The following consists of one conversation with Mike Patton (member/vocalist of, whew, here goes: Mr Bungle, Fantomas, Peeping Tom, Lovage, Tomahawk, Maldoror, and the now-defunct, Faith No More, as well as co-creator of the very cool Ipecac record label), Vince Francone (slobbering fanboy), and Adam Poe (photographer, typist, and fetcher of beers). It was originally supposed to be about Mr. Patton solely, but as we chatted about all of Mike's various bands and projects it escalated into a conversation about the music scene as a whole, especially the wonderful, sick, weird, and fun part of it that he dominates.


NT: How did the Loveage thing happen? Was this your project? Or did Dan get you guys together?


Mike: It's Dan’s thing. It’s something he had going before I even met him, and he’s been wanting to do it for a while, kind of been working on a track here and there, it's just one of those, you know, twisted hand-of-fate things. I was talking to him about doing a project of mine...


NT:...Peeping Tom?


Mike: Yeah, and right around the time we were starting to figure this out, like, "how are we going to do this?" over a meal or something, he said, "I’ve got this other thing I’ve got to finish." I said, "really? Play me some of that shit," he did and I said "forget about it, you gotta let me do this." So it worked.


NT: And Jennifer Charles and you, by the way...I love the duets. This is probably my favorite CD of the year.


Mike: Cool, man, thanks. Her voice is really great.


NT: I never heard of her before this, I went out and bought an Elysian Fields CD, I really like it.


Mike: It's definitely its own thing...not really rock, not really folk, I don’t know what it is. There’s a common thread there I don’t know what it is--or if I want to know what it is--but we found each other and yeah, I think it’s the start of something pretty good. We both hear music in similar ways, we’ll be thinking of something, and it’ll come out of his mouth first, and vice versa.


NT: And that’s pretty rare isn’t it?


Mike: Oh yeah. Collaborations are kind of why I play music. It’s how you learn new things, it’s how you elevate your game. It’s great when you can meet someone who’s right there with you, but who’s also busting your balls. I’m learning a lot from him. I think he’s learning from me as well.


NT: This is probably different for him, too.


Mike: Yeah, we both do business really, really differently. We come from different worlds, but our heads in the same place, you know? That’s the Loveage thing. What it's about for me is putting myself in different situations and the only way to do that is to constantly keep working with new people. And hey, it’s not over. Things mean certain things to you at times in your life and that’s why you need to keep searching.


NT: That’s good because I’ve always felt that the Bungle albums, since they seem to take the longest to come out, are like snapshots of where you’re at. The first one and California are so completely different.


Mike: Yeah, we’re not the kind of band that can make a record, then tour, comeback the next year, make a record and tour. We’re not getting in that habit like most bands. Otherwise we would have hung ourselves, or each other, by now. It wouldn’t work.


NT: Well, Bungle was pretty much your first band, right?


Mike: Yeah, yeah. Grew up in a small town…and you have no choice. Literally, you can go out and string up cats, go cow tipping, be on the baseball team, or play in a band. So we tried all the other three and realized our baseball skills weren’t as good.


NT: You guys got out of Warner Brothers records?


Mike: Yeah. We’re still kind of in the process, but it’s going to happen.


NT: Is that a good thing?


Mike: It’s a great thing. We’ve been trying to get dropped.


NT: It's been a strange marriage.


Mike: Yeah, we were signed to Warner for all the wrong reasons. To be frank, it was because they were trying to keep me happy. I threatened to quit Faith No More if they wouldn’t let me play in Mr. Bungle.


NT: Really?


Mike: And they tried to squash the idea of me being in two bands. Well, [I said] two or none. It sucks because my back was really against the wall. To make threats like that and act like a spoiled brat, well, I was sort of forced to. And it did not endear me to the rest of the band members. But gradually they figured out what it was about. And even people in the record company, years later now, because some of these people are still in the industry, I bump into them and they’ll be like "you know, you were really right about that.”


