On November 28th 2014 Faith No More performed a surprise show at Amoeba Records in San Francisco. FNM surprised us with a show to celebrate Record Store Day Black Friday and the release of Motherfucker on 7" vinyl, their first new music in 17 years. Rock 'N Roll Cocktail SF Weekly Faith No More Leaves the Crowd Panting For More at Amoeba Black Friday 2014 saw the auspicious return of both Star Wars and Faith No More. And both “returns” were morsels that demanded feasts in their wake…for which we’ve been asked to wait. The 88-second trailer for the seventh Star Wars film teases a movie we won’t see for another 13 months. One hopes Faith No More, whose five-song set at Amoeba last Friday left fans ravenous, won’t make us wait that long. Fans as young as 5 and as old as 70 filled the aisles in anticipation of the 6 p.m. start time. By 6:15, the band took the stage with their Album of the Year-era lineup — Mike Patton, Mike Bordin, Billy Gould, Roddy Bottum, and Jon Hudson — fully intact. They also brought out a man sheathed in a leather suit and facemask whom they referred to as “The Gimp.” It was unclear what purpose The Gimp’s presence served: possibly he’s some greater thematic component of their new material or a potential ally for Patton’s legendary onstage shenanigans. But so it goes: without explanation or qualification Faith No More launched into their new single, “Motherfucker,” a rousing return to form for this singular and strange band. The energy was a bit sluggish initially, the vibe slightly harshed by the mid-evening pace and brightly lit stage. Patton’s soaring chorus, however, gave the crowd chills — they were now very much back. Bassist Gould and keyboardist Bottum joined in for some righteous three-part harmonies on extremely deep cuts, “As The Worm Turns” and “Spirit,” from their debut, We Care A Lot and follow-up, Introduce Yourself, respectively. Both roused the audience against the limits of the record-strewn aisles and served as a reminder of what a great thing it is to have this band back. Their sound, at once atmospheric, metallic, poppy, and transgressive, remains unmistakable and without peer of a comparable calibre. “Ashes to Ashes” off of their last full-length release, 1997’s Album of the Year, saw them hitting a steady stride that finished off with new track, “Superhero,” a perhaps even more promising taste of their new material than the aforementioned “Motherfucker.” Then…that was it. The band left, gimp and all, as the Amoeba crowd clamoured for more. Even your humble encore-averse reporter was dying for at triple what we’d just heard. Their manager came out and shook his head, the house music went on, and the audience departed, frankly shocked that it was all over and done with so quickly. As someone else in attendance pointed out, bands usually do an in-store at Amoeba in advance of a headlining show elsewhere in town. But despite a handful of festival dates abroad in 2015, there’re no live actions on the Faith No More docket for the near future. One hopes and presumes these are simply under wraps at the moment because damn…that was just not enough. Critic’s Notebook: 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.” Set List Motherfucker As the Worm Turns Spirit Ashes to Ashes Superhero

Nine years ago on November 28th 2014 Faith No More performed a surprise show at Amoeba Records in San Francisco. FNM surprised us with a show to celebrate Record Store Day Black Friday and the release of Motherfucker on 7" vinyl, their first new music in 17 years. Rock 'N Roll Cocktail Jason Miller SF Weekly Faith No More Leaves the Crowd Panting For More at Amoeba Black Friday 2014 saw the auspicious return of both Star Wars and Faith No More. And both “returns” were morsels that demanded feasts in their wake…for which we’ve been asked to wait. The 88-second trailer for the seventh Star Wars film teases a movie we won’t see for another 13 months. One hopes Faith No More, whose five-song set at Amoeba last Friday left fans ravenous, won’t make us wait that long. Fans as young as 5 and as old as 70 filled the aisles in anticipation of the 6 p.m. start time. By 6:15, the band took the stage with their Album of the Year-era lineup — Mike Patton, Mike Bordin, Billy Gould, Roddy Bottum, and Jon Hudson — fully intact. They also brought out a man sheathed in a leather suit and facemask whom they referred to as “The Gimp.” It was unclear what purpose The Gimp’s presence served: possibly he’s some greater thematic component of their new material or a potential ally for Patton’s legendary onstage shenanigans. But so it goes: without explanation or qualification Faith No More launched into their new single, “Motherfucker,” a rousing return to form for this singular and strange band. The energy was a bit sluggish initially, the vibe slightly harshed by the mid-evening pace and brightly lit stage. Patton’s soaring chorus, however, gave the crowd chills — they were now very much back. Bassist Gould and keyboardist Bottum joined in for some righteous three-part harmonies on extremely deep cuts, “As The Worm Turns” and “Spirit,” from their debut, We Care A Lot and follow-up, Introduce Yourself, respectively. Both roused the audience against the limits of the record-strewn aisles and served as a reminder of what a great thing it is to have this band back. Their sound, at once atmospheric, metallic, poppy, and transgressive, remains unmistakable and without peer of a comparable calibre. “Ashes to Ashes” off of their last full-length release, 1997’s Album of the Year, saw them hitting a steady stride that finished off with new track, “Superhero,” a perhaps even more promising taste of their new material than the aforementioned “Motherfucker.” Then…that was it. The band left, gimp and all, as the Amoeba crowd clamoured for more. Even your humble encore-averse reporter was dying for at triple what we’d just heard. Their manager came out and shook his head, the house music went on, and the audience departed, frankly shocked that it was all over and done with so quickly. As someone else in attendance pointed out, bands usually do an in-store at Amoeba in advance of a headlining show elsewhere in town. But despite a handful of festival dates abroad in 2015, there’re no live actions on the Faith No More docket for the near future. One hopes and presumes these are simply under wraps at the moment because damn…that was just not enough. Critic’s Notebook: 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.” Set List Motherfucker As the Worm Turns Spirit Ashes to Ashes Superhero

