MIKE PATTON Says New FAITH NO MORE Album Doesn't Seem To Be 'In The Cards Right Now'

Gary Suarez of MetalSucks recently conducted an interview with FAITH NO MORE singer Mike Patton. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

MetalSucks: I know you have MONDO CANE live performances planned outside the U.S. What about here in the U.S.?

Patton: Working on it. It's a beast to deal with.

MetalSucks: Because of the forty-piece orchestra?

Patton: Yeah, and a ten-piece band. From Italy. So it's not as easy as what I'm used to, which is putting a five-piece band together and hitting the road. It's not like that. This is something that requires more patience, and it's definitely testing me. I hope we'll play a show or two or three in the States. I'd love to do a tour. In Europe we're doing a month-long tour. What can I say? Without talking shit about the United States, there's definitely more of a format for something like this in Europe. That's just the truth.

MetalSucks: Given all the projects you've worked on over the years, what brought you back to FAITH NO MORE?

Patton: No good answer for that. It just happened. I think it was a reconciliation of sorts. We've been offered to reform many, many times over the last ten years. At some point, we all realized, "Hey, what's the problem here? Should we do this? Will the music stand up?" That was a big question. So, we rehearsed to kinda figure out whether it would stand up or not. And it did. And here we are.

MetalSucks: How have these reunion shows been for you? Have they been enjoyable for you?

Patton: Yeah. Of course. I'm not in the business of suffering. I'm not gonna put myself out there and torture myself. I'm just not gonna do it. It feels good. It feels comfortable. In a way, we're sort of… we're revisiting the past but we're also healing some old wounds. We didn't break up under the best of circumstances and this is sort of a chance to get that right. Anyone in their life, if they have a chance to sorta go back to a certain snapshot in their life, and maybe do something different… I think that's what we're doing right now.

MetalSucks: With these live shows, whose idea was it to include PEACHES & HERB and LADY GAGA covers into the set?

Patton: [laughs] I don't wanna take complete credit, but… Look, it's something that happens. It's not something where we sat down and said, "Hey, let's do a LADY GAGA cover over one of our tunes." It just kinda happens. A lot of that is my responsibility. We played a certain set of music for a long period of time, and it's only natural to get a little complacent. So, to me, what's fun is injecting other people's tunes over the top of our tunes. I guess it's a live mash-up, if you will.

MetalSucks: I know a lot of people are really excited about the shows and the reunion. Do you think you guys, reconciling as you are, will ever get back into the studio to write and record new stuff?

Patton: Who cares? Why does that have to matter? Basically, what we're about right now is having people enjoy a certain moment. Anything beyond that, hey, I can't control it. We can't control it. So, it's not important. If people are deciding to come to our show based on [whether] we're recording another record or not? Hey, are you fucking kidding me? No. No one fucking cares. It doesn't matter. And. for the record, if we do it, yeah, that'd be fine. But it doesn't seem like it's in the cards right now. One of the reasons this reunion has been so fun — so enjoyable — is because we haven't had those kind of clouds hanging over our heads. There's no pressure. We show up. We play music.

MetalSucks: I think a lot of people are just excited to see you guys.

Patton: No, it'll be fun. Don't get me wrong. [laughs]

Read the entire interview at this location.