguably the best FNM videos of all time. Directed by Kevin Kerslake it is dark, dramatic and cinematic abstract, a perfect visualisation of the song's temperament. In the video each member of the band is dressed in a random outfit, Bill sports a 50s gangster style fedora and Patton welds a shovel like some movie serial killer. Religious icons, choirboys and images of horses quartering a torso are all in the mix of onscreen drama. The use of soft focus close ups, overexposure and time lapse filmed sequences produces a polished artistic video that can't be likened to any for the rock genre previously. The styling of this video sets the precedent for many to follow, A Small Victory , Digging The Grave , Another Body Murdered and Ashes to Ashes in particular have similar direction. Even though it seems America didn't embrace this in the same way they did Epic, European and Australian MTV played MC on heavy rotation. “Oddly enough, I grew up with Billy Gould and Roddy Bottum. We were neighbours and our parents actually went to school together, so I had a life long relationship with those guys. I was also a big fan of Faith No More. We never talked about the root or the theme of this song, so I have no idea what it’s about, but the overall flavour of the video is torture. There are some lyrics in the song about somebody who’s lost all four limbs, so that’s where the idea of having somebody being quartered came from. When we started putting the shoot together, one of the things we quickly learned about horses is that they’re pack animals, so when you face four horses in opposite directions their instinct is not to go forward. Typically, there’s a lead horse and all of the other horses follow him. So we had this guy attached to all four horses and one of the horses reared up as another horse started charging forward. The effect of that was that one horse was actually pulling the other horse on its back, and the stuntman was right below him. Thankfully, he was very agile and he got out of the way in time, but it was pretty hairy for a minute there." - Kevin Kerslake 2016 Midlife Crisis has been a permanent fixture on FNM's setlist ever since 1992 and transfers perfectly to the stage. It's always eagerly awaited by the crowd who join in the chorus along with Patton with a sense of joy and pride.

Faith No More 's seventh studio album was released TEN years ago, on 19 May 2015. To celebrate the anniversary of this astounding comeback record we have put together an A to Z for everything need to know about Sol Invictus . A IS FOR Amoeba In November 2014 Faith No More surprised fans with an intimate show at Amoeba Records , San Francisco, to celebrate Record Store Day Black Friday and the release of Motherfucker on 7" vinyl. The set consisted of five songs including two from Sol Invictu s. 'Most of the band’s Bay Area family — including their teenaged nieces and nephews — crowded along the side of the stage. Said nieces and nephews mercifully did not roll their eyes when others in attendance explained they had been following the band since they were “their age.” ' - SF Weekly B IS FOR Brothers Johnson & Boz Scaggs Each era in FNM’s history seems to include its own particular ad-libs featured in the breakdown of various songs. A favourite of Chuck Mosley 's was Led Zeppelin's Stairway To Heaven , whereas Mike Patton famously dropped in Pump Up The Jam by Technotronic and Vogue by Madonna. During the Sol Invictus tour as the band halted Midlife Crisis mid song, Patton crooned the 1971 song Strawberry Letter 23 by Shuggie Otis (made popular by Brothers Johnson in 1977). In the same spot FNM would also break out into the 1976 song Lowdown by Boz Scaggs. C IS FOR Cone Of Shame In November 2015 Faith No More released the fourth single from Sol Invictus . Cone of Shame was accompanied by a gritty video directed by Macedonian Goce Cvetanovski, who had worked with Bill Gould previously, and produced by Lynx Animation Studios with Faith No More. “This is one of those tracks that had to be a video, really, because it lends itself so much to visual imagery. Given the song’s sense of Americana, it would have been easy to shoot this in Arizona or New Mexico, but having been to Macedonia several times, there’s a vibe there that I felt wouldn’t be out of place as a backdrop to this song. Goce Cvetanovski, as a director, understood this immediately; he knew exactly what to do with it, and along with an amazing cast, has managed to create something very dark, and beautifully cinematic.” - Bill Gould 2015 "My first impressions were more horror-like. Lyrics like “I like to peel your skin off, strip the bones off,” etc, gave