MIKE PATTON | First Ever Shows Outside the U.S.A

Continuing our story of Mike Patton's early days in Faith No More. 

To get up to date on this wonderful glimpse into the history of Patton and FNM read about his initial audition, The Real Thing demos and their very first live performance together. 

Patton grew up in the small Californian town of Eureka, which is where he began his music career with Trevor Dunn. Prior to meeting Dunn, Patton's musical exposure was limited.

 "Up until that point, the tastes I had were determined by what was in my dad's musty closet, as opposed to me having any kind of impulse to seek things out," he explains. I came from a small town, there was like one record store, and it just wasn't part of my vocabulary at that point. But I remember my dad had a Frank Zappa record that completely decapitated me, as well as a couple of Earth, Wind + Fire records. That's all I really remember." - Patton 2013

 "Good God, my childhood was very uneventful. I remember mostly just being scared of everything. Scared of not getting good grades, scared of not going to school, just a time spent jumping from security to security. Staying at home with my parents on Friday nights rather than going out with friends, riding freight trains by myself. I have a brother, but at that time we weren't close at all. It was more like, 'I'm this way stay away from me.'"I was basically too afraid to be nasty. I was also too afraid of doing well and being good, so that meant mediocrity was a great place for me to be. Like, I wanted to be a weatherman [laughs]. I used to pretend I was a weather man! I had all the numbers forthe weather channels. for floods, off-shore reports and so on. I'd call the previous day and remember them for the next day so as I could draw up my own weather forcast.And I'd tell anybody who cared to listen what the weather would be, my parents,anybody. Then cable came along and blew everything out for me, but I ended up falling in love with the weather channel!"I didn't even want to travel. I was scared, yet I hated Eureka and Humboldt County. It was very confusing, and everything wound around to being a self-fulfilling prophecy of sorts. I just didn't like it there at all. There was absolutely nothing to do, yet I knew I'd be leaving at some point in my life to dosomething. But there was this definite lack of ambition, and even having a band was an avoidance tactic. Avoiding making friends, avoiding girlfriends all that stuff. There was a hugefear of failure and anything I did was a replacement for something else." - Patton 1994

In his teens he would soon begin to explore the state of California with Mr. Bungle, but his first ever tour outside the USA would be six months after he joined Faith No More in the July of 1989. 

"He was just a kid, never left his crappy little backwoods town before he joined us. Never been on a plane. Then we were off to Europe. That's gotta f**k with a young man's head. But those crowds really loved his type of crazy." - Jim Martin 1990

The first countries to visit were in Europe, in particular the UK. FNM had received a warm welcome in England during 1988 on tour with Introduce Yourself. And the same acceptance came quickly for the band this time around, with The Real Thing eventually being a huge success long before it was in The States.

"We got great reviews in the UK; things were steadily, slowly building over there. But in America we were having a real struggle. We didn't fit into the whole scene at the time. Our music was wrong, our image was wrong, and I don't believe our label knew what to do with us. In fact, I don't ever think our company had any idea how to market us.They we re completely confused by this rap-metal type of thing. We didn't have the white shoes, long hair and big ballads which were easy to sell. In Britain, things were different.The label had a lot more understanding of where we were coming from." - Mike Bordin 2009

The first UK venue FNM played was Edwards No.8 in Birmingham on July 4th, the following date was in Manchester, and the third and forth shows on July 6th/7th were at the Marquee Club in London. More details at Faith No More Gig Database.

Sauna For The Soul | Sounds Magazine | Issue 15.07.1989
By Neil Perry 

FAITH NO MORE Charing Cross Road Marquee 

NOW WE know why their new LP is called 'The Real Thing'. When former vocalist Chuck Mosley  made his acrimonious exit last year, the thought that Faith No More had imploded before take-off was a grim one indeed. For those of us whose minds were unalterably scarred by their high-risk, viciously executed barrage, it was akin to losing a limb. 
From chaos comes, well, a sort of order; FNM are still at odds with the world and have lost none of their confusion or danger - but now they've turned it outwards instead of inwards. 
New singer Mike Patton's vinyl performance may have hinted at a certain something lacking but, onstage, there are no worries. Faith No More are now realising the multi-pronged vision you knew was always there, but had never achieved before, FNM were devastating. They began with 'Chinese Arithmetic', the strongest song from the last LP, followed by a demented version of the title track itself, 'Introduce Yourself', after a frenzied moment of drum repairing. Whatever demon drummer Mike Bordin exercises every night, you sure are glad there's a set of skins for him to take it out on. The new material furthers FNM's exploration of uncharted rock territories - their brutal rhythms are now more colourful, more thoughtful, more up, but brutal all the same. It's the weirdest metal you'll ever hear, a sauna for the soul. 
For 'Surprise' You're Dead!' Roddy Bottum crouches and gesticulates insanely over his keyboards, bassist Bill Gould and gonzoid guitarist Jim Martin headbang in unison and Patton prowls. Jigs and dodges between the stage divers. Last year's mini-hit 'We Care A Lot' multiplies the aerobatics; if FNM were intense then, they're positively roaring now. FNM have hold of something dark and rare and fantastic, a combination of mind and body that's way out there on its own - a one-off. When they're crap, they're really god-awful but when everything connects like it did at The Marquee. 
Ah, you get the idea. The meek shall inherit shit; Faith No More are the real thing, alright. 

Set list 

Chinese Arithmetic
Introduce Yourself
The Crab Song
From out of nowhere
Epic
The Real Thing
We Care a Lot
Surprise! You're Dead!
Woodpecker From Mars
Edge Of The World
War Pigs (Black Sabbath)