Is it a chameleon?
Is it an armadillo?
Or maybe it's an octopus?
No no no... this is Mike Patton !!!
A factory of non-stop creation, some say that still in his mother's womb...
So in order to identify with the eclecticism, the variety of talents, the variety of styles, the variety of ensembles, the variety of collaborations, and the absolute musical craziness that surrounds him, we bring you the facts in the style of Mike Patton, so let's start the party!
(Photo: Jay Blakesberg)
= In 1998 he formed the "Fantômas" supergroup along with "Slayer" drummer Dave Lombardo, "Melvin's" guitarist Buzz Osborne and "Tomahawk" and "Mr. Bungle" bassist Trevor Dunn.
= The ensemble started its way around when "Faith No More" had already ceased to exist. They released 4 albums, all on Mike's label called Ipecac and each album has a different concept.
The album "Fantômas" 1999 is based on a fictional comic book story, "The Director's Cut" 2001 is an album consisting of remade film soundtrack songs, "Delìrium Còrdia" 2004 is an album of one long and continuous song that resembles surgery without anesthesia and "Suspended Animation" 2005 which consists from distorted cartoon music.
= We inform you in advance that there is no need to ask us in which genre all of Mike's groups fall into because most of the music created by Mike's groups is one big mix that cannot be embedded in any genre.
(Photo: Jan Frode Haugseth)
= They also released two live albums: "Millennium Monsterwork 2000" 2002 and "The Director's Cut Live: A New Year's Revolution" 2011
= At the beginning of their journey many record companies became interested in their band because of the "stars" in it but very quickly realized that the style was not suitable for the mainstream and ran away.
= In 2015, bassist Justin Pearson and drummer Dave Lombardo formed the band "Dead Cross". They added guitarist Michael Crain and singer Gabe Serbian and after a number of performances, they came in with producer Ross Robinson and started recording their debut album.
(Photo: Adam DeGross)
= A year later, when the recordings of the album ended, singer Gabe decided to leave the band. Mike took his place and the band decided not to release the album with Gabe's vocals but to re-record the album with Mike's vocals. Mike decided to rewrite all the lyrics and recorded the entire album. The band's album was released in August 2017 through two record companies: Mike's Ipecac and Justin's Three One G.
= In August 2017 all the band members were arrested in Texas and released immediately afterward, the reason for the arrest is unknown!
= In 2006 after 6 years of birth Mike put together a "composition" called "Peeping Tom", which is actually Mike with a lot of foreign artists that he personally does not even know. The first and only album was released in 2006 and was named after the group. The entire album was written by Mike and contains 11 tracks each of which he collaborates with another artist, such as rapper Rahzel, Brazilian musician Amon Tobin, electronic ensemble Massive Attack, singer Norah Jones and more and more...
(Photo: Ipecac Recordings)
= Mike did not know most of the artists on the album personally and had never been with them in the same room or studio, everything was done remotely with Mike's step-by-step guidance.
= The group has one video clip called "Mojo", look for it on YouTube...
= Another supergroup ensemble formed by Mike, this time with guitarist Duane Denison in 1999, the "Tomahawk" band. The two got to know each other through the performances of Mike's band "Mr. Bungle" and started exchanging ideas and demos.
(Photo: Ipecac Recordings)
= At a later stage joined, John Stanier the drummer of "Helmet" and "Melvin's" bassist Kevin Rutmanis.
= The band has released 4 albums: "Tomahawk" 2001, "Mit Gas" 2003, "Anonymous" 2007, and "Oddfellows" 2013. All the albums were of course released under the Mike Ipecac label.
= In the years 2001 - 2007 the band went on a large number of tours around the world.
= In April 1999, in California, two friends, Mike & Greg Werckman who was former employee of the record label Mercury, founded the independent record company Ipecac Recordings.
= The origin of the company's name is based on the name of the Ipecac syrup whose function is to induce vomiting. The company's slogan is "Ipecac Recordings - Making People Sick Since 1999".
= The record company was formed out of the need of the two to give support to non-mainstream groups, the groups that create hard-to-digest music. They were even different and more extreme than the indie companies.
