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Mike Patton

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Mike Patton
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Mike Patton

Mike Patton (born Michael Allan Patton, January 27, 1968, in Eureka, California) is an American musician. He is best known as the lead singer of Faith No More from 1988 to 1998, but has also handled lead vocals for Mr. Bungle, Tomahawk, Fantômas and Peeping Tom. He often produces side projects in collaboration with other musicians, such as John Zorn, Dan the Automator, Björk, The Melvins, The Dillinger Escape Plan, Melt-Banana, Sepultura, Kool Keith, The X-Ecutioners, Subtle, Rahzel and Kaada. Along with Greg Werckman, he co-founded and runs Ipecac Recordings. In May of 2006 he released his newest album "Peeping Tom" which is a collaboration of efforts from several other musicians. It is considered Mike Patton's version of a pop album, it took him several years to create/release. He performed live with Amon Tobin, a.o. at the 2005 Dour Festival.

Patton possesses a wide range of vocal textures and styles, ranging from falsettos, Sinatra-esque crooning and even death metal style grunts and screeches. This diversity has earned him the respect of numerous critics and fans, who consider him one of the most talented rock vocalists to emerge in the 90s.

Contents

Early Years

Growing up in Eureka, California, Patton and friends formed Mr. Bungle circa 1985. They recorded a few demos and earned a small local following. Patton joined Faith No More in January of 1989 and filled the vocal void left by the unreliable and recently fired Chuck Mosley, who moved on to the band Cement. Faith No More's The Real Thing was released later the same year. The album reached the top ten on the charts thanks largely to MTV's heavy rotation of the Epic promo.

Faith No More

Patton was known for bizarre stage antics and commentary. He was known to occasionally douse himself in urine, and gained notoriety for flopping around like a fish during an MTV Video Music Awards appearance. Patton also was referred to by bandmates as a "shit terrorist" as he coped with the pressures and demands of fame by terrorizing hotel rooms while on tour with his fecal matter, hiding it in air vents or blow dryers for the unlucky to find. "That was just my way of deflecting a lot of that attention, by throwing it back in peoples’ faces in sort of a grotesque light," Patton explained. "Sometimes it didn’t work, it just made things worse, but nonetheless that was my way and it got me through what I needed to get through."[link]

In the United States, Faith No More would never again match the commercial success of "The Real Thing." After a series of interesting but poorly promoted albums, namely Angel Dust; King for a Day... Fool for a Lifetime; and Album of the Year, Faith No More officially disbanded in 1998.

Bungle and Beyond

During the long demise of Faith No More, Patton had resumed collaborating with Mr. Bungle. His success in mainstream rock and metal ultimately helped secure Mr. Bungle a record deal with Warner Bros. The band released a self-titled album (produced by John Zorn) in 1991, and the highly surreal Disco Volante in 1995. Their final album California (considered their most accessible) is regarded an essential record by such mainstream publications as Maxim and Rolling Stone.

Patton's other projects have included two solo albums in the Composer Series on John Zorn's Tzadik label (Adult Themes for Voice in 1996 and Pranzo Oltranzista in 1997). He is member of Hemophiliac where he does voice effects along with John Zorn on saxophone and Ikue Mori on laptop electronics. This group is billed as "improvisational music from the outer reaches of madness". He has also guested on Painkiller and Naked City recordings. He's appeared many times on other Tzadik releases with Zorn and others.

There have also been several projects over the years that have not seen an official release, although some live bootlegs do circulate. These projects include House of Discipline (with Bob Ostertag and Otomo Yoshihide), Moonraker (with Buckethead and DJ Eddie Def), and Patton & Rahzel. Patton contributed vocals to the Team Sleep song Koolade, but the song did not make it onto the final album. This is likely due in part to the unfinished album having been leaked very early onto the internet.

Recent production

Recently, Patton has worked with Björk and the beat boxer Rahzel. He is often featured on new releases, and is regarded as extremely hard working. Faith No More keyboardist Roddy Bottum remarked about Patton "caffeine is the only drug he does", in reference to the Faith No More song Caffeine from the album Angel Dust, which Patton wrote while in the middle of a sleep-deprivation experiment.

In 2005, Patton signed on to compose the soundtrack for the upcoming independent movie [Pinion], marking his debut scoring an American feature-length film. His other film work includes portraying two major characters in the Steve Balderson film [Firecracker]. He will also compose and perform music for the upcoming Rockstar videogame Bully and has expressed his desire to compose for film director David Lynch.

Patton's long-gestating Peeping Tom album was released on May 30, 2006 on his own Ipecac label. The set was pieced together by swapping song files through the mail with collaborators like Norah Jones, Kool Keith and Massive Attack.

"I don't listen to the radio, but if I did, this is what I'd want it to sound like," Patton says of the project. "This is my version of pop music. In a way, this is an exercise for me: taking all these things I've learned over the years and putting them into a pop format."

Reactions to Fame

Patton is highly regarded in alternative musical circles, and seen as something of an idol in the eyes of modern alternative youth for his air of mystique, his constantly-changing musical sensibilities, his impressive vocal range, and his experimental nature. He remains an elusive figure in music, rarely giving interviews and characteristically dismissive of his contribution to Faith No More in particular. In an interview with the British music magazine Select he complained:

"I've had people write to me saying 'I hate my parents, I'm doing drugs and I'm thinking about killing myself. What are you going to do about it?'"

His reticence and apparent cynicism towards his own career has done little to detract from his remarkable vocal skills and enduring popularity with budding singers.

Patton has been married to his Italian wife, Titi Zuccatosta, since 1994. He used to own a home in Italy(which he sold about 5 years ago), and can speak fluent Italian. [link]

Outrageous Mike Patton Moments

Patton Trivia

Discography

Mike Patton (middle) and Faith No More in 1997.
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Mike Patton (middle) and Faith No More in 1997.

with

Mike Patton (middle) and Mr. Bungle
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Mike Patton (middle) and Mr. Bungle

with
Mike Patton (right) and Fantômas
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Mike Patton (right) and Fantômas

with

with

Solo Albums

as Peeping Tom

with

Album Collaborations

Lovage:Mike Patton, Jennifer Charles & Dan the Automator
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Lovage:Mike Patton, Jennifer Charles & Dan the Automator

Albums Featured

Filmography

External links

 

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