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Album Of The Year - 17 Years

June 3, 2014, 12:40 pm
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On this day in 1997....

17 years ago Faith No More released their last album to date, ALBUM OF THE YEAR.

Here is the band taking about some of tracks from the album in 1997.

The Making of Album of the Year | Keyboard Magazine | September 1997

"Usually we put out a record every three years, and then we tour it to death for a year or so until we're sick of each other. The last thing we want to do after a tour is go right back into the studio, so on the last tour [King for a Day, Fool for a Lifetime] we decided to cut it short, stop while we were ahead, and get back into the studio and crank out another album while we had some momentum." - Billy Gould

"My schedule was pretty hectic at that time, but to tell you the truth, everybody's schedule was hectic. And so it was a situation of making the record around people's other projects. It was sort of precarious, but it ended up coming together pretty well. We've always done records as a group together in one studio at one time, but this one was all done in parts." - Roddy Bottum

"The bulk of that song was written the first week. We arranged it here, and then we sent Patton a tape. He was in Italy, but he came up with the lyrics and the singing right away. It was one of those songs that just clicked -- one of those songs that we do most naturally. That's our sound." - Billy Gould describing 'Ashes To Ashes'

"Roddy, Puffy, and myself like to jam together. We're the guys who started the band, so we like to get in the same room and play. A lot of my playing comes off the drummer. So when we get together, we can really work things out together and fine-tune stuff. A lot of times we come away with a bed to work from." - Billy Gould

"Angel Dust was like a hurricane coming - a big, ugly storm. King for a Day was like when the storm was hitting you, with all this stuff flying all over the place. And this record...this record is kind of like digging through the wreckage and pulling out bodies afterwards. - Billy Gould

In the same article, the author takes notes as Billy Gould describes some of the songs from Album Of The Year:

Stripsearch

"The loop in the beginning made such a difference. Before we put it in, the song sounded more like Queensryche. But after the loop, it sounded more like Portishead or something. It gave it a darker, different slant. It didn't sound like a rock band anymore."

Last Cup Of Sorrow

"Mike can do a lot of wild things with his voice, for one. But, yeah, he sang through an old Telefunken tube mic and we compressed the living shit out of it."

Naked In Front Of The Computer

"Actually, this song is about email. Patton is kind of obsessed with the idea of how people can communicate and have relationships over the computer without talking or ever meeting. So this is an extreme version of that concept. Funny thing is...the image of someone sitting naked in front of a computer might not have made sense to people a few years ago, but now everybody knows what it means. It's become part of our culture."

Mouth To Mouth

"This song has an interesting story. Last year I went to Albania. I got an old car, and I drove through the country - a country that's been isolated from the world for like 30 years. So I went in there, and one thing I noticed were a lot of thug-type guys running around in leather jackets with ghetto blasters, but they weren't listening to heavy metal music: it was this loud Arabic music, and it was really inspiring."

She Loves Me Not

"This song almost didn't make it on the record. We almost didn't even record vocals for it because it's so different from all of the other songs. I wrote this song, and I was almost embarrassed to play it for anybody in the band because it's so soft - but at the same time it's a good song. It's like a Boyz II Men song of something. I didn't play it for anybody for, like, a half a year, and then finally I played it for Puffy. He thought we should give it a try, so I gave it to Patton, and he said, 'I wrote words, but they're pretty over-the-top.' But we went forward with it, and he really sang his ass off."

Got That Feeling

"This is a Mike Patton 100-percent original. Basically it's a song about a guy who's a compulsive gambler. I think it would make an amazing video."

Paths Of Glory

"This song is all about a mood. It's not: 'Entertain me.' It's a vibe."

Pristina

"This song took quite a bit of work in the studio because there are so many big open chords of distorted guitar, which doesn't leave much room for anything else. You've got room for drums, vocals, and maybe a deep bass, but trying to get the strings to cut through was a challenge. We spent a lot of time EQing and working with them to get hem placed just right."
Photo: On this day in 1997.... 17 years ago Faith No More released their last album to date, ALBUM OF THE YEAR. Here is the band taking about some of tracks from the album in 1997. The Making of Album of the Year | Keyboard Magazine | September 1997 "Usually we put out a record every three years, and then we tour it to death for a year or so until we're sick of each other. The last thing we want to do after a tour is go right back into the studio, so on the last tour [King for a Day, Fool for a Lifetime] we decided to cut it short, stop while we were ahead, and get back into the studio and crank out another album while we had some momentum." - Billy Gould "My schedule was pretty hectic at that time, but to tell you the truth, everybody's schedule was hectic. And so it was a situation of making the record around people's other projects. It was sort of precarious, but it ended up coming together pretty well. We've always done records as a group together in one studio at one time, but this one was all done in parts." - Roddy Bottum "The bulk of that song was written the first week. We arranged it here, and then we sent Patton a tape. He was in Italy, but he came up with the lyrics and the singing right away. It was one of those songs that just clicked -- one of those songs that we do most naturally. That's our sound." - Billy Gould describing 'Ashes To Ashes'"Roddy, Puffy, and myself like to jam together. We're the guys who started the band, so we like to get in the same room and play. A lot of my playing comes off the drummer. So when we get together, we can really work things out together and fine-tune stuff. A lot of times we come away with a bed to work from." - Billy Gould "Angel Dust was like a hurricane coming - a big, ugly storm. King for a Day was like when the storm was hitting you, with all this stuff flying all over the place. And this record...this record is kind of like digging through the wreckage and pulling out bodies afterwards. - Billy Gould In the same article, the author takes notes as Billy Gould describes some of the songs from Album Of The Year: Stripsearch "The loop in the beginning made such a difference. Before we put it in, the song sounded more like Queensryche. But after the loop, it sounded more like Portishead or something. It gave it a darker, different slant. It didn't sound like a rock band anymore." Last Cup Of Sorrow "Mike can do a lot of wild things with his voice, for one. But, yeah, he sang through an old Telefunken tube mic and we compressed the living shit out of it." Naked In Front Of The Computer "Actually, this song is about email. Patton is kind of obsessed with the idea of how people can communicate and have relationships over the computer without talking or ever meeting. So this is an extreme version of that concept. Funny thing is...the image of someone sitting naked in front of a computer might not have made sense to people a few years ago, but now everybody knows what it means. It's become part of our culture." Mouth To Mouth "This song has an interesting story. Last year I went to Albania. I got an old car, and I drove through the country - a country that's been isolated from the world for like 30 years. So I went in there, and one thing I noticed were a lot of thug-type guys running around in leather jackets with ghetto blasters, but they weren't listening to heavy metal music: it was this loud Arabic music, and it was really inspiring." She Loves Me Not "This song almost didn't make it on the record. We almost didn't even record vocals for it because it's so different from all of the other songs. I wrote this song, and I was almost embarrassed to play it for anybody in the band because it's so soft - but at the same time it's a good song. It's like a Boyz II Men song of something. I didn't play it for anybody for, like, a half a year, and then finally I played it for Puffy. He thought we should give it a try, so I gave it to Patton, and he said, 'I wrote words, but they're pretty over-the-top.' But we went forward with it, and he really sang his ass off." Got That Feeling "This is a Mike Patton 100-percent original. Basically it's a song about a guy who's a compulsive gambler. I think it would make an amazing video." Paths Of Glory "This song is all about a mood. It's not: 'Entertain me.' It's a vibe." Pristina "This song took quite a bit of work in the studio because there are so many big open chords of distorted guitar, which doesn't leave much room for anything else. You've got room for drums, vocals, and maybe a deep bass, but trying to get the strings to cut through was a challenge. We spent a lot of time EQing and working with them to get hem placed just right."
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The Real Thing Month - Focus On The Song / UNDERWATER LOVE

June 7, 2014, 7:29 am
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Underwater Funk? - focus on the song

Every now and again in music something comes along that is unique, different and just so god damn hard to categorise. So what happens, where do these strange new records slot into the shelves of your local record store? How do the media decide to describe these crazy new sounds to make it easier for themselves to determine which magazines should write the reviews? And how do the record labels know which group of trendy characters to sell their product to?

They get their heads together create a NEW genre!

In the mid 80s bands like Red Hot Chili Peppers, Living Colour and Fishbone were getting attention with a vibe that mixed funkier urban rhythms and sounds with distorted guitars and heavy beats more readily used in rock. Aerosmith collaborated with Run DMC, Anthrax with Public Enemy, Sir Mix A lot with Metal Church and these crossovers of genres were appealing all sorts of music fans. Time for some new 'press happy' phrases to put this craziness in order..... Alternative Metal was born, sub genres Rap Metal and Funk Metal. Of course years before all this Sabbath and Zepplin were playing around with funky beats under heavy guitars, and Bowie was throwing all types of sounds in together, but in those simpler times it was all just 'rock'.
How often the term funk metal was used before the release of The Real Thing in 1989 I do not know (and frankly I can't be arsed researching that) but it was used many times to describe the third album by Faith No More.
 


.

As the press of 1989 couldn't find a category to neatly file TRT under they chose the recently created funk metal and FNM just shrugged their shoulders.

At the time of release FNM were indifferent to the phrase, like any artist they didn't want their work to be pigeonholed but it didn't seem to irk them until the end of 1990 when the term was fired at them in almost every interview. FNM began to loathe this sign that had been hung around their necks and their reaction was to do everything in their creative power to write a forth album that would shove funk metal up the media's rear end!
 

