This is Mike Patton. He is best known as the vocalist for Faith No More. Faith No More is, in my opinion, one of the greatest bands to have ever existed. Don't fight me on this. It will get ugly. It's entirely subjective, opinionated, and I FUCKING LOVE FAITH NO MORE!
I first became aware of them in the summer of 1987 when I saw James Hetfield wearing one of their t-shirts in Metallica's Garage Days liner notes artwork.
"Well, if it's something James is into. I gotta check it out."
That's how I discovered a lot of new music. Listening to what my musical heroes would get all excited about. It was a really fun rabbit hole to go down.
In this instance, it was FNM. Sophomore year in high school. I buy the "We Care A Lot" album. It's different than anything I'm listening to at the time. The closest comparison would be to Red Hot Chili Peppers, but that's clearly imperfect. FNM had very in your face bass like RHCP, but it wasn't as funk influenced. You could hear some later generation punk, new wave, metal in it. It was unique.
I dug it! A year later "Introduce Yourself" would come out. It was more polished and their sound seemed to have evolved a little bit. A little more raw, closer to their stage sound.
I'd see them once with Chick Mosley at the microphone. At One Step Beyond in Santa Clara. Great show, but I could tell that Chuck Had some problems.
That would turn out to be the case as he was fired from the band not terribly long after I saw that show. Well. That was fun for a year. I'm gonna miss Faith No More. They were one of a kind.
Fall 1989. My buddy Andy comes running over to my house.
"Holy shit! You need to hear this!"
He puts on the new FNM album, "The Real Thing" with their brand spanking new vocalist, some unknown kid named Mike Patton.
Um... DAMN! We must have listened to it 5 times in a row. From Out Of Nowhere, Epic, Falling to Pieces, Surprise! You're Dead!, Zombie Eaters, and the best fucking cover of War Pigs I've ever heard! This new vocalist was the shit! Same FNM sound, new, out of this world vocalist.
The debut Bungle album wouldn't come out for another two years and introduce us all to a whole new world of Patton's amazing vocal prowess.
This is my new favorite thing. This is and Soundgarden of course.
The first time I would see them touring for this album would be with Metallica at Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View. There were maybe 80 of us in that crowd of 25,000 that were excited to see FNM. They launch into their set. It's fucking great! Kirk Hammet comes out and plays alongside Jim Martin on From Out Of Nowhere. They're starting to win the crowd over. Continue through the set.
Boooo! You suck!
Metal crowds are the worst. Just the worst. I love the music but really kinda hate the fans.
Surprise! You're Dead! wins some people over. It's a metal song at heart. We Care A Lot. Introduce Yourself... not so much.
Then the piece de resistance!
That glorious rendition of War Pigs. Jim plays the first couple of guitar stings. The crowd picks up.
Then... the next guitar sting... BOOM! JAMES MOTHERFUCKING HETFIELD! THE GOD OF METAL GUITAR! ON STAGE WITH FAITH NO MORE!
The crowd fucking loses it! FNM won the day!
Metallica was great as per usual. My neck hurt for weeks after that show.
A couple of months pass. Epic becomes this weird massive hit on the charts. Faith No More is blowing up.
They came up from the same scene that produced all the bands that I would regularly see in the coming years on an almost daily basis.
The next time I'd see them was at The Omni in Oakland doing a dual headlining gig with Primus. I wasn't in with the Primus crew yet, so no photo passes for me at this point.
It was a brilliant show. A perfect pairing of bands.
They continue to blow up. They're huge. They're massive. They're touring with giant bands, growing their audience.
They grew so quickly that there was no chance of 18 year old me ever getting in with their camp and getting photo passes.
The years would pass. I would see FNM every chance I could. Angel Dust. King For A Day. Album of the year.
The last show of theirs I saw before they called it quits was at The Moore Theater in Seattle on the Album Of The Year tour. A highly underrated album. It really does have some of their best material on it.
Then, they pull the plug. It was a good 8 year run full of amazing, adventurous music and great shows, but they were done.
Bordin went on to be Ozzy's drummer. Makes sense. Roddy records and tours with his band Imperial Teen. Mike goes on to do Fantomas, Bungle, Tomahawk, numerous solo albums... basically 8 million things so I would always have a Patton fix occasionally. Bill would go on to start his own record label Kool Arrow and work on myriad other projects.
In 2000, I'm in deep with the Kultur Shock camp. Brad Houser tells me that Bill is interested in signing Kultur Shock to his label of interesting "world music" acts. He's going to be at the next show at the Crocodile.
Brad. "You're a huge FNM fan if I recall?"
Me. "OH FUCK YEAH I AM!"
"Well, make sure you're at the Croc show this weekend. Bill's gonna be here. I'll introduce you."
"Done! Thanks, Brad!"
