FAITH NO MORE | Hot Metal | August 1992
Hot Metal | Issue Mid 1992
ANGEL OF WEIRD
Angel Dust may seriously damage your mental health, but
Faith No More's version is seriously good for your ears. Jeremy Sheaffe spoke
with Mike Patton and Billy Gould, but still couldn't find out what a Jizzlobber
really is!
Faith No More are not, repeat not, your everyday,
world-touring, chart-topping rock 'n' roll stars. If they were they'd be Guns
'N' Roses and there is no way that you'd be reading an interview in Australia's
loudest mag! In fact, if they were rock stars this article would be exactly the
same as the one you could read in any magazine collecting dust on any toilet
floor.
And not only are Faith No More not rock stars but the five
individuals who make up the band are so unalike that when two of them are asked
the same question the difference in response can be anywhere from predictable
to completely astounding. For example, when I ask what 'Jizzlobber', a song
from their new opus 'Angel Dust' is about, bass player Billy Gould replies:
"You know what jizz is?" Yep!
"And you know what the verb 'to lob' is about?"
Yep again!
"Well put them both together!"
Is it written about any jizzlobbers that you know?
"It's written about some porno star, but I don't
remember his name, I'm not the porno expert in the group!"
Who is then?
After a pause for thought, the reply seems obvious.
"Probably Patton."
So we ask the frontman the same question. Mike, what exactly
is 'Jizzlobber' really about?
"Well, it's about this fear I have of going to gaol. I
know it's gonna happen someday... I've been there once, but I have a feeling
I'm gonna go some day for a very long time."
See! It really isn't easy trying to make sense of all this.
And if you've heard any of 'Angel Dust' you'll understand exactly why that is.
Faith No More (who, apart from the reprobates already mentioned, is made up of
Roddy Bottum on keyboards, Jim Martin on guitars, and Mike Bordin on drums) are
not out to do what you expect of them, but merely to do what they expect of
themselves. 'Angel Dust' is by no means just a follow-up album to the hugely
successful, chart-shaking 'The Real Thing'. No, this is the San Franciscan
quintet's fourth album and it will stand or fall on its own merits.
"When we did 'The Real Thing'," exlpains Billy,
"we had a tiny budget, we were broke and on top of that nobody really gave
a shit about us. Nobody knew what kind of music we played and nobody could
classify us. We were at a real disadvantage in those days, but now we're at a
real advantage." Adding to the advantageous position the band find
themselves in is the fact that all through June and most of July this year they
joined Spundgarden as support to the metal circus that is Guns 'N' Roses'
European tour. And then, from July 17 to who knows when, they'll be warming the
stage for Metallica and the Gunners on their co-headlining jaunt around
America. Rock 'n' roll or wot?
"Oh God yes," agrees the now short-haired Patton.
"Its a total spectacle, a sick circus..."
And what part of this sideshow do Faith No More play? My
guess is the freak show, or perhaps the clowns. I'm wrong again.
"We're not even involved. We're just watching it. Guns
'N' Roses are the circus... it's amazing... it's just a lot of money and way
too much time to spend it in."
Continuing the theory that Faith No More never really listen
to each other, or totally disregard what the others say, Billy Gould thinks
"it's fucking amazing that we even got on the tour, one of the biggest
tours in the world. I don't know... I mean, aesthetically we're different!
"I think it's good though. I've gotta give Guns
'N" Roses credit, and give Metallica credit, too. Right now it's really
responsible of them to pick bands that are different because they didn't have
to do that. They could pretty much tour with anybody."
Referring back to the tour's carnival atmosphere and blatant
excess, and hinting at Faith No More's unerring ability to be the fly in the
ointment, Patton adds, "It's more like you see so many thing that are
fucked up that you wanna say something - and we're already pushing it. The
amazing thing is that everybody knows something is going to happen," he
laughs. "By the time we get to the States, I'm sure something will have
happened!" Mike didn't have to wait very long for something to happen. On
the day of our interview, Guns 'N' Roses decided, two hours before they were
due on stage, that Axl was "too exhausted" to play to 30, 000 eager
fans in Manchester, England.
Billy says that kind of thing has happened every day, that
the Gunners go on stage late "all the time. We wouldn't do it, so I don't
know why it is. I'd like to know myself!"
A few months back in Hot Metal Billy was quoted as saying
that 'Angel Dust' would either be a huge flop or would sell by the truckload.
The verdict is still in the balance, a bit of a hung jury, as they say in 'LA
Law'. "I just think that way," says Billy, who's still not sure
himself which way the album will go but seems confident, that, like the band,
it will never occupy any sort of middle ground. "I think that what we did
was to take a chance here. I think we could've played it safe and just redone
the last record, and that would have done really well.
"But," he says, his voice strengthening, "we
didn't opt for that, so I've got no idea what'll happen with this. All I know
is that we made the best record we could. We did our best job, and what more
could you expect?"
