Bill was a guest on SepulQuarta live show on Wednesday May 27th. The Sepultura bassist and Bill spoke in length about all sorts including the history of both bands. They were joined by Joe Zon of Zon Guitars and the three got heavy with technical talk. You can watch the 1 hour 28 minute show below. #faithnomore #billgould #sepultura #zonguitars

EPISODE SUMMARY Mike & Jimsby continue talking about Faith No More's 1995 album King for a Day... Fool for a Lifetime. EPISODE NOTES It's 1994. Jim Martin has been fired from Faith No More via fax, Mr Bungle's Trey Spruance has taken his place on guitar, Roddy Bottum is absent from most the songwriting and King for a Day is the result. Featuring discussion of: King for a Day, What a Day, The Last to Know & Just a Man. KFAD talk begins at 20:20 Email: podcastcroissant@gmail.com facebook.com/podcastcroissant Instagram - @podcastcroissant Twitter - @podcroissant #faithnomore #podcastcroissant

Bill Gould, Jared Blum and Dominic Cramp released the second Talking Book album on April 24th 2020. You can now watch the second video release for the track They Came At Dawn from the album put together by Cramp. Download the full album now. #talkingbook #billgould

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. #faithnomore #midlifecrisis #angeldust

FNM have set up a new exclusive merch page to help their crew who are facing a year without income due to covid-19 A message from Bill Gould: "There’s been plenty of attention about the collapse of the concert industry, how it has been impacting musicians, artists, agents… but very little coverage has focused on the impact it’s made on a crucial element of live music and touring: the crew. Without a band’s crew, the show does not go on; yet, in light of the recent postponements, they have been left with few options to support themselves, or their families. And speaking of families, the band that you know as Faith No More is more than the five musicians you see on stage. It is a larger family, an ecosystem that includes backline, a production manager, lighting, sound and tour management. We had an entire summer of touring booked - and now, as a result of this pandemic, all of our crew have been put into a seriously vulnerable financial position. We have been working with these folks for years, and we feel very close to them. Since shows are not an option, we are trying to do what we can to offset this unfortunate turn of events with a special merch sale." Shop Merch Sale We’ve created a couple of exclusive merch items and have also gathered a few autographed pieces. Because we are trying to raise money for the crew, we are doing a short pre-sale on the shirts and masks, and will only print enough to satisfy the pre-order. These will not be available anywhere else and only for a limited time. This merchandise will not be produced in the future. The signed items are very very limited. For some posters, there are less than 10 available and we have fewer than 20 signed drum heads and albums. Exclusive T-shirt Design - 'Wash Those Hands’ in four different colors, designed by our production manager Covid Mask Design - FNM Star Signed Sol Invictus LPs - Limited amount of gold & clear vinyl LPs signed by the band Signed Gig Posters - Six different limited silkscreened gig posters from 2009 European tour signed by the band Signed Drum Heads - Limited amount of gig-used drum heads from the 2015 tour signed by the band Shop Merch Sale ALL proceeds will go to our crew. Anika Tour Assistant Shaun Production Manager Chaz Lighting Director Michael Front of House Niccolò Monitors Max Bass & Keys Tech Dave Guitar Tech Abel Drum Tech #faithnomore #crewrelief #tour21

FNM have been forced to reschedule dates in the UK and Europe due to covid-19. "Europe and the UK… Apologies to all who have bought tickets and have been kept waiting, but there is so much uncertainty at the moment. We’re not happy about this but due to the current health situation there is no way we will be able to perform these shows scheduled for June/July. We will reschedule.... as we plan on finishing what we started. We’ll see you in 2021." - Billy, Jon, Mike B, Mike P, & Roddy New Dates June 7, 2021 Manchester, UK O2 Apollo June 8, 2021 Manchester, UK O2 Apollo June 9, 2021 Glasgow, UK O2 Academy June 11, 2021 Birmingham, UK O2 Academy June 12, 2021 London, UK O2 Academy Brixton June 13, 2021 London, UK O2 Academy Brixton June 21, 2021 Stuttgart, GER Schleyerhalle June 25, 2021 Oslo, NOR Tons of Rock July 4, 2021 Amsterdam, HOL AFAS Live July 7, 2021 Zurich, SWI Halle 622 All currently held tickets remain valid for the new date. Refunds are available upon request. Please direct inquiries to the original point of purchase. #faithnomore #tour2021

