New Faith No More Album!

[Shaky]

Also, I think Fantomas is pretty much a Patton project, doesn't he do all the music on tape with just his voice, then the band learn all their parts from that? Or was that just the first album?

Yeah, Patton has composed all Fantomas stuff to date, bar The Director's Cut and other covers obviously. Thought I read somewhere that he plays all instruments on the demos, too - opinions vary on what he can do besides sing and keyboard a bit, but supposedly he's pretty proficient on drums and guitar.

I watched this very early Bungle performance the other day and I just couldn't believe how fucking talented these guys were back then:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WA0iu6K1Vuc
What a show! What a bunch of little show-off bastards! They were all probably in their late teens / early twenties back then.

Young Bungle, you say?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e12iKth6Vkw

[Noodle Lizard]

Then again, I am looking forward to the next Fantomas album, which apparently is heavily focusing on electronic music and sounds. I think that could go into some pretty interesting territories. Also, I think Fantomas is pretty much a Patton project, doesn't he do all the music on tape with just his voice, then the band learn all their parts from that? Or was that just the first album?

Just the first album.  I think he more or less writes it all though, at least as much as he can.  Buzz certainly doesn't take credit for the guitar parts.  I didn't know they'd announced a new album though, cool.  Definitely a band I want to see live.

I watched this very early Bungle performance the other day and I just couldn't believe how fucking talented these guys were back then:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WA0iu6K1Vuc
What a show! What a bunch of little show-off bastards! They were all probably in their late teens / early twenties back then.

Bungle are like the Matt & Trey of music - far more creative and accomplished than they had any right to be at such a young age, whilst remaining remarkably unpretentious.  It fascinates me that while their debut album was recorded when they were all about 20 or so (still fucking impressive), the songs had been around in various iterations for years prior.  And to think they came out of a place like Eureka, California.

[Repeater]

Good reading of Album of the Year guy. Think you've got it right. I also see a similar thing happening with King For a Day though the theme there is addiction. 

[Noodle Lizard]

Sorry for the bump, but it transpires that I'll be off to see a Chuck Mosley-fronted Faith No More tonight, in celebration of the 30-year anniversary of We Care A Lot.  Have it on good authority Patton's there too.  At the Troubadour, tiny venue where that Patton barsurf video came from.  This'll be good, I reckon, even if I don't care much for the Chuck era.

[Glebe]

Sorry for the bump, but it transpires that I'll be off to see a Chuck Mosley-fronted Faith No More tonight, in celebration of the 30-year anniversary of We Care A Lot.  Have it on good authority Patton's there too.  At the Troubadour, tiny venue where that Patton barsurf video came from.  This'll be good, I reckon, even if I don't care much for the Chuck era.

Ooh, that'll be interesting! The Troubadour's pretty famous, isn't it? I believe it's where Lennon stuck a tampon on his bonce.

[Shaky]

Pretty damn classy of them to do this. After all, hardly anyone would complain if Patton performed the old tracks.

Footage of the first gig here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6PbyQH7aDo

[Noodle Lizard]

Pretty damn classy of them to do this. After all, hardly anyone would complain if Patton performed the old tracks.

Yeah, and no doubt lots of fans will be complaining that they didn't feature Patton - which would completely miss the point.  Though, like I said, did get a hint that he might be there tonight since he's in LA.

Also when I say I'm not much of a fan of Chuck-era, I mostly mean that I prefer Patton as a vocalist, but some of the material is really great.  It'll be really weird to have seen them perform with both singers, but in reverse order.

[Shaky]

Yeah, and no doubt lots of fans will be complaining that they didn't feature Patton - which would completely miss the point.  Though, like I said, did get a hint that he might be there tonight since he's in LA.

Also when I say I'm not much of a fan of Chuck-era, I mostly mean that I prefer Patton as a vocalist, but some of the material is really great.  It'll be really weird to have seen them perform with both singers, but in reverse order.

Yeah, have already seen several, "Mike? Where's MIKE?!"- type comments but it would seem pretty obvious that he's just taken a step back for these shows. Not a massive fan of Mosley's stylings either but, as you say, some of the material is ace and his voice is sounding better this time, so more power to him. Definitely a historic gig so have a good one!

As an aside, Patton doesn't seem quite as insanely prolific these days.... wonder if he's just taking a break after FNM duties or he's cooking something else up? If he is there maybe you can have a quick word, like...

(cough)New Fantomas album and gigs(cough)

[Noodle Lizard]

I'm here right now.  Chuck just wandering around the venue, chatting to people.  Very surreal.

