MIKE PATTON discusses '1922', Mr. Bungle, Fantômas and more in an interview on Murmur Radio

With the announcement of the release date for Mike Patton's score from the Netflix film 1922, Ipecac Recordings have shared an hour-long interview with Patton conducted by The Modern School of Film's Murmur Radio.

This is a great discussion where Patton talks in length about his love of film. Patton shares  his childhood experiences of cinema in Eureka mentioning 1982 exploitation horror movie Butcher, Baker, Nightmare Maker, "Movies to me were like a way out, an escape valve. My parents dropped me off, I'd watch slasher films." 

He mentions how, before he became a musician, he was more attracted to the sound rather than the vision of films like Star Wars, "I think I was listening more than watching. My early cinema experiences were more auditory."

Patton discusses certain film scores that he found inspirational, such as 1964's The Third Man soundtrack by Anton Karas, "Where music becomes a character and into the foreground."

Patton goes on to talk about Mr. Bungle's and Faith No More collective interest in soundtracks and the use of film as a way of communicating ideas between the band members. He mentions an unreleased 14 minute Mr. Bungle song called Nouvelle Vague which Patton himself wrote based on the film 1965 French film Alphaville.



Trevor Dunn has confirmed with us that the song in question had the working title Spy.

"That long French monologue with the fucked up voice is the character Lemmy Caution from that movie"

[the Faith No More song Star A.D contains a line from the film's dialogue also]



He then speaks a little about Fantômas The Directors Cut, "Experiment In Terror, how can you possibly put your fingerprint on that. Well, you gotta be more aggressive. On other ones you lay off a little bit. The Godfather...I'm gonna fuck this up. There's a very thin line when you interpret someone else's music..."

Patton goes on to talk briefly about Ennio Morricone and how worked with Derek Cianfrance on The Place Beyond The Pines soundtrack. Before the conversation finally focuses on 1922 describing how he created his vision. "I used hurdy gurdies. I really wanted make sounds antique, old, broken and desperate" . Then reflecting on how Patton feels the score should be heard. "I can't tell anyone how to listen to this, but way I would listen to it is like a normal record....When I finished the score I was driving with my wife down to la from sf....I wanted to see what the master sounded like on my car speakers....but to me it's more of a headphone, solitary, you gotta really listen to it....it's not background music."

You can listen to the full interview HERE.