Roddy Bottum 1989 ( when asked if he thinks they are funk metal )

"Not really, no. A couple of years ago. If you would have asked me that. I would have never thought I would be involved with something that they would call metal. It's really strange. I think we're being marketed that way by our record company because they would rather have a comfortable label on us than to come up with some type of adjective. I don't think the rest of
the band would say it's metal either, even the people who are most into metal. I guess it's ok for a category This time around we'll be getting a more metal crowd, which is weird It's going to take some getting used to."

Bill Gould 1992

"For some reason, all music has to be segregated and labelled, the only reason can think of for that is to give the marketing departments in record companies, and the press, a black-and white substance to work with. God, without labels, there'd be no business, apparently. But it's the labels that confuse everything. Faith No More are, evidently, a 'Funk Metal' band. Actually, we are, but we're a lotta other things too. But maybe a category with, like, ten words in it is too ong for the press and record companies to handle..." 
As much as bands hate to be labelled in such a way it has it's advantages for the listener as well as the media. These little sub genres can sometimes help us find music in a similar vein which may turn us on as much as the other.
I have to admit this was the case for me, and I liked the phrase when I first discovered FNM, it sounded cool in 1990, 'What type of music do you like? Pop.....What about you? I like Funk fucking metal baby....I'm alternative!' Let's face it Metal and Funk are two of the coolest genres going. 
 
That said I, like the band, don't think TRT was funk metal, it had elements of funk and metal sure but also punk, pop, thrash, soul, jazz, tribal can we try and combine a those into a handy phrase. I think bands like RHCP, Mordred and Extreme are better contenders for a funk metal tag but not FNM.

If TRT only had two songs and they were Falling To Pieces and Underwater Love I may have been more ready to understand the reasoning behind it but Surprise! You're Dead? Edge Of The World? Zombie Eaters? I really don't think so.

This brings me to the song I wanted to appraise in this article the afore mentioned Underwater Love. Let's start with the song itself and my customary elaborate description.

 
 
 
Roddy Bottum and Bill Gould truly make this song for me, and it was their songwriting skills that brought it to life. I love Roddy's Hammond organ sound (used in Cowboy song too) it suits the mood of this song in particular, it's a rich and bright tone with a certain purr or low growl and it conjures up images of bubbling waters to accompany the theme of the song.
Billy's funky groove (sorry) on the bass bounces along with a slap and thump that Bootsy Collins would be proud of. The bass takes a staring role in UL which is more noticeable as TRT is generally a more guitar riff friendly album than it's predecessors. 

The two elements that always stopped FNM crossing over the line into all out funkadelia are Mike Bordin's beats and Jim Martin's guitar riffs. Here Puffy holds back the swing in his technique ( his jazz swing beat on Edge of The World is awesome ) and drives with his trademark tribal style.
 
Although Bill it seems would disagree with this as a rule,
 
Bill Gould 1990.

"A lot of the Rap comes from Mike, our drummer, who took the African rhythm thing - a lot of his beats are African - and he taught me a lot of his beats, so it's got like a Funky rhythmic background, and a lot of the singing, or the guitar, is playing rhythm. So it's not necessarily Rapping, but as a rhythm thing it kind of all fits together. There's been a lot of bands who've played a Funky type Metal sound yet haven't had the attention that we've gotten or the record company behind them the way ours is. So maybe we're taking a lot of credit for what people have been doing for a long time."
 
Big Jim takes more of subdued role in UL his guitar rhythm rather formal and methodical.

Mike Patton's early 'nasal' sound some seem to regard as an annoying adolescent phase he had to grow out of, but his tone reminds me of Lenny Williams from Tower of Power, Sly Stone or Stevie Wonder and I love it. And I'm glad to I hear those tones occasionally in his voice on later albums. Also the falsetto repetition 'touch me from below' is certainly a goosebumps moment.
I do find it hard to imagine Chuck Mosley's voice as a part of this song although it would be interesting to hear how he would've tackled it.
 
Here is a link to the demo version:
 
http://youtu.be/Vf4mAjSDkBk

We know that Patton wrote all the lyrics to TRT in a matter of weeks before recording, and they are absolutely captivating. They don't have the hidden meanings or the overt cynicism of Angel Dust and King For A Day, instead they have an innocence and brattish quality to match his personality at 21 years of age. UL lyrics are some of the most delightfully twisted on the album, there's no disguising the subject is the drowning of a lover. This line in particular 'Liquid seeps into your lungs...But your eyes look so serene' gives us a clear image of this perverse scene. It seems the further down Patton's career we go the less willing he is talk about the meaning of his scribings, but in TRT era he gives us more of an insight.
Mike Patton 1989.

"It's not something I've tried, there is an obsessive kinda love out there and it's about that kinda love. Love and death go hand in hand" 
 
Here is an article article published by a page in 2012. It is a rather amusing attempt from an angry mother to get UL removed from the album because of the lyrical content.


Wendy Moncrief of Wausau, Wisconsin is dead serious about protecting what her 14-year-old daughter Stacia is exposed to. She doesn’t let her watch TV or listen to FM radio. She even goes as far as to monitor her every move on the internet. “Some people may see me as slightly overprotective, but I only want what is best for my daughter. There are too many negative influences in the world these days that didn’t exist when I was growing up in the 80′s” said Mrs. Moncrief.

Everything seemed to be working as planned until she found a cassette copy of Faith No More’s “The Real Thing” along with a few other questionable items in a lockbox under her daughter’s bed. Her first reaction was a bit of personal failure, but then she decided to attempt to mobilize other parents of teenagers by creating a petition to have one very offensive song removed from the album. In her own words:

“The song “Underwater Love” is potentially very dangerous. Yes, I can see it is not new, and the album was released back in 1989. I’ve never heard of it, but it is disgusting. The song is obviously encouraging our children to become mermaids and such, which may sound all cute, until of course your child drowns…then what??? The band was very negligent to children when it wrote this song. I think they should remove it peacefully, or by force if necessary. I’m sure they won’t go quietly. These rock and roll bands are all the same with their drugs and such. Also, anyone with a brain knows that the song “Woodpecker From Mars” is an attempt to brainwash and indoctrinate our kids into becoming mindless robot liberals. You can tell that just by looking at the title.” She rambled off more complaints, but they were just to bizarre to keep up with.

Moncrief so far has 14 signatures. If she gets to 16, we’ll be very surprised. We’ll have more on this story after the indecision ca-louds our vision....
 
 
 

Like a few songs on TRT, Underwater Love was dropped from the set in 1991 and hasn't made it back on there since. Maybe this decision was an attempt to shake the funk metal label all together. Even though there was a nod to that funky sound on AD the later albums lost it completely. FNM continued to experiment with different genres and continued to make groundbreaking musical advances but never wondered back into the murky realms of funk metal. Which kind of proves that the media were wrong to stamp the band with the label so very early in there career. After TRT the media gave up trying to pigeonhole FNM to some extent settling on referring to them as mere Alternative, and the dreaded phrase only ever appears in articles such as this one.

As a song I don't think UL has the grandiose spendour of The Real Thing or Zombie Eaters, or the power of Epic and From Out Of Nowhere but it's pop funk tones are perfectly played on the album to counter the darker more fierce songs like The Morning After, and it stands as an awesome piece of music from the era when FNM evolved from cult cool to groundbreaking contenders.

I'm not trying to convince anybody that FNM were funk metal or that TRT should ever be classed as such, as I said earlier I don't think they are. But I had the describe the sound of this one sing I might use both those words in the same sentence.





Enjoy TRT MONTH on Fnmblog and all hail the masters back in 2014!!

Thanks for reading and feel free to comment..... Jim :)



 
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Angel Dust 22 Years....The Stories

June 8, 2014, 1:44 pm
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Hey guys, so today marks the 22nd anniversary of Faith No More's Angel Dust album. Some of you may remember as part of the 20th anniversary we ran some special first hand accounts of the album, so, as part of this anniversary I will publish them all below...enjoy!


THE ANGEL DUST Q AND A WITH BILLY GOULD


Here is that Q and A session again to enjoy as part of the 22nd anniversary of that very special album!



Hey Guys,

I just wanted to say, all excellent questions here. And also, it's a great feeling to know that we made something 20 years ago that is still alive and inspiring people...as a musician, this is the best outcome a musician can hope for, so THANK YOU!!!


Bill



Remus
What's the story behind smaller and smaller? You guys never played this one live, what's the reason for this?

Well, to US (meaning the guys in the band), FNM is like two different bands; one exists to write and record music, the other is a live band that tries to make a 70-90 min set as powerful as possible. For some reason or another, we tend to gravitate towards what is called "mid-tempo" in our writing...in other words, songs that are not fast, but not exactly ballads either. This is all great to listen to, but when it comes to playing live, too many mid-tempo songs make the set really boring, for us, and for the crowd. Believe, when it happens, it sucks!! Our worst nightmare is being in the middle of a set and losing momentum...at that point it becomes hard work and little fun. "Smaller and Smaller" while pretty grandiose in concept, always felt too long and too...plodding...to even consider doing live. And truth be told, we were never quite as attached to that one as some of the others....



Rick Shaw81
Bill, going into writing and recording Angel Dust what were the bands musical influences (both separately and collectively) as well as the bands overall mindset while working together. Also, was there ever any bands you guys exposed each other to while being a band that might not have happened if you guys never crossed paths?