Man On Man is the new duo of Roddy Bottum and Joey Holman who have created music during quarantine. The collaboration's Instagram describes the project as "gay lovers making gay music." In a new interview Roddy told Rolling Stone, “We’re setting out ultimately to document this odd time in the history of the world and to address the importance of creativity and togetherness. The statement of the song and video for ‘Daddy’ maybe is a celebration of love in isolation and is a love letter to the not-so-distant past of a place and time where we communed physically together with our queer community.” Read the full interview. Man On Man have already recorded an “album worth of material” and will self-release more singles and videos before a full record is released this summer. #roddybottum #manonman

Yup, Faith No More are back and Mike Patton's still got his tongue planted firmly in his cheek. Their new LP 'Angel Dust' has ruffled a few feathers at the record company but thankfully, Faith Mo More still don't give a shit. Chris Watts was dispatched to Los Angeles to catch the band shooting a video for their up-coming single 'Midiife Crisis', and uncovered Big Jim Martin and co's welcome return to their MTV-hostile roots... Kerrang! | Issue 393 | May 23, 1992. 'Sure, We Can Compare Ourselves To Gods' by Chris Watts FOR YOUR information, Los Angeles is a piss-factory. On one hand they've burnt down the ghettos of South Central and Compton. They've even firebombed Fredericks' lingerie superstore on Hollywood Boulevard to prove that all that glitters makes great firewood. Domestic TV coverage of the riots has reached saturation level. On the other hand, life in LA simply has to go on. You can still join the aerobics and fitness militia on Channel 13 or order omelette's on room service from the lisping faggot waiters with their sparkling teeth and bouffant haircuts. It's a fitting place to meet Faith No More. High up beside the hotel roof pool, Roddy Bottum and Bill Gould face the cameras. It's the same setting chosen by Spinal Tap for their end-of-tour party in the ancient rockumentary. MTV's Rikki Rachtmann tells the keyboard player and bassist how much he likes their new album. "It's a much bigger album, isn't it, guys? I love it! I hear you used a completely new recording desk?" "Oh, man," Mike Patton chuckles, "look at Rod's face!" Roddy listens stonily to Rikki's stream of banality. Eventually, the host of America's 'Headbangers Ball' asks him about the band's notorious cover of "Black Sabbath's 'War Babies' "! Patton collapses. into laughter. Years ago the singer once explained to a British journalist that the band covered 'War Pigs' because they all loved Led Zeppelin! Left to their own devices, Faith No More would not be here at all. Down there in a derelict patch of Ewan estate beside the Hyatt, Mike Patton watches a vagrant dig the earth with his bare hands. "The meaning of life I guess," he sighs, "I don't think people will like this record at all!" FOUR YEARS ago Faith No More played their first European date at London's Dingwalls club. Chuck Mosley blacked out his face, sported a rasta frightwig and spazzed it up like a cartoon. 'The Real Thing' was 18 months away and nobody quite knew what to make of it all. Certainly, no one could predict the Platinum success of The Real Thing, the five Bammy and numerous Band Of The Year awards which followed. Faith No More were the hairy, rubbery, logical conclusion to Thrash Metal. When Mike Patton (now known to the band by his surname only to avoid confusion with Mike 'Puffy' Bordin) replaced Chuck in January 1989, the band were complete. 'The Real Thing' turned into a monster and one of the few classics of the decade. Everybody else was pissing into the wind in comparison. It was fun and sick and gleaming and priceless. Funk Metal (now long buried six feet under) was an insult. Compared to the one-hit wonder of their 'Introduce Yourself debut, 'The Real Thing' became a yardstick for the mainstream. One magazine even described it as 'the only Heavy Metal album worth having in your collection'! Right now, the problems of releasing a successor are being calmed by the band and management. Outsiders have even suggested that Faith No More could never better 'The Real Thing'. Is there any point in releasing another record at all? "We have to," comments Jim Martin, hillbilly death guitarist. "We're legally obliged to release more records. We can't split up just to