me images of some cannibalistic druid kind of ceremony. But after talking with Bill, he explained me that the song is more about a love gone wrong, wrong decisions and jealousy. We also discussed the spaghetti western ambient of the music, if you listen carefully you’ll find a bit of Ennio Morricone influence in the guitar. The story developed from there and I was listening the track in loop for days, while working on the script." - Goce Cvetanovski | FNMFollowers 2015 D IS FOR Dementia Faith No More also shared a video for the track Separation Anxiety . A compilation of footage from the 1955 American black-and-white experimental horror film Dementia (Daughter of Horror) directed by John Parker. The video was edited by Finch Lynch. E IS FOR Estudio Koolarrow Sol Invictus was the FNM first album to be fully self recorded at the group’s rehearsal space and Bill’s studio, Estudios Koolarrow , in California. "Everyone said, ‘Well, why don’t we just produce it ourselves? Why don’t you produce it?’ and I was just like, ‘Oh god, man, that’s a responsibility! I mean, my stuff’s going to get stacked up next to Andy Wallace’s stuff and Matt Wallace’s stuff!" - Bill 2015 “You have to understand, it was recorded by us… written, arranged and performed obviously. Mixed by us, in our place. I mean, this is really about as self-contained an effort as you’re gonna get and I’m super proud of every guy that did it. To me, the result… I couldn’t make it any better. And I want people to hear it for themselves.” - Bordin | Drum Magazine 2015 To realise their vision the band called on their old friend Matt Wallace to help with the mixing and production. "We didn't even have an engineer when we recorded it. It was just us. There was only one other person who came in, and that was Matt Wallace, who finished the mixing. Having an extra perspective and an extra set of ears was really important at that point, and Matt goes back with us back to 1982—he's like a family member" - Bill Gould | Revolver 201 F IS FOR Followers The News of Faith No More's first album in eighteen years and subsequent tour prompted a group of super fans to establish the ultimate FNM fan club. Faithnomorefollowers.com was created as a non-profit hub for all things Faith No More related, reporting news and chronicling past events with accuracy. In 2020 we upgraded to the webpage you see now. Over the past ten years our group has been supported by the band and their management. The team includes members from Europe, Australia, South America, Mexico and the USA, all who have been active participators in the online fan community since the 90s. In 2018 members of FNMFollowers joined Podcast Croissant the only dedicated Faith No More podcast. G IS FOR Gimp In February 2015 Faith No More revealed to the world the title and release date of their seventh studio album accompanied with a photo of the band dressed in black gowns heavily shadowed by candle light. Dustin Rabin 's cult-like photographic vision for FNM would be included on the sleeve for Sol Invictus. 'In some early discussions about ideas they said they wanted something dark and almost horror-like, so I suggested doing some Film Noir lighting.' - Dustin Rabin | FNMFollowers 2015 Some of Dustin Rabin's album promo photos revealed FNM’s dominant nature with the addition of a gimp! Straight out of Pulp Fiction the leather clad character accompanied FNM on their first run of shows. At The Wiltern in LA the gimp suit was worn in secret by none other than GnR bassist Duff Mckagan ! “Their ‘Gimp’ guy got stuck in traffic or something — something like that — and Patton asked if I’d be the ‘Gimp.’ And I’d just gotten to the gig, me and another friend. I’m wearing all black, and everybody else was wearing white. ‘Cause they play in white, and everybody backstage, their crew, they all have white on. The guy I came with, Jerry Cantrell [Alice in Chains], he wore white, because he had gone to the show the night before. I picked him up, [and I said], ‘What are you doing wearing all white?’ He’s, like, ‘Faith No More white, dude.’ [I was, like], ‘Oh, yeah, I blew it.’ But being the only guy dressed in black, I was the instant ‘Gimp.'” - Duff H IS FOR Hyde Park The band made a return to the live stage after a full year's break at British Summer Time Festival in Hyde Park, London. The set included the premiere of Superhero and Motherfucker . “We knew that we were making a record at that time, for sure. That was the first time we played those songs though, so it was kinda high stakes. The decision to wear the priest outfits and play Motherfucker right then felt pretty bold. We had been working on this stuff behind the scenes but we weren’t ready to tell anybody. Then again, anyone who saw us play that day with Sabbath would’ve figured out what we were up to.” - Roddy Bottum | The Skinny Dec 2015 I IS FOR Ice Hockey New York Rangers defenseman and Faith No More fan Dan Boyle joined FNM as a roadie during the East Coast swing of the tour. Much to the approval of Mike P and Mike Bordin who are both huge hockey fans. “It was an amazing experience. I didn’t do too much the first night; I was pretty much just watching. But by the fourth show, I was helping out every which way I could – dispensing VIP tickets, decorating the stage, bringing guitars and basses out.” - Dan Boyle | Rolling Stone J IS FOR Joe Lynch The band hired American film and music video director Joe Lynch to create a film for the third single release of Sunny Side Up . The video is a hallucinogenic tribute to One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest featuring a cast of geriatric mischief makers in the roles of the band members. ‘Funny enough, I’ve been trying to make a Faith No More music video since I fell in love with the 'Angel Dust' album back in 1992. I wrote a video treatment for every single track on that album and sent them to Slash Records, I never heard back…’ - Joe Lynch | FNMFollowers 2015 K IS FOR Kimmel Live! During tour Sol Invictus Faith No More performed on radio and TV to promote the album. Their first TV appearance in twenty years was was on Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show in May. In June FNM recorded a set of six songs live at BBC's Maida Vale studios. On September 3rd Faith No More performed five songs on Jimmy Kimmel Live! dressed in tuxedos. L IS FOR Lump Straight after the performance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! FNM took to the stage for a secret show at The Troubadour in Hollywood under the pseudonym Lump . The gig stood out in the 2015 run as the band took a more casual approach ditching the white outfits and the gimp. ‘No gimp! Whaaaa? Just a lot of instruments, sneakers and sweat. The entire band was in good spirits. It was weird for everyone. It was glorious madness. Patton crowd surfed many times and ended up on the bar in the back with, unfortunately, a shot of Jack Daniels. Almost the entire Sol Invictus album was played along with highlight “Be Aggressive” and after a band meeting, ending with “As The Worm Turns.”' - LA Record M IS FOR Mystery Song The seeds for Sol Invictus were sown as early as 2011 when FNM premiered Matador their first original composition in fourteen years - known then to fans as Mystery Song . "I was like, This is great that we’ve all connected, but I need to do creative stuff. I was always hands-on where this band is concerned. I’m just that guy, and if I’m putting all this energy and effort into it, I need something. I need some oxygen. It was one of those things like, Don’t ask. Don’t tell. Don’t bring up new music. Don’t talk about it. Finally I thought, Fuck it, man, I’m just going to fucking say it: I got a song. Do you guys want to hear it? Stop talking about fucking covers all the time and think of doing some fucking music? And everybody was like, Yeah, sure, great." - Bill Gould | Small Victories Mystery Song , became the subject of much discussion between fans who at the time labelled it an unheard leftover from a previous album. The band performed the song in Buenos Aires and it became a regular fixture in the set for the next few years. "Honestly, 'Matador' felt so obvious. Not in a bad way, but like a comfortable shoe. It felt like somewhere we go typically as a band. We have this language among the four of us that's sort of unique and inherent to people who sort of grow up together; we have a go-to language that we all relate to really well. So hearing it was like, 'Oh yeah, that. I get it!'" - Roddy Bottum | Revolver April 2015 "Bill brought in a new tune that he wrote, and said: 'Shall we try this? And when we heard it, yep, we knew what to do exactly, boom boom boom. It's like a secret society when you're in a band, with your handshakes and your lingo, and even after all that time, you still understand it. It's part of you. We started playing that one song live, and it felt good. So okay, let's proceed." - Mike Patton | Classic Rock July 2015 N IS FOR New New Song Fans brimmed with excitement as our friends at fan page FNM 2.0 revealed Faith No More's new new song on May 12th 2015. The song turned out to be a spectacular parody created by St Sanders. The FNM shred was arranged by Bill who had previously met Sanders at a show. O IS FOR Ossian Brown The images used throughout the sleeve of Sol Invictus are taken from a collection of anonymous Halloween photographs from c.1875-1955 curated by English musician and artist Ossian Brown in the book Haunted Air . The eerie vintage photos used compliment the dark tones of the music. Martin Kvamme ’s distinctive graphic design on the album cover sits perfectly amongst FNM’s catalogue. P IS FOR Periscope For the first time Faith No More utilised the power of social media, opening up to fans a glimpse of life on the road. FNM launched their official Twitter account in mid 2014 with the exciting news - ‘Hey! Stay tuned for more Tweets from Twats!!! The reunion thing was fun, but now it's time to get a little creative.’ Facebook and Instagram followed as did Periscope on which Roddy Bottum presented his post gig show called Tour Talk ! During these 30 minute live chats Roddy spoke with his band mates and various people close the band. A highlight was when Roddy and Bill recounted the story of them taking revenge on a Safeway by calling in a bogus bomb threat, at the age of 12! Q IS FOR Quality Time Faith No More releasing their first album in eighteen was a huge deal for fans, music press and for the band themselves. FNM had no idea whether they would release a new album so rehearsals were conducted in secret, the band didn't even tell their wives they were working on new material. “We kept it in-house and behind closed doors. And we were fortunate to be able to keep it as insular as we did because we had no expectations or deadlines. Really, it’s a chicken shit way to do it. But at the same time it allowed us freedom.” - Roddy | Billboard May 2015 Faith No More recognised that fans would be concerned about the music living up to the legacy they had created. "A lot of people are afraid of us making a new record, and I get that. There's a template to this, I think: You were a good band, you break up, you get back together and you put out a shitty album. But we tried really, really hard to resist that template. We kept our minds sharp and we still have a lot to offer. But people like the stuff we did in the past. We're older now and they're afraid of what we might put out as an older band. They're worried that the music we might make today might not hold up. But even if this new record fails, I'm still a lot happier doing something creative and productive than I am just going to work and playing the old songs." - Bill Gould | Kerrang! April 2015 R IS FOR Reclamation Records In keeping with their DIY attitude Sol Invictus was released via Patton’s label Ipecac Records with the aid of Bill’s label Koolarrow. FNM created their own imprint called Reclamation Records. S IS FOR Sonarworks Sonarworks revolutionised audio mixing with new software to make headphone listening much clearer. FNM worked with the software on various songs from Sol Invictus. 'In a nutshell, the idea behind their software was to compensate for imperfections in mixing rooms in order to provide a more accurate listening environment. As a band we try to take chances and explore new concepts all the time, and realized in this FNM tradition, that it might be cool to include some of our fans in on the experiment—as far as I know, no one has done anything like this before.' - Bill Gould 2016 T IS FOR Trollfoot Patton’s unlikely friendship with Hollywood actor Danny DeVito began when DeVito’s son took his pop to a Fantômas show in 2005. Danny soon became a huge Patton fan and even starred in a Peeping Tom video. DeVito was first spotted at Coachella in 2010 watching Faith No More. In 2012 he made an onstage appearance at Hammersmith in London. We most recently saw DeVito's famous social media alter ego Trollfoot appear side stage at The Wiltern in 2015. U IS FOR Unconquered Sun Sol Invictus takes its title from a Latin phrase meaning "unconquered sun," which was also the name of a Roman religious cult. "We just won't go away! And when you think about where we are, and what we've accomplished over the course of so many years, there's a timeless, regal, etched-in-stone quality of that title that really works for us." - Roddy Bottum 2015 V IS FOR Vulcan Studios Although Patton has never discussed the name of his home recording studio Vulcan can be traced as far back as 1999 - 'electronics, voice, additional overdubs on She by Maldoror at Vulcan Studios' . Mike has recorded or engineered vocals for many of his projects in the San Franciscan hold-up including albums such as Tētēma , his collaboration with Jean Claude Vannier and more. Patton recorded is vocals for Sol Invictus at Vulcan. “I hate to be unromantic here, but the lyrics to me are just another instrument. I see them