|
Mike Patton (born January 27, 1968) is an American musician. He is best-known as the lead singer of Faith No More from 1988 to 1998, but has also handled lead vocals for Mr. Bungle, Tomahawk and Fantômas. He often produces side projects in collaboration with other musicians, such as John Zorn, Dan the Automator, The Melvins, Dillinger Escape Plan, Melt-Banana, Sepultura, and Merzbow, Lovage, Maldoror, Weird Little Boy and Rahzel. He is also the co-founder of Ipecac Recordings.
Patton possesses a remarkable range of vocal textures and styles (from Sinatra-esque crooning to aggressive death metal growling), and his avant-garde leanings have earned him a large and loyal cult following.
Growing up in Eureka, California, Patton and friends formed Mr. Bungle circa 1985. They recorded a few demos and earned a small local following. With some trepidation, Patton agreed to join Faith No More in January of 1989 and fill the vocal void left by the unreliable and recently fired Chuck Mosley (Cement). Faith No More's The Real Thing was released later the same year. The album reached the top ten on the charts thanks largely to MTV's heavy rotation of the video for the song "Epic."
Despite consistent critical success over the next half-decade, Faith No More never matched the level of commercial success experienced by The Real Thing. After a series of interesting, but poorly promoted albums (Angel Dust; King for a Day, Fool for a Lifetime; and Album of the Year), Faith No More officially disbanded in 1998.
During the long demise of Faith No More, Patton had resumed collaborating with Mr. Bungle. His success in mainstream rock and metal ultimately helped secure Mr. Bungle a record deal with Warner Bros. The band released a self-titled album (produced by John Zorn) in 1991, and the highly surreal Disco Volante in 1995.
Patton's other projects have included two "experimental" solo albums on John Zorn's Tzadik label (Adult Themes for Voice in 1996 and Pranzo Oltranzista in 1997). He's appeared many times on other Tzadik releases with Zorn and others.
Recently, Patton has worked with the Björk and the beat boxer Rahzel. He is often featured on new releases, and is regarded as extremely hard working.
Along with Greg Werckman, Patton also runs a record label called Ipecac Recordings.
Discography
Only the albums on which Patton appears throughout are listed, albums on which he made a guest appearance on some songs aren't, neither are Faith No More and Mr. Bungle albums. Refer to those articles for complete information about those bands.
- 1996 "Adult Themes for Voice"
- 1997 "Pranzo Oltranzista"
- 1998 "Weird Little Boy" (by Weird Little Boy - John Zorn and Patton)
- 1999 "Fantômas" (by Fantômas - Patton, Buzz Osbourne, Trevor Dunn and Dave Lombardo)
- 1999 "She" (by Maldoror - Patton and Masami Akita)
- 2001 "Director's Cut" (by Fantômas)
- 2001 "Tomahawk" (by Tomahawk - Patton, Duane Denison, John Stanier and Kevin Rutmanis)
- 2002 "Millennium Monsterwork" (by The Fantômas Melvins Big Band - Fantômas and Melvins playing together live)
- 2002 "Hemophiliac" (by John Zorn/Patton/Ikue Mori)
- 2002 "Irony Is a Dead Scene EP" (by The Dillinger Escape Plan with Patton on vocals)
- 2003 "Mit Gas" (by Tomahawk)
- 2004 "Delirium Cordia" (by Fantômas)
- 2004 "Hemophiliac: 50th Birthday Celebration Volume Six (by John Zorn/Patton/Ikue Mori)
- 2004 "Romances" (Patton & Kaada)
- 2005 "General Patton vs The X-ecutioners"
|