preserve our historical integrity. That's all very nice to think about, but the truth is we're due another record. Here it is. Can I bum a cigarette?" Despite THE guitarist's words, the task of re-launching Faith No More across the world on the back of 'Angel Dust' is causing some people sleepless nights. What did Patton mean when he said that no one is going to like this record? "It means that the record company got really scared when they heard the finished album," says Roddy Bottum. "That was the only way we knew we'd done something right. If they'd liked it then something would be wrong. There were a lot of worried faces before we started mixing." "Don't you think it's great to see someone twitch?" Patton asks. "You know, they get really nervous? That happened with our record company. They tried working on each of us individually, persuading us that we didn't know what we were doing. They said it would alienate fans of 'The Real Thing' Ideally they'd like another 'Epic' on there somewhere," "What does that mean?" queries Jim. "They Just wanted our last record, period. Anything that would make their job easier " Patton: "This way they're going to work hard because they're worried about their house payments!" Record companies get nervous when bands talk like this. Faith No More love it. ANGEL DUST is, in fact, a big step sideways. Produced, like "The Real Thing', by Matt Wallace and Faith No More, on the surface the new record is another slice of state-of-the-art junk. To original fans of 'Introduce Yourself' it is a welcome return to Faith No More's MTV-hostile roots. To fans of the far more commercial 'Epic' and 'Falling To Pieces' singles, however, 'Angel Dust' is going to be a cruel surprise. Surprise, you're dead. Is it any good? "It's just weirder," says Roddy. "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'". Patton: "What was that great phrase they used? 'Too much role-playing in the vocals'? That was their fault anyway!" "Why compare it to 'The Real Thing'?" asks Jim. "We're tired of The Real Thing'. We toured it for three years. Is it any good? You tell us, man. It's so f**king fickle." LIKE FAITH No More themselves, their third studio album is awkward, graceful and schizo. From the familiar industrial funk of 'Land Of Sunshine' and 'Caffeine' to the jokey Country and Western of 'RV and the heavily instrumental, typically titled 'Jizzlobber', 'Angel Dust' is a problem child. ls it the big deal it will doubtless become? "That sounds pompous and self-important," Puffy says. "We're generally just very f**king thrilled. It could've been awkward but in the end the only tough thing about making this record was making the best one possible. Having to follow a successful record was not important to us. The last one, do you?" Maybe not yet. "I hope you get to like it as much. It'll grow on you. If I were a fan and I knew a band had been touring a record for two or three years I'd be expecting something different. I'd be expecting something like this. But..." "You want us to explain our music with words," Jim interrupts. "If we could do that then we wouldn't need music. Anything you write will be misrepresented anyway. Let's go back to the very beginning of Journalism. Do you see any quotes from God in the Bible? I can compare it to that." "F**k, man," Patton exclaims. "Yeah, sure, we can compare ourselves to God!" JUST ONE day on the set of a rock video shoot will prove that God is dead. 20 hours Faith No More are stuck in a shed with a Californian film crew and the entire supporting cast of lackeys, go-fers, fetch-its and bozos. All this, at a cost of 200 grand, to supply the likes of Rikki Rachtmann with a four-minute-and-18-second promo clip for the first single, 'Midlife Crisis'. The plot has eluded just about everybody save director Kevin Kerslake. Kerslake has directed videos for the likes of Soundgarden, Mr Bungle and Nirvana. He's Puffy and Gould's mate and consequently trusted implicitly. "Which is Just as well," the drummer comments, "otherwise there's no way we'd be doing all this shit!" The plot involves the band dressing up as a telephone engineer (Patton), a desert stormtrooper (Big Jim) and a '20s gangster (Gould). It'll probably be art eventually. During a break for lunch, Jim Martin finds the nearest Tex-Mex homeboy bar and settles down for a game of pool and a Jug of cold beer. Big Jim has his priorities sorted. The guitarist will talk fondly of his travels to Scotland and up into the mountains just outside San Francisco. Nothing much seems to bug Big Jim, "I love it in Britain," he comments. "You're always within