Profile of Mike Patton on Famous Like Me

Mike Patton (born Michael Allan Patton, January 27, 1968) is an American musician. He is best-known as the lead singer of Faith No More from 1988 to 1998, but has also handled lead vocals for Mr. Bungle, Tomahawk and Fantômas. He often produces side projects in collaboration with other musicians, such as John Zorn, Dan the Automator, The Melvins, Dillinger Escape Plan, Melt-Banana, Sepultura, and Merzbow, Lovage, Maldoror, Weird Little Boy, Rahzel, and Kaada. Along with Greg Werckman, he co-founded and runs Ipecac Recordings. He performed live with Amon Tobin, a.o. at the 2005 Dour Festival.

Patton possesses a wide range of vocal textures and styles, ranging from falsettos, Sinatra-esque tenors, and even death metal style grunts.

Growing up in Eureka, California, Patton and friends formed Mr. Bungle circa 1985. They recorded a few demos and earned a small local following. Patton joined Faith No More in January of 1989 and filled the vocal void left by the unreliable and recently fired Chuck Mosley (Cement). Faith No More's The Real Thing was released later the same year. The album reached the top ten on the charts thanks largely to MTV's heavy rotation of the video for the song "Epic."

In the United States, Faith No More would never again match the commercial success of "The Real Thing." After a series of interesting but poorly promoted albums (Angel Dust; King for a Day... Fool for a Lifetime; and Album of the Year), Faith No More officially disbanded in 1998.

During the long demise of Faith No More, Patton had resumed collaborating with Mr. Bungle. His success in mainstream rock and metal ultimately helped secure Mr. Bungle a record deal with Warner Bros. The band released a self-titled album (produced by John Zorn) in 1991, and the highly surreal Disco Volante in 1995. Their final album was titled California, and was widely regarded an essential record by such mainstream publications as Maxim and Rolling Stone.

Patton's other projects have included two "experimental" solo albums on John Zorn's Tzadik label (Adult Themes for Voice in 1996 and Pranzo Oltranzista in 1997). He's appeared many times on other Tzadik releases with Zorn and others.

Recently, Patton has worked with Björk and the beat boxer Rahzel. He is often featured on new releases, and is regarded as extremely hard working.

In 2005, Patton signed on to compose the soundtrack for the upcoming independent movie Pinion, marking his debut scoring an American feature-length film. His other film work includes portraying two major characters in the Steve Balderson film Firecracker. He will also compose and perform music for the upcoming Rockstar videogame Bully

Discography

with Faith No More

• 1989 - The Real Thing
• 1990 - Live At The Brixton Academy
• 1992 - Angel Dust
• 1993 - Judgment Night (Soundtrack), (Faith No More & Boo-Yaa T.R.I.B.E. perform Another Body Murdered)
• 1995 - King for a Day... Fool for a Lifetime
• 1997 - Album Of The Year
• 1998 - Plagiarism (by Sparks, Faith No More featured on two tracks)

with Mr. Bungle

• 1986 - The Raging Wrath of the Easter Bunny (demo)
• 1987 - Bowel of Chiley (demo)
• 1988 - Goddammit I Love America (demo)
• 1989 - OU818 (demo)
• 1991 - Mr. Bungle
• 1995 - Disco Volante
• 1999 - California

with Fantômas

• 1999 - Fantômas
• 2001 - The Director's Cut
• 2002 - Millennium Monsterwork 2000 w/The Melvins
• 2004 - Delìrium Cordìa
• 2005 - Suspended Animation
• 2005 - Who Is It/Where Is The Line Mixes 12" Vinyl (by Björk, Side B features a Fantômas remix of Where Is The Line?)
• 2005 - Fantômas/Melt-Banana Split Vinyl 5" Single/Square Shaped 3" CD (Fantômas perform "Animali In Calore Surriscaldati Con Ipertermia Genitale")

with Tomahawk

• 2001 - Tomahawk
• 2003 - Mit Gas

Solo Albums

• 1996 - Adult Themes for Voice
• 1997 - Pranzo Oltranzista

Album Collaborations

• 1998 - Weird Little Boy (by Weird Little Boy - John Zorn and Patton (vocals and drums))
• 1999 - She (by Maldoror - Patton and Masami Akita)
• 2001 - Music to Make Love to Your Old Lady By (by Lovage - Patton, Dan the Automator and Jennifer Charles)
• 2002 - Irony is a Dead Scene (by The Dillinger Escape Plan with Mike Patton (vocals, samples and percussions))
• 2002 - Hemophiliac (by John Zorn/Patton/Ikue Mori)
• 2004 - Hemophiliac: 50th Birthday Celebration Volume Six (by John Zorn/Patton/Ikue Mori)
• 2004 - Romances (by Kaada & Patton)
• 2005 - General Patton vs The X-Ecutioners (by Mike Patton & The X-Ecutioners)

Albums Featured

• 1992 - Elegy (arranged by John Zorn, Patton performs vocals)
• 1994 - Burn or Bury (by Milk Cult, Patton performs vocals)
• 1996 - Roots (by Sepultura, Patton sings on Lookaway, Mine and sings and co-writes on The Waste)
• 1997 - Great Jewish Music - Burt Bacharach (various artists - Patton (vocals and keyboards) collaborates w/ David Slusser on She's Gone Away)
• 1997 - Great Jewish Music - Serge Gainsbourg (various artists - Patton sings and plays all instruments on Ford Mustang)
• 1997 - Fear No Love (by Bob Ostertag, Patton contributes vocals)
• 1997 - AngelicA 97 (various artists, Patton contributes to a few tracks)
• 1998 - Great Jewish Music - Marc Bolan (various artists - Patton sings and plays all instruments on Chariot Choogle)
• 1998 - Charlie (by Melt Banana, members of Mr. Bungle (and many others) contribute vocals on Area 877 (Phoenix Mix))
• 1999 - Memory Is An Elephant (by Tin Hat Trio - Patton sings on hidden track)
• 1999 - Song Drapes (by Jerry Hunt, Patton contributes text/vocals)
• 1999 - Taboo and Exile (by John Zorn, Patton featured on Bulls Eye)
• 2000 - The Crybaby (by The Melvins, Patton sings and plays all instruments on G.I. Joe)
• 2000 - Great Phone Calls with Neil Hamburger (by Neil Hamburger, Patton features on Music of the Night)
• 2000 - Down With The Scene (by Kid606, Patton contributes vocals on Secrets 4 Sale)
• 2002 - Rise Above: 24 Black Flag Songs to Benefit the West Memphis Three (various artists, Patton performs on Six Pack)
• 2003 - Voices in the Wilderness (various artists, Patton performs keyboards and vocals on Kochot)
• 2004 - Virginal Co-ordinates (by Eyvind Kang, Patton contributes - vocals, voice & electronics)
• 2004 - Medúlla (by Björk, features Patton on Where Is The Line? and Pleasure Is All Mine)
• 2004 - White People (by Handsome Boy Modeling School, features Patton on Are You Down With It?)
• 2005 - Oceanic: Remixes/Reinterpretations (by Isis, Patton contributed a version of Maritime)
• 2005 - Painkiller: 50th Birthday Celebration Volume Twelve (by John Zorn/Bill Laswell/Hamid Drake, special guest vocals by Patton)

This content from Wikipedia is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Mike Patton