This is a good question. At the time we wrote Angel Dust, hair metal bands were still the kings...but I could definitely not call them inspiration by any means...and what we were listening (collectively) to at the time, I almost can't remember. I know that there was rarely a time when all 5 of us liked the same thing at the same time. I went through some strange period where I was listening non-stop to an old SF pop radio station called Magic 61, that played stuff like The Mills Brothers, Gogie Grant, Tony Bennet..."Midnight Cowboy" was a byproduct of this, as was the later covered "Greenfields" and "Spanish Eyes". 

Between ourselves, yes, I think we were always turning each other on to stuff. We still do. And this definitely had an effect on the music.



Brandon Gillies 
Looking back at the studio sessions do you find it easier to create your music now with today's technology compared to back then or do you prefer some of the older equipment and technologies is there any equipment now that you wish you had back then?

Another very good question. I've always tried to embrace technology, and have been working with computers to make music since the Real Thing era, but there is still nothing as powerful or satisfying (or frustrating) to me as coming up with a good song or part the old fashion way...through inspiration. Technology still pales in comparison. 



Dan Hexen Loix 
Did you have some full vidéo concerts of this era (1992) and would you consent to release a dvd or share on the net? that'd be great !There was never a whole concert of that era released on video or on TV.

That's a good idea, as some of the best shows we ever did were around that period. I have to say, our attitude towards shows back then was very intense and chaotic, it would be great to see some of those.



Anonymous
What if any outtakes or unused tracks exist from the AD sessions? Any chance of them turning up on a special edition of AD someday?

I don't think there are any, because if there were, then then record company would have definitely released them by now...



Frank Sickness Quinn 
Are you surprised that the album has had such an impact over the years after a few of the early reviews were disparaging of the product? It is now agreed by most fan of music to be one of the greatest albums of all time, did you have any idea whilst recording that the album would become (please pardon the pun) so EPIC?

We had no idea what it would become....we just decided that no matter what, we would try to follow our instincts as much as possible, and do what feels right, with the hope that it would make a connection somewhere. In the beginning, it felt like the gamble didn't work. but now that it is 20 years later, it's extremely validating to feel like, in the end, we did make the connection and that our original instincts were correct.



Joshua
Have the songs evolved over the years? Have they developed different meanings to you, through playing them live, hindsight and experiences you've had since the release of Angel Dust? Do they feel different now, to play and listen to, then they did back when they were first written? If yes, could you give an example? Josh.

All the songs evolve, fall in and out of favour with us, but for the most part, now that we've had a chance to really get to know them, I think we play most of them better. None of us really listen to the old recordings much, but when we do, they tend to feel a bit primitive. Case in point: I think we play "Small Victory" much better now than we did then. It just feels more solid. 



Adriano Mazzeo Bermúdez
How was the creative process of AD? How did you reach such a variety of sounds? It was easy to agree your musical ideas with other members' ideas?

The creative process was totally creative, and in that sense also, very difficult. Ideas were coming from all over the place, and yet, it was very hard to get all 5 people in sync with anything. It did happen, but it took work. Really, I think we spent about 3 or 4 months writing the album and another 2 recording. By the end, everyone was pretty exhausted.


Thomas Quinn
whilst touring 'the real thing' did you guys know the next album was going to be completely different? (style and genre wise) was it a tough or easy decision to change?

I can only speak for myself, but I knew that AD was going to be totally different. We had spent something like 16 months touring  TRT and we were well fed up with those songs. Something had to happen to bring that spark back, and that could only happen by changing course and forging ahead into new territory. For me it was a very easy decision...our creative survival depended on it. But it was still a challenge.



Chad C. Watson

what songs did you play guitar on? Ive read that Jim Martin wasn't around for some of the recording. Did you use his rig or something different? How many rhythm tracks did you record on a song?


I did play some guitar on that record, but not as much as what is generally believed. Jim wasn't around much for rehearsal, but was around for the recording, and played the lion's share of the parts. I was more involved in the writing and arrangement side of things. 



Pete Dickens 
How much freedom did the members of the band have while writing/recording the album? Were you left to take it as far as you wanted, or was there someone (band member or record label) trying to reign it in? If so, any compromises that you regret?



First, to get this out of the way, there were compromises made on AD...by definition, and working in a democratic environment with 5 headstrong people, there has to be. Not everyone liked everything we were doing...it's safe to say that Jim was not too happy with a lot of it. But the record label thing, that came later. I think it's safe to say that we were able to make that record with no creative pressure whatsoever, other than the pressure we put on ourselves.



Douglas esper8

On a serious note, what's the most random thought you've had playing the extended version of Caffeine?


There have been many. Too many!!!! I've spaced out a few times and come back, only to find that my fingers were playing the whole time...strange feeling..! Thank god FNM songs are rhythm based, and I'm a bass player!!



Andy D
Any chance of any of your albums (including AD) being remastered and re-released as special edition albums?



I've heard talk about it, but nothing definite. I know that Slash/WB has the rights to do whatever they want with that material, so it's possible. 





Agata

Hi Bill. Maybe stupid question but who choosed pic for cover- white bird?


Roddy had the idea of a white swan to go with the title, but we had a hard time finding something. At the end, a mutual friend knew a photographer and we went over to look at his stuff...and the bird was right there. We knew then and there that was the cover.


mike
I second Ben's question. Seagull Song (or whatever it's called) might not be perfect, but you have released far inferior out-takes (instrumental jam from Who Cares A Lot?, Hippie Jam, etc.) What is the stigma about letting folks hear this jam?

Ha....we really don't like this one (!!!). We don't always agree on much but we do seem to agree on this...in our minds, it was a noble attempt but didn't really work.





Douglas esper
During the touring for TRT and then with AD you were able to travel to many countries and areas that normal blue collar folks like me will never see... Did you experience any "Kultur" shock and if so, how do you think it effected your songwriting?

Thanks

Hope to see you in Cleveland, Ohio again someday!

It made a massive impact on me and totally affected the songwriting...not to mention our outlook on life in general. Keep in mind, we hit some places at some critical periods of time...we toured almost a month in Brazil at a time when not many international bands made it down there...same with Chile....and then of course, we played at The Loft in Berlin the night the wall fell...we played Estonia very early on, and Poland and Czech Rep, too...I would say that the culture shock and experiences from this tour had a larger impact than anything else in my life.



Chris Elrick
Hey Bill, To me Angel Dust has some dark lyrics combined with heavy music yet always maintains a feel good mood throughout, Did you intend for this direction in your music or did it come naturally at the time you were recording and how were things in your life effecting your creativity?

See you in London 

Well, you know Chris, we are a strange bunch...in some ways, very dark and cynical people, and in others, very bright, positive and enthusiastic. I think this vibe is part of our aesthetic, because it partially reflects who we are as people. 


Anonymous
Bill,
Over the years this album has become a classic and well respected. At the time of it's release it was not as well received as it is today. What sort of reaction from fans and critics do you remember it getting back in 1992? Was it frustrating or disappointing or the band?

Well, it's pretty safe to say that our US label Warners (not Slash, who licensed the record to WB) didn't get it, and not much of the US press did either. Internally, we were having some strain, and the 5 month GnR tour we did didn't make things much better, but we had a lot of fire then too and played some killer shows. I felt a bit like an outlaw, we were actively pushing buttons, and not all of it was positive but as people and artists, looking back, it was a necessary stage in the process.


Anonymous
Bill,
The album seems like it could flow well with the songs played in any order. Was there a lot of discussion about where the tracks should be on the album?



There was definitely a lot of discussion (an arguing) on song order, but I can't remember who won and who lost!



Claus Pupp
Hi Bill,
Angel Dust is a record full of layers, samples and the changes are all very radical, sometimes sounding like 2 or more songs altogether in 1. Very different from that inicial pot-punk "tradition" of exploring all the possibilities of 1 theme, let's say like, "Why Do You Bother".
What I want to know is, how much of that musical concept in A.D. came up in pre-production, was it a conscious decision or something that came up while recording it?
Thanks a Lot

I would say probably 80% of the material on AD came up in pre-production, with the rest happening in the studio....



Anonymous
The Videos for "Midlife Crisis" and "A Small Victory" seem to have both have high concepts and big budgets while the video for "Everything's Ruined" does not. Why was it that the video for "Everything's Ruined" (arguably the best song on the album) was so goofy and easy to produce?

The easy answer is, Warner's spent the video budget on "Small V" and "Midlife" so that when it came time to "Everything's Ruined" there's wasn't much left (!!). It was our idea to take this further and make a video as cheap as humanly possible, in one of those video booths like they had at county fairs, where you sing and dance in front of a blue screen. We didn't quite get to do that, but we got it as close as possible.

______________________________________________

The Matt Wallace Making of AD Story...

MATT WALLACE:
After the healthy success of "The Real Thing" (referred to as TRT for the remainder of this writing) the band felt confident to pursue their unique vision of music even further and were up for the challenge.  Because Angel Dust (referred to as AD for the remainder of this writing) was vastly different from TRT the working title, for some time was "Commercial Suicide".  The band was aware, and was reminded by Slash Records, that they could/should put TRT Part 2 to ensure success.  However, the band, iconoclasts that they are, decided that they wanted to follow their own twisted vision of what music could be.

