Complete List Of Mike Patton Bands And Musical Projects

Feature Photo: Jan Frode Haugseth, CC BY 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Mike Patton’s career began in Eureka, California, where isolation, record collecting, film obsession, and restless curiosity helped shape one of the most unpredictable voices in modern music. Born Michael Allan Patton on January 27, 1968, Patton grew up in a secular household with a mother who was a social worker and a father who was a physical education teacher. As a student at Eureka High School, he met bassist Trevor Dunn and later guitarist Trey Spruance through music theory classes and jazz ensembles. Those friendships became the foundation of Mr. Bungle, the experimental band formed in 1984 that gave Patton his first major creative laboratory.

Mr. Bungle started in the far northern California underground, where Patton, Dunn, Spruance, and their bandmates mixed metal, funk, punk, jazz, ska, carnival music, and extreme humor into something that refused to fit comfortably into any one genre. The band released several cassette demos during the late 1980s, including The Raging Wrath of the Easter Bunny, Bowel of Chiley, Goddammit I Love America, and OU818. Patton was still studying English literature at Humboldt State University and working part-time at a record store in Eureka when Faith No More entered his life. After hearing Mr. Bungle’s demo, the members of Faith No More invited him to audition as their new singer.

Patton officially joined Faith No More in January 1989, replacing Chuck Mosley and stepping into a band that already had a strong identity. The move forced him to leave college, but it quickly pushed him onto a much larger stage. Faith No More released The Real Thing in 1989, and the album became a major commercial breakthrough on the strength of “Epic,” whose music video received heavy MTV rotation. The album reached the Top 20 in the United States and turned Patton into one of alternative metal’s most recognizable frontmen. Faith No More followed with Angel Dust in 1992, King for a Day… Fool for a Lifetime in 1995, and Album of the Year in 1997 before disbanding in 1998. The band later reunited in 2009, toured again, and released Sol Invictus in 2015.

Even while Faith No More brought him mainstream attention, Patton kept expanding far outside the boundaries of commercial rock. Mr. Bungle signed with Warner Bros. and released Mr. Bungle in 1991, Disco Volante in 1995, and California in 1999. The band later reunited in 2019 with Patton, Dunn, Spruance, Dave Lombardo, and Scott Ian, then re-recorded material from The Raging Wrath of the Easter Bunny. Patton also released solo albums including Adult Themes for Voice, Pranzo Oltranzista, and Mondo Cane. His work with Fantômas, formed in 1998 with Buzz Osborne, Trevor Dunn, and Dave Lombardo, added another major project to a catalog already overflowing with extreme musical ideas.

Patton’s list of bands and collaborations became enormous. He formed Tomahawk with Duane Denison after meeting him at a Mr. Bungle show in Nashville. He worked with Lovage on Music to Make Love to Your Old Lady By alongside Dan the Automator, Jennifer Charles, and Kid Koala. He recorded with the Dillinger Escape Plan on Irony Is a Dead Scene, collaborated with Björk and Rahzel on Medúlla, released Romances with Kaada, worked with the X-Ecutioners on General Patton vs. The X-Ecutioners, and created the Peeping Tom album through file swapping with collaborators including Norah Jones, Kool Keith, Massive Attack, Amon Tobin, Bebel Gilberto, Kid Koala, and Dub Trio. Across Faith No More, Mr. Bungle, Tomahawk, Fantômas, Peeping Tom, Lovage, Mondo Cane, Kaada/Patton, Dead Cross, Moonchild Trio, and numerous other projects, Patton has been connected to dozens of full-length releases.

The reason Patton is so loved by musicians and serious music fans is tied directly to the way he treats the human voice as an instrument without borders. His vocals have moved through crooning, falsetto, screaming, opera, death growls, rapping, beatboxing, scatting, and wordless sound experiments. He has used effect pedals and other tools to manipulate his voice, and in projects such as Fantômas and Moonchild Trio, he sometimes avoided traditional lyrics entirely in favor of preverbal sounds. Patton is mostly self-taught, has perfect pitch, and has credited deep listening as one of the most important parts of his musical education. His influence extended to singers and musicians associated with Deftones, Incubus, Korn, Slipknot, System of a Down, Queens of the Stone Age, Coheed and Cambria, Killswitch Engage, Hoobastank, Papa Roach, and other bands.

Patton’s commercial peak came through Faith No More, whose biggest songs included “Epic,” “Falling to Pieces,” “Midlife Crisis,” “A Small Victory,” “Everything’s Ruined,” “Easy,” “Digging the Grave,” “Evidence,” “Ashes to Ashes,” “Last Cup of Sorrow,” and “Stripsearch.” Faith No More had one major United States hit, but scored three UK Top 20 singles. Patton’s public image also became part of his mythology, built around eccentric live performances, sharp humor, contempt for the mainstream music industry, and loyalty to adventurous music. His work as a producer or co-producer extended to artists including Merzbow, the Dillinger Escape Plan, Sepultura, Melvins, Melt-Banana, and Kool Keith. In 1999, he co-founded Ipecac Recordings with Greg Werckman, creating a home for non-mainstream music and many of his own projects.

Outside traditional band work, Patton built a substantial career in film, soundtracks, and video games. He scored A Perfect Place, composed the soundtrack to Crank: High Voltage, voiced the narrator in Bunraku, composed the soundtrack to The Place Beyond the Pines, and scored the Netflix film 1922. He also provided creature vocals for I Am Legend. In video games, he voiced the title force in The Darkness and returned for The Darkness II. He also voiced the Anger Sphere in Portal, provided infected zombie voices for Left 4 Dead, voiced Nathan “Rad” Spencer in Bionic Commando, and sang a remake of the 1987 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles theme for the trailer to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge. Those projects show exactly why Patton’s career has never fit neatly into the usual rock singer story. He became a vocalist, composer, producer, label founder, voice actor, and underground music champion, all while refusing to surrender the strange creative fire that first started back in Eureka.

With Faith No More

We Care a Lot (1985)

Introduce Yourself (1987)

The Real Thing (1989)

Angel Dust (1992)

King for a Day… Fool for a Lifetime (1995)

Album of the Year (1997)

Sol Invictus (2015)

Solo Albums

Adult Themes for Voice (1996)

Pranzo Oltranzista (1997)

Pranzo Oltranzista by MIKE PATTON (1997-04-22)

Mondo Cane (2010)

With Mr. Bungle

Mr. Bungle (1991)

Disco Volante (1995)

California (1999)

The Raging Wrath of the Easter Bunny Demo (2020)

Mr Bungle Raging Wrath Of The Easter Bunny Demo Re

With Fantômas

Fantômas (1999)

The Director’s Cut (2001)

Delìrium Còrdia (2004)

Suspended Animation (2005)

With Tomahawk

Tomahawk (2001)

Mit Gas (2003)

Anonymous (2007)

Oddfellows (2013)

Tonic Immobility (2021)

With Peeping Tom

Peeping Tom (2006)

With tētēma

Geocidal (2014)

Necroscape (2020)

With Dead Cross

Dead Cross (2017)

Dead Cross EP (2018)

II (2022)

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