Mike Patton is the featured guest in a newly shared conversation on Kyle Meredith With…. The renowned alternative metal vocalist, known for his work in Faith No More, Mr. Bungle and countless other projects, was asked by Meredith if he felt a sense of closure in Faith No More when he and the band reunited in 2009 for a run that lasted until an abrupt end in 2021.
Patton replied:
“I didn’t really think so at the time, but, yeah, maybe. And I think that we all kind of felt it, but it was unspoken. And it’s funny, just when you’ve been in a band or a musical situation for a period of time, you always, in the back of your head, you’re kind of thinking, ‘Well, maybe this is it.’ And I don’t mind that feeling. I don’t see it as a sad thing. I see it as being present and being able to really appreciate it while it’s happening.”
When Meredith quizzed Patton if he felt that Faith No More was more of a stop on his musical journey alongside his numerous other projects rather than an career anchor point of sorts, Patton responded:
“I’d never really understood, and I had to figure this out very early on, was the concept of a side project, that’s assuming that there’s a main one. And for me, I really never had one. There were projects like Faith No More where I spent more time on, in terms of touring and promoting, quote-unquote, if you will.
But everything that I’ve done was of equal importance to me. They just weren’t viewed that way. And the public, for whatever reason, needs to have a hierarchy kind of built in there, just to make themselves feel better about it, I guess. I don’t know.”
Faith No More‘s status remains murky at best these days, with a canceled tour amid the pandemic being their last signs of life. Patton would later go on to reveal that he had developed mental health struggles during that period, leading him to get professional help for agoraphobia. While Patton has since return to the road for numerous occasions since with Mr. Bungle, Faith No More remain dormant, with apparent conflicting views between the band and Patton being responsible.
This past April Faith No More drummer Mike “Puffy” Bordin spoke on the matter, stating that while the band opted to support Patton during their time of need and cancel numerous shows, their collective relationship with him apparently fractured. Bordin said of their relationship with Patton, “he’s gone from being unable to do the shows to clearly being unwilling to do shows with us. And that’s heavy.”
Last October, keyboardist/vocalist Roddy Bottum also weighed in on the band’s questionable status, stating:
“It’s not just me. I don’t think anyone’s sort of up for it at this point. We had a bunch of shows that we were gonna play, and they got canceled, just for various reasons. But I don’t think the course that we were on has fixed itself. I just don’t see it happening again, honestly. I think we did a really good job. We played a bunch of reunion tours, and I think we did what we kind of set out to do.
So I don’t think anyone’s upset about it or anything. But I mean, for sure, getting back together would mean a big paycheck, but I think all of us are pretty good with what we did, sort of just like, artistically with the band and committing to ourselves and playing with each other. I think we’re all pretty good with the decisions that we’ve made up to now, and I don’t see what could really happen more getting back together and doing more shows.”