From my perspective, as co-producer, engineer, and mixer, I was, in my own way, really distancing myself from the sonics of TRT as I felt that it was thin, over compressed, and had too much high end (although this all worked in our favor on radio and MTV).  So, I endeavored to try and create a much fuller, more natural sounding record.  Most noticeable is the fact that AD was recorded and mixed with very, very little compression and had a much healthier bottom end/low frequency content.  We did, during mastering, add back in a good amount of stereo buss compression which was my intention all along.  [Mobile Fidelity Labs did release a special edition a couple of years ago wherein they used our source master 2 track, stereo tapes to create a version that had very little stereo buss compression.  It sounds more 'hi fi' and/or 'professional' but, unfortunately, isn't the original intention of how we wanted that record to sound.]  I had almost quit producing during the mastering of TRT because I thought it was sonically unacceptable so much that I'd spoken with my mother about how to become a real estate sales person.  I believed that I didn't know what I was doing and that the results of my diligent efforts was sub par.  So, after all of this, AD was approached differently.


The band was feeling confident to address any and all subject matter (see "Be Aggressive""Malpractice", "RV", etc).  One of the aspects of FNM was that they were all unafraid to go wherever their musical and lyrical muses/demons wanted to take them.  The fact that Patton would commit 100% of his abilities and energies to singing "Be Aggressive" (about a man orally pleasuring another man) is a testimony to his commitment.  Their beautiful homage to "Midnight Cowboy" is also an indication of their desire to see how far they could take their abilities and inspiration.

AD was, for me (and probably for the rest of the band) the most difficult album that we'd made together.  We made "We Care A Lot", "Introduce Yourself", "The Real Thing", and "Angel Dust" and, for the most part, we were all working together as a team.  However, the core of FNM began to unravel during the making of AD.  Sadly, Jim Martin's father died a month or two prior to starting pre production on the record.  Ideally, he should have taken some time off prior to starting to work on the record.  But, Jim's style made him less apt to be vulnerable and, so, he pressed on.  For the record, he also had to help his brothers take over running his father's business.  The band moved their rehearsal space from San Francisco to Oakland to accommodate Jim.  This made it so that four out of the five members had to commute across the Bay Bridge to get to rehearsal.  I think that everyone would have been fine with the approach had Jim not decided to not attend rehearsals which, understandably, angered the rest of the band.  To further the rift between Jim and the rest of the band, he felt that the music of AD was going in the wrong direction and wanted a heavier, more conventional sound and began calling the music of AD "gay disco". I had maintained, and mentioned to him many times, that if he brought his large, weighty, distorted guitar and attitude then it wouldn't become 'gay disco'.  However, he never seemed to be able to get his head around where the band was going.

During the recording process the band and I ended up working during the days and then, after they left, Jim and I would work into the evenings.  The lack of communication between the band started becoming very problematic.  The band would come in during the mornings to hear what Jim had recorded and were very upset at what they felt were half finished ideas that came off as merely guitar noodling.  There were many angry phone calls between the band (specifically Bill) and Jim.  So, basically, Bill and I ended up meeting at his house to work out guitar parts that we'd record on his 4 track.  We then used these templates for Bill to play any and all necessary rhythm guitar parts on the record whenever Jim wasn't able to contribute.

The fact that Roddy came out as a gay man during the making of AD was a positive and a negative.  It was great to see Roddy's relief to be who he really was.  But, as Jim wasn't keen on gay people, it only furthered the growing chasm between him and the band.  The fact that Roddy was bold and brave enough to come out while being in a band that toured with heavy rock and heavy metal bands was both forward thinking but also socially challenging.  If my memory serves correctly, Rob Halford of Judas Priest didn't come out until almost a decade later.  So, to be a gay man in a predominantly heterosexual musical scene was another galvanizing and challenging moment for FNM.  But, true to who they were and are, they were on board to push boundaries whenever presented with the opportunity.

As the record took shape, it was apparent to the band and myself that the record label wasn't particularly fond of the songs nor the fact that the record didn't, sonically, sound like TRT.  There were some discussions that followed wherein things were suggested.  But, true to form, FNM did what they wanted.

While AD wasn't nearly as successful as TRT in the U.S., it was very successful overseas, particularly in the U.K. so much so that Kerrang magazine, about 8 years ago, named it the "Most Influential Album Of All Time".  Not too bad, boys, not too bad.  Well done.

The fact that there are still bands and artists who ask me about AD, 20 years after the fact, and that people are still blogging and writing about it is a testimony to the band's vision and to their smart, forward thinking, and dedicated fans.

Thank you for the opportunity to write about "Angel Dust".  It's been a pleasure.

Matt Wallace
June 7, 2012

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The Steffan Chirazi Story......

…the memories are sharp in one sense and rusty in another. I was absolutely absorbed in everything they were doing, because they were simply the most exciting band around. Everyone tried to slap that shitty "funk metal" label on them, but that was just lazy. Theirs was an aural magic carpet ride; you never quite knew where you were going, but it was visceral, exciting…and they grew, properly grew, between albums.


One of the reasons Angel Dust is such brilliant, important album, is that made sure to avoid the very thing which undoes successful bands; it was it's own. Not a replicate of The Real Thing, not a sequel, an album related only by talent and edge. 




It was an album made, as I remember, under the typical duress with which FNM did everything back then, and the tension bands which each of them (in their own ways) stretched to the maximum flex, were as tight and taut as ever before. What beautiful opposites they were, and never was it more clearly heard than on Angel Dust. Take "Midlife Crisis"…beautiful melody, wonderful, haunting keyboard, great bass bobb and then that thick, juicy slab of guitar, always the counter point, always the thing which made beautiful lack of sense. And Matt Wallace was a big part I remember, he really understood what needed to be done to help Angel Dust sound as it should…I spent a fair few nights in a shitty little SF studio watching him and Billy cook it up, help mould and shape it... Much has been said of how much Billy recorded and how much Jim recorded, and the truth is, I never really knew. I remember the bitter, petty arguments about where rehearsals would take place, and I know that ideas ended up being traded by tape much more often than in person. And the thing is, I suspect that no-one was really sure when this "game" of inner-arguing would end. Was it a game? Was it real? Was it just anger built up and spouted via sarcasm? I think so…when you're young, you don't quite have the confidence to sit down and talk out your problems, so they tend to fester in a build-up of silence and sarcasm. I personally always felt that was the case, but in truth, I didn't know, I was simply observing…


PLUS I was friends. Friends with most of the guys, but especially Jim and Billy, I spent a lot of time with each of them. Jim was, and still is, one of my best pals, and Billy and I pretty much clicked on everything. I found the moment when they split with Jim incredibly difficult in the sense of I wanted to stay out of it and not lose either as a friend. To their immense credit, neither ever held anything against me for saying I saw the other's point of view. I remember clearly saying to Jim that whatever the rights and wrongs, the realities were that he was one and they were four, so he would have to either find a way to resolve their differences by accepting a few things he might not have wanted to, or he would likely not be in the band. We saw what happened. I "think" it was for the better with regards to him as a person, but who knows? I loved the music they made together, it was (and remains) so alive, so fresh…


…yeah, lets get back to the MUSIC eh? On Angel Dust. Where to start? A cornucopia of counter-melodies, a sumptuous stew of ingredients which on paper don't make sense, but when cooked by these master chefs was mandible-blowingly delicious…Patton was singing out of his skin (he would later execute some really incredible performances), Puffy was a hooligan as ever, driven by a combination of raw unfiltered tribal talent and some innate inner-nervousness, Billy was the alchemist who laid down the platform and co-created many of the micro-recipies within, and Roddy (as ever) knew how much keyboard dust to sprinkle. Jim? Yeah. I think the guitars are fantastic. "Malpractice" is savage, absolute aural violence, it makes me wanna throw things around the fucking room whenever I hear it (including myself) it's like listening to a moshpit…and then Patton with those twisto vocals! And on the same record, you had "Crack Hitler" with it's funkified megaphone-voxed Huggy Near coolness sliced up by slabs of raw riff. "Jizzlobber"…the heart of darkness, Coppola would've been proud, man, I have to stop, I'm doing a track-by-track and you want to know what it was like.


It was like hearing the greatest album you could imagine. I loved everything about it. I loved the sleeve art (procured via a friend of photographer Mark Leialoha, Werner Krutein, who ran a stock agency along with his own photography) and I loved the slabs of meat on the back. That sleeve was so fucking typical of them, beauty and the raw, visceral beast…and they were fun to be around in many ways. Their anthropology was fascinating, and I still wonder whether that line-up would've made it had they all had a great APPRECIATION of how it's nuances worked to their enormous advantage. They'd get pissed off with me from time to time because I'd refer to how important the tension was in Faith No More…but I know that Angel Dust is testimony to that as fact.


Only now is it being recognized for what it is, one of the most important albums of the last 40 years. And I'll stand behind that sentence, and fight over it, in any fucking coffee shop or bar or club or venue. Because I'm right…as I put the last "full-stop" to this ramble, "Midnight Cowboy" is on my headphones. It's beautiful. Like Faith No More. Like Angel Dust. Even though they might never know it, I will always love them along with this album, and the old romantic in me always wishes that they could make it up with Jim and do a glory ride to bask in what they created together. But life doesn't work like that…at least they made this music…


p.s. "Faster Disco" just came on, and I'm getting a memory shot. I'm not shitting you, my spine just tingled. I guess i forgot how much this band is in my heart…thanks for letting me bleed out a little bit on your pages…

_____________________________________

The Drum Tech Story....