What more could we expect? Well, given Faith No More's past
record as full-on eccentrics, we could expect some startling press statement
saying that Mike's gonna join Mr. Bungle full time, or that Jim Martin has
killed the rest of the band. C'mon Bill, and start living up toy your
reputation - you're starting to make me look stupid with all this normality. Read
the first paragraph, Bill, I'm trying to make you guys look weird!
"That's an easy angle to take, it's easy to write that
stuff because it's right there. It's the most obvious angle, but it's not
necessarily the most interesting. I mean, how many times can people get
interested reading about the same thing, y'know?"
But, I moan, that's part of the challenge of interviewing a
member of Faith No More. Like I pointed out before, ask any two members the
same question and you'll get two very different answers. Bastards.
"There is really no one to answer these things,"
argues Bill. :If you want an interesting interview with me ask me what
Czechoslovakia was like, talk about things that maybe we've seen, travel or
something. Things other people might find interesting.
"When it comes to writing songs, the material is
something we do unconsciously. We're musicians and we're in a band and we write
songs - it's not something that we analyse. It's hard to analyse what you do
naturally, it's really kinda difficult. It's especially difficult to say it in
an interesting way because it's a little too close. It seems natural, it's what
we do naturally." Then, as a footnote, he asks, "Does that make
sense?" Maybe, but either way I'll follow Bill's lead and ask him what it
was like to play in these places. Did that blow some misconceptions he'd had?
"You just don't know until you go there. We just played what used to be
the Eastern Bloc. We played Hungary and Czechoslovakia - Prague is one of the
most beautiful places in the world. When we played Hungary people were coming
from Bulgaria, Macedonia... These people were coming from places that were out
there, way out in the middle of fucking nowhere, and they were driving this far
and they knew about us and wanted to come to the show."
Bill's on a bit of a roll now. He certainly can show a much
more mature side to himself on occasion, and this is one of those times.
"It made me realise that there is no money to be made by being in a band
and touring out there, but two-thirds of the world's population lives in these
place," he adds. "I think it's really total bullshit, that when we do
these interviews we're just doing it to get people to spend money on the
record, so we can charge the highest ticket price and charge the highest T-shirt
price. All the people who have the money imagine anywhere else that's not like
where they live as being full of fucking primitives who live in caves or spend
all their times in death squads, shooting people. Of course it's not like
that!"
So Bill thinks the best thing about being in FNM is
travelling the world. And what about Mr. Patton? Unsurprisingly, Mile's answer
is totally different to Bill's.
"I would have to sat kiddie porn," he says without
hesitation. " received a video tape of child pornography once from a
Japanese fan who was only a little girl herself, very nice and polite. She came
up to me and said 'I hear you like porno, here's a present for you!' because in
Japan that's the way they express themselves. So I was like, 'Wow, thanks!'
"I took the tape home and put it in my VCR and it was
like 'Oh my God!' I didn't expect that at all, especially from a little girl.
The fan who gave it to me was like a teenager and the girl in the film, she was
probably 12, 11."
Are there really so many answers for the one simple
question? Yep, there certainly are. And why? Well, because this, my friends, is
the Faith No More way.
Interesting article, thank you.
ReplyDeleteRegarding heavy music, I once talked to an online psychologist and he said that music affects everyone differently because everyone has different taste in music.
If you like heavy music, it won't hurt your mental health and maybe even bring you emotional peace and distraction from your problems.
Oh, I'm a big fan of such music. I think that it can be beneficial for mantal health, because it helps to express the emotions
ReplyDeleteSome people even like this feeling, and I know they get stoned just to have an empty mind. I guess it has some advantages, but I prefer to have a clear mind all the time. That's why I use CBD products instead, and after reading this article, I decided to take CBD gummies before sleep to make sure I won't spend hours trying to find the best sleeping position. They work pretty great, and now I don't understand weed smokers even more.
ReplyDeleteOh, there's nothing that can damage my mental health because it can't fall any lower, it's just impossible.
ReplyDeleteOh, dude, I feel pretty bad for you. I know what it's like when you feel like there's nothing that can help you, and I highly recommend you go to therapy because your mental health is something you need to take care of. I managed to get over that time, and now I just smoke cannabis to feel less anxious. I even started growing it myself, and Herbies seeds provide a high-quality harvest every time, so I hope you'll manage to get through that state.
ReplyDeleteI love these guys, and in general, I'm a huge fan of metal. My ex didn't like my taste in music at all, and that's why she became my ex.
ReplyDeleteI don't think that tastes in music are something that should be the same when it comes to a couple, but if she wasn't nice about it, then it makes sense. Personally, I'm looking for someone on dating sites, and the match.com prices uk are quite attractive, and I'm sure it won't be a problem to find someone with a similar music taste.
ReplyDeleteI believe music can really help with metal health problems. Aside from it, I also strongly believe that engaging into sports, not physical sports but sports betting is another way to relieve stress, depression and all of that. And I can say that it is worth my time because I can make a living. I'm particularly into college football betting. If you want to try it go to this page. It's my very trusted site of all time.
ReplyDeletedid Mike Patton admit in this interview he liked (and watched) child pornography??? that is very disturbing, to say the least.
ReplyDelete