[Noodle Lizard]

Well, definitely a strange show.  Gary Jacoby (from the band Celebrity Skin) was the opening act, who apparently Chuck was a roadie for at one point in the 80s, even getting Chuck on stage with him for one song.

Then Chuck did his acoustic set with some other bloke on bongos, mostly original stuff, but they ended by playing Take This Bottle (bizarrely) - at which point the other FNM members joined him on stage without announcement.  What followed was basically a selection of the better songs from Introduce Yourself and We Care A Lot, performed with no introduction save for the traditional FNM "dry banter" interludes.  Very interesting to see, especially in a venue like that, since it was probably not too far removed from what one of the early FNM shows might've been like.

No Mike Patton[nb]I later heard why, from the also-present Gregg Turkington, but wouldn't want to spread that information publicly in case it's not true[/nb], but it was a solidly entertaining show and the material really stands up regardless of who's singing it.  Chuck's obviously no Patton when it comes to vocal ability, but there's no denying his off-tune delivery works for those songs, and he looked like he was having the time of his life. 

It was a bit disheartening to hear a pair of blokes near me talking loudly about how "Patton would've done it better" as soon as each song ended, since it was a very amicable and good-natured show - and, at that low price point, could hardly be considered a cash-grab.  Really felt like a bunch of old friends getting together to play those "really weird songs" they came up with when they were young.

5/5.

[Dirty Boy]

Glad it was a good show, the last time Mosely joined them on stage he was abysmal.

Intrigued by the Patton story, i'm guessing it's personal reasons right? Hopefully he's doing ok health-wise seeing as he nearly killed himself stagediving at rock in rio last year.

[Noodle Lizard]

Glad it was a good show, the last time Mosely joined them on stage he was abysmal.

I'm not gonna say he was a stellar performer or anything, but I'm not sure he ever was.  The closest comparison I can think of is "a bit like seeing Pink Floyd with Syd Barrett" - obviously Gilmour's the better vocalist/musician, but it ain't half fascinating to see what was.

Intrigued by the Patton story, i'm guessing it's personal reasons right? Hopefully he's doing ok health-wise seeing as he nearly killed himself stagediving at rock in rio last year.

Nah he's fine (as far as I know).  There's not much of a story, basically Patton didn't want to do it.

[Shaky]

Well, definitely a strange show.  Gary Jacoby (from the band Celebrity Skin) was the opening act, who apparently Chuck was a roadie for at one point in the 80s, even getting Chuck on stage with him for one song.

Then Chuck did his acoustic set with some other bloke on bongos, mostly original stuff, but they ended by playing Take This Bottle (bizarrely) - at which point the other FNM members joined him on stage without announcement.  What followed was basically a selection of the better songs from Introduce Yourself and We Care A Lot, performed with no introduction save for the traditional FNM "dry banter" interludes.  Very interesting to see, especially in a venue like that, since it was probably not too far removed from what one of the early FNM shows might've been like.

No Mike Patton[nb]I later heard why, from the also-present Gregg Turkington, but wouldn't want to spread that information publicly in case it's not true[/nb], but it was a solidly entertaining show and the material really stands up regardless of who's singing it.  Chuck's obviously no Patton when it comes to vocal ability, but there's no denying his off-tune delivery works for those songs, and he looked like he was having the time of his life. 

It was a bit disheartening to hear a pair of blokes near me talking loudly about how "Patton would've done it better" as soon as each song ended, since it was a very amicable and good-natured show - and, at that low price point, could hardly be considered a cash-grab.  Really felt like a bunch of old friends getting together to play those "really weird songs" they came up with when they were young.

5/5.

Nice one - cheers for the mini review. Had heard that Chuck has been covering Take This Bottle, which seems an odd choice but it's well suited to the acoustic treatment and keeps another link with his old band, I guess.

Re Patton's absence - I realise this is more than likely absolutely nothing but, interestingly, there has been quite a bit more Bungle activity on Twitter and Facebook recently... mainly to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the debut album, but Dunn's just commandeered one of the larger fan accounts and Turkington's pretty tight with Trey, so if there was any news in that sort of area....

[Noodle Lizard]

Re Patton's absence - I realise this is more than likely absolutely nothing but, interestingly, there has been quite a bit more Bungle activity on Twitter and Facebook recently... mainly to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the debut album, but Dunn's just commandeered one of the larger fan accounts and Turkington's pretty tight with Trey, so if there was any news in that sort of area....

Oh, I fucking wish.  No, sounds like you know more about that than I do.  But I certainly hope that the success of the FNM reuninon (critically and otherwise) has instilled some confidence in those bastards, since that's a reunion show I would literally kill to be at.

