Patton has earned critical praise for his diverse vocals, which touch on crooning, falsetto, death growls, rapping, chanting, mouth music, beatboxing and scatting, among other techniques; critic Greg Prato writes, "Patton could very well be one of the most versatile and talented singers in rock music."
He has many producer or co-producer credits with artists such as John Zorn, The Melvins, Melt-Banana, Kool Keith, and Björk. He co-founded Ipecac Recordings with Greg Werckman in 1999, and has run the label since.
Patton grew up in Eureka, California, where he and his friends (including long-time members Trey Spruance and Trevor Dunn) formed Mr. Bungle circa 1984. During the late 80s they recorded the cassette-only demos "The Raging Wrath of the Easter Bunny", "Goddammit I Love America", "Bowel of Chiley" and "OU818" (featuring tracks that would appear on their first Warner Brothers album), and earned a modest local following. Patton joined Faith No More in January 1989 and filled the vocal void left by the unreliable and recently-fired Chuck Mosely, who moved on to the band Cement. Faith No More's The Real Thing was released later the same year. The album reached the top ten on the charts thanks largely to MTV's heavy rotation of the Epic music video (which featured Patton in a Mr Bungle t-shirt).
In the United States, Faith No More would never again match the commercial success of "The Real Thing" but their music continued to evolve into new and sometimes stranger areas of rock music. After three more studio albums ("Angel Dust", "King for a Day... Fool for a Lifetime", and Album of the Year") Faith No More officially disbanded in 1998.
During his time as a member of Faith No More, Patton continued to collaborate with Mr. Bungle. His success in mainstream rock and metal ultimately helped secure Mr. Bungle a record deal with Warner Bros. The band released a self-titled album (produced by John Zorn) in 1991, and the highly surreal "Disco Volante" in 1995. Their final album was "California".
Patton's other projects have included two solo albums in the Composer Series on John Zorn's Tzadik]/label] label ("Adult Themes for Voice" in 1996 and "Pranzo Oltranzista" in 1997). He is a member of Hemophiliac where he does voice effects along with John Zorn on saxophone and Ikue Mori on laptop electronics. This group is billed as "improvisational music from the outer reaches of madness". He has also guested on Painkiller and Naked City recordings. He's appeared many times on other Tzadik releases with Zorn and others.
There have also been several projects over the years that have not seen an official release, although some live bootlegs do circulate. These projects include House of Discipline (with Bob Ostertag and Otomo Yoshihide), Moonraker (with Agata Ichirou of Melt-Banana, Buckethead and DJ Eddie Def), Christian Fennesz (Fennesz) and Mike Patton, and Mike Patton & Rahzel. Patton contributed vocals to the Team Sleep song "Kool-Aid Party", but the song did not make it onto the final album. This is likely due in part to the unfinished album having been leaked very early onto the internet.
In 2007, Mike Patton played the voice of the eponymous possessive primeval force in the video game The Darkness, working alongside Kirk Acevedo, Lauren Ambrose and Dwight Schultz. He also had a minor role in Valve Corporation's 2007 release, Portal as the voice of the Anger Sphere in the final confrontation with the insane supercomputer, GLaDOS. He has another role in the Valve title, Left 4 Dead. In October, 2007 it was announced that he would be voicing the main character in Capcom's remake of their classic title, Bionic Commando. Mike also provided the voices of the monsters in the 2007 film I Am Legend starring Will Smith. Patton is known to be an avid video game player.
In February 2006, Mike Patton performed an operatic piece, composed by Eyvind Kang, at Teatro di Modena in Italy. Patton sang alongside vocalist Jessika Kinney, and was accompanied by the Modern Brass Ensemble, Bologna Chamber Choir, and Alberto Capelli and Walter Zanetti on electric and acoustic guitars. Of the experience, Patton remarked that it was extremely challenging to project the voice without a microphone.
In 2005, Patton signed on to compose the soundtrack for the upcoming independent movie Pinion, marking his debut scoring an American feature-length film. However, this has been held up in production and may be on the shelf permanently. His other film work includes portraying two major characters in the Steve Balderson film Firecracker. He has also expressed his desire to compose for film director David Lynch.