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 seventh and eighth dates were on Thurday April 23rd and Friday April 24th at The Wiltern in Los Angeles . Metal Assault | Faith No More At The Wiltern: Unconventionally Compelling April 23rd 2015, The Wiltern, Los Angeles CA: In the leadup to the release of their seventh full-length studio album ‘Sol Invictus’, San Francisco experimental rock veterans Faith No More embarked on a North American headline tour in April 2015, and arrived in Los Angeles for three nights at the Wiltern, each night featuring a different set list and opening act. The second of these shows took place on Thursday April 23rd and was sold out in advance. Ticket holders started lining up in the early evening, and all was in readiness for a potentially fascinating event. Faith No More have dabbled in a variety of musical styles over the years and attract a diverse crowd as a result, but the atmosphere inside the Wiltern was no different to that of a typical hard rock/heavy metal show. A lot of familiar faces from those shows were seen in attendance, there was the dude on the general admission floor yelling ‘Slayer!’ during the opening act, and an inebriated fanboy in the balcony shouting uncontrollably at the top of his voice even while Mike Patton was talking to the crowd. But as I would discover soon enough, a Faith No More is like no other. Before we got to that, there were The Urinals serving as the opening act for this show. Theirs was one of the blandest, most repetitive and unenergetic performances I’ve seen in a long time. More than anything it just proved that playing punk rock without energy is pointless. Most of the older punk bands are no longer capable of delivering a worthwhile show and it should be solely left in the hands of younger bands. The upcoming Faith No More gig at the Observatory in Santa Ana on Saturday April 25 will feature Dave Lombardo’s Philm, quite simply the best possible choice as opener for this headline act, and it’s a pity that they weren’t added on the entire tour. The end of The Urinals’ 45-minute set could not come soon enough. At 9:45, the members of Faith No More appeared one by one, and even before they started playing, the mere sight of their stage setup was sufficient to not only get the audience’s undivided attention but raise their already high level of anticipation further. The band members were completely clad in white, as was the stage, amps and monitors included. Flowers were lined up all along the front edge of the stage and everywhere else possible, altogether giving the show a strong visual aspect. But once the set started, it was all about the music, and the fans gave the band a tremendous response (reportedly better than that of the audience here for night #1) to tell the band that they loved every moment of it. Presenting a variety of new and old material through this 19-song set, Faith No More entertained longtime fans and first-timers in equal measure, and some FNM concert veterans were quoted saying that this particular gig was better in every sense than the band’s past few Los Angeles outings. As for myself, I had never seen them before, and considering the fact that all popular heavy bands I’ve seen for the first time this year have put on majorly underwhelming shows (Dokken, Van Halen, Mushroomhead, Sixx:A.M. and Electric Wizard to name a few), I did not know what to expect from this Faith No More gig, but was pleasantly surprised to find the performance largely appreciable. Sonically, the band is most certainly dominated by Mike Bordin’s drums and Billy Gould’s bass, but the guitar and keyboard layers, put down by Jon Hudson and Roddy Bottum respectively, are still prominent enough for fans of the more conventional and old-school varieties of heavy music to be able to enjoy the live sound as a whole. And of course, then there was the frontman, Mike Patton, presenting a wildly varied range of vocal stylings, at times hard to keep up with for those not very deeply immersed in the Faith No More discography. Patton and Bottum addressed the crowd on a few occasions but did not overdo it, and focused primarily on the music. The black leather-clad gimp that’s a visual component of this show was none other than Duff McKagan of Guns ‘N Roses, which many thought was a joke when Mike Patton mentioned his name but it was later confirmed that the gimp was indeed McKagan himself. ‘We Care A Lot’, which ended the first encore, was the highlight of the set in my opinion, and they should have perhaps closed the show with it instead of coming back out to play ‘From The Dead’. In terms of the sound quality and the view of the stage, since I somehow ended up with two tickets, one on the general admission floor and the other in the mezzanine section of the balcony, I had a chance to explore both vantage points, and it must be said that the balcony is a far better place to watch Faith No More at the Wiltern, and that might be the case for upcoming shows at this venue. Overall, a truly unique sonic and visual exhibition. Faith No More isn’t for everyone, but is certainly one of a kind. Digital Tyrants | Live Music Review: Faith No More On Thursday, April 23rd, I went to see Faith No More at the Wiltern Theater in Los Angeles. (The name comes from the fact that it’s on the corner of Wilshire and Western.) I’m lucky I had a chance to go; the (pre!)show sold out in about 30 seconds. My friend John was on it, though. We ended up having a pretty good crew of about 8 people thanks to his quick