as such, and there's a reason we don't really print them on our records. I don't think we ever have. Maybe we did once or twice and that was just under duress. I feel that the words are really up to you. I'm giving them to the public, and I think that, you know, whoever's listening should be able to interpret them the way they want. From word to word and sentence to sentence, if there's a grand meaning, you come up with it, because I certainly can't. I don't have one. I'll tell you. I don't have a grand plan. I write lyrics based on music, on a musical flow, and what sounds good at the time. If I can fit a them into that, then hey, I'm lucky. If not? I don't care. They're just words. If they're political, if they're antisocial or god knows what — if they were, then that's not my problem. I just write them, and it's up to the world to decide what they are. That's my position.” - Patton | NPR May 2015 W IS FOR Wiltern LA Faith No More toured Sol Invictus for eight months, they played sixty nine gigs in twenty five different countries. During this run of shows many of the band's sets were professionally captured on film including Download in the UK, Pinkpop in Holland, France's Hellfest and many more. Pro footage from The Wiltern in LA was shared on the Carson Daly show. X IS FOR X-Rated Motherfucker was released on November 28th 2014 on 7" vinyl limited to 5000 copies. In typical FNM fashion their first single in 17 years was unplayable on the airwaves because of its x-rated lyrical content. Between them Roddy Bottum and Mike Patton chant the phrase 'mother fucker' approximately twenty five times. "It felt like a really nice statement to put out into the public, to let people know we’re not playing any games. We don’t really care if it’s on the radio. It’s sort of offensive and playful and bold and maybe a little bit antagonistic. Just the word itself was a fun thing to put out there. But yeah, it’s totally different than the rest of the record. It’s me singing on it, which is a little bit different, and it’s really simple and stripped down. Something called “Motherfucker” just felt like a nice place for us to kick off a new chapter for Faith No More." - Roddy Bottum | Noisey | March 2015 Y IS FOR Yahoo! What needs to be said other than - Faith No More live at The Fillmore full set via Yahoo! Z IS FOR Zombie Yeti Alan Forbes, Junko Mizuno, Tara McPherson and Zombie Yeti are just some of the artists responsible for the amazing graphic poster designs from tour Sol Invictus. Many of them were available signed by the five members at concerts and are still for sale in the Secret Serpents store .

Faith No More's North American tour in support of Sol Invictus . FNM began their Sol Invictus tour in Japan and Australia, they returned to the USA for the first time since October 1997 in April 2015. The eleventh date was on Friday May 8th at The Fillmore in Detroit . National Rock Review | Faith No More at The Fillmore Detroit, MI on 08-May-2015 As fans reached the area surrounding the Fillmore Detroit, it was obvious who was in town and the venue they were playing at. Hundreds of Faith No More and Mr. Bungle t-shirts, jackets and even a handmade sign that read “I love you Mike” painted a clear picture as to the general direction to the show. Upon entering the Fillmore Detroit, the lobby was filled with many concert attendees picking up a wide variety of FNM merchandise including a signed limited edition piece of concert artwork. Having the opportunity to pick up new FNM memorabilia was priceless. Supporting FNM tonight was an incredible trio named Le Butcherettes. The group consists of vocalist commonly known by her stage name of Teri Gender Bender, Jamie Aaron Aux on bass, and playing drums was Chris Common. This group of seasoned musicians were a perfect fit for the FNM show. Le Butcherettes set began with Teri dressed in red wearing a scarf around her head playing the nights into song on the keyboard. Having a sound in the “PJ Harvey” and “Yeah Yeah Yeahs” wheelhouse, LB had elements that proved to be very dynamic and passionate. Midway through LB’s set both the dynamics and overall energy level had elevated to a point where all in attendance eagerly waited for what was about to happen. Ditching her shoes, scarf, and keyboard, Teri leaned over and picked up a guitar. From this point forward the band took things up a notch. With a full on garage punk themed style, LB entertained the audience with chunky guitar riffs and passionate heartfelt vocals. Rock solid drumming and nicely placed bass lines made the remainder of LB’s set loud and proud. This band is definitely a group to check out live. After