walking distance of a pub! I'd like to spend more time there knowing I don't have to play a gig in the evening. Just to travel around for a bit as a tourist." THE VIDEO shoot marks the end of a period of stability for Faith No More. The following months will see 'Angel Dust' released to a gagging public, preceded by two months of touring supporting Guns N' Roses in Europe. "Right now we're going through the first stages of the touring process," says Bill Gould. "There's always a bit of resistance at first because we've been used to the comforts of home. We're used to cooking breakfast in a kitchen! "We're gearing up now. We're getting used to doing interviews and stuff again. It's like a cold bath - a bit of a shock but you get used to it after a while. The last time out we didn't really know what to expect. This time we know." "It's like the old days are back again," says Jim. "The only difference is that we now have a bigger bus." Patton: "Promoting the band in interviews can be awkward but it's our job. feel like an ass hole no matter what I say I feel like a wet rag. A bad interview is an exercise in how to bullshit. My first instinct is to lie!" "Sometimes you don't really have to be there at all," comments Jim, whose standard photo pose is to stand immobile in one position for as long as it takes. "All they need is your presence. No one wants to really know what you think." Patton: "It makes me sick. It's like a porno movie at times. You know when they pan in right up close on the insertion and you just don't want to see it? That's Faith- No More." "It's still as chaotic as it ever was," says Bill Gould. "We're not businessmen. Maybe we seem like we sometimes don't give a f**k, even about our own jobs and each other, but for us it's like sitting together in our living room. "There are never business things hanging over anyone's head like songwriting splits and stuff. "It's fun and comfortable but chaotic. It takes us two months to decide on a T-shirt design! It took us two months to come up with the album cover!" THAT'S THE worst thing about Faith No More? Bill frowns for a minute. "Probably the bad aspects are having five headstrong people who won't listen to each other. We don't give as much of a f**k as we should because we're collectively cynical. When it's bad it's really bad." Bad enough to disintegrate? "No, not that bad, but there's a lot of bullshit out there. Sometimes it's hard to be there with it. Like doing that thing with MTV yesterday? That left a really bad taste in my mouth. "It's difficult to be patient with the bullshit that came with our last record. When we first started playing we were smart-arses! If we didn't like someone then we'd tell them to f**k off! We were sharp ind trying to be taken seriously. We're still the same people but because of our success we're in a position where we almost have to give in. We've had to learn tolerance and that's a compromise none of us enjoy." Do you ever feel like a real ass hole being in Faith No More? "Sometimes," the bassist grins. "Definitely! It's an unnatural thing. There's a good chemistry when it works but being in a band is not like it was 20 years ago. People and their chemistry cannot last forever Sometimes you go through a creative and mental dead spot and you wonder why you bother! But that's just a human rhythm and it passes. "What keeps the band together is having a dream and making it real. We're all bonded with this thing. This is what we do. I don't want to leave and so it must be a good thing. We're getting closer to what it all means all the time. "If anything we're following our souls, our own voices. Hopefully people will learn from us that it's okay to be in a band and have a sense of humour Faith No More get rewarded for helping to sell the myth of rock 'n' roll." I LEAVE Faith No More in the piss factory with Mike Patton hanging from a cardboard tree in the name of art. The band that went out to save rock 'n' roll are back in the ring. Stand by your jukeboxes. "What we hope this record will achieve," says Bill Gould, "is to give the band more creative power for the future. We're trying to buy our freedom. We're Just stretching our wings a little." "What we've basically decided since 'The Real Thing'," announces Mike Patton, "is that what we have as a band is worth listening to. It's our job to entertain the masses!" #faithnomore #angeldust #kerrang