I come to the show. Say my hellos to everyone and head to get a beer at the bar in the main room. I'm standing right behind Bill. I tap him on the shoulder.
Me. "You know Bruce Bullis, right?"
Bill. "How the fuck do you know Bruce Bullis? Who are you?"
We grab a beer and start chatting. I went to UCSC with Bruce Bullis. Went to a lot of Primus shows with him. Briefly embarrassed myself in a band with him.
Bruce is a great guy. He and Bill became friends because of Bruce's work after college. That's how I knew Bruce.
We have a great chat, but he's here for business. I leave him alone, thanking him for the chat. I instantly like Bill. He's a good dude.
Long story short, Bill loves the band and signs them. He produces three albums with them and, as a result, I get to know Bill pretty well.
He's a partner in both Solo Bar and St. John's, so he's in Seattle occasionally and it's always great to hang out with him. When I'm in San Francisco, I always check in to see if he's available for coffee. If he's in town, he's always game for a cup of coffee and he knows where the good stuff is.
We never talk about Faith No More. It's always about other bands and music. Travel. Food. Coffee. Booze. Politics. The old days in SF. Regular stuff. The shit that friends talk about.
Love this guy! Honored I get to call him friend.
In 2009, FNM announce they're reforming and going to tour. Mostly European shows sadly. I'm beyond excited. I watch all the videos on YouTube. They're easily as good as the last time I saw them 11, 12 years earlier.
In 2010 they do a 3 night run at The Warfield in San Francisco. It sells out instantly. I contemplate heading down to see if Bill can get me in for one of the nights. I decide against that. That's asking too much in his hometown.
In late 2011, I meet up with Bill and their manager in SF to talk about a potential editing project. Still not sure if I can talk about the details of it, but it was a dream project!
They ship me some hard drives many months later. I edit some stuff together and post it for them to see.
In early 2013, Tomahawk was coming to town, so I ask their manager who also manages FNM if I can get a photo pass. He happily obliges.
I get to shoot both Mike Patton and Trevor Dunn that evening! HOLY SHIT! I'm so excited! After the show, Tim asks me if I want to hang out and meet the band.
FUCK YEAH, DUDE!
I'm escorted to the green room at The Showbox. Trevor introduces himself. I confess I'm a huge fan of his. He's super flattered. A really down to earth guy. We chat about the Bay Area for a few minutes and I give him some Seattle coffee suggestions.
Then, like a meteor impact, Mike Patton taps me on the shoulder.
"You're Krk, right?"
"That's me! Thrilled to meet you!"
"Hey! Hey! I'm looking forward to see your work!"
"Thanks! That's a massive compliment. I'll get you guys some copies of the photos in a couple of days."
"No no no! The FNM video project. I really want to see what you can do. I think you get us."
I'm freaking out right now!
"Can you work largely without any input from any of us and then deal with some really harsh criticism of how you did everything wrong and to start over from scratch?"
"Damn straight I can! I look forward to the challenge!" (I had worked with Kultur Shock for almost 15 years at this point!)
"Good good. Keep in touch with Tim. He'll be your guy."
"Thanks, Mike. Great fucking show and looking forward to working with you guys."
"Gotta go see an old friend. Thanks for hanging out!"
I say goodbye to Mike and Trevor and drive home after a quick decompress drink at Solo.
HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT!
Mike Patton just said he enjoyed my work and was looking forward to seeing what I could do.
Damn! I'm riding a serious high!
Ultimately, the project didn't happen. It couldn't have been money. Those guys are loaded and my fee was spare change for them. I've never talked to Bill about it because he and Mike were both pretty insistent I work through Tim and I wanted to respect that.
So it fell through. Bummer. But, some high powered influential people like my work! I'll take it!
A couple years pass. Faith No More releases a new album! Sol Invictus! It's great! A perfect successor to Album Of The Year! I love it.
April of 2015, FNM is coming to The Paramount. Bill is kind enough to offer me a free pass to the show, a photo pass and an aftershow pass. Damn straight I'm going to be there!
Mike, Bill, and Roddy have dinner at St. John's. It's good to catch up with Bill as always and to get a chance to chat with Mike and Roddy. They're great guys despite Mike not remembering me at all. Heh.
Showtime!
We have 3 songs to shoot the band. Click click click! Shoot as many photos as humanly possible in a 13-15 minute time frame! We're escorted out of the photo pit. I get to enjoy the rest of the show. They're performing like they had not had a 12 year break. Spot the fuck on!
I'd always wanted to photograph FNM since 1989 when I took my first photography class. 26 years later... I finally got to! It's entirely possible this is the only time I will ever shoot them and I'm grateful for the opportunity, but here's to hoping for another Faith No More tour sometime!
"You want it all but you can't have it!"
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