reflexes and web saavy. I had seen Faith No More previously in Brooklyn, NY at the Williamsburg Waterfront. It was an amazing experience, but it was more like an outdoor festival. The Wiltern show was much more intimate. It’s also among the top three concerts I’ve ever attended, and not only because I’m such a Mike Patton fanboy. The sound, musicianship, and energy were perfect. I arrived early with a co-worker, so we grabbed a pizza and a couple of beers before the concert at the restaurant next door. We stayed for awhile and ended up missing the opening act (The Urinals) completely. We peeked in to hear them briefly, but no one seemed like they wanted to go in and see them. Andrew Bansal from metalassault.com described The Urinals as bland, repetitive, and unenergetic. It seems to me we didn’t miss anything. (Between The Urinals and Retox opening for Tomahawk, what’s with the lousy opening acts for Patton?) The stage setup looked like a cemetery. The monitors and speakers were all covered in white and adorned with bouquets of flowers. Faith No More took the stage at approximately 9:45 to rapturous applause. I expected Patton to get the biggest applause, as he’s easily the most famous member in the band. I was pleasantly surprised that all the members seemed to get the same response. Music is collaborative, after all, and Patton isn’t even the original singer. The band members were all dressed in white, and my immediate thought was that they looked like cult members. Was this a tongue-in-cheek jab that their fans are cult-like? (Or maybe I just totally made that up.) The one exception was “the gimp” who was dressed in black leather from head to toe, including a mask that covered his face completely. Fun fact! I later found out that this was Duff McKagan (the bassist for Guns ‘N Roses). He didn’t play anything, he just walked around on stage during the first song and the encore. It was more of a strange prank than anything. The performance was incredible. Just absolutely incredible. As I write this post four days later, I’m still blown away. The musicianship was a lot tighter than when I saw them in 2009, and the new songs are new-sounding without losing the Faith No More flavor. (You can order the new album by clicking the Amazon link that I included at the top of this post.) The sound mixing was superb, and every song hit me like a ton of bricks. Faith No More’s music is very drum and bass oriented, especially their album King for a Day, Fool for a Lifetime. I was happy that most of the songs were off of this album. The highlight for me was the song The Gentle Art of Making Enemies. If you’ve never heard it before, give it a listen. The song is quite heavy while at the same time being quite varied. It goes from a quiet hum to a loud, chugging riff and into the melodic chorus. Patton’s vocals are really on display in this song; he goes from a whisper to a growl to operatic singing before the song is over. All five members of Faith No More are amazing musicians and the energy throughout the show was insane, especially considering these guys are in their late 40s/early 50s. The stand out performance belongs to Patton, though. Of course. The frontman always has the toughest job, and he nailed it. You couldn’t take your eyes off of him. It helps that he has one of the best voices in rock music contemporary music, in general, and that his singing style/vocal delivery is so varied and so versatile. He has no problem going from a metal song to a jam song to a punk song to a jazz song. I was invested all the way, and the crowd’s reaction suggested that everyone else was, too. On a side note, our small group shared the floor space with the comedian Brian Posehn. I know who he is, and I knew that he liked heavy music, but I’m not super familiar with his comedy. A couple of fans asked for photos with him, and he obliged although I think it was a bit annoying for him. He was trying to enjoy the show like the rest of us, after all. Faith No More, after an amazing set, gave us not one but two encores. Ugly in the Morning was pure chaos and the crowd went nuts. We Care A Lot is from the Chuck Moseley days, and I’m thrilled that they still play it. (The song is almost thirty years old.) The second encore was a new song, and a fitting end to the concert. Set List Motherfucker Land of Sunshine Caffeine Evidence Epic Sunny Side Up As the Worm Turns Midlife Crisis [ Boz Scaggs, "Lowdown" ] Chinese Arithmetic [ Meghan Trainor, "All About That Bass" ] The Gentle Art of Making Enemies Easy [ Commodores ] Cuckoo for Caca King for a Day Ashes to Ashes Superhero Matador Ugly in the Morning We Care a Lot From the Dead “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 Mckagan

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 sixth date was on Wednesday April 22nd at The Wiltern in Los Angeles . Raymond Flotat Cryptic Rock | FAITH NO MORE EPIC AT THE WILTERN LOS ANGELES Many thought the idea of seeing Faith No More live was just a pipe dream after they broke up in 1998 when vocalist Mike Patton quit to pursue a solo career. Luckily, original members Billy Gould (bass), Roddy Bottum (keyboard), and Mike Bordin (drums) joined up with Mike Patton (vocals); and Jon Hudson (guitar) could not resist the magnetic pull of Faith No More and reformed in 2009, leading to a five year tour before they settled back down to record their first studio album in eighteen years, Sol Invictus, released May 19, 2015 through Ipecac Records. To double the excitement, the band also booked out most of 2015 with the round the world Soundwave Tour, stopping in all of the major cities. After a five year absence to the area, Southern California would get their dose of this hard-hitting Experimental Rock band with several separate dates booked, three alone taking place at The Wiltern in Los Angeles. On Thursday April 22nd, they piled through the doors at The Wiltern, with excitement and adrenaline coming off the crowd in waves. Faith No More fans from all over the world flocked to the famous Los Angeles venue to