Due to covid-19 it would seem that FNM have a lot of dates to reschedule for next year. The dates for their Los Angeles shows with System Of A Down, Korn, Helmet and Russian Circles at Banc Of California Stadium will now take place on May 21st and May 22nd 2021. Existing tickets will be honoured. FNM also announced via social media that they are, "still figuring out the EU/UK summer dates we’ve scheduled. This virus is a bitch, hang tight and thanks so much for your patience. lotsa love." Faith No More have also been confirmed for the rescheduled Tons Of Rock festival in Norway, the event will now take place between June 24th and 26th 2021. #faithnomore #fnmtour2021

Faith No More released their long-awaited seventh studio album on May 18th 2015. It was their first recording since 1997. Unconquered Sun How are you supposed to react when your favourite band - who you have religiously adored for over twenty five years and who you didn't believe would ever record again - delivers an album eighteen years after their last offering? Excited, yes. Nervous, yes. Five years since it's release and Sol Invictus still feels like brand new material, it still evokes feelings of liberation and reminds us of a era of rebirth. Here we will re-live how FNM conquered 2015, they continued to surprise and confuse fans and how they created something on their terms which was different to what had come before. Sol Invictus was the album the band didn’t have to make. Some might say the band had evolved into a sound they meant to deliver all along. With almost eighteen years since 1997’s Album of the Year the five musicians had each changed as composers and players with over a decade of experience and individual influences. "This is a dark album that we’ve made, but it’s about the sun. It’s about the sun coming up every day. There’s a super-positive message among this dark music. It’s very uplifting. And that’s all I can say.” - Bill Gould Matador - “We will rise from the killing floor” After nearly four years touring a 'greatest hits' show the band began to feel like the reunion phase had grown stale and they needed new direction if Faith No More were to continue. "We got really bored with what we were doing," he explained. "And we also felt like there are a whole lot of people out there who look to us to be inspired and encouraged by what we do artistically. So to be doing old songs on a big stage with a lot of people watching over and over — it felt kind of cheap and easy and a little too safe of a place to be. That's not who we are. We've always pushed buttons and we've always rubbed against the grain and we've always challenged things." - Roddy | Louder Faster May 2015 The initial seeds of Sol Invictus were sown in 2011 when founding member and primary music writer Bill Gould offered up a new song whilst the band were preparing to tour in South America. "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 | Small Victories Matador, known as the 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 | 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." - Patton | Classic Rock July 2015 By mid 2013 Bill, Mike Bordin, Roddy Bottum and Jon Hudson were working on new material together. "The album came in little bursts. Every step of the way we got a little bit more confident and comfortable with each other. We knew that if we decided to go down this road then we were taking on everything that goes with it. It's not just us making the album, it's touring, it's interviews... things we haven't had to do in a long time. So we knew that, hey, if we do this then we have to commit to this other stuff, too. But we got together and decided it was worth it." - Bill | Metal Hammer Feb 2015 Faith No More 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. "It's not my instinct to do things that way, but collectively as a band, we like to present things without any fanfare. It's not shrouded in secrecy, but we like to put things out without any attention being brought to it. Kids would ask us and we'd intentionally not say, like we didn't know what they were talking about. I think it was a way of protecting us. The whole process of making a record was so insular, just us behind closed doors. It was a way of protecting the integrity of that, not being affected by people's expectations. I think if people knew we were making a record, we would have made a different record. The expectations would have changed the outcome. It was nice to be behind closed doors, where no one knew what we were doing and we could create something on our own, rather than having to think about what people might want or might say." - Roddy | Rock-a-Rolla 2015 “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 When it came to convincing Mike Patton there was apprehension. "We didn’t want to go