Well, if they had an artistic bone in their body they might understand, too. Those bean counters, I don’t know... Don’t get it. Really all it is… it’s coming from the same place, and I’ll tell you one thing, if I’ve got a horse that’s running in five races...I’d love to have that guy on my team. I would think that he would have it together. It’s a provincial, weird space, but a lot of musicians are in that space, especially in the "rock band" world. The band thing is really an uptight, incestuous, creepy thing. When you step outside of the cocoon, a lot of people look at that like, "you adulterer." I don’t deal with those people anymore. I just can’t.


NT: You ever talk to the Faith No More guys?


Mike: Oh yeah, everything’s fine.


NT: Didn’t [Faith No More drummer] Mike Bordin join Korn?


Mike: He told me he was just filling in for the guy. And I was like "once they hear you play…" (laughs) they’re gonna dump that little schmoe in no time.


NT: Otherwise, are those guys working on stuff?


Mike: They do stuff. The keyboard player has his own band, the bass player has 2 or 3 projects going, and a little record label.


NT: Which brings me to another question: How did Ipecac evolve? Was it something you always wanted to do?


Mike: I think I would have done it sooner or later, but I was forced to because I spent a bunch of my own money on a Fantomas record and no one wanted to put it out. I realized very quickly, this thing is really important to me. I want complete control over it and the only way to do that is to create my own label and put it in my own context. I’m not going put it on Relapse or Road Runner where it’s going sink in Death Metal sewage, fuck that. I could do that or put it out on Tzadik, the Zorn-thing, but I don’t think it belongs there, either, it’s not really that.


It’s a rock band. And I just realized--wait a minute!--it's not like I’m going to quit what I’m doing and go wash cars for living. I’m going to keep doing this. There are going to be records, probably more and more difficult records, and more records that people are going to not like or understand. So what that means is, well, I have to create my own universe where this does make sense.


It’s hard for me to really imagine having done it any other way. It's one of those things, you know, like the first time you tried beer or something. "What the fuck was I thinking? You know, where have I been?" It’s been great. Very, very, few hassles, and a whole lot of pleasure, and met a whole lot of great people out of it, and yeah, this year should be fun, too. A lot of weird little cats in the bag.


NT: I heard a new Fantomas release is supposed to be coming out.



Mike: Yeah, probably, I don’t know if I’m going to actually get it out before the end of the year. I’m going to have to hurry it up.


NT: I can’t help but ask what that’s going be like.


Mike: It’s not going to be like the first one. I think if it’s not going somewhere else, why bother? Right now, the tunes that I have worked out for it are long and ambient.


NT: Big departure...


Mike: Yeah, and we’ve got Buzz [Osborne, guitarist for Fantomas and The Melvins] singing. I realized one day when we were doing a project, a live project with The Melvins and Fantomas together, we played each other’s tunes together, like a BIG BAND...we’re putting that out, by the way. It’ll be a live recording. Out in April or something. It turned out great. But anyway, I realized when we were doing that, I thought, Jesus...man, I’ve got a weapon in this guy, this man’s voice is…wow, I’ve gotta use this.


NT: Are you trained as a vocalist or self-taught? I’ve always wanted to ask that one.


Mike: Totally self taught. Don’t read, don’t write music. Don’t know anything about it.


NT: So when you compose, it’s just...


Mike: Chords. I do it in the studio.


NT: Really. So all your stuff is pretty composed. You don’t have to go in the studio and improv?


Mike: Not really...unless I’m going to make an improv record. Can’t rehearse that. And I’ve done a little bit of that in the studio. And a couple projects I had were just that. But, for the most part, well, studios...cost money. And you want to go in there as prepared for battle as possible and be efficient. And get it done get it over with and get the hell out of there.


It blows my mind, you know, you see these bands in there smoking dope, chasing girls around the studio, and their family’s down there, everybody’s partying... "What do you do for a living again?" I can’t do that.