watch a band that they adored, including a woman who flew in all the way from Australia. As people piled into the venue for this mostly general admission show, they were treated to music provided by DJ Mexican Dubwiser, who continued to spin for the rest of the night. Hitting the stage at 8:30 PM, the opening band, HO99O9, pronounced “horror,” was interesting to say the least. It is near impossible to place them into a genre, but the group called themselves Experimental Thrashcore Rap/Crossover Punk.” Calling their members theOGM Eaddy, the band was made up of one drummer and two singers, one of whom controlled a midi pad for sound effects. The music flip-flopped all over the place, going from monotone to peppery Rap to angry, screaming vocals and then to a heavier Metal sound. It was clear that the audience, who were impatiently awaiting the headliners take to the stage, were not very excited by this performance. Their set was not as put together and well executed as it could have been, but was nonetheless entertaining. By the time HO99O9 left the stage, the audience was buzzing with nervous excitement. Every time there was a lull in the house music, the crowd fell silent, anticipating the start of Faith No More’s set. As the crown waited, set designers strung a billowy, white curtain across the back of the stage and added funereal flowers to the set, giving the place a heavenly look. The band kept the audience on edge for over an hour, which only made their eventual appearance all the more exciting. To say the crowd was ecstatic when Faith No More took to the stage would be an understatement. The band was clad only in white, while Patton had S&M hooks in his mouth and nostrils, making for an even more impressive vocal achievement as he hammered out the lyrics to Sol Invictus’ first single, “Motherfu**er.” Burning with an energy that did not quit, both the crowd and the band flowed with adrenaline for the entire set, playing songs such as “Caffeine,” “Evidence,” “Ashes to Ashes,” “Superhero,” “Sunny Side Up,” “Midlife Crisis” with an excerpt of “Lowdown” from Boz Scaggs, “Everything’s Ruined,” and “The Gentle Art Of Making Enemies”. There was no shortage of great songs that night as the band played tracks both new and old, handing the crowd a wave of nostalgia while also giving them a taste of the Sol Invictus, which still had a month before its release date. New or old, it did not matter, as fans danced, sang, headbanged, moshed, or merely sat and watched a show never before seen. Hudson’s hands lightly danced across the frets, producing a surreal, heavy tone. Patton had the audience right where he wanted them as he sang through the vocal spectrum of growls, screams, whistles, and falsettos. They even covered “Easy” by the Commodores, getting a huge response from the crowd. The chemistry between the bandmates was palpable as they played off of each other like a well-oiled machine. Not missing a beat, Patton yanked someone up onto the stage and slid a gimp mask over his face, creating for himself a new slave that he could order around as he performed. A three song encore, including “Sol Invictus,” “Separation Anxiety,” and a cover of “This Guy’s in Love With You” by Burt Bacharach, was not enough for the boys of Faith No More, and they came back out onto the stage to play the live debut of “Black Friday” from their upcoming album. After ninety minutes and nineteen songs, the band left the stage for good, leaving everyone on the floor feeling satisfied and well-spent. Faith No More is making up for lost time by leading themselves across the entire planet to spread the news and good word of their newest album in almost two decades. They had previously spent February and March of 2015 in Japan and Australia and are now making their way across the US until the middle of May where they will wrap up in Philadelphia. Then, a mere two weeks later, they are kicking off a European tour in Nuremberg, Germany, ending in the final weeks of June in Odense, Denmark. They will then come back to the US at the end of July for eleven shows before going down to South America for five dates throughout the month of September. With this many dates, one is sure to find a show to see. Janky Smooth | Faith No More Wind Up The Wiltern on Opening Night The curtain at The Wiltern opened to reveal Marshall stacks cloaked in what appeared to be a soft, white satin mesh. The entire stage was surrounded by soft, pastel, pink and white curtains. There was a forest of tall, expansive and expensive flower arrangements which covered the entire front of the stage and were mounted on every amplifier and platform that could fit these huge vases filled with tropical floral arrangements. I’m not quite sure how but even with all the pink and colorful flowers adorning the stage, the production still felt very metal. It was like attending a funeral and a wedding in the same day. The audience lost their minds immediately. An audience that comes from a time in which it was still acceptable to wear the t shirt of the band who you were about to see live. The band opened with the song “Motherfucker” which is a song off their still unreleased album, Sol Invictus. A bold move, to be sure. Instantly, there was hair flying everywhere. FNM went directly into “From Out of Nowhere”, which allowed me to lose my shit without any further delay. I can’t lie. I felt a bit overwhelmed at this moment. I thought to myself, “This might become one of the best shows I’ve ever seen”. The next series of songs was Caffeine, Evidence and Epic. The band didn’t seem to miss a note or a beat all night. To state that the band is tight and well rehearsed would be a humongous understatement. Original members, Roddy Bottum and Billy Gould talked about how the band originated in San Francisco but how Bottum and Gould were born and raised in L.A. Gould reminisced that before The Wiltern became the prominent music venue that it is today, that he had seen Bruce Lee’s Enter the Dragon there as a lad. Mike Patton unleashed a series of verbal towel