Chris “Feelie” Gott 
Drum Tech (And all around equipment wrangler) w/ Faith No More

My version of a scary tale during the recording of the Faith No More album “Angel Dust”
I’m not much of a writer, so I’ll just give it my best shot to describe an experience I’d rather forget….


After the finish of the tour for “The Real Thing” the guys went right into rehearsal at Jackson Street Rehearsals in Oakland to write the next record… “Angel Dust”. (which, at that point, I don’t think it had it’s title) I lived in LA at the time (and still do), so after the guys were done with the writing process I went up SF to move the band gear from Jackson Street Rehearsals over to Coast Recorders, the studio where Angel Dust was recorded. Coast was located in the Tenderloin area of San Francisco. Not the greatest part of town… and wasn’t really a good place for a crew guy to be loading in by himself… but that was the situation. Being a young guy with a bit much on his plate, in hindsight, he should have taken a few more steps of to ensure the safety of the bands equipment. As I would find out the hard way…

Out the back of Coast was a parking lot, where a door led right into the main tracking room of the studio. That is where I parked the truck to load in. It was just a few feet, so I thought I’d be fine taking the gear in without mishap. There I am, just putting along, moving gear in trip after trip. Completing, what, I thought, was a successful load in. Then, a little while later, Roddy Bottum, the bands keyboard player, shows up to start working on his stuff. He begins setting up his gear, when, he notices that a cardboard box was missing. With the somewhat sizeable amount of gear the band had, I wasn’t totally sure what cardboard box he was taking about. So, I didn’t really understand the scope of the situation, until, Roddy, who normally was a very mellow and calm guy, made me aware that this was serious, and that he was PISSED!!! I felt awful and confused at the same time… I thought I had loaded in without any problems. That, apparently, was not the case.
Roddy was pacing around the studio screaming obscenities and looking like he was going to punch something… He actually had to take a walk out of the studio for a breather…otherwise he may have done something regretful. Looking at him I had the growing feeling that my days working for the band may be coming to an end… then, out of the blue, came a knock on the back door of the studio… and here is where it got really weird.


An almost homeless dude sticks his head in the back door and says, in a shaky, shy, and kind of creepy voice. “I think I have something”! I immediately jumped up… then he added, I think I have something that I don’t know what it is. I think I have something that belongs to you. Weird! I ran up to him and with a very determined sense of aggression said, Yes, if you have what I think you do, it does belong to us… And I NEED it back!


So, I did something, in hindsight, that was not one of my smartest moves. I said I’d pay him if he would just give it back. Well, the guy was definitely a local. Meaning, that if you are a local in the Tenderloin, you are most likely a bit off. And this guy was off. He smelled bad and looked even worse. But none of that mattered at the time. I needed to get that box back and I didn’t care what it took. The “dude” had no idea what this stuff was. Not that it would have mattered to him…but, in the box was an external hard drive and a number of disks that contained the samples that ended up in several songs on Angel Dust. Roddy had been working on collecting these sounds for months. Sounds like the dogs barking at the start of Caffeine and the clip of the Simon and Garfunkel song “Cecilia”, which heads up the song Mid Life Crisis! This was really important stuff to Mr. Roswell Bottum and I was responsible for it missing. Well, the guy didn’t have all his faculties, so he didn’t respond to the offer of money, but he did say that he could “take me to them”. Again, weird! But I wasn’t really thinking rationally, so, I said, okay…where?


He led me across the street into a real winner of an establishment. It was a six to eight story building that was probably a slumlords cash cow. It looked like it hadn’t seen a maintenance man since the Dirty Harry era was in its infancy. As we climbed the stairs I was starting to get the feeling that most of the inhabitants of this hell hole may have been extras in “One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest”. Some real fine folk…but I kept climbing the stairs with completely oblivious of what I was really doing. We got to his floor, and, without thinking, I walked right into his apartment. I need to make clear that the term “apartment” should not be a visual for anything the average person would call an apartment. This place was scary… Not the typical smell of patchouli oil or pot that you might expect from the inhabitants of downtown SF, but rather the smell of urine and maybe a dead pet that he’d forgotten about long ago. Well, before I realized what I had done, I hear the door slam behind me…and that was when the feeling that I may have just made the last mistake of my life hit me like a ton of bricks. The instant feeling that I could turn around to the end of a gun barrel or a cloth filled with chloroform shook my nerves hard. I had no idea who this guy was or what he may be capable of or what kind of freaky shit he may be into. In an instant a million scenarios went thru my head. But the most prominent was the thought of being chained up, made a sex slave, and fed just enough dog food to keep me alive to meet his needs for months or maybe years… why that scenario was in the foremost of my mind, I don’t know… but that was the instant horror flick playing in my head. And I did not like it.

My "Host" began pacing, becoming more and more agitated, and ranting some stuff that sounded vaguely Religious,then all at once, I spotted the box in the corner of his one room apartment. I bee-lined straight for the box grabbed it and was back out the door before I even knew if he was trying to stop me or talk to bargain. I have to admit I don’t really remember the exchange at that point. I was still in his building so I think I just kept my mouth shut, my head down and kept my feet moving. And, as you can tell by me writing this, I didn’t wind up being fed dog food and having my body abused to meet some wacko’s fantasy. Thank God!!!

I returned to Coast, to the relief of Roddy, and to myself.
a) to be alive and b) to have those samples back.


Well… that is one of the many stories I have from the FNM era of my life… and one rather interesting one of the recording of Faith No Mores “Angel Dust”.

I can’t believe it’s already been 20 years!!!

Chris “Feelie” Gott

Huge thanks to Chris for submitting his story, cheers man!!!!

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WAR PIGS - Focus On The Song

June 20, 2014, 12:13 pm
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Better Than Black Sabbath?
 
Nobody can deny Black Sabbath's status as rock legends. Their 40 year career span in one guise or another has influenced many musicians and shaped the sound of Metal and Rock music today. Anybody who takes on a cover of one of their songs is brave indeed, not only would they incur the wrath of fans but of Satan too!
Despite this chance of being dragged to hell by the Prince of Darkness himself many artists have taken the risk and added a Sabbath song to their repertoire. In fact there are in fact three full albums dedicated to these songs.
The Nativity In Black series contains thirty seven tracks by various artists, some are glorious tributes to the originals, some not so much. The classic originality of Sabbath, the sinister mood they create and the vocals of Ozzy Osbourne and Ronnie James Dio in particular are always going to be a hard thing to recapture.

On the first album in this series is Faith No More's version of War Pigs ( oddly it's Live At Brixton Academy not the studio recording ). And of course War Pigs was included on the Cd and cassette versions of the groundbreaking album The Real Thing.
 
 
 
Bill Gould 1997:

"We played that song over 150 times live so it seemed a shame to waste it"

FNM have been playing the song live since the mid 80s when Chuck Mosley was their front man. Chuck, Jim Martin and Mike Bordin have always cited Sabbath as a major influence on their music but as to why they originally chose to cover this particular song amongst others Bill explains here:

"We did 'War Pigs' as a cover initially to piss off the punk bands we played with, and we did 'Jump' by Van Halen live to annoy the f* *k out of people. But Jim was starting to feel so proud playing 'War Pigs' that I didn't want to give him that pleasure, so we thought doing 'Easy' would be the perfect antidote. We always liked to do things that we could never imagine ourselves doing because it would open you up to musical possibilities."
We can totally believe the majority of FNM voted WP in to piss people off rather than because they simply loved it! Their rather unconventional approach to their career in music has always been endearing and their unpredictability a reason they are so well respected.

Here let me make it clear I am a massive Sabbath fan, I was brought up sharing a room with my older brother who would play their brooding tones to me against my will until I eventually succumbed and began to smuggle away his cassettes for my Walkman. The whole reason I discovered FNM was due to that fact my brother had acquired a copy of TRT because WP was on the track list. Anyway I now have all Sabbath and Ozzy's albums and appreciate their greatness.
 
Now that you know this I can make my statement....

FNM's version of WP, in my humble opinion, is BETTER than the original. Bold eh? Well let me alter that a touch, it's an improvement on an already awesome song.

Now I'm not just going to thrust this declaration on you without justification. Let's start with the most obvious reason, Mike Patton's vocals.

Even though he delivers a faultless performance Mike seems to tackle his part with a certain disdain, similar to the way he does in the band's cover of Easy by The Commodores, but when I say this it's only that he doesn't approach the song with any imitation of Ozzy. He sings the macabre lyrics with cool groove tones and a hint of sarcasm, not at all how you expect a song of with such a dark and brutal theme to be sung. This twist on the song is more engaging than the original, in fact this approach is nothing short of genius. Patton's addition at the end, of schizophrenic noise, is a real 'pre-Fantomas' moment and puts me in mind of the Live At Brixton version where he momentarily either forgets or can't be bothered with the words and slots in the line 'blurgh blurgh blurgh', demonstrating the possibility that he can't really take the story of witches and wars seriously.
In 1990, Mr Patton wasn't a fan of Sabbath like his fellows:

"Most of us weren't really weened on Black Sabbath. Just like two big Black Sabbath devotees, Jim and the drummer Mike. I f* * kin' hate those guys, to tell you the truth. I never really got into 'em. I never even owned one of their albums before I joined this band, and then we went to Warner Brothers and they gave us all these Cd's. I didn't like most of them so I traded them in! I mean I like that song, and I have a couple of the albums and there's some good songs on 'em, but ... I don't know, I Just can't relate to a lot of it." 

