many faces.
he is mike patton...
born january 27, 1968 in the northern california town of eureka, michael allan patton grew up in a modest middle-class household with his parents and younger brother. he graduated from eureka high school in 1986 and then attended humboldt state university in the nearby town of arcata. there he studied english because he wanted to write.
but even before attending humboldt or even finishing high school, mike patton had already formed various groups with friends, among them a band called turd and of course mr bungle, when patton was a mere 15 years of age. in the beginning, bungle started out as a death metal band, gigging pizza parlors, bowling alleys, and parking lot parties. about that same time faith no more were playing shows around san francisco with their original vocalist chuck mosely. as a college student, mike and the bungle boys saw faith no more perform at humboldt. patton was so impressed with them that he dropped a mr bungle demo into guitarist jim martin's hands.
patton would never have to return to humboldt again.
the summer before his junior year he received a call from jim asking if he would be interested in joining the band, because mosely was not working out. mike was initially reluctant, fearing that he would have to resign his bungle duties to join a more 'corporate' band.
but in the end, he decided to leave the collegiate life behind and join up with the guys in faith. patton was hired in january of 1989. mike's stage gymnastics, crazy facial contortions and multi-octave vocal range were a strong asset to faith no more's live set. his performance was so over-the-top, it nearly came off as parody. but patton brought more than a huge set of lungs to the show. the band took a liking to his lyrics. in two weeks he had written all the lyrics for songs faith no more were working on for their next album, and the real thing was released six months later.
throughout the nearly 10 years mike spent with faith no more they released four additional full-length albums and an ep. also many of the band members pursued various side projects. keyboardist roddy bottum is involved in imperial teen , bassist billy gould has worked with brujeria and produced other bands as well, and drummer puffy toured with ozzy. but undoubtedly the busiest member of the faith no more clan is patton himself. aside from double duties as head of both fnm and bungle, he has also worked with many other artists and released 2 solo albums- which are a must for all patton fans.
the first is called adult themes for voice
this highly unconventional album is comprised of 34 tracks called "themes" done exclusively for voice/microphone. it was recorded using a 4-track portable studio in hotel rooms around the world. some of the themes include titles such as red mouth black orgasm, pillow biter, and catheter.
and the second solo album is entitled pranzo oltranzista
a primarily instrumental album done with italian titles, pranzo also takes on an usual 'flavor' so to speak. the theme of this album is food and the tracks are referred to as "recipes". it features talented musicians like john zorn (alto saxophone) and erik friedlander (cello). collectively, the piece is known as musica da tavola per cinque or banquet piece for five players.
among the artists that patton has worked with include the sparks, he appeared with them on the single this town aint big enough for the both of us. sepultura, offering vocals on songs such as mine and lookaway. bob ostertag's fear no love and milk cult's psychoanalytwist. as well as a duet with the rap group the boo-ya tribe for the song another body murdered, which was featured on the judgement night soundtrack. patton has also worked with the jazz musician john zorn, who appears on his solo albums.
in 1995, mike was married to an italian woman named titi who is rumored to have been a las vegas showgirl and versace model. and since the breakup of faith no more in 1998, he has formed yet another project with some fellow bungle members (among others) called fantômas -read more about fantômas in the "related projects" section-
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