snaps against that statement, Los Angeles and Gould himself before breaking into “Midlife Crisis”. Halfway through Midlife, the music cutout and Patton seemed to test the audience who stepped up impressively to loudly serenade Patton and company with the lyrics and melodies that they had written over 20 years ago. Patton looked at us, mushed his face and waved his hand in a “so/so” motion. Cunt. One of the highlights of the evening was “The Gentle Art of Making Enemies”. That song really displayed that Patton hasn’t lost an octave or a step and every cadence, growl, croon and wise crack were perfectly executed. Everyone in the band is pretty gray including Mike Bordin’s dreads, which have transformed into a long, white bouquet of serpentine hair emanating from his follicles- everyone but Patton, of course. As raw and real as Patton and his music are, I don’t put it past his vanity to throw in some hair dye, here and there. One thing is for sure- I’d fuck him. Faith no More are one of those bands that might make one question the quality of music that is being put out today. Don’t get me wrong, I love the raw, garage, punk, DIY vibes that dominate the sound that is coming from this generation. I’ve always loved that. But sometimes I need something a bit more complex, with different layers and there isn’t much new out there that fits that mold or anything that can compare to Faith No More; love them or hate them. All in all, I was a bit disappointed in the selection of songs for the setlist. Epic was the last song off The Real Thing album played by the band that evening. Also, the band never played “We Care A Lot”. As air tight as the band was, the lack of selection of songs from The Real Thing left me wanting. I’m sure the band will be playing with the setlist on their tour which extends through mid August and even though Faith No More missed the chance to make me cry like a baby, it was one of the best shows I’ve been to in a while. LA Record Set List Motherfucker From Out of Nowhere Caffeine Evidence Epic Sunny Side Up Get Out Midlife Crisis [ Boz Scaggs, "Lowdown" ] Everything's Ruined The Gentle Art of Making Enemies Easy [ Commodores ] Spirit King for a Day Ashes to Ashes Superhero Sol Invictus Separation Anxiety This Guy's in Love With You [ Burt Bacharach ] Black Friday

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 fifth date was on Monday April 20th at The Warfield in San Francisco. National Rock Review | Faith No More at The Warfield in San Francisco, CA on 20-Apr-2015 Faith No More make a more than triumphant return to San Francisco with two sold out shows at the Warfield Theater. With the release of their latest studio offering, Sol Invictus, coming early next month (May 9, to be exact), Faith No More have hit the road for their first U.S. tour in over five years. If the San Francisco shows were any indication, they are not to be missed. As the lights dimmed and the gimp took his place, the band hit the stage with their new single, “Motherfucker,” and spent the next two hours delivering nothing short of a brilliant performance. Dressed all in white with a stage full of bright, colorful flowers, Mike Patton and his band mates not only played the hits the crowd expected, (including “Epic,” “Midlife Crisis,” and “Easy,”) but also introduced new songs “Sunny Side Up,” “Sol Invictus,” and “Super Hero.” By the time they wrapped things up with a cover of Burt Bacharach’s “This Guys In Love With You,” everyone in the entire venue was on their feet. Providing support on this night were long time San Francisco punk rock icons Frightwig, who actually shared a bill with Faith No More way back in 1984. With their bass and guitar driven old school punk rock, they were the perfect band to open the show. Hot on the heels of last night’s sold out gig (which one die hard in the audience proclaimed was “the best show [he’d] ever seen”), Faith No More didn’t skip a beat for their second night at the Warfield. Though the band hasn’t toured in five years, they greeted the capacity San Francisco crowd (their entire US tour sold out in hours) with the ferocity of a band eager to show the world why they deserve their rabid following. Pinpoint Music | Faith No More @ The Warfield – 4.20.15 At 9:25, the band (Album of the Year-era lineup consisting of Mike Patton, Mike Bordin, Billy Gould, Roddy Bottum, and Jon Hudson [oh, and “the Gimp”]) started their set with the haunting “Motherfucker.” Moments after the track hit its last note, the Bay Area natives broke into The Real Thing’s opening track, “From Out of Nowhere” just to remind the old-school fans that they can still shred as hard as they did for the final two decades of the 20th century. By 9:40, veteran vocalist Mike Patton had already taken 2 stage dives into his sea of loyalists and it was clear he was just getting warmed up. Their 90-minute set covered much of the band’s catalog as they churned through favorites like “Epic,” “Midlife Crisis,” and “Ashes to Ashes” while sprinkling in new tracks “Superhero” and “Sol Invictus.” Shredders like “Surpise! You’re Dead!” and “The Gentle Art of Making Enemies” kept the audience on their toes, in the pit, and in the air while the band demonstrated that they’re performing as tight as ever. One would think that a voice like Patton’s would deteriorate over time, especially given the incredible range of extremes he’s able to produce but he flawlessly nailed every gentle note and every blood-curdling scream. Bordin, Gould, Bottum, and Hudson followed suit with their respective instruments by providing a sonic masterpiece to serve as the backdrop to Patton’s recital. All too soon, the evening was appropriately brought to a close by a crooning cover of Burt Bacharach’s heartbreaker, “This Guy’s in Love With You.” Ask any attendee and I’m sure they’ll tell you that Faith No More can’t come back soon enough. The night was impeccably described by a close friend as “transcendent.” Antihero Magazine Set List Motherfucker From Out of Nowhere Caffeine Evidence Epic Sunny Side Up Surprise! You're Dead! Midlife Crisis [ Boz Scaggs, "Lowdown" ] The Gentle Art of Making Enemies Easy [ Commodores ] Spirit King for a Day Ashes to Ashes Superhero Sol Invictus Digging the Grave This Guy's in Love With You [ Burt Bacharach ] #faithnomore #solinvictus

