Faith No More

Faith No More blew into the west side of Salt Lake City on October 2nd. All I know is the place was jam-packed, the audience wasbouncing off the walls, and the security guys up front behind the barrier looked pensive and wide-eyed, like they couldn’t remember why they volunteered for the job, and they did look like volunteers.

Faith No More hit the stage and started off with “Midnight Cowboy,” a slow melodic song with no lyrics. When the last chord of “Midnight Cowboy” was still lingering in the air, Mike Patton stepped back, drew a big-old deep breath and went straight into “Collision,” the first track off of their newest release, Album of the Year. Collision hits you head on like an overloaded eighteen-wheeler screaming down Parley’s without any brakes. By the second song, ears were bleeding and brains were starting to liquefy! Right then and there I knew I was in for a good time.

For all of your cheerleaders and football jocks who like to appear “cool’” to your peers by reading SLUG but don’t have a clue about music, Faith No More is, Mike Bordin – drums, Roddy Bottum – keyboards, Billy Gould – bass, Jon Hudson – guitar and Mike Patton – vocals. A few weeks earlier, I was supposed to interview Roddy Bottum over the phone at a predetermined, set time. I call him up, he’s not there and this is how the interview goes, read on —  (and oh yea, before I forget, kudos goes out to my good friend and partner in crime Nick Salimeno of Graywhale CD in Layton for insight and assistance with this article and interview. As always, he went above and beyond the call of duty. Thanks Nick!!!)

Hotel Operator: Thank you for calling the Vernon Manor.

SLUG: Yeah, um, Roddy Bottum’s room please.

HO: One moment please.

Male Voice answering the phone: Hello?

SLUG: Hi, is Roddy there?

MV: Uuhh, no he’s not, I think he’s seeing a movie.

SLUG: (me, laughing…) tee-hee-hee, is he?

MV: Yeah, could I take a message?

SLUG: Yeah, I’ve got an interview set up with him.

MV: Oh, wow. That’s funny. Well, let’s see, I’m here. This is Bill.

SLUG: Alright, Bill!

Billy Gould: Uhhh, you want to do it?

SLUG: Let’s do it, if you don’t mind.

BG: I don’t mind.

SLUG: Alright, cool. How have you been?

BG: Good, how’s it going? You must be, uuuh, you must be Royce with SLUG magazine.

SLUG: Yeah, that’s me.

BG: I’ve got the paper right here.

SLUG: How long have you been on tour?

BG: We’ve been touring pretty much since May.

SLUG: Personally, do you like to tour?

BG: Oh, it can be good, if you do it right. The shows have been good and it really helps that we’ve been playing now, for awhile. People come to our shows and they know some of our songs, that really makes things a lot easier.

SLUG: Rolling Stone dated September 18th, back page, readers Top Ten List number 8 is Faith No More, Album of the Year.

BG: Yeah, that’s what I’ve heard.

SLUG: That’s pretty cool, huh?

BG: That’s great! It’s awesome! Rolling Stone definitely had nothing to do with that.

SLUG: No way, man.

BG: I’m surprised they printed it, to be honest with you.

SLUG: Tell me about the CD cover for Album of the Year.

BG: What do you want to know?

SLUG: The artwork. Any meaning, any symbolism or just cool graphics?

BG: It’s an interesting story. It’s a guy who was president of Czechoslovakia back before WWII. He was the man who actually created the country and the picture is taken at his funeral. Really to explain instead of getting into the fine political points of what happened, he’s one of those people that was a personality, and when he died it really made a big difference. It’s one of those things where you don’t know someone, and yet that someone touches people on a large scale. You could compare that to Princess Di and her death today, it’s the same exact kind of thing. It has nothing to do with those people as individuals, it’s just a phenomenon. And that is really the closest thing to a theme that I think this record has.

SLUG: It seems like you are writing more as a band on this album than the last album.

BG: That could be true. Umm, yeah, Roddy didn’t participate much on the last album. There’s definitely more keyboards now.

SLUG: To write more as a band, is that more a conscious decision? Or did it just turn out that way or does it really depend on how each per­sonality of the band is feeling at the time?

BG: It really has to do with that. The thing is, when you are making a record you take a look at where your strengths and your weaknesses are and it’s very hard to get five people on the same page at the same time. So you’ve got to work with what you’ve got, ya know?

SLUG: How do you feel about the new album, what do you think about it?

BG: As far as how it sounds, and if I’m satisfied with it?

SLUG: Uh-huh, yeah.

BG: I’m totally satisfied with it.

SLUG: Yeah, I think it’s great. Everything I’ve heard and everything I’ve read – people are just total­ly stoked about it, (except of course Mr. Busting the Nut!).