Now I love Ozzy's voice it is unmistakable but I adore Patton's ( as do you guys or you wouldn't reading this ) and I think this cheeky change of the mood is brilliant. Mike Patton laughing spreads his wings!
 
 
The quality of feel and overall sound of the FNM version is due to the production. This is down to the expertise of'fifth FNM member'Matt Wallace who as we know had homed his engineering skills over the last two albums. This overall sound is much more vibrant, thicker and polished. Respectfully the recording technology was more advanced in 1989 than back in 1970, but I think Matt achieved a wonderful sound on the entirety of TRT and getting a great depth of sound is an art in itself, the song The Real Thing being a perfect example of that.
The bpm of the FNM version compared to the original is also a touch quicker which suits the song better with it's long open sections.
This glossy FNM version does however lack the gritty background noise of 70s analogue recordings that brings it's own charm and that present day artists go to great lengths to replicate.

Another thing that makes the FNM version that bit tastier than the original is Billy Gould's bass, even though again I consider Geezer Butler a bit of a legend I think Bill can play a much stronger and fatter baseline. He adds his trademark groove to the performance which lifts the feel and tightens the various sections of the up.

Roddy Bottum too wasn't a 'metal head' like some of the other band members and had this to say on their cover version:

"It was an easy song to do and the kids always love it. Jim and Mike Borden are really into Black Sabbath, but I've never listened to them in my life except for that song. Mike and Jim were little Heavy Metal Monsters. Jim's grown up into a big Heavy Metal Monster."

Mike B and Jim M grew up on Black Sabbath and eventually Puffy spent many years of his career during the 11 year hiatus playing for Ozzy. Although Puffy's style of drumming is born of many different influences including tribal African rhythms, Jazz and Rock there's no denying the nod to Bill Ward's technique.
Mike Bordin 1992:

"One of the bands that I gravitated to was Black Sabbath. Their music wasn't being played on the radio, it wasn't on jukeboxes at the pizzeria you had to go to a friend's house and discover it in the basement. It was an underground thing, which made it more special. It's no joke that Black Sabbath saved my life. I always dreamed of meeting Ozzy and telling him that."

That conversation took place in the late November 1990 at a RIP magazine's 4th birthday party, not only did Ozzy show up, but he jumped on stage to sing War Pigs with the them. Afterwards, Bordin approached Ozzy and nervously introduced himself.

"I told him how important Sabbath was to me growing up, how his music got me through a lot of tough times. He could tell that I was being sincere, that I wasn't Just giving him the standard lines."




Because of this reverence of Sabbath, Puffy's take on the drum track is pretty much identical to Ward's with respectful imitation. Bill Ward like John Bonham brought a certain funkiness to rock music in the 70s that helped them stand apart from some of their counterparts and puffy has the same ability. The only differences are that Puffy's strike of the drum is much harder and his fills more complex, the song offers much room for the FNM drummer to show off his skills.

For the same reasons BigJim plays the guitar note for note, and as we have read above he would've found great satisfaction in committing a song by his heroes to vinyl (or CD). From his imposing stance to his elaborate solos Big Jim just oozes Metal and his influence from Tommi Iomi is very apparent.

 

Bill 1990:

 "He's a victim of the 70s. He says nothing since then has really interested him that much. He's got pretty far-reaching roots. What made him play guitar was Black Sabbath, and if it wasn't his idea to cover 'War Pigs' on the album, he was probably the happiest when we decided to do it! To the people
who were coming to see us at the time, 'War Pigs' was a real clash to our audience."


The faithful drum and guitar tracks are played with the same conviction and monsterous power as the Sabbath version whilst being distinctly Faith No More which enables WP to sit amongst their original songs comfortably. With the influence of Black Sabbath on their lives and careers who better to record the track than Jim and Puffy.

With these things in mind I stand by my original statement and fully believe that the War Pigs of 1989 is a fresher better presented version than the original.

With the possibility of new FNM music on the horizon we can speculate on future cover songs the band may chose.  It's pretty certain that they wouldn't chose a Sabbath song in the future, the covers they have chosen since 1989 been a lot further from the comfort zone of Rock. And as the years have passed their versions have been much less faithful to the originals. Those played on tour in 2012 prove such.
And as far as Ozzy joining them on stage next month in Hyde Park to jam War Pigs, well stranger things have happened, but I think they will leave that one to the old pros.

 Cheers, see you in two weeks!!
 
Jim
 
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The Real Thing - 25th Anniversary

June 20, 2014, 1:08 pm
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TRT 25th ANNIVERSARY
















Today marks the 25 years since the release of FNM's break through album The Real Thing.

The Real Thing is one of Faith No More's most successful albums to date. It is now considered a classic metal album by fans and critics alike. Although released in mid 1989, The Real Thing didn't enter the Billboard 200 until February 1990, after the release of the second single from the album, "Epic". The album eventually peaked at number eleven on the chart in October 1990, following the reissue of "Epic" almost a year and half after the initial release of the album. It was eventually certified platinum in U.S. and Canada as well as being certified Silver in the United Kingdom. It reached number 2 in the Australian album charts and 30 in the UK.


Billy Gould about The Real thing:

From Out Of Nowhere
"This one started off as drum and keyboard parts. It was originally kind of straightforward. I put the bass part in to give it some punch and make it move a little better. I play this one with a pick. When I use a pick, I'm almost always doing downstrokes."


Epic
"Mike Patton came up with the rap idea for this after all of the music was laid out. The rap fills in the holes in the verses and works real well there. For the break section that has the string bends, I kick in my Tube Screamer and DOD Flanger. I wrote the part at the end by overdubbing a bunch of keyboard parts on a 4-track. The fish in the video was brought down by some guy from a fish farm. After we filmed it they threw him back in the bucket and took him away. He lived. We made him famous."






Falling To Piece
"This one's played with fingers rather than a pick. The song was already written, and I added that trilled bass part in the beginning. There's a record out that was produced by Mickey Hart from The Grateful Dead that features Tibetan monks chanting; I was trying to get that kind of effect on my bass."

Surprise! You're Dead!
"Jim wrote this entire song. Everything I play is excactly the same way he plays it. I start off with fingers and swith to a pick for the middle section."



Zombie Eaters
"This song is two separate ideas put together. The whole beginning, including all the guitar parts, was written by Jim. The second half was one of the first things we ever wrote years ago. It started off as a rhythm exercise we used to jam on. There's this really cool counter-rhythm that I do toward the end of it."

The Real Thing
"I use the distortion and flanger for the beginning. In the verses I use muting and accents to get more definition on the pick attacks. For the quieter sections where I play the chords, I put flange on."

Underwater Love
"This one was also created mostly on drums and keyboards. To give it more punch I added the slap line. The part at the end has that warm Fender-type sound."

The Morning After
"This one's pretty straightforward. I use a pick to get a sharper attack, and I put a lot of chords in to help build things up."

Woodpecker From Mars
"I never do this one exactly the same way twice. Again, it has a lot to do with the up/down movement of your body. It's a very natural, fluid thing. It's fun to play, and it's really not that hard once you get the [right hand] motion down. It's based on an African rhythm that's counted in groups of two rather than in fours."

War Pigs
"We do this pretty straight, basically the same as Black Sabbath, except my bass parts are different. Where Geezer Butler used to play around the drums, I try to play more with the drums. I also do the whole song with a pick, wich makes the middle part [bridge] different."

Edge Of the World
"This one's real simple. It's all done with fingers. There's no guitar - just piano and bass. The verses are minor and it goes to major for the chorus."

The Real Thing Snippets

“Mike came to a gig right out in the middle of nowhere in California. Literally so far out, it was almost in Oregon! He gave us a tape, and we were blown away by his voice. It was unbelievable. He was such a ridiculously good singer. There was no comparison with Chuck.” says Puffy, he continues
“Roddy and Billy were from Los Angeles, so they stayed at home while we did the album. But neither Jim nor I were natives, so we ended up staying in the Oakwood Apartments in California, which was a huge block where loads of bands used to stay while recording. I recall that Metallica were finishing up …And Justice For All at the time, and they hung out a lot with Jim.

“Now, this was in an era before mobile phones, and I know that we didn’t actually have a phone in our apartment, probably trying to save money, so Jim and I couldn’t keep in contact with anyone. Our day used to start at about 5pm, when we’d go down to the studio. Jim was a night owl. He’d stay up until about 5am, and then sleep through the afternoon. The two of us worked on our own in the studio. Jim had come up with a lot of music for the album, including Surprise! You’re Dead! (which actually goes back to a 1970s band called Agents Of Misfortune, featuring Jim and future Metallica bassist Cliff Burton), Zombie Eaters and Falling To Pieces. We’d be finished by about 10pm, and then go out to party.”

“We got great reviews in the UK, and things were steadily, slowly building over there. But in America we were having a real struggle. We just didn’t fit into the whole scene at the time. Our music was wrong, our image was wrong. And I don’t believe our record label knew what to do with us. In fact, I don’t ever think our company had any idea how to market us. They were completely confused by this rap-metal type of thing. As I said, we didn’t have those 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.”