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 fourth date was on Sunday April 19th at The Warfield in San Francisco . Show Bams | Amongst flowers and a gimp, Faith No More make a triumphant return to The Warfield There are only so many times in a person’s life that they get to witness greatness return after a long absence. Five years removed from their last performance in SF, 18 years since their last album release and more than 20 years since their last extensive North American tour, the members of Faith No More delivered two sold-out shows at The Warfield this past Sunday and Monday. The history of the SF band can be traced back to the City during the early 80’s, and they proved that they still know what it means to do what they do best and play their unique style of music. Sunday’s show started off with a feverish set from local Latino “punkiachi” outfit La Plebe, performing their politically charged mix of skater/surf/ska-punk-meets-mariachi-goodness. It was a great warm-up set that was highlighted by a cover of The Clash’s “Guns of Brixton”, which had a few skanking ska heads bobbing around and stomping their feet as the floor filled. For the most part, the venue was still half empty before the flowers came out. It can be hard to know what to expect from a crew like Faith No More and their eccentric, yet prolific members. The entire stage was dressed in white, from the curtains to the amplifiers to the mic stands. Lining the entire length of the stage and any flat surface that would support them were thousands of dollars worth of beautiful, fresh flowers. The abundance of purples and pinks, reds and yellows created a very comfortable and soothing, yet incredibly eerie feeling as to what was about to happen next. Once the setup was complete and the lights dropped, the crowd was let in to the stark contrast that is the weird world of Faith No More. Out walked a man dressed fully in black leather from fingertip to toe, wearing a bondage mask that exposed only his mouth, and from the collar around his neck hung a leash. Out walked The Gimp. Roddy Bottum (keyboards), Mike Bordin (drums), Billy Gould (bass) and Jon Hudson (guitar) all took the stage in white linen clothing as The Gimp took his place on his knees next to Bottum. The song “Motherfucker” from their upcoming album Sol Invictus began the set. Lead singer Mike Patton took the stage with his golden microphone and stood tall before a worshiping crowd of loyal, loving fans. With his face filled with pride, he gazed out into a packed hometown crowd with a floor full of ravaged moshers and a balcony teaming with eager faces, all ready and willing to take whatever he was about to give them. Stubble Magazine | Hello Motherfucker Faith No More at the Warfield in San Francisco Faith No More delivered two nights of spot-on alt-metal featuring a towering setlist of hits like “Land of Sunshine”, “Midlife Crisis”, “We Care a Lot” and “From Out of Nowhere”. Of course, there was the groundbreaking megahit “Epic”, too. But with every headbanging song of FNM’s comes an equally soft and crooning ballad, which they also supplied with their for-the-ladies cover of the Commodores’ “Easy” on both nights as well as a lovely Burt Bacharach cover of “This Guy’s in Love With You” to close out their second night in SF. Faith No More returned to the Bay Area for the first of two sold out shows at the Warfield Theater in San Francisco. A simple floral spread was set up across the lip of the stage while a gimp in full bondage attire wandered onto the stage signaling the start of the show. The amps and monitors were draped in an all white as the band – keyboardist Roddy Bottum, guitarist Jon Hudson, drummer Mike Bordin, bassist billy Gould and singer Mike Patton – took the stage also dressed in all white. Enigmatic frontman Mike Patton sported a red bandanna, which covered his face like he was about to rob a stagecoach, as he and keyboardist/vocalis Roddy Bottum belted out opener Motherfucker, the first single from Sol Invictus (latin for Unconquered Sun), their first album of new material since 1997’s Album of the Year, set for release on May 19, 2015. The album was produced by bassist Bill Gould and recorded in the band’s Oakland rehearsal space and released on their own imprint, Reclamation Recordings. You can stream the entire album via NPR prior to release and check out the band performing on “The Tonight Show”, both on May 13th. Faith No More ripped through a 19 song set expertly mixing in five new tracks From the Dead, Matador, Motherfucker, Sunny Side Up, and Superhero with fan favorites and a few deep cuts. The crowd was electric and sang loud & proud with standouts Caffeine, Evidence, Last Cup of Sorrow, Cuckoo for Caca, and Ashes to Ashes which is simply amazing live. Spinning Platters | Two Nights with Faith No More at The Warfield In 2010, Faith No More returned to their hometown of San Francisco to play three ferocious, wildly-anticipated concerts that marked their first appearance in the Bay Area since their disbandment in the late 90s. The general reaction, from the most hardcore fans to the relatively casual listeners, was extremely positive, albeit with the lingering curiosity of “…but what’s next?” After a handful of tours, a smattering of festival appearances, and two years of almost total silence — during which the prolific band members worked on some of their other projects, as well — something more official surfaced in the latter half of 2014, in the form of two new songs: the slow-stalking “Motherfucker” and the chugging, anthemic “Superhero”, both of which showed up in their live sets that year. Now, with their seventh album Sol Invictus soon to arrive in record stores, and a mountain of tour dates taking up their schedule this year (paired with