Mike Patton has seemingly confirmed that Faith No More have disbanded, and that he doesn’t “see it as a sad thing”.
The Bay Area rock legends have been largely inactive for the last decade since the release of their comeback album ‘Sol Invictus’ in 2015. They played their last live shows the following year, wrapping things up with a stop at the Troubadour in Los Angeles in August 2016.
They were due to tour again in 2020, but these dates were later scrapped due to COVID-19.
Further plans were announced in 2021, but those were cancelled too, with Patton citing mental health reasons. He later revealed he had been diagnosed with agoraphobia during the pandemic.
Now, while the band have not officially confirmed that they have broken up, Patton has suggested that there is very little chance of any announcements coming from them in the foreseeable future.
Speaking on Consequence‘s Kyle Meredith With… podcast, the frontman was asked if he felt a “sense of closure” after the 2016 tour. “I didn’t really think so at the time, but, yeah, maybe,” he replied, adding: “I think that we all kind of felt it, but it was unspoken.”
He went on to share that he has found himself wondering about when some of his projects will come to an end, and never viewed it as a “sad thing” to call it quits if a band has run its course.
“It’s funny: when you’ve been in a band or a musical situation for a period of time, you always, in the back of your head, you’re kind of thinking, ‘Well, maybe this is it.’ And I don’t mind that feeling,” he shared. “I don’t see it as a sad thing. I see it as being present and being able to really appreciate it while it’s happening.”
As well as being in Faith No More since 1989 – taking on the role of frontman from Chuck Mosley – Patton has also been in other groups, including Mr Bungle, Fantômas, and Tomahawk.
The latter recently announced details of their first tour in 13 years, which will take place across the US this summer. Dates for that kick off in Nashville in July, and the run also sees Patton and co. reunite with longtime labelmates Melvins for the first time since 2003.
Also in the interview with Kyle Meredith, Patton dismissed the idea that Faith No More was his “main” band and that his other groups were something he saw as “side projects”.
“[Something] I’ve never really understood, and I had to figure this out very early on, was the concept of a side project, that’s assuming that there’s a main one. For me, I really never had one,” he said.
“There were projects like Faith No More where I spent more time on, in terms of touring and promoting, but everything that I’ve done was of equal importance to me. They just weren’t viewed that way,” he continued. “The public, for whatever reason, needs to have a hierarchy built in there just to make themselves feel better about it, I guess. I don’t know.”
While Faith No More has not officially confirmed a split since their 2021 tour was cancelled, other band members have spoken out about how hopes for another tour were looking slim.
Last year, guitarist Roddy Bottum spoke about the future of the band and said that they were in a “really weird spot”. “I can’t really tell you what’s going on. I don’t know myself. I get different information from people… and I’m in the band,” he said.
A similar stance was shared by drummer Mike Bordin last spring, when he claimed that he and some other bandmates were open to the idea of playing live, but Patton was allegedly “unwilling to do shows with us”.
The band – originally formed under the name Sharp Young Men – adopted their current name in 1983 and went on to share six albums before splitting up in 1998. Their most popular releases came when Patton joined the group, and included 1989’s ‘The Real Thing’ and 1992’s ‘Angel Dust’.
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