there with him, because we didn’t know what he thought about us. He never really told us. But, at some point, we had to tell him, because if he wasn’t singing, we didn’t have a band, and we didn’t have a record. We didn’t approach him until after most of the stuff was recorded in demo form. But then Patton came over to the studio, and I played him a bunch of stuff." - Bill | Small Victories "I'm sure you could pull up all sorts of quotes from me where I'm saying, 'We'll never make another record again, I never want to be a part of that ever again.' But, you know, circumstances change. And it's nice to be wrong; it's nice to admit when you're wrong. And I was wrong! I did not know that this band had more statements in them. Believe me, I was as surprised as anyone when I heard this music and realised that I wanted to be a part of it." - Patton | Kerrang! April 2015 "I was very shocked to hear that they'd been working on stuff. One night a couple of years ago, I was hanging out with Bill, and he was like, 'I was Just working on some stuff. Do you want to hear it?' He played me some stuff, and I was like, 'This is fucking great!' He was like, 'Well, would you like to sing on it?' 'Well yeah, of course!' I didn't even know that it was Faith No More music, at first. But then he told me, 'No, this is stuff that I wrote for us!' And I was a little taken aback... I didn't know what to say I was flattered, put it that way. I was like, 'Damn! You wrote this shit thinking of me? Like us?' Because my head wasn't even near that space; I was somewhere else." - Patton | Revolver April 2015 The band made the decision early on to take a DIY approach to Sol Invictus. They would record and engineer the album themselves. There was no external pressure or obligations which meant the band could create an organic selection of tracks. “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 Bill Gould found himself in the role of engineer and producer, as well as bassist and songwriter. The album was recorded in Estudios Koolarrow, Vulcan Studios in Oakland, California. Patton embraced the new music and set about recording his vocals at his home studio, as always he side-stepped questions on lyrical content. “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 To realise their vision the band called on their old friend Matt Wallace. "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" - Gould | Revolver 2015 Motherfucker - “Bloated, promoted in an ode to pomp and style” On May 30th 2014 Faith No More made a their first statement alluding to new music via their social media, ‘The reunion thing was fun, but now it’s time to get a little creative.’ Two months later and 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 | The Skinny Dec 2015 On November 28th 2014 Faith No More released Motherfucker as their first single since 1998. The single was produced by Bill , mastered by Moar Applebaum and recorded in their Oakland rehearsal space. It was released through Ipecac on their own imprint Reclamation Recordings. In true FNM spirit, their first new material in seventeen years was unplayable on radio because of it's lyrical content. "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 | Noisey March 2015 "Everything we’ve ever done was from gut feeling even if it didn’t make a lot of sense at the time. Releasing a song called Motherf---er as your first track after 18 years makes absolutely no conscious sense at all, but I think it was the right thing to do. It worked out great.” - Bill | Vancouver Sun April 2015 Superhero - “Ain't no grave going to hold this body down” On February 10th 2015 Faith No More announced the date of their new album via a press release in Rolling Stone Magazine, “What I can say is that I think through our experience as musicians over the years, I think what we’re doing reflects where we’ve gone since we made our last record as Faith No More. I think this kicks things up a notch. And I think there’s parts that are very powerful and there’s parts that have a lot of “space.” Everything we do, with our chemistry, the way we play; it’s always going to sound like us. It’s just what we do, that makes us feel good. Hopefully it doesn’t sound like a bunch of 50-year-old men…which we are.”“ - Bill Gould To prepare us for their first record in eighteen years, the band released Superhero as a second single on March 23th 2015. "Superhero actually just started from the sound of the song, where it has these pounding drums and it has like this throbbing kind of pulse, and we just called it the Superhero song. Because, a lot of the ways we write we visualize things. Actually this is kind of interesting because we’re probably a unique band in a way. 