everyone from ANTEMASQUE to Refused), it seemed like the perfect time for Faith No More to return to the Warfield — this time with two shows, instead of three — and their transformation in the last five years is not only palpable, but an utter delight to witness. While each evening seemed to begin slowly, it was most likely the furious, borderline rabid anticipation for the headliners of the night that cast a shadow over the opening acts for these two performances, despite the fact that both were San Francisco natives and relatively famous in the still-fervent punk scene of the Bay Area. With Spanish ska-sters La Plebe starting things off on Sunday, and the women (and man) of Frightwig kicking out their own swingin’ jams on Monday, there was an eclectic palate of fast, fiery, no-nonsense rocking that took up almost the first hour of each night. Whether the bands were toned down due to their opener status, or were simply low on energy (and not responding well to being ignored by the crowd), was unclear; La Plebe is infamously popular in smaller, local clubs, and Frightwig definitely tried to crack a few silly-to-raunchy jokes during their time onstage (not to mention having their own legacy as one of the longest-reining dominantly-female punk groups). Nevertheless, they still plowed through their sets, and Frightwig ended theirs far more impressively — in the form of drummer Cecilia Kuhn taking the mic and leading her bandmates to a roaring, cheering stomp of a closing song, very reminiscent of Patti Smith in her candor and mannerisms. For each night, the transition between the opening act and the main event could not have been more blatant: in addition to amps, drums and guitars being marched off the stage, and white-clothed monitors and mic stands replacing them, a massive wall of artificial flowers was built, piece by piece, across the edge of the stage, with additional bouquets covering the amps and platforms on the back of the stage. Aside from “The Gimp”, the black-leather-clad “mascot” that Faith No More have been parading around with them ever since their return to the music world in 2014, all of the band members were clad all in white, including the snarling, twitchy-eyed Mike Patton (who wore a red bandana across his face during the beginning of the first night), and the ever-impressive Mike Bordin on drums. There was more than just the costumes that brought the band together this time, however; the camaraderie and chemistry of the musicians was now firmly in place, even further cemented that it had been at their homecoming shows in 2010, and their songs both new and old shone with marvelous vitality. While most Faith No More concerts have a history of seeing the rest of the band eclipsed by the manic mannerisms of Patton, these shows showed that all five members of the group were holding their own and fully embracing the wild energy of the live show, solidly blasting out song after song with relentless precision. Keyboardist and acting-emcee Roddy Bottum lashed himself back and forth across his synths, and his occasional forays into gentle backup serenading paired off brilliantly with the slow-but-steady headbanging carried out by bassist Billy Gould. Jon Hudson, the band’s guitarist since their last pre-breakup work Album Of The Year, was not as animated as his cohorts, but was stunning to behold in his elegant segues of playing styles: from the sinewy funk of “Evidence” to the roaring thrash of “Surprise! You’re Dead!”, Hudson laid the foundations for each song with remarkable ease, all the while with a look of deep concentration and meditation upon his countenance. Patton, on the other hand, knew very well how much of the energy of the crowd was focused upon him, and did his best to keep the balance spread well about the stage. He engaged the crowd very mildly, sporting long minutes’ worth of wide grins and playful head-shakes at the churning mass before them (if it wasn’t obvious, the floor of the Warfield had reached impressive levels of energetic stomping, shoving and moshing for nearly all of their set, each night), but saved his sudden leap into the crowd for the second night, which was particularly unexpected as he did so during the slow groove of “Evidence”. The second night, in general, saw Patton conversing with the crowd far more, whether to solicit them for sports scores (“How are the Warriors doing?”) to railing back on hecklers trying to get the band to change up their songs mid-set. None of this, however, is to say that he was distracted, bored, or not into his actual performance; on the contrary, he was in peak form, shifting from his high-pitched wails to a thundering baritone at the drop of a hat, his hackles raised and his mic being alternately eaten furiously or gripped with an alarming intensity. While the two nights bore many of the same songs across their setlists — from the slow-burn crunch of “Caffeine” and the smash hits “Epic” and “Midlife Crisis”, to the cult favorites “The Gentle Art Of Making Enemies” and the mesmerizingly noisy “King For A Day” — there were a few surprises for those who went to one (or both) nights. Fans of their seminal work Angel Dust were treated to “Land Of Sunshine” to kick off the first night, which was switched with “From Out Of Nowhere” for the second; continuing the trend with songs from The Real Thing, Faith No More played “Surprise! You’re Dead!” to wild cheers on Monday night, where the night before they had treated their King For A Day fans to a still-very-well-received “Get Out!” instead. The set jumped from album to album with a timeless ease, with genres switching from song to song nearly as much as the lights changed color onstage. The only part of the experience to elicit upset from the crowd was the absence of a second encore for the latter show, though it was hard to follow up such a soothing ending as the band’s cover of Bacharach’s “This Guy’s In Love With You”, which was the final song of the night for Monday’s performance. I experienced Sunday night at the front and center of the