MIKE PATTON | Listen to the Interview with Full Metal Jackie

Photo | Alan Snodgrass

Mike Patton was interviewed by Full Metal Jackie for her show last weekend.

Patton spoke in length about Dead Cross.

On the lyrics

It was all about the music and I’ve never written lyrics that were this pointed or provocative, especially considering the state of the world that we live in now. So I thought it was a good opportunity to kind of go there. I’m not really going there like say Jello Biafra would go there. But I’m hinting on it and I’m also injecting a lot of humor and a lot of like nasty imagery. I think that hopefully it helps people think a little bit.I’m not really a big lyric fan, to be honest. I think the music tells the story. Lyrics are just kind of background to me in normal — most bands that I played with. This one, I kind of took a different turn. I don’t know if it works. Who knows? It feels good. That’s all I can tell you.

On his vocal style

It’s weird. I told them, I warned them, I was like, “Guys, when I sing on this it’s not going to be full on 100 percent genre-specific hardcore. It’s going to be weird.” There’s nothing that I do that belongs anywhere [laughs]. They were like, “We’re up for it, do your thing.” They gave me, to their credit, full reign on all the tunes. “Do whatever the f–k you want and however it sounds, we’ll deal with it.” So I have to tip my cap to them for giving me the freedom to do it. It wasn’t like, “You’ve got to be like Ian MacKaye or Henry Rollins or whatever.” It was, “Do you.” That made me feel really, really comfortable and that’s why I did it to be honest.

On the future of the band

I think we should. It’s going so well and it feels really good — we get along real well. I don’t see why we shouldn’t put out a few more records and keep touring. So, we’ll see. I’ve learned to not make too many promises in advance, so, who knows? [laughs]

He also mentioned the future of Faith No More, and was rather pessimistic.

No, I would share but I don’t know anything. So, we’re kind of on a extended break and if something happens, it’ll happen organically and naturally but I kind of don’t think it will. I kind of feel like we’ve tipped the scales a little bit, but we’ll see, who knows? I’ve learned my lesson not to say “No.”

Listen to the full interview.