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. Superhero was one of those where it was definitely a superhero comic, I mean that was just the vibe of the song, and when Mike came to me writing words about it, we were already calling it Superhero." - Bill | Marvel March 2015 From The Dead - "Hear your lion roar" "In America, there's something called an 'Oops Baby'. It's like, the woman who's 45 and wants another kid and is, like. 'Fuck, I'm too old, it's not gonna happen.' And then it does happen: 'I'm 45... oops, I'm having a baby.' This album is a fucking 'Oops Baby' for us." - Bordin | Metal Hammer July 2015 Fans were worried about whether a new album would live up to the legacy of the band. "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." - Gould | Kerrang! April 2015 Faith No More's seventh studio album was released on May 19th 2015 and was a hit with fans and critics. The band spoke about Sol Invictus .... "It sounds really stripped-down and simple. Mike's singing from a more solitary voice this time around. It doesn't feel as schizophrenic as it was on past records. It's a lot darker than I thought we would have gone, very sombre. When we were super-young, we felt like we were always going to be this dark, hypnotic, Goth sort of band, and the tone's come back around to that." - Roddy | Classic Rock July 2015 "I would say that it really does go back to out roots, and is really gothic – it’s really sort of in the dark and there’s a lot of sombre tones on it. It speaks to my core, I really get really gut instincts from simple stripped down sounds when we do that successfully. And for me there are a lot of those moments on the record. It’s not as dense as the place that we usually go and there are a lot of places with really simple instrumentation. And pianos – there is a lot of pianos – and a lot of really, concise smart lyrics that can be heard and understood. And those sorts of places on the record are the strongest for me." - Roddy | Faster Louder February 2015 "Everything is represented on this album. You’ve got our singer, Mike [Patton], with his range of talents and breadth of skills. Our bass player is particularly talented at creating these atmospheres and environments with his production and arrangements. Everyone’s ideas are in this record. There’s enough rock, there’s enough crunch, there’s enough melody, there’s enough darkness. All the elements are there." - Bordin | Music Feeds February 2015 "We have our own language, and it's not just musical—it's emotional and physical as well. It's a unique thing, and we had to give it time to work. When the band started getting pretty strong [live], we were like, 'Okay, now either we're done, or we're going to have something else to say.' Because if you don't have something new to say and you just keep carrying on, it becomes nostalgia. No one was here to re-create a time when we had less gray hair and more brain cells, you know? So some music came. It came gradually, it came honestly, and in my opinion it came correctly.I'm super-proud of [Sol Invictus], I'm proud of my guys. It's been a crazy, cool gift to have a second chance to do this with more experience and more perspective under our collective belts. I really treasure it." - Bordin | Modern Drummer October 2015 “I think it’s fair to say that the songs that made it onto the album represent our best efforts, and also that they translated as well as we'd aimed for, so I'm proud of all of them. For me, Black Friday ended up being the real sleeper of the record. It just came together so well at the end - it’s one of my favorites on the album.” - Jon | Faith No More Followers June 2016 Cone Of Shame - “You're only happy when you're pissing me off” Faith No More toured around the globe throughout 2015 with amazing performances on TV and radio. They released a video for Sunny Side Up on October 19th 2015 and Cone Of Shame on 7" vinyl with accompanying video on November 25th 2016. #faithnomore #solinvictus