a short intermission, the lights in Fillmore Detroit began to dim and all in attendance made their way to a spot in the venue in which to experience a moment with a sold-out crowd. Gradually the stage began to glow an eerie red and the keyboard line to FNM’s opening song “Motherfucker” came on. The night had begun and all in attendance were ready to rock! The stage and most everything on it was draped in white cloths and nicely placed flowers laced the front of the stage. The production was cleverly designed and as it definitely set the mood for the night. The set included “From Out Of Nowhere”, “Caffeine”, “Sunny Side Up” and “Epic” among many other hits throughout the night. When the FNM guys played the infamous Commodores classic “Easy” the crowded joined in with a full house vocal ensemble backup section. “Superhero” closed the set to a packed house of fans screaming for more. After a few minutes had past FNM returned to the stage for a well-received encore. They rocked out with a track from the upcoming album Sol Invictus and played a great version of Burt Bacharach “This Guy’s in Love With You.” While standing on the main floor by the entrance to the photo pit, this photographer overheard a brief conversation that proved to be an incredible addition to an already fantastic evening. A gentlemen said to a lady friend next to him, “This is great! So, whatcha think? The lady friend replied, “Oh! You’ll be great! I can walk with you if ya like.” I slowly turned and watched the two of them step aside, open a door to a hallway that leads to the stage and wallah… Chuck Mosley! Yes, Chuck Mosley was in the house. Chuck and the band played “Mark Bowen” and the place went nuts. What a treat that was. FNM closed the night with the energy packed song “From the Dead.” On behalf of everyone in attendance at this sold out show… Thank You. Thank You for choosing Detroit to share your music with. Schwegweb Stellar Detroit The Fillmore was sold out and the crowd was giddy with excitement as they waited for Faith No More to take the stage in Detroit for the first time since 1997. The band is on a proper tour in the United States in support of their upcoming album “Sol Invictus,” which is set for release on May 19. The experimental alternative metal band reunited in 2009 for a multi-year European tour, but decided to forgo the US until now. The show opened with pulsing red lights and slow, steady piano chords; an extended opening for their first single from “Sol Invictus,” “Motherfucker”. The entire band was garbed in white linen, resembling a religious cult, with charismatic leader Mike Patton dominating the white cloth and flower-covered stage. Patton’s voice and stage presence command attention. His vocal range is nearly unparalleled in rock music and he knows how to engage the local crowd chanting "Deeeeetrooooiiiit Baaassketttbaaaallll" early in the show. A running joke throughout the show came from the fact that Hall & Oates were playing at the same time next door. Patton kept asking why the crowd wasn’t there instead and saying he would rather be there if he had the choice. The band even went as far as singing a “Rich Girl” interlude during “Midlife Crisis.” Other covers included “Easy” by the Commodores, where Patton shouted “you feeling tough? You feeling tough now?” at the crowd afterward, and a song listed as “Joke” on the setlist that turned out to be Burt Bacharach’s “This Guy’s in Love with You” during the encore. The crowd also enjoyed some classic Faith No More songs including “Epic,” “From Out of Nowhere,” and “Ashes to Ashes,” as well as new songs like “Sol Invictus” and “Superhero.” The final song of the encore had special guest Chuck Mosely, the band’s original frontman, take over the mic to sing “Mark Bowen.” The crowd was excited to see him back on stage, though his vocals left a lot to be desired, especially after hearing Patton all night. After coming back out for a second encore and playing “From the Dead” from their upcoming album, Patton thanked opening act Le Butcherettes, Chuck Mosley, and of course, Hall and Oates! This was a great show and did not disappoint at all, even after 18 years. See The Muzic Set List Motherfucker From Out of Nowhere Caffeine Evidence Epic Sunny Side Up Surprise! You're Dead! Midlife Crisis [ Hall and Oates, "Rich Girl" ] Everything's Ruined The Gentle Art Of Making Enemies Easy [ Commodores ] Spirit King for a Day Ashes to Ashes Superhero Sol Invictus This Guy's in Love With You [ Burt Bacharach ] Mark Bowen [ with Chuck Mosley ] From the Dead #faithnomore #solinvictus