Puffy on the videos for From Out Of Nowhere and Epic
From Out Of Nowhere
“The video was bad. We were represented as something we weren’t. We had no control over the content. I’m not surprised it did nothing to enhance our career.”



Epic
“I remember it well. It happened at the Columbia Hotel in London. The label said to us, ‘OK you cost us a lot of money on the From Out Of Nowhere video. We’re ready to give you one more chance. What song do you want to release as a single?’ I’m not sure what would have happened if we’d all come up with different suggestions. But there was total unity from the band. We all felt that Epic was the one to go for. And they asked us what we wanted in the video. So, we came up with a long list of suggestions. And the rest is… hysterical!”



Puffys last words on the album
“It was a great time for us,We never had any of the issues that were to cause such problems later on in our career. We were getting along really well, and I think the music reflects that sense of belonging together. And I am so proud what we did back then, and how we did it. Without taking the easy route.

“Do I still listen to the album? No, I don’t. These days I play for Ozzy, which is very different. So I never dwell on the album, nor what it meant. However, I do know that it helped to give me a future.”
(well now he dosn't play for Ozzy, Maybee, just maybee he does listen to it again)

An Aussie Music Fan has also written an excellent piece about the first two years of FNM with Mike Patton, witch fits in perfectly with TRT birthday, so be sure to check it out here
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Happy Birthday Roddy

July 1, 2014, 12:25 pm
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Today we would like to wish Roddy Bottum a very happy birthday
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Faith No More can confirm Dan Boyle has signed with the New York Rangers.

July 2, 2014, 1:24 pm
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....And now for an NHL report......
Yesterday was the day NHL Free Agency Opened. Dan Boyle signed a repeorted nine million dollar contract and instead of doing it in person in NYC he went to see FNM

BOYLE A ROADIE
Well we knew Dan Boyle was somewhere in Europe on the first day of free agency when he signed his two-year deal with the New York Rangers. Just where exactly and what he was doing there, well, that’s a whole other story. The veteran blueliner is in England this week, hanging out with his favorite band, Faith No More, who are on tour. "Yes, I planned this a LONG time ago," Boyle told ESPN.com via text message Wednesday. "My summer workouts have a one-week transition period that allows me to rest and recover [for seven days] so I took advantage and came with them for a couple of shows. Back on Sunday." 
Well we can certainly say that Dan has excellent taste in music!!
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Koolarrow Updates

July 2, 2014, 3:20 pm
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Fresh from his set at Glastonbury on saturday and The Vaults in London last night, koolarrow records very own Mexican Dubwiser is headed to Paris to play at Petit Bain on Saturday the 5th July. Meanwhile here is Dubwisers latest single feat Faith No More's Billy Gould...




Following Kultur Shock's recently completed Indiegogo campaign in which the band asked fans to donate to the funding of the recording of a new record, the guy's are now in the studio working with Jack Endino




Work on the record has been rescheduled to accomodate the upcoming summer tour, but the guy's are still on track with the recording and production.
So, those tour dates, here they are...

25.7. - Lakefest - Niksic, Montenegro
26.7. - Beerfest - Banja Luka, Bosnia & Herzegovina
28.7. - Motovun film fest - Motovun, Croatia
30.7. - Vranje, Serbia - venue TBA
01.8. - NGOMfest - Prizren, Kosovo
02.8. - Ferragosto Jam - Orahovica, Croatia
04.8. - Zadar, Croatia - venue TBA
08.8. - Kamfest - Kamnik, Slovenia

Kings of The Balkans Dubioza Kolektiv just never stop, so for all info on what the guys are doing a visit to their website ot their facebook page is a must for daily updates! Recently the guys played Arsenal fest in Serbia...check them out below..
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FNM in London

July 3, 2014, 9:40 am
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Faith no more at Hyde Park unveil two new songs

July 4, 2014, 12:12 pm
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So FNM stormed back into live action earlier with a brilliant set which included two, yes two new songs at Londons BST Festival in Hyde Park...The guys who played in all black vicars outfits played a 14 song set....Videos of the two new songs can be seen on our Facebook page www.facebook.com/fnmblog

SETLIST:
1. Zombie Eaters
2. From Out Of Nowhere
3. Epic
4. Caffeine
5. Gentle Art of Making Enemies
6. Easy
7. Midlife Crisis
8. Everything's Ruined
9. Cuckoo For Caca
10. King For A Day
11. Ashes To Ashes
12. New Song (unknown)

Encore:
13. New Song (unknown)
14. We Care A Lot
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Faith No More in Poland Possible Live Stream

July 5, 2014, 8:50 am
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The Guys arrive in Poland


Hey guy's, so with part one over with complete with two new songs, the band have now arrived in Poland for part two (can we expect more new music?)
And it seems there maybe a live stream of the Open'er Festival show, just click this link and pray it works!


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Faith no More in Poland Setlist and videos

July 6, 2014, 4:42 am
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The band were back in all white for their set at Poland's Open'er Festival last night, and played a couple of old classics such as  'the Crab Song' and 'Spirit' in the set. contrarery to reports elsewhere on the web the band didn't debut any new material last night, although they did play 'Matador' and the two new tunes debuted at Hyde Park on Friday.

Here is the SETLIST via Roddy Bottum....

The Real Thing
FOON
Epic
Digging the Grave
Crab Song
Everything's Ruined
Cuckoo for Caca
Easy
Gentle Art of Making Enemies
Midlife Crisis
Motherfucker
Last cup of Sorrow
Spirit
King for a Day
Ashes to ashes
Superhero

Falling to Pieces
Matador
We Care a Lot


Ashes to Ashes

Everything's Ruined

Midlife Crisis
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Faith No More in Hyde Park Full Show

July 6, 2014, 4:04 pm
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Hey guys, Here is the full set from the BST Festival in Hyde Park, London on Friday. Greg Gould has taken fan footage and expertly put them all together to form the full show, thank you Greg...and enjoy the show!!



SETLIST:
1. Excorcist theme intro / Zombie Eaters
2. From Out of Nowhere
3. Epic
4. Caffeine
5. The Gentle Art of Making Enemies
6. Easy
7. Midlife Crisis
8. Everything's Ruined
9. Cukoo for Caca
10. King for a Day
11. Ashes to Ashes
12. Leader of Men
13. Motherfucker
14. We Care a lot
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Mike Patton v Ben Weinman

July 17, 2014, 1:53 pm
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Mike Patton recently opened up to guitarist and founding member of The Dillinger Escape Plan Ben Weinman.
The two guys speek openly about music in this awesome interview posted on Weinman's recently founded new website Party Smasher Inc





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Faith No More / Mr Bungle Comic Book

August 10, 2014, 7:14 pm
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ComicCon Sketch by Matt Jacobs


Revealed at the 2014 August Comic Con the Faith No More. / Mr. Bungle flip book is to be the second issue of the forthcoming series 'Rock & Roll Comics' published by Wildcard Ink.

The author of both sections is Mike Wellman, who published the Kids of Widney High comic about four years ago, working hand in hand with the band.

Matt Jacobs, the artist who created the animation for Tomahawk's ODDFELLOWS video last year is illustrating the Faith No More section.  

 


Sinclair Klurgarsh is the artist of the Mr. Bungle section. The Mr. Bungle segment is very surreal, bouncing from carnival barkers to really dark, submerged paranoia to bright, sunny earthquake-riddled fun!

Everyone involved are HUGE fans of the music and are doing their best to honor that, even though it's 'unofficial'. Bill has read the script and approves!

We will keep you up to date on the progress of the comic book and post what the guys share with us.
Thanks Mike for all the info.

Panel in progress by Matt Jacobs.


Panel in progress by Matt Jacobs
Panel in progress by Sinclair Klugarsh.

Panel in progress by Sinclair Klugarsh.


Artwork from TOMAHAWK ODDFELLOWS by Matt Jacobs.
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Tomahawk 'Southpaw' Video - Vince Forcier Interview

August 14, 2014, 11:14 am
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The awesome new video for Tomahawk's song  'Southpaw' is the third to accompany a song from the album 'Oddfellows'.
The video is the vision of Vince Forcier who also directed Fantomas - The Director's Cut A New Year's Revolution, and the videos for 'Stone Letter' and 'Oddfellows'. 
Vince has been really cool and agreed to answer a few questions for us about his various Mike Patton projects....
 
 


• Hey Vince firstly thanks for taking the time to chat to us. How's life treating you at the moment?
 
I’m very well, thanks.
 
• You and Mike Patton were involved with together or Crank 2, How did this lead to your direction of the Fantomas - Director's Cut DVD? 

I was Patton’s music editor on Crank 2. We worked out of Danny DeVito's guest room which was weird in and of itself. We had similar taste in movies and just kind of connected creatively. When the movie wrapped I heard Fantomas was doing a New Years show in San Francisco; I asked if I could shoot it and make a DVD and Mike agreed. He and Ipecac were very cool to work with. They gave me carte blanche and were really supportive because the edit was an absolute bitch.

• It seems Patton likes to find like minded artists who he continues to work with over his many projects. How does it feel to amongst these select few?
 
It’s an honor. I’ve been a fan of his stuff since high school.  All my friends were too so it’s always cool to collaborate with Patton and Ipecac.
 