Faith No More released the first single from Album Of The Year on May 19th 1997. "It's kind of like when you eat something and all the ingredients fit together. You can't really say why you like it but it's just you know you like it. To me that song has size, it has the scope and it has the melody and it has the impact. It gives me all those things I need that make me feel good." - Bill Gould 2016 1997 was a bit of a dull year for rock and metal music, it was the beginning of a nu metal era with bands trying to re imagine the early 90s movements. Elsewhere electro dance music was interesting, the happy hippy techno beats had been replaced with more brutal and funkier bands like The Prodigy, Fatboy Slim and music to do heroin to whilst watching trains. It was the first time since the 60's where being British was cool, Brit pop and The Spice Girls took over the world. There was certainly change in the air. Faith No More had changed. After a brief tour supporting King For A Day... the band had gone separate ways, Mike Patton focusing on Mr. Bungle, Roddy Bottum starting up Imperial Teen and Mike Bordin drumming with Ozzy Osbourne. "I guess the point is try to find new reasons to keep making music. We could have broken up. But when you get to that point you ask yourself, 'Is it worth it or not?'. If the music's still getting you hard, it's worth it." - Mike Patton 1997 Yet, amidst rumours that the band had split up, in 1997 FNM surprised fans by returning with a new guitarist and attitude to producing music. After only around seven years of commercial success FNM were now considered as innovators, fathers of a new breed of metal music and were back to prove they still had one more album of great songs to give. "It takes a lot of work, but the bottom line is that if we weren't totally committed to making music as FNM, we wouldn't still be here today....It's not like we don't have anything else to do." - Bill Gould 1997 Ashes To Ashes was the premier single released from their sixth studio record Album Of The Year. The song performed well in the charts, number 8 in Australia, 7 in Finland, 15 in the U.K. and 23 in the U.S. ATA is less punchy and chaotic than music from KFAD, more polished and refined, whilst retaining the full bodied sound that only FNM can achieve. 'While the Bungle-like experimentalism of the King For A Day album alienated a lot of the band's fans, new and old, the first taste of next month's album (drolly titled Album Of The Year) returns to the musical ethic that won them all those lovely fans in the first place. Expansive, dramatic and swathed in Roddy Bottum's widescreen keyboards, it delivers a killer tune with bite, storming rhythms and the best vocal of Mike Patton's career. Truly, err, epic.' - InPress magazine Jon Hudson's guitar brings the metal riff of Jim Martin's days back to FNM after an album of Trey Spruance's eccentric brand of six string magic. It sets us up for a track we know will fall into the unmistakably FNM category. The sweeping waves of Roddy's keyboard are reminiscent of those found on Angel Dust, and they add colour to Bill and Mike B's ever dependable rhythm section. There is hardly a trace of antagonism in Patton's voice as he croons like Sinatra. The composure of all five musicians make for sophisticated sound to match their pressed tuxedos. The song was written, like most of AOTY, by the band sharing music in the post. In fact no more than two members of FNM were in the studio at the same time. "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 The main difference with this music compared to earlier songs was that it was entirely produced by FNM with Bill on engineering duties. Roli Mosimann brought in for advice. "This record took a year and a half to make -serious hard work. I mean, the reason I'm the producer is because I've been living with this thing every step of the way. I couldn't rest until this record was finished. Angel Dust was like a hurricane coming - a big, ugly storm. King for a Day was like when the storm was hitting you, with all this stuff flying all over the place. And this record...this record is kind of like digging through the wreckage and pulling out bodies afterwards." - Bill Gould 1997 The video was directed by the late Tim Royes. It retains the dark themes of fnm's previous film clips but introduces the new suited and booted look that they paraded during this era. Ashes To Ashes remains a fan favourite and it is still a regular song within FNM's set lists. #faithnomore #ashestoashes #albumoftheyear

EPISODE SUMMARY Mike & Jim continue talking about Faith No More's 1995 album 'King for a Day... Fool for a Lifetime' EPISODE NOTES It's 1994. Jim Martin has been fired from Faith No More via fax, Mr Bungle's Trey Spruance has taken his place on guitar, Roddy Bottum is absent from most the songwriting and King for a Day is the result. Featuring discussion of: Ugly in the Morning, Digging the Grave & Take This Bottle. KFAD talk begins at 54:36 Email: podcastcroissant@gmail.com facebook.com/podcastcroissant Instagram - @podcastcroissant Twitter - @podcroissant #faithnomore #podcastcroissant