Faith No More: Inside the insatiable Mike Patton Gary Cee Faith No More has a gold album, The Real Thing , in the top 20 of Billboard's LP chart. Their wildly imaginative video, "Epic," is all over MTV. These supremely proficient musicians upend audiences all over the globe with an unbounded frenzy of metal, rap and funk that leaves even the most durable stage divers out of breath. From out of nowhere, they've become one of a handful of bands playing what's left of genuinely exciting hard rock & roll. But for lead singer Mike Patton, Faith's not enough. The fiery-eyed hellraiser still holds a huge place in his heart for his first band back home in Eureka, California - a powerfunk posse called Mr. Bungle. "I'm gonna make myself" lead both bands, Patton promises. Even if his record company, Slash, forces him to drop all side projects to keep the Faith. "If you heard Mr. Bungle, you'd fall down the stairs," he says. "With Faith No More, you just, maybe, run." That is a Mr. Bungle T-shirt Patton wears in the "Epic" video. "When I'm not around, they're still working without me. There's no records yet, just demo tapes." But Patton swears his first band will "absolutely" score a record contract. Mike Patton was born January 27th, 1968 and grew up in a modest household with his parents and younger brother. He graduated from Eureka High in 1986 and began studying English - "only because I like to write" - at Humboldt State University in Arcata, just down the road from Eureka. "I had no idea what I wanted to do. I was completely lost," he says. Mike will never forget the first time he and the Bungle boys saw Faith No More at Humboldt. Patton was so impressed with guitarist Jim Martin, bassist Billy Gould, keyboardist Roddy Bottum, drummer Mike Bordin and singer Chuck Mosley, he dropped a Mr. Bungle demo into Jim's hands. The second time Patton caught Faith, it turned into the most chaotic weekend of his life. Maybe this was an omen. "Eureka is a really small town," he remembers. "So me and the Bungle guys thought, gee, we're gonna go see Faith No More and the Red Hot Chili Peppers at this club in San Francisco. It's like this big event. We have to organize it with our parents. We drive a few hours down to the city, to the Fillmore. We're just stupid kids, and it's only our second time in San Francisco. We get there, go see the show, and when we come out, our tires are slashed. "Then we fix the tires. We end up staying at Mr. Bungle's guitarist grandma's house. We park the car in someone's driveway, not thinking, and we come out the next day and it's been towed. What an unbelievable hassle. We swore we'd never come to San Francisco again." Patton would have to return. The summer before his junior year at Humboldt, he received a phone call from big Jim Martin. Singer Chuck Mosley wasn't working out anymore. Would Patton be interested in joining the Faith? "I had met Jim once before," Patton recalls, "and I never met Chuck at all. From what I understand, his attitude was getting worse. They were moving in two different directions. Mike's impetuous stage gymnastics, crazy facial contortions and multi octave vocal range were a strong shot in the arm to Faith's live set. His performance was so over-the-top, it nearly came off as parody. But Patton brought more than a huge set of lungs to the show. The band took a liking to his lyrics, and Mike ended up writing all the words to the ten original songs on Faith's third LP, The Real Thing, in one week. Recording commenced in December of 1988. The album was released in June of '89. "Was it that long ago?" the malcontent asks. The Real Thing doesn't sound fresh at all to him these days. "It was old and boring long ago." At the time of this interview, Patton had mixed feelings about opening up an arena tour with Billy Idol. It's not the first time Faith has played the big rooms. They canvassed the West Coast with Metallica a couple of years back. "I really want to see what kind of people come to these shows," he wonders. "It's probably just gonna be lame MTV people. And I'm really curious to see how Billy Idol is as a person. He's probably gonna be real easy to torment. We're gonna try to find the quickest possible avenue to torture that fucker." There's no rest for Patton. Just five days after coming off the Billy Idol tour, Mike and Faith will open a month of dates for AC/DC. "You can see why I'm not really all that stoked on it," he drones. "It's good for the band, but man, I'm gonna be so fucked up by that point." But eager to reunite with Mr. Bungle. Faith No More will just have to wait. "Not only do we have zero new songs written," he says, "and I don't know about them, but I'm gonna need some time away from those bastards."