guardrail, having waited in line since 1:00pm to get such a valuable spot; for Monday I was lucky enough to be on the opposite side, battling the plastic foliage for the chance to get a few good shots. Having seen Faith No More once before, I had an idea of what I was in for, but I wouldn’t trade this weekend for one spent less at the Warfield. Absent were the hulking brutes that were snarling for “Epic” the entire night; present were several thousand hardcore fans, young and old, who knew every word to every song, and a band onstage that was fiercely eager to engage them. All of Faith No More’s pieces, new and old — and, from the sound of things, Sol Invictus will be quite the exciting foray into interesting territory — were performed with precision, grandeur and a thrilling level of energy. This is not a band on another victory lap: the leaders of the alt cult have returned, and, in their words: “The Reunion Tour is over; in 2015 things are going to change.” The Five10 Set List Motherfucker Land of Sunshine Caffeine Evidence Epic Sunny Side Up Get Out Midlife Crisis [ Boz Scaggs, "Lowdown" ] Last Cup of Sorrow The Gentle Art of Making Enemies Easy [ Commodores ] Cuckoo for Caca King for a Day Ashes to Ashes Superhero Matador We Care a Lot Pristina From the Dead #faithnomore #solinvictus

On April 14th 2010 Faith No More played the third of three hometown shows at The Warfield . It was the first time the band had been on stage in the States since October 1997. For three nights at they wowed San Franciscan crowds who had been anticipating these moments for over a decade. The set lists were pleasing for fans of all eras and each performance was payed tribute to their history at the venue and in the city. On the second night FNM shared a rare tender moment and wished Jon Hudson a happy birthday, Mike Bordin presenting him with a cake, which he promptly dropped then threw in Jon's face!   It was however the third show that was the real treat for hardcore FNM fans (April 14th), as the late and great Chuck Mosley joined the band for the first encore to perform four songs. This was the first time Chuck had fronted Faith No More since 1988. 'Just as the band kicked into the first chords of “As The Worm Turns,” Patton abruptly departed the stage, and was replaced by a taller, slightly-heavyset man with a dreaded mohawk and a furry red coat. Shock and awe turned into screams of insane admiration: this was Chuck Mosley, original singer for Faith No More, rejoining the rest of the band for the first time in nearly 22 years. Without a moment’s hesitation, he picked up where Patton left off, tearing into the encore with performances from the band’s first two albums, including the rarities “Mark Bowen” and “Death March.” The crowd seemed to be utterly transfixed by Mosley’s appearance.' - Spinning Platters This night saw one other unprecedented event when Chuck joined Mike Patton for Introduce Yourself the last song of the night - the first time the two singers had ever shared the stage. Chuck spoke freely with Faith No More Followers about this performance in 2012. "It was totally awesome, a lot of fun. We've, all of us have grown, and gotten way over that petty bullshit that tore us apart. This is why playing at the Warfield was so much fun, cause we all grew out of, and beyond the stupid shit that we used to fight over, and all that was left was the mutual love of the music and the enjoyment and fullfilment of being in a band with those guys once again. At least that's what I took away from it, and I dare to think that they could probably share some of that sentiment with me, as well. But during sound check, Billy, or someone would say, that was kool, lets do Death March, whoa that was fun, now lets do,,,,,um, Worm, and so on and so forth. So, instead of playing the two songs for the show, we ended up playin like, five or six. I don't remember, but definitely more than we had planned, and I found myself having to remember, re-learn that many more lyrics. But I could totally tell, watchin the video, I was totally nervous....but overall, I had a fuckin blast, same goes for IY. It was really fun singin with patton, but worried bout fuckin up. I thought Mike was really kool with me that night, and I really loved seein Billy and everyone else, Roddy and me have maintained a tight relationship this whole time, he's the godfather to my older daughter, Erica, but it was great seein' everyone else. Except I did totally miss Jim not being there." Chuck again joined FNM in 2015, these collaborations leading to an extensive solo tour before fronting for FNM once again in celebration of the re-issue of We care A Lot in 2016. Full show review of the 2010 Warfield show HERE . Fantastic photos from the show by Heather Leah Kennedy .

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

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

Faith No More ’s fifth studio release King For A Day, Fool For A Lifetime was released three decades ago originally on double red vinyl on March 13th 1995, general release was around March 28th. Our fan page has put together a short documentary film in celebration of one of the greatest albums ever written. Following the success of our Angel Dust 30 video we have put together a film using archive footage and an extensive collection of printed press material which documents King For A Day... from the initial conception, and through the release and touring. We approached Podcast Croissant co-host Mike Hayes to narrate. There is much more to know about the album’s history and how the music had an impact on the world. This documentary is merely a celebration of the album, it is meant to inform those unfamiliar with legacy and to entertain those who already know. The video is for entertainment purposes only, it is not monetarised and credits have been made where possible. FNM themselves have approved the film but did not participate in it's creation. Enjoy.

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

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