• The video for Odd fellows is truly inspired and seems to not only capture the spirit of the song but of Tomahawk as a band. How did you develop the concept?
 I originally had a very lofty idea for the video and the logistics were unrealistic. I would have needed a lot of manpower and time. I stripped down the idea and improvised as I went along. Matt Jacobs, Mike Wellman, Mark Escobar and Kris Baldwin did all of the animation under a crazy schedule and I think it made the video. It was the same concert I shot as the Stone Letter video and I knew it had to look totally different and stand on it’s own. It’s my favorite video that I’ve done for them.
 
• How much do the band have input into the final films?
 
They always let me run with an idea. If something doesn’t work or if I went to far they’ll tell me. For Oddfellows, we had a guy running naked towards the camera while holding a flaming deer head. We had to nix that one pretty quick.

• The fantastic new video for SouthPaw is a departure from your previous Fantomas and Tomahawk work. How did the idea come about?

 I knew we were doing a third video and I knew I couldn’t use the same footage from the same concert as Odd or Stone. It just popped in my head, I want to do puppets. It worked out and was challenging but ultimately really fun to make. I originally was going to do White Hats but i thought South Paw would be a better fit for a puppet theme.
• What influences you in your film-making?

Definitely the music. I’ve always been really influenced and motivated by sound. It leads where the visuals should go for me. You also try to bring out the bands vibe and feel. It’s always risky but it seems to work.
 
• What does the future hold for Mr Forcier, can we expect anything in the near future?
 
I have no idea. These things just pop up randomly. I’m working on a few things, sound design for a movie and some other stuff that is too boring to mention.
 
• With the recent unveiling of two new FNM songs in July, How would feel about directing a video for a possible future Faith No More song?
I would absolutely love that. I would have a bigger budget to try new stuff and be able to do something that hasn’t been done with FNM visually. The stuff that I’ve done for Ipecac has been really low budget but that also lends itself to the look and pushes you to try new tricks filmmaking wise. I would give up a testicle to do a FNM video.




Here are some behind the scenes photos kindly sent by Vince, also pictured are Vance Brown and film maker Brian Taylor (Crank, Crank2). Vince's crew for the shoot were: Mark Escobar, Jay Guffey, Brian Taylor and Kristina Allison on camera, and set design by Vance Brown.
Everyone had a go at operating the puppets while Vince's friends provided the smoke effect through heavy weed smoking!!!.....








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Faith No More To Headline Soundwave Festival!

August 19, 2014, 3:39 pm
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Faith No More have announced via their Twitter and Facebook pages that they will headlining the Soundwave Festival in Australia, 2015. 
The last time FNM were at the festival was in 2010. 
The band have also hinted at much more to come in 2015.....

Soundwave members pre-sale begins 12pm local time Friday, 22nd August

General public tickets on sale 9am Friday, 29th August

Saturday, 21st February & Sunday, 22nd February 2015
Bonython Park, Adelaide, South Australia
Tickets: Soundwave

Saturday, 21st February & Sunday, 22nd February 2015
Flemington Racecourse, Melbourne, Victoria
Tickets: Soundwave

Saturday, 28th February & Sunday, 1st March 2015
Olympic Park, Sydney, New South Wales
Tickets: Soundwave

Saturday, 28th February & Sunday, 1st March 2015
RNA Showgrounds, Brisbane, Queensland
Tickets: Soundwave

Twitter

@FaithNoMore: The Reunion Tour is over; in 2015 things are going to change

Facebook

https://m.facebook.com/officialfnm

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Faith No More to release New Album

September 2, 2014, 8:48 am
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Here we go guys, the news we have all been waiting for has just dropped....

Faith No More, who reunited in 2009 for a series of sold out performances and international festivals, is currently recording their first full-length album since 1997’s Album of the Year. 
 
A limited edition (5000 copies) 7-inch single of the song “Motherfucker” will precede the April 2015 release, available via Record Store Day’s Black Friday event (Nov. 28).  The single will be released digitally on Dec. 9.
 
"We’ve always shared a chemistry between ourselves that’s unique to this band, but these past few years of touring together have made us aware that we not only play better as a unit, but we like the new stuff we’re coming up with,” explained Faith No More founder and bass player, Bill Gould. “So we’ve decided: we’re going to get busy in 2015…make an album we’re proud of, kick things up a notch, get out there and perform it and maybe even dedicate a little more focus to our fans in the States this time."
 
The as-of-yet untitled album is being recorded in an Oakland, Calif. studio with Gould handling production.  The release will be the first from Faith No More’s newly formed imprint, Reclamation Recordings, which will be distributed by Ipecac Recordings.
 
Prior to the new album’s release, Faith No More will headline Australia’s Soundwave Festival in February 2015.  Worldwide tour dates will be announced soon.
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Miscellaneous

September 13, 2014, 1:47 pm
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Hey guys, I'm a bit late to the party on this one, Fantomas will make a return to live action later this year with the guys performing the 'Director's Cut' album in full at Rockout Festival in Chile on Dec 6th. The line up also includes Koolarrow Records very own Como Asesinar a Felipes.

It seems that Mr Patton will not be taking things easy as news surfaced on twitter that he and John Zorn are working on a new album too...

I'm also very late to the party on this one, but friend of Mike Patton and bandmate from Mondo Cane Scott Amendola has a new project out, 'Fade to Orange' is an Orchestral album which includes Trevor Dunn, help if you can, pre order here...pledgemusic.com



"Well, Mike Patton, he came along at the right time for me. This is pre-Nirvana, so when Patton came along, this was back when you had to have long hair and spandex, or leather pants. It was like, "All right, you've got to look like this to even consider being in a band." I think he smashed a lot of that down just with his attitude, his style, and also his sense of humor. This is also the time where bands took themselves way too seriously." - J-Mann (MUSHROOMHEAD OFFICIAL)

Friend of our page and author of Faith No More / Mr. Bungle Companion Greg Prato, interviewed J-Mann from Mushroomhead recently . He had some great things to say about Mr. Patton. Read the full interview here


Finally english newspaper the Guardian have published a guide to FNM in the wake of the new album announcement and list '10 of the best' FNM songs (in their opinion) read here



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Billy Gould and Dave Lombardo to feature in new House of Hayduk

September 14, 2014, 2:15 pm
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Distant Early Warning is the follow-up to the acclaimed 2012 House of Hayduk release, City of Quartz, featuring Mads Heldtberg, Billy Gould, Charles Hayward, and Anders Trentemoller.
The record is slated for a 2015 release.
 
Composer Mads Heldtberg tell us more...
Will this new record differ from City of Quartz? 
Im in another place mentally than I was during COQ, and I think it will reflect that. In fact, its going to be considerably different, but the core will remain intact.

Will you be following the same process of making the record in the way you totally dissemble all the parts and then purposely arrange them together or will this record be put together differently? 
I love that way of working, but I really feel Ive explored it last time around. So, no- Not this time. I always want to be challenged and move forward. It is still going to be instrumental though, and just two tracks- an A and a B side. No 3:20 min. songs for the radio single. 

Apart from yourself who else will feature on the record? 
Billy Gould, Carla Azar and Dean Hurley so far. And the always incredible Jim Monti is engineering again. Maybe a brass section. But it will definitely be a smaller unit than last time. 

A brass section? That sounds interesting.. 
Yeah, Im definitely hearing it conceptually. We’ll see.

Why Dave Lombardo on drums for this new record? 
Just as Charles was the absolute dream drummer for the last one, Dave is for this one. I am beyond fortunate to work with these guys. 

Ah yeah, Charles was immense on the last record, was it a purposeful decision to get a different drummer in? 
Only in the sense that I thought of a direction to go with it, and then Dave came to mind. Id love to work with Charles again down the road.

With the addition of Lombardo can we expect a 'heavier' sounding record than city of quartz? 
You know- Dave is really versatile. He’s been pigeonholed as a metal drummer through his brilliant work in Slayer, but the reason I really wanted to work with him, and what makes him so unique, is his swing. He has this really natural ebb and flow in his timing that Ive always loved. So, it could go whereever it felt appropriate with him. But to answer your question, yes- its going to be heavy as fuck.

Most of us are used to seeing Dave in Slayer, Fantomas and now his new band Philm, did he take much persuasion to jump onboard HOH something which is a lot different to what we are used to seeing him in or was he straight up for the challenge? 
I got in touch with him, we spoke on the phone, then met up and hit it off. He was totally up for it. Great, great guy, very adventurous and uncynical.

Will the record be a limited vinyl only edition again? 
Its definitely going to be released on vinyl, but not as limited as the last one. Ive recently signed with Waxwork records, and we are currently working out the details. 
So will there be no plans to release it on cd? Not for now- Im not really interested in CDs these days.Id much rather do a high quality digital release along with the vinyl again. Escho is releasing another album I did recently with Jonn Ollsin soon on cassette though

Are you considering taking HOH out into a live setting? 
Absolutely! Looking into possible dates next year now. 

So can we expect more House of Hayduks?
Yes- this is a series. I already have the next one after Distant Early Warning planned. 

Do you know yet how many HOH will be in the series? 
Ill continue as long as the ideas feel relevant.


Mads Heldtberg, Dave Lombardo, Carla Azar, and audio engineer Jim Monti laying down drum tracks in classic Studio 2 of the historic Sunset Sound Recording Studios.


The album will be available via Waxwork Records
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