Patton's long-gestating Peeping Tom album was released on May 30, 2006 on his own Ipecac label. The set was pieced together by swapping song files through the mail with collaborators like Norah Jones, Kool Keith and Massive Attack, Odd Nosdam, Jel, Doseone, Bebel Gilberto, Kid Koala, and Dub Trio.
"I don't listen to the radio, but if I did, this is what I'd want it to sound like", Patton says of the project. "This is my version of pop music. In a way, this is an exercise for me: taking all these things I've learned over the years and putting them into a pop format."
Recently, Patton has worked with Björk and the beat boxer Rahzel. He is often featured on new releases, and is regarded as extremely hard working. Faith No More keyboardist Roddy Bottum remarked about Patton "caffeine is the only drug he does", in reference to the Faith No More song Caffeine from the album "Angel Dust", which Patton wrote while in the middle of a sleep-deprivation experiment.
More recently Patton has lent his talents for the Derrick Scocchera short film A Perfect Place for the score/soundtrack, which out-lengths the film itself.
It has been announced that in December 2008 along with Melvins, Patton will co-curate an edition of the All Tomorrow's Parties' Nightmare Before Christmas festival. Patton will choose half of the lineup and also perform the album The Director's Cut in its entirety with Fantômas. Patton will also be appearing as Rikki Kixx in the Adult Swim show Metalocalypse in a special 2 part episode on August 24th.
The Wolves
Mike Patton Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Will mark you
Harness your blame, harness your blame
And walk through
With the wild wolves around you
In the morning, I'll call you
Send it farther on
Solace my game, solace my game
It stars you
Swing wide your crane, swing wide your crane
And run me through
And the story's all over you
In the morning I'll call you
Can't you find a clue when your eyes are all painted Sinatra blue
What might have been lost -
Don't bother me
The lyrics of Mike Patton's song The Wolves are open to interpretation, but one possible meaning is that the singer is addressing someone who has caused him pain, telling them that their actions will eventually catch up to them. The phrase "someday my pain, someday my pain will mark you, harness your blame, harness your blame and walk through" suggests a sense of karma, that what goes around comes around, and that the person responsible for the pain will eventually reap what they sow. The following lines, "with the wild wolves around you, in the morning, I'll call you, send it farther on," could mean that the singer is urging the person to confront their problems and deal with them, even if it's difficult.
The next verse, "solace my game, solace my game, it stars you, swing wide your crane, swing wide your crane and run me through," could be interpreted as a plea for the person to provide some kind of comfort or closure for the singer, using the metaphor of a game in which the person is a star player. However, the reference to running the singer through with a crane suggests a darker, more violent interpretation, perhaps indicating that the person is the cause of the singer's pain and that they need to take responsibility for it.
The final lines, "and the story's all over you, in the morning I'll call you, can't you find a clue when your eyes are all painted Sinatra blue, what might have been lost - don't bother me," suggest a sense of betrayal, of the person being painted as the villain in the story. The reference to "Sinatra blue" could indicate a sense of nostalgia or regret, and the final line could mean that the singer is ready to move on from the pain and leave it behind.
Line by Line Meaning
Someday my pain, someday my pain
At some point in time, the pain I feel will manifest in your life
Will mark you
You will be impacted by my pain
Harness your blame, harness your blame
Take responsibility for any fault or wrongdoing you have committed
And walk through
Keep moving forward despite any obstacles or consequences
With the wild wolves around you
You will face threatening and dangerous situations
In the morning, I'll call you
I will make contact with you at some point in the future
Send it farther on
Push the limits and take it to the next level
Solace my game, solace my game
Provide me comfort and a source of relief
It stars you
You play a lead role in it
Swing wide your crane, swing wide your crane
Open yourself up to possibilities and opportunities
And run me through
Penetrate me deeply with your words or actions
And the story's all over you
You bear the marks of the events that have transpired
In the morning I'll call you
Expect to hear from me again tomorrow
Can't you find a clue when your eyes are all painted Sinatra blue
Can't you see what's happening when you're caught up in emotions and illusions
What might have been lost -
What could have been missed out on and gone forever
Don't bother me
I am not concerned or affected by it
Lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Written by: Justin Deyarmond Edison Vernon
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
You are so pretty
This will be an unintentionally long post! I meant to write a brief comment about the song and movie, but ended up writing up all my thoughts and questions on what is undoubtedly one of my top 5 favorite movies of all time.