Got chatting to some bloke bemoaning the fact that he'd missed them on the Disco Volante tour.  "Yeah I saw them like four times after that, but can't believe I missed that one".  Fuck you, I was about 11 when they played their last show, how about you give me a chance, cunt?[nb]he was very nice[/nb]

[Noodle Lizard]

OK, so Patton was there, but didn't make an appearance.  Strange.

[Dirty Boy]

He's always wearing that damn cloth hat, he's not got CaB syndrome has he?

I think that the most hopeful development re: Bungle is that Trey and Patton are friends again. I think their fall out was the main reason the band dissolved in the first place. There's (old) interviews with Trey were he says as much.

Both Bar Mckinnon and Trevor Dunn were asked about the Bungle reunion recently, Dunns response is interesting...

Ultimately it would take the collective desire, interest and, most importantly, inspiration from the individuals to say something new.  I can assure you that if it were to ever happen, the fans would not be graced with material from our past.  I am often asked this question and the analogy I continually turn to is that of the exgirfriend.  How strange and uncomfortable would it feel to return to a relationship from 15 or 20 years ago?  Especially when each had moved on to other loves.  There is nothing wrong with things coming to an end having fulfilled their roles.  Nostalgia is a double-edged sword and it's rare that a return to past mind-sets results in something natural as in the way those things originally happened.  It would have to be an organic process.  I can't say any of us are really in control of that.

So, no use shouting for My Ass Is On Fire then.

Got the debut on now... have to say it's still my least favourite of the three, but along with Disco Volante it sent me in a hundred different directions musically...

Here, have an old interview (it made me laugh).

[Noodle Lizard]

Their debut was the first album I heard, and ... fuck me, it's still so fucking impressive.  They would've been no older than 18 or 19 when they wrote most of that, for fuck's sake.  I was about 18 at the time I heard it and just thought to myself:  "Christ, these kids were ahead of people twice their age".  The fact that they managed to surpass it with each subsequent release is only further testament to their brilliance.

Patton collaborated with Secret Chiefs 3 on their cover of "Chanson de Jacky", so I imagine they're at least on speaking terms again.  Not gonna deny that Trey's likely the main reason Bungle worked so well, but it's not quite right without Patton.  Certainly nothing SC3 ever did gave me the same feeling as hearing S/T for the first time.

[Dirty Boy]

Trey also played with FNM when they did KFAD in Chile a few years back. That was a big suprise at the time.

The Bungle stuff sounds a tad less mindblowing once you've assimilated Ruins, Boredoms, Zorn, Zappa, The Residents etc, but as i'm saying i credit them with getting me into that stuff in the first place.

[Noodle Lizard]

The Bungle stuff sounds a tad less mindblowing once you've assimilated Ruins, Boredoms, Zorn, Zappa, The Residents etc, but as i'm saying i credit them with getting me into that stuff in the first place.

Yeah, it probably is partly down to the order I discovered this stuff in rather than how revolutionary is actually was.  But despite being a big fan of most of those acts, I'd still choose Bungle over them every day.  There really isn't anything like them, I don't think[nb]a lot of the imitators that came after included - Dog Fashion Disco?  Dog Fuckoff Shitshow more like it.[/nb].

[Shaky]

OK, so Patton was there, but didn't make an appearance.  Strange.

Thank shit for that... another dreaded scenario was that Mike P had knocked FNM on the head again. Can understand him not making an onstage appearance as he would've totally overshadowed Chuck. Nice to hang back and let the old guard do their thing.

Both Bar Mckinnon and Trevor Dunn were asked about the Bungle reunion recently, Dunns response is interesting...

True, but remember that Patton flat out said that the FNM-reunion had "petered out" before it transpired that the fuckers were actually making a new album in secret. I suppose *technically* the reunion had ended and a brand new phase was beginning, but still.

They're all consummate bullshitters when they want to be, these guys!

[Dirty Boy]

Yeah, it probably is partly down to the order I discovered this stuff in rather than how revolutionary is actually was.  But despite being a big fan of most of those acts, I'd still choose Bungle over them every day.  There really isn't anything like them, I don't think

True, even the better Bungle-oids like Estradasphere don't really light my fuse in the same way. I'd say SC3 are about the best of them. Trevor Dunn's Trio Convulsant are also pretty great.

Much later edit: Just remembered Sleepytime Gorilla Museum who are exceptional. Dunno about Bungle-influenced though, but some of the stuff on the first couple of albums isn't a million miles away.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExtLHTGMYx8

[Repeater]

Gonnae no hint at a story then shite out of fuckin tellin it

[Noodle Lizard]

Gonnae no hint at a story then shite out of fuckin tellin it

You're not Limmy.

[Repeater]

?

[Glebe]

The Patton/Mosely photo is fantastic!