Mike Patton
As it draws closer to the tenth anniversary of Faith No More’s most recent shows with vocalist Mike Patton, drummer Mike Bordin has claimed the singer is “unwilling” to perform with the band again.
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While Faith No More last performed two dates in 2016 with Chuck Mosley, Patton hasn’t fronted the group since the conclusion of their Sol Invictus Tour the year prior. However, while a global live return was slated to take place in 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic forced the band to cancel these dates.
The band were again scheduled to take to the stage in 2021, though Patton’s mental health issues (which he later explained was a diagnosis of agoraphobia) necessitated their cancellation also.
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In a new interview with the Let There Be Talk podcast, Bordin has expanded on the situation, discussing how their 2021 shows saw six months of instrumental rehearsing before Patton was set to join the band ahead of their live return.
“It came to pass that when the gear was in the truck, when it was rolling to Chicago, 36 hours before we were supposed to be on stage, and our guy [Patton] doesn’t show for the rehearsal, the one rehearsal that we’re gonna do,” Bordin recalled. “And we go to go see him and see what’s going on. ‘What the hell’s going on here? Our gear’s rolling already to the gig.’ And it was very clear that he was unable at that point to physically do it.
“We made the decision that, ‘Look, we’ve gotta support our guy,’” he adds. “It’s gonna be a s–t storm canceling f–king 75 shows, but none of us wants to be the guy that breaks his back and forces him to do something that he’s not in the position to be able to do. It wasn’t even an argument. The only argument was, ‘How the f–k did we logistically do this? Because we have to.’ I mean, we did support him in our way, and whether that’s perceived or not is beyond — I can’t control it.”
Since the cancellation of the dates, little positive information about a live return for Faith No More has been revealed. While Patton has been performing with Mr. Bungle regularly since their large-scale return to the live stage in 2022, Faith No More’s Roddy Bottum describing the band’s current status as being on a “semi permanent hiatus” in October 2024.
“So it’s my take, my position, my statement on it is that he’s gone from being unable to do the shows to clearly being unwilling to do shows with us,” Bordin continued. “And that’s heavy. That’s a big difference. That’s a big difference. And we haven’t really had much dialogue on it. … It doesn’t feel great to me. It honestly kind of hurts my feelings a little bit, but that’s personal. That’s a private thing. It’s business.
“We were never gonna force somebody to do something that they weren’t able to do,” he adds. “And now, as I say, it looks like it’s more really about being willing to do it.”
As the world nears a decade since Faith No More‘s last large-scale live show, longtime keyboardist and guitarist Roddy Bottum has admitted that he’s as unclear about the band’s future as anyone.
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Bottum, who has performed with the band since they established themselves as Faith No More in 1983, made the admission during a recent interview with Chile’s Radio Futuro when he was asked about the current state of the band.
“I don’t know. I honestly don’t know,” Bottum admitted. “And you don’t have to believe me, but there’s nothing… Right now we’re in a really weird spot, a really strange spot, and I can’t really tell you what’s going on. I don’t know myself. I get different information from people, and I’m in the band.”
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Bottum also asserted that he’s not the one calling the shots in the band, stating, “Not really. If I did, probably we’d be playing in Chile next week.”
Originally emerging out of the San Francisco group Sharp Young Men, Faith No More adopted their most famous moniker in 1983, and released a total of six albums prior to their dissolution in 1998. Their biggest successes came about following the inclusion of vocalist Mike Patton in 1988, with their following albums – 1989’s The Real Thing and 1992’s Angel Dust – peaking at No. 11 and No. 10 on the Billboard 200, respectively.
The group reunited in 2009, touring globally before releasing their Sol Invictus album in 2015. That same year resulted in the band’s final shows, though a pair of dates took place in 2016 with former vocalist Chuck Mosley to celebrate the reissue of their 1985 debut, We Care a Lot. Mosley would pass away one year later at the age of 57.
Faith No More had initially planned to make their live return in 2020, though shows across the U.S., Europe, and Australia were later postponed due to the COVID pandemic. In 2021, the dates were canceled entirely, with Patton announcing his activities with Faith No More and Mr. Bungle had been shelved due to “mental health reasons” which he later explained was a diagnosis of agoraphobia.
While Patton and Mr. Bungle would later return to the stage, Faith No More have remained quiet ever since, with Bottum describing the band’s current status as being on a “semi permanent hiatus” in October 2024.
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