BG:  Actually, ya know, it’s really funny, because when it came out, there was a backlash that happened where the record was slammed. And, uh, now that a couple of months have gone by, I’m hearing nothing but good things. It’s mak­ing me think that it’s one of those albums that you just can’t judge on the first listen.

SLUG: You know what amazed me? It amazed me how much negative publicity King for a Day, Fool for a Lifetime received. I loved that album.

BG: You know what, it’s really weird, but I’m figuring out why it got such negative publicity. I think what it was is the way the mainstream press works. They want to back the winning horse, ya know? It’s kind of like when something comes out, everybody takes bets on who they think is going to be huge and who they think won’t be that big. They hear the record and they have a different criteria for judging. They don’t listen to see if they like it or not, it’s more what they think it’s going to do. I think the consensus was that it wasn’t going to sell a few mil­lion records and they jumped on whatever horse, ya know, Smashing Pumpkins, right? And basically, their motivation for doing that is that they keep their readership. They are trying to second guess their readership. So yeah, it’s really unfair that the record got panned, just because of its commercial appeal rather than if it was a good or bad album. That’s kind of frustrat­ing.

SLUG: It is frustrating. I think that Album of the Year flows better. I think that it goes together better, but I think that King for a Day is eclectic. There are a bunch of variations and different styles on it and I like that. I don’t mind if an album flows. But I like to buy a record and be surprised. I think some of your best work is on King for a Day, Fool for a Lifetime and I love the slower stuff on that album.

BG: Oh, we were so happy where that record came out, we were into it. I still really like that record.

SLUG: How has it been for the band to adjust to the various guitar play­ers? Has it been rough or has it been not that big of a deal?

BG: Well, it’s been rough with the previous guitar players because we didn’t have what we needed and we were kind of making do. Jon (Hudson), the new guy who worked on this album, out of all the guitar players we’ve worked with, I like him the best because he has a lot of technical ability and you can com­municate with him, ya know? And, he writes, as well, so he contributes. We’ve never had somebody who does both.

SLUG: Well, that was my next ques­tion. How does he fit into FNM? And I think you’ve answered it.

BG: I think he jumped right into it, which surprised me, because he’s never really toured with a band before and he just fit right in. I’m surprised at how adaptable he is.

SLUG: Tell me about Mike Patton. A lot of stuff that I hear through the grapevine is that he’s a hard inter­view, kinda hard to talk to and can be a bit aloof. Is that true?

BG: (No hesitation) He can be. He doesn’t really enjoy doing inter­views too much. He’s got his good days and he’s got his bad days. You just got to not catch him on a bad one.

SLUG: Right. Is that just his person­ality or is there a reason behind that? Did someone piss him off one time?

BG: Probably a little of both. He’s a singer and I think what happened was that 5 or 6 years ago, magazine guys really got inside his head and l think he resented that.

SLUG: Really?

BG: Well, I think you get exploited a bit, but still. That’s what happens. Some people roll with it a little bet­ter than others. He would rather just play music and keep his mouth shut. I think in a perfect world yeah, but for a singer it’s harder for them to do that.

SLUG: How do you feel about Faith No More, looking back 15 years? Obviously you are on tour now, things are going well, you’ve got a new album out. But looking back on 15 years, is it amazing to you? Is it wild? Is it no big deal?

BG: Uuhhh, it depends on the day. Yeah, it’s pretty cool. It’s been a long time, I can’t believe it. I don’t feel like it’s been 15 years. I don’t feel like an old man, ya know? But it’s been a long time. 

Billy and I continued to ram­ble on for a bit. The real highlight for me was when Tyler, Chad and I were leaving the club after FNM totally devastated everything in their path. We were walking out to my car and I looked up. There is Mike Patton, Roddy Bottum and Jon Hudson ten feet away from us! I said to Mike,”Hey Mike, great show, thanks for coming!” he said, “Thank you.” Then I set my sights on Roddy and said, “Hey Roddy, you tell that drummer in Imperial Teen I want her. Next time you guys come through Salt Lake I want to hook up with her. I think she’s a babe!” He replied in a monotone, deadpan voice with thumbs up, “I bet she feels exactly the same way.” Tyler and Chad sat there with their jaws to the ground like they couldn’t believe I just said that to Roddy Bottum. I was laughing out loud and thinking to myself, “Cool, very cool. I guess I’m going out with that drummer babe of Imperial Teen!” (Now if I could only remember her name!) Adios for now, Losers!

—Royce

Read more from the archives:
Local Labels: R.U. Dead
Local Band: Deviance: August 1994

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