When I get in the studio it’s just very worked out, and you know, I’ve brought friends who have been curious and it was boring. It’s like watching a doctor read a manual or something, it’s very clinical. Listen to the same parts over and over again and "that’s not quite right, that’s sharp do that again, is that flat? do it again... boom. Okay next thing...next thing...okay fine..." 14 hours later you can’t see straight or hear straight, you stumble out of there and start it again the next day.


It’s not like crack the cognac and stare off into the sunset and let’s all be inspired, peace and love, no. It sucks. It’s work.


NT: So do these diverse bands come to the Ipecac label on their own, or do you seek them out?


Mike: Both. Usually we have to seek, actually. That’s the fun part of it. Hmmm... What’s coming next? What can we find? Sometimes things just land in your lap and that’s great. But most of the time you gotta dig around. And you know what? I like it that way. That’s the way it should be. Most things that you have to dig for and work for are better in the long run. If we believed what the media told us we wouldn’t even be sitting here right now. We’d be at a Brittany Spears concert. There is good shit out there, you gotta dig for it. Swim in the muck.



Especially with hip-hop. It’s all about fashionable producers and production. No one’s really going out on any kind of a limb in that world, if you ask me. Very few. Dan’s one of them. Sensational...He’s dangling out there. But, as far as more hip hop, no plans. I was a fan, and I knew someone that knew him and I thought, "well, couldn’t hurt to ask," and he was into it so...


NT: Tomahawk is a lot different from the stuff I’ve heard you do, really cool.


Mike: That’s more of a collaboration, Duane [Denison of Jesus Lizard]’s thing. That’s something I would never come up with on my own and that’s why I was interested in it. I really like his writing, I thought I could also find a way to fit in there, make it comfortable, put my stamp on it too. Same thing with Loveage. It was like, I would never do this on my own, that’s why I’d be interested.


NT: I think Maldoror is the most accessible noise project I’ve heard, in a lot of ways.


Mike: Thanks. My goal was kind of to harness it a little bit, turn them into "tunes," if you can call them that. I don’t know if they really are, but I was kind of trying to make a nudge in that direction. You know, little motifs that repeat...I just didn’t want it to be a free for all. I mean, it was a free for all in the studio. Complete improv. We recorded it then I took it home, chopped it up, over-dubbed on it, that was it. Second one’s going to be based on perfumes. It’s all gonna be different perfumes.


NT: Anymore solo records in the works?


Mike: Yeah, but pretty low down on my laundry list right now. A lot of them need nursing and touring, and I’m going to try and cut down on those a little... Right now, I’m spending too much time on the road. My New Year’s resolution was to stay home a little more. That’s all well and good, because when you’re at home you can make records. Can’t do that when I’m out here.

NT: I almost hate to ask, but which do you prefer? Touring or recording?


Mike: If you ask me now, it’d be recording. You’ve got to have a balance. And right now, I feel like the teeter-totter is too heavy on one side. I’ve been out in Chicago, like 4 times in the last…?


NT: Actually, I wanted to ask you about the Mr. Bungle tour. You had to be carried off stage because you jumped and landed on the drum kit. And then about a year later with Faith No More during the Angel Dust tour, you did flips and landed on your back...God, you must have injured yourself at least once?


Mike: Yeah, usually not those ways. Usually when I was out in the crowd, that’s when I’d get injured. You never know...sometimes I just hit myself by accident, hit a cymbal stand, you know? Or God, I can’t tell you how many times my bass players left their marks on me with their head stocks.


I’ve gone to the hospital. You know, just stitches, nothing too bad...well, I take that back. I have no feeling in my right hand because of something that happened with Faith No More, in like ‘88. Forgot about that, I’m so used to it now (shows massive scar on hand and wrist) See the scar, it start’s there and ends there.


NT: You can still move it? How many stitches was that?


Mike: (laughs) A lot. When I asked the Doctor he just laughed and said "millions," you know, its micro-surgery. I lost two days to anesthesia, it was really bad. You can hurt yourself on stage.