Tag Archives: Mike Patton

Mike Patton is just like the rest of us. He’s stuck at home, trying to be productive while having to be reclusive as the pandemic affects just about every waking moment of our lives. He’s working on new music, and he’s listening to old songs. And just like everybody else, he’s just trying to survive until all of this passes.

Rolling Stone recently caught up with Patton to ask him a few quarantine questions via email.

When asked how he was going about his day these days, he said, “Writing. Writing. Writing. Working on several records at once, which isn’t abnormal for me, but it is somehow refreshing to not have other distractions interfering. However, the gravity of this situation does make things feel … uh, different.

“Although I am lucky enough to hopefully survive this, I have had an entire year of tours canceled, between different bands, and that certainly does weigh on me, the bands I’m working with, and obviously the fans who may or may not have purchased tickets! So … basically, it sucks.”

(I’m supposed to see Faith No More in August, and though that show hasn’t yet been canceled, I’m assuming it will be at some point.)

“But personally, this lockdown lifestyle is not terribly different from my normal routine, as I’m quite hermetic and private. But sometimes it does resonate deeper—like, when you want to hit a restaurant with family or friends. No. What do we do? We adapt or die.”

He was also asked what music he’s leaned on during his isolation, and one of his answers was Jean-Claude Vannier, the same French composer and musician who Patton teamed up with to release an album in 2019 called Corpse Flower.

As I wrote about last May, Vannier “has a ton of credits that I know absolutely nothing about (mostly because it’s all music from France). Anyway, Patton said the two share a love of Serge Gainsbourg, a French singer, composer and songwriter who (again) I know virtually nothing about. But considering All Music called Gainsbourg ‘the dirty old man of popular music’ who had a ‘scandalous, taboo-shattering output,’ he certainly sounds like a guy Patton would appreciate.”

Patton said he was listening to deep tracks from old Vannier albums, and “all are transformative, groovy, and completely innovative.”

The same could be said for “Browning,” the fifth song on the Corpse Flower album.

Not unlike Chansons D’Amour, there’s a strong “RV” vibe that emanates throughout the song, where Patton is singing in almost a spoken word, but then the song transforms into a poppy, almost dance-like number which gives off a nice contrast to the lyrical content (Consequence of Sound called it a “danceable lounge tune.”).

Like the first two songs I heard from the Corpse Flower album created by Patton and Vannier, it’s fun and interesting and a nice departure from what we usually hear from Patton.

It’s a song (and an album) that is a pleasure to lesson to—especially if you’re in the middle of a pandemic with not much else to do.

Previously from Patton/Jean-Claude Vannier:

• “Chansons D’Amour” (Day 63)
• “On Top of the World” (Day 53)

 To follow along on the 365 days of Patton, click here for a list of each day’s post.

On Tuesday, we told you about a new release for the Mike Patton/Anthony Pateras collaboration tētēma, so let’s keep the new Patton music train rolling down the track (so maybe the Patton from 1991 (and his Bungle buddies) can try to hop it).

Plus, Mr. Bungle is re-recording its 1986 death metal demo “The Raging Wrath of the Easter Bunny,” and Tomahawk reportedly is back in the studio to create its first album in seven years.

It’s a Patton-copia of new music during these tough times! And that includes Patton’s guest starring appearance on Zeus!’ cover of “Human Fly,” originally recorded by the Cramps in 1983.

Considering I’ve never heard the Cramp’s version of this song, this is an interesting tune. On this newest version, there are bits where it sounds a little like Fantomas, a little like Mr. Bungle, and a little like Tomahawk. But more than anything it’s just a fairly standard rock song with Patton singing about being an insect (though the song itself actually sounds a little more interesting (and a little more punk) to me than the Cramps’ version from 37 years ago).

Here’s what the original sounds like.

Revolver said Patton’s version took “the already freakishly fun song to depraved new heights.” But for me, I don’t love it. I don’t hate it. It’s just fine.

In fact, I kind of like the way it was originally sung by Lux Interior and the way he buzzed. Which just goes to show that even though Patton is masterful in the vast majority of his covers, sometimes the original is hard to beat.

Previous Patton collaborations:

• “Soliloquy” (tētēma) (Day 76)
• “Bird’s Eye” (Patton/Serj Tankian) (Day 67)
• “Chansons d’Amour” (Patton/Jean-Claude Vannier) (Day 63)
• “On Top of the World” (Patton/Jean-Claude Vannier) (Day 53)
• “Catch My Heart” (Bohren and Der Club of Gore) (Day 49)
• “Kool Aid Party” (Team Sleep) (Day 36)
• “Lost Weekend” (The Qemists) (Day 35)
• “No Flag” (Dub Trio) (Day 26)
• “Pig Latin” (Dillinger Escape Plan) (Day 20)
• “Everything’s Alright” (Neil Hamburger) (Day 19)
• “Lookaway” (Sepultura) (Day 4)

To follow along on the 365 days of Patton, click here for a list of each day’s post.

About a month ago, I had never heard of tētēma. I didn’t know who was in tētēma (nor did I really care). I didn’t know what a tētēma was. And I didn’t know what kind of music I should expect from a band called tētēma.

Turns out it’s a Mike Patton collaboration with Anthony Pateras, an avant-garde musician from Australia, and according to Ipecac, Patton’s record label, it plays “modernist electro-acoustic rock.” Whatever that is. There are actually four people in the band, and its second album will be released in April (the fact Patton had a band I’d never heard of until recently that had already released an album, like, five years ago kind of disappoints me but also doesn’t surprise me).

As for what it sounds like, Ipecac’s press release states, “this record continues to employ the wayward orchestrations and arresting physicality of their 2014 debut Geocidal, yet is renewed by a melodic language which grounds its multi-colored twists and turns in hallucinatory lyricism.”

Okie doke.

Let’s give it a listen, then.

So, that was interesting. Or as Pateras said, “No other band would combine microtonal buchla with hyperactive drumming to serenade Paganini and Leonard Cohen passed out in a hot tub. This track is like pressing fast forward on both a [Giacinto] Sclesi and Yasunao Tone CD on different systems pointed at each other, except it’s performed live. Quite possibly the only track in the world to refer to Deleuze as ‘chichi.’”

I have no idea what any of that means.

But to me, the music sounds like electronica fused with Patton’s screaming and shouting (with maybe hints of a little bit of prog rock?). That’s something I’ve never heard from Patton before. I didn’t love it, and I didn’t hate it. I also probably wouldn’t mind listening to it again.

Previous Patton collaborations:

• “Bird’s Eye” (Patton/Serj Tankian) (Day 67)
• “Chansons d’Amour” (Patton/Jean-Claude Vannier) (Day 63)
• “On Top of the World” (Patton/Jean-Claude Vannier) (Day 53)
• “Catch My Heart” (Bohren and Der Club of Gore) (Day 49)
• “Kool Aid Party” (Team Sleep) (Day 36)
• “Lost Weekend” (The Qemists) (Day 35)
• “No Flag” (Dub Trio) (Day 26)
• “Pig Latin” (Dillinger Escape Plan) (Day 20)
• “Everything’s Alright” (Neil Hamburger) (Day 19)
• “Lookaway” (Sepultura) (Day 4)

To follow along on the 365 days of Patton, click here for a list of each day’s post.