Thirty five years ago Faith No More played at The Brixton Academy in London as part of their second UK tour of 1990 supporting The Real Thing. This momentous show was filmed and released as You Fat Bastards in 1991. Photo Credit : Unknown RIP Magazine | 1990 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. NME | 1990 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 rap-turous 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. Set List From Out Of Nowhere Falling To Pieces Introduce Yourself The Real Thing Underwater Love As The Worm Turns The Crab Song Edge Of The World The Morning After Chinese Arithmetic We Care A Lot Surprise! You're Dead! Epic Woodpecker From Mars Zombie Eaters Why Do You Bother? War Pigs [ Black Sabbath ] Easy [ Commodores ]

Originally published on Faithnomorefollowers.com in May 2017. Photo: Jo Sheppard Author’s note [ We miss you Chuck ] Faith No More's second studio album Introduce Yourself was released in April 1987. This album was a key player in mixing genres and creating something fresh and unique. It's legacy lives on 30 years later and it influenced whole new generations of music. The music on the record fine tuned FNM's uncategorizable style and solidified the backbone unit of Bill Gould, Roddy Bottum and Mike Bordin. Even though it would be Chuck Mosley's last record with the band he gives the performance of his career which ensured his place in music history. To celebrate 30 years of this seminal album we had a chat with Chuck..... Introduce Yourself was released 30 years ago! When was the last time you listened to the record? If recently how does it sound to you now? Listened to IY last year. Sounds really good. Still not like anything else, not even that 90’s rapping over rock stuff. All of which I do not hate, by the way. I’m afraid I’m a bit too out of touch as far as today’s “radio rock” is concerned. I don’t even know what that is anymore, or if it even exists. How do remember the recording sessions for the album? 90% normal. The usual with a couple of hiccups that tend to accompany any marriage. According to The Real Story, Matt Wallace was in your case during the recording of the album. Breathing exercises and jogging! Do you remember this? HA, HA. No jogging. Maybe some breathing. Everyone was on my case. I was kind of a crabby person at the time. Everyone acted accordingly. When a young band starts to get major attention, money thrown, not at them, but in their direction. Matt, however, was a true motivator. Yes, I write the majority of my lyrics on the spot. Matt used this and all of my vocal shortcomings in a way that I can’t describe. He understands me and got the best out of me when we did that. Not his skills, only, but his attitude and his approach make him one of my all time favorite producers. It's hard to believe you wrote lyrics in the studio when there are so many poetic and memorable lines on the album. Thanks for the compliment. Mostly I write lyrics on the spot. Like I said, they just seem to come out better that way for me, as opposed to writing them out ahead of time. It’s kind of like surfing. I tend to let my phrasing ride the beats and melodies, the words just come out. The ones that I don’t make up. That’s why shit may have a meaning for people who hear it. I usually don’t know what they’re about until much further down the road, save for the occasional spurts of emotion. The spoken lyrics at the beginning of 'Death March' have become somewhat legendary. Where did they originate? And who is Scott Colbertson? The “spoken lyrics” you refer to came from the streets of L.A. Let’s just say me and the Southern California Public Transportation System had a hate/hate relationship for quite a few years. I remember the name Scott C., no offense to him, but I can’t place his name or face or his station in life in relation to mine. Like I said, the 80’s are a blissful, raucous filled, non-stop, hedonistic blur, ha ha…with major heartbreak thrown in for good measure! The Crab Song is pretty emotional. Could you tell us a little about where they came from? Like I said, just previously, major heartbreak…sorry man, this one’s just too hot to touch, too personal to approach, and after all this time, the story’s subject is the only one who knows what or who it’s truly about. I’ll tell you personally, next time I see you, perhaps! Besides, that book is still open! What music were you listening to in 1986/7? How the fuck do I know? The 80’s are a blur…OG rap, Bowie, punk, OG style post punk, all the same shit I've listened to growing up. Celebrity Skin is the only current band I remember loving at that point! Although packed with fond memories, those years didn’t yield my favorite music. Are there any songs on the record you are particularly proud of? All of ‘em! Mostly Crab Song, Chinese Arithmetic, Faster Disco, Death March, Spirit. Like I said, ALL! Some are just more personal than others. You went on to tour the record with the Red Hot Chili Peppers. (Before Anthony Kiedes had any issues with FNM). Any stories you can share? I didn’t know Anthony had issues about FNM. I guess, living in Cleveland, I’m somewhat out of the rock gossip group, but, if true, it must be related to an era when I was not in the band, cause we are all cool and I fucking loved Hillel and miss him to this day. But, yeah, I've seen them out here and we were all still good. It’s been a minute, but I've never said or did anything to offend any of them. If you were to re-write the lyrics to We Care A Lot today what issues would you include? You mean a 4th version?! ‘Cause I know you know that Vanduls Ugenst Alliderasy did a third version on, “Will Rap Over Hard Rock For Food”, complete with updated lyrics. If we did a 4th version it would go something like this: Donald trumps a lying, law breaking, tax evading, constitution ignoring, spoiled, sociopathic, psychopathic, misogynistic, lying ass son of a motherfucking useless pile of shit, so unfortunately placed by our sheer stupidity and ignorance, in charge of what I no longer consider, my country, and he’s gonna kill us all, WE CARE A LOT!