(Photo: Jon Attenborough)
= Their principle was not to "purchase" the artist but his music in order to distribute it and so they did not sign the artists on long-term contracts with music videos, marketing plans, and the like but signed them to create one album and distribute it.
= There are rumors that the label is profitable to this day...
(Photo: Buzz Osborne)
= Mike said that the band was formed after its members were kicked out of other bands that were really bad, drummer Jed Watts and guitarist Trey Spruance were thrown out of a metal goth band, and bassist Trevor Dunn and Mike were thrown out of a Metallica cover band.
= The band style is so eclectic, so complex, and diverse that they had to use a lot of instruments, some conventional and some not. The use was so complex and different that it was very difficult for them to record the sounds in the studio and even more difficult to perform a live performance (in the photos of the live shows, the stage looks like a garage sale) but that, of course, did not stop the band.
= They used to go up on stage in weird costumes with weird masks and change their behavior according to the same character in each show. The most popular costumes were clown costumes and carnival accessories.
= The band that has undergone many changes has released three albums to date: "Mr. Bungle" in 1991, "Disco Volante" in 1995, and "California" in 1999.
= Speaking about California... Mike has a very "complex" relationship with singer Anthony Kiedis. It started with Kiedis accusing him of imitating the movements and form of singing in performances and in addition, Mr. Bungle, "California"'s album was due out the same day the Peppers' "Californiacation" came out, which further annoyed Kiedis.
= Unlike Mike's other bands (and since Mike's label did not exist then) the band's label was the giant Warner Bros. company.
= The band existed from 1985 to 2004 when in August 2019 it announced that it would hold 3 performances during February 2020 which were of course shelved following the Coronavirus.
= Mike has appeared in more than 17 films in various roles as an actor, producer, dubbed, and soundtrack creator. He has also participated in 7 video games as a dubbing and soundtrack creator.
= In 1979 in San Francisco, California, a band called "Sharp Young Men" was formed when in 1982 it changed its name to "Faith No More".
(Photo: Mick Hutson)
= Of course we will not detail the history of the band here but we invite you to read the album reviews...
= In 1988 the band's singer Chuck Mosley was fired and Mike took his place, this is Mike's breakthrough band that brought with it tremendous success and made this band one of the most important rock bands in history.
= The band has released 7 albums (5 albums with Mike):
"We Care a Lot" (1985), "Introduce Yourself" (1987), "The Real Thing" (1989), "Angel Dust" (1992), "King for a Day... Fool for a Lifetime" (1995), "Album of the Year" (1997) ו- "Sol Invictus" (2015).
= They were nominated 3 times for the Grammy Awards in 1990, 1991, and 1993.
= The band disbanded in 1998 but came back to life in 2009 and since then they keep performing around the world. In September 2021 the band released a very alarming announcement in which it announces that its tour has been canceled due to mental health issues that Mike needs to deal with.
= A year later, Mike posted on social media that he was able to take care of the health problems he had and that he was performing again. Since Faith's tour was canceled, Mike went on tour with "Mr. Bungle".
= Mike's full name is Michael Allan Patton and he was born on January 27, 1968, in Eureka, California.
= He is a multi-instrumentalist, actor, singer, lyricist, producer, filmmaker, and gifted musician.
= As a producer he has worked with artists like: John Zorn, Sepultura, Melvins, Kool Keith, and many other good and weird ones.
(Photo: Mark Metcalfe)
= As a solo artist he has recorded three albums: "Adult Themes for Voice" (1996) an album consisting of 34 tracks recorded in hotel rooms during Faith's tour and not considered singing! "Pranzo Oltranzista" (1997) is an album based on the 1932 book "Futurist Cookbook". "Mondo Cane" (2010) is a cover album of Italian pop songs from the 50s and 60s and is performed by an orchestra of 40 musicians and a choir of 15 people.
= Given Mike's prolific life there's a very good chance we've missed a few things, it's very difficult to keep up with this crap called Mike Patton.
= He is the singer with the largest vocal range spanning 6 and a half octaves from Eb1 to E7.
We have chosen something different for you, the Mondo Cane album released in 2010, listen on: Spotify, Apple Music