Band Bio

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Any information you might have about the band, it's present or previous members (or pictures of these) would be appreciated a lot.
 

BAND STORY

Long time ago Billy Gould played bass guitar in a band called The Animated, in which Chuck Mosely played keyboard. Mike "Puffy" Bordin joined the band EZ Streets in which Jim Martin played guitar, but Mike couldn't stand Jim and therefore quit. He then hooked up with Mike "The Man" Morris, who at the time was playing music with Billy.

1981 Billy Gould, Mike Bordin, Wade Worthington and Mike "The Man" Morris form the band Sharp Young Men which soon after was renamed to Faith No Man since the former name was too hokey. They release one single Quiet in Heaven (B-side Song of Liberty), both songs written by Mike Morris and produced by Matt Wallace.

1982 Wade leaves the band after the bands first gig and is replaced by Roddy Bottum. Roddy, Billy and Puffy get along well, but start to hate Mike Morris because he tried to run everything. They therefore kick him out. Billy Gould is suggested by his friend Will Carpmill (member of the band Systems Collapse) that they should call themselves Faith No More, since Mike "The Man" Morris is no more (in the band).

1983 After auditioning several singers Chuck Mosely joins the band as vocalist.

1984 Jim Martin joins the band as guitarist. Faith No More signs to Mordam Records, a San Francisco independent label run by Ruth Schwarz.

1985 Release the first album We Care A Lot.

1986 The band signs with Slash Records, a Los Angeles-based independent label who has distribution through Warner Bros. Records. Anna Statman is the A&R; person responsible for making the deal. This deal later develops into a split deal between Slash and Reprise Records, another arm of the Warner company. In the UK, London Records from the Polygram company, sign the band.

1987 The album Introduce Yourself is released in the US in April, and outside the US in September.

1988 In February Faith No More plays in the UK for the first time, and in May they tour the UK again. The band is a 'critics choice' in the UK, but cannot break in the US. Chuck Mosely is fired from the band that same month because of his drug, alcohol and attitude problems. Chuck sues the band.

1988 Mike Patton joins the band as the new singer in January, and The Real Thing is recorded in December.

1989 The Real Thing (TRT) is released in June in the US and a month later outside the US. In September they start a five-week US West Coast tour with Metallica, in October they tour in the UK, and in November in the rest of Europe.

1990 In January they tour the US with Voivod and Soundgarden. Epic enters singles chart in the UK at #37 and the band does another UK tour. In February, the album TRT is nominated for a grammy in the Best Heavy Metal/Hard Rock performance, but they don't win. The second single from TRT, From Out Of Nowhere, reaches #23 in the UK charts in April. In June, Epic goes gold in the US (500.000). April 28 their show at the Brixton Academy in the UK is recorded and in August released as a video, You Fat Bastards - Faith No More Live At The Brixton Academy, London. The same month they headline the Reading Festival in the UK and tour Australia. In October, Epic hits the US top 10 (#5) and the UK top 30 (#25) after being reissued. TRT goes gold in Australia and platinum in the US (1,000,000) reaching the #11 spot.

1991 Live At Brixton Academy is released February 4, and reaches #20 in the UK album charts. In March the band wins five Bammie awards (Bay Area Music Awards). TRT moves to double-platinum (2 million).

1992 Release the album Angel Dust (AD) in June, and immediately go on tour with Guns N'Roses in Europe. The first single off the new album Midlife Crisis reaches the UK top 30 singles at #18 in July, and they headline northern Europe's biggest festival, Roskilde Festival in Denmark, along with Nirvana and Pearl Jam. In July and August they tour US stadiums with Metallica and Guns N' Roses, and in November, AD reaches US gold (500,000). They tour the UK and rest of Europe with L7 in November and December.

1993 Tour the US with Babes In Toyland and Kyuss in January. In February The band's cover of The Commodores single Easy reaches #3 in the UK charts. In April they tour Japan, in May Australia and New Zealand and AD goes gold in Australia. In July the band headlines 50,000-capacity Phoenix Festival in the UK after another successful European tour. On July 17 Jim Martin performs his last live performance with Faith No More at "The Phoenix Rising Festival" and on the 30th of November Jim Martin receives a fax from Roddy Bottum that he is fired from the band. Jim claims that he quit.

1994 During the time from September to November they record King For A Day...Fool For A Lifetime with producer Andy Wallace, which by the way has no relation to Matt Wallace who has produced all FNM records before that. Trey Spruance from Mr. Bungle, records all guitar parts for the album but he does not want to commit himself to be a part of the band. In December Deen Menta from the band Duh is added to the band as guitarist.

1995 On the 20th February Digging The Grave is released as the first single from the new album and on March the 14th, KFAD...FFAL is released worldwide.

1996 Dean Menta is fired from the band and around April or May a friend of Billy Gould from Systems Collapse, namely Jon Hudson, is hired for the job. Their sixth studio album, Album of the Year is recorded, this time with Roli Mosimann as producer.

1997 On May 12 the Ashes To Ashes is released as the first single off the new album in Europe, whereas Last Cup of Sorrow is released as the first single in the US. On June 3 their sixth studio album Album Of The Year is released in the US, and circa one week later in Europe.

1998 In April, Faith No More announced their break-up by releasing this press release: "After 15 long and fruitful years, Faith No More have decided to put an end to speculation regarding their imminent break up... by breaking up. The decision among the members is mutual, and there will be no pointing of fingers, no naming of names, other than stating, for the record, that "Puffy started it". Furthermore, the split will now enable each member to pursue his individual project(s) unhindered. Lastly, and most importantly, the band would like to thank all of those fans and associates that have stuck with and supported the band throughout it's history. "

FINAL BAND MEMBERS

Mike Bordin Drums (Michael Andrew Bordin, born on November 27, 1962, in San Francisco). Mike is also known as "Puffy" and "Puff", a name which Jim Martin dubbed him back when they where teenagers and played in EZ Streets. Mike explains that "It has to do with how I looked as a teenager. I used to have this big, big hair - like afro hair and when I walked it'd go Whoooosh! Whoooosh! My hair was really puffy. It looked like one of those foam things you put on microphones". The song Cuckoo For Caca ends with "Take it from our drummer Puff, being good it gets you stuff", and has to do with the fact that he often receives gifts and stuff from people who like him because he is good and nice. 

 

Roddy Bottum Keyboards/Guitars (Roswell Christopher Bottum, born on July 1, 1963 in Los Angeles and moved to San Francisco when he went to College). Roddy grew up with Billy, and they were always friends. Roddy joined the band in 1982 after FNM's first gig, replacing Wade Worthington on keyboards. Besides playing keyboards Roddy sings most of the backing vocals and also played guitar on some songs on the King For A Day... tour. Roddy has also started a pop band called Imperial Teen where he sings and plays guitar, and according to Roddy himself, this band has his number one priority. Roddy did not contribute to the song writing of KFAD...FFAL and his involvement in the new album AOTY has only been minor. 
Roddy was once Courtney Love's boyfriend, and he was also a close friend of the late and great Kurt Cobain, whom he visited only one week before he died. Around 1994-1995 Roddy came out of the closet as a homosexual. 

 

Billy Gould Bass Guitar (William David Gould Junior, born on April 23, 1963 in Los Angeles). Billy has been a part of the band from the very beginning. Billy is not a member of any other bands, but has produced the latest album along with Roli Mosimann. Some of the recording and all of the editing for the new album was done in Billy's cellar. 

 

Jon Hudson Guitars (Born circa 1968, from Oakland, California) Jon Hudson is the bands new guitarist, he joined FNM around April/May 1996. Jon is an old friend of Billy and used to play in Systems Collapse which is an industrial/keyboard band that hasn't recorded anything apart from some demo tapes. According to Billy, Jon has contributed with some of his own material to AOTY, which sounds as much as FNM as any other song on the new album. 

 

Mike Patton Vocals (Michael Allan Patton, born on the 27th of January 1968 in Eureka, California). Mike joined the band Mr. Bungle when he was 15 (a band which he still is a member of as the vocalist). Mike studied English at a college when he was asked by Jim Martin to join FNM since Chuck had been fired. At that time Mike was only 21, and a FNM fan himself. Before he joined Faith No More he was pretty innocent, in his own words: "When I got to be the singer of FNM - a well-known band even then - I still lived with my parents. I'd never even drunk alcohol." Mike is married to an Italian woman, and lives in San Fransisco and Bologna, Italy. He can speak Spanish and Portuguese, a language which he uses on Caralho Voador (from KFAD...FFAL). The title is Portuguese for "flying dick"; Billy has once explained than the song is about an old man driving around in his car and picking his nose, "The guy is a dick, and he feels he is flying low in his car, hence flying dick". Mike says about his lyrics that they usually don't mean anything, they are just words that sound good together; a part of the music. Some lines in the songs may come from / be inspired from a book or movie. 
Mike is also known for his sometimes bizarre stage appearance. On stage he has pissed in a boot, after which he drank his piss. He has also been said to have pulled his penis out, masturbated, then pissed on his own chest while on his knees, and then finished his piss on the stage, all while singing Take This Bottle perfectly. 

 

PREVIOUS BAND MEMBERS

Deen Menta Guitars Dean was Roddy's keyboard technician on the Angel Dust Tour and also played in a band called Duh and writes soundtracks for CD ROM games, among them the popular game Loadstar. He joined the band in December 1994 and was, according to Mike Patton and Billy, a great guitarist, but could not work with the band when it came to song writing. He was fired some time in the first half of 1996. 

 

Trey Spruance Guitars Trey plays with Mike in Mr. Bungle and played guitar on KFAD...FFAL. He did not continue in FNM because he wasn't committed enough to being in a band like FNM

 

Jim Martin Guitars (James B. Martin, born July 21, 1961 in Oakland, California). Jim was fired from the band on November 30, 1993, the official reason being disagreements on the song writing process and his work ethics. It has also been said that no one in the band could stand him, though Jim himself says it was only Mike. After FNM his career has consisted of some remixing for other bands (Nine Inch Nails to name one) and some solo work (see http://jimmartin.tarantella.net/). 

 

Chuck Mosely Vocals Chuck was the singer in the band on the two first albums but was fired because he had drug, attitude and alcohol problems. Chuck sued the band. 

Chuck now sings in a band called Cement.

 

Courtney Love Vocals Courtney was besides the singer in the band (at some unknown point and period of time) also Roddy's girlfriend. Courtney is now the singer and guitarist in the alternative rock band Hole which has become quite successful lately. She is of course also known as the widow of Kurt Cobain and as leading actress in Milos Forman's The People vs. Larry Flynt


Mark Bowen Guitars Not much to know really, he was in the band in the very beginning, and has a song "dedicated" to him which is on We Care A Lot


Wade Worthington
Keyboards Left Faith No Man in 1982 after the bands very first gig, and was replaced by Roddy. 


Mike Morris
Vocals and Guitars A.k.a. Mike "The Man" Morris. A founding member of Faith No Man but was kicked out by Roddy, Billy and Puffy because he was a tyrant. 


Jake Crucifix
Guitars No information available. 


Mark Stewart
Guitars No information available. 


Desmond Trail
Guitars No information available. 


Scott Colbertson
Guitars No information available. 


Joe "Pop-o-pie" Pye
Vocals No information available. 


Walter
Vocals No information available. 


Paula Frazer
Vocals and Guitars No information available.