First, love the song, love the movie. Everyone's performance in this movie was incredible. From Ryan Gosling to Ray Liotta's shorter involvement, and to even Emory Cohen (Bradley Cooper's son in the movie)... bravo to them all.
Now, SPOILER ALERT. Only read on if you've seen the movie or don't care about spoilers.
I certainly appreciated Ryan Gosling's irrational character- he got greedy and he made irrationally bad choices which led to his downfall, i.e. quitting his job, strolling into Kofi's house to build a crib unannounced and then hitting him with a wrench, deciding to rob a bank despite the warnings and then forgetting his sunglasses and then seeing that his final bank had much heavier precautions to robberies and continuing with the robbery anyway...
Now all of these things can arguably contribute to the character's downfall, but I say his death was completely avoidable, it shouldn't have happened, and it was obviously COMPLETELY Bradley Cooper's fault. The cop shot first and he was wrong for that. He lied about it, and although he carried his guilt with him for the next decade and a half, he didn't do much to rectify his actions. Trying to return the 7 grand, keeping the picture in his wallet, and bailing Jason out of jail anonymously didnt really cut it. I guess his best bet was to ignore the past and move on because any involvement would only be hurtful and harmful, i.e., him saying "Hey, I'm sorry I impulsively shot your dad and was named the town hero." There was not much he could do to atone, but he was erratic and wrong and even though Ryan Gosling's behavior was self destructive, he shouldn't have been killed over it. I was disappointed in Bradley Cooper's "training" and behavior once he entered the room with Gosling. I mean damn, he just fired instantly... and for no reason! Gosling was just sitting there on the windowsill using the phone!
Any thoughts or comments?
And on a side note, i loved every scene of the entire movie except for the ending. Why did AJ need a gun? Just to point it at the Avery family (father and son) and steal a couple hundred bucks for a motorcycle to travel out west to do what? Be homeless and meet no one he knows and just drop out of high school? I guess he will be a drifter on a motorcycle like his father, passing through town and maybe get a chick pregnant, only to find out a year too late. Additionally, the only good thing the ending accomplished was that the son Jason saw that Bradley Cooper's character kept that picture in his wallet, suggesting that he was truly remorseful this whole time, and Jason was able to learn this. But he still stole the money and the car. There was no conversation between the two. He just left town and mailed his mother the picture which... didn't make sense to do? These are just the main reasons why I didn't think the ending was that satisfying. The only thing I loved about the ending was this song.
And here's a question. Does anyone think that AJ knew that his father killed Jason's father? He never admits that he knows, and the only clue we get is at the house party when Jason yells "You think I'm fucking stupid?" to which AJ replies "Get the fuck outta here," then beats him into a mini coma.
Anyway, phew. I think I said all I needed to say and all that I had on my chest. Someone please comment on any part of my post. I've been meaning to have a discussion with someone about this movie! Lol.
Will Jen
Someday my pain
Someday my pain will mark you
Harness your blame
Harness your blame, walk through
With the wild wolves around you
In the morning, I'll call you
Send it farther on
Solace my game
Solace my game, it stars you
Swing wide your crane
Swing wide your crane and run me through
And the story's all over
In the morning, I'll call you
Can't you find a clue
When your eyes are all painted Sinatra blue
What might have been lost
What might have been lost
What might have been lost
What might have been lost
Don't bother me
(Don't bother me)
What might have been lost
(Don't bother me)
What might have been lost
(Don't bother me)
What might have been lost
(Don't bother me)
What might have been lost
(Don't bother me)
What might have been lost
(Don't bother me)
What might have been lost
(Don't bother me)
What might have been lost
What might have been lost
Ah, ah
Someday my pain
Someday my pain, my pain
Someday my pain
Someday my pain
Arman Homie
I watched this movie with my best friend in theaters when it came out. Teared up when this song played at the end. My