There are many incredibly talented vocalists in the rock scene, and they have often been compared to each other. However, one of the toughest comparisons pitted Axl Rose against Mike Patton. The rivalry between the two ultimately turned into a feud that involved their bands, and it reached a point where Guns N’ Roses actually threatened Faith No More. In his recent interview with the Guardian, Patton shared some details about this dispute.
“Guns N’ Roses pissed us off because they didn’t talk to us,” Patton said when the interviewer asked about the high tensions between Guns N’ Roses and Faith No more. “At a certain point, we started talking shit in the press, and then they got pissed off and threatened to fire us off the tour. We were like, ‘OK. If we deserve it, then fine.’ But they didn’t do it.”
As for now, Patton continues to make music with Dead Cross and the band’s second album, ‘II,’ is set to be released on October 29. What makes this record special is that its creation process was interrupted by guitarist Crain’s cancer diagnosis, which significantly affected their plans. The musician also discussed these issues during the recent conversation.
Mike Patton said, “This record was forged through Covid, cancer, and alcoholism,” and he continued by talking about Crain. “He’s the strongest f*cking guy. He’s not the guy you’d think would come down with cancer. But he did, and a lot of that went into the Dead Cross record: a lot of weird pain and fear. It’s hard to explain, but it made the record better.”
Toward the end of the interview, Mike Patton also talked about his childhood and confessed that “It was f*cking horrible. It was: ‘Rednecks v loggers: which side are you on?’ And I was like: ‘I don’t care! I hate ’em all!’ In an artistic sense, there was zero.” He continued, “One band would come in – like Fishbone, who influenced Mr. Bungle a lot – and then we’d see some punk bands, and we’d have to just play with them and amalgamate.”
In this interview conducted by the Guardian, Mike Patton reflected on his feud with Guns N’ Roses and described the negative effects of the oppressive atmosphere created by Axl Rose during their tour. However, he also noted that Axl’s words and threats went no further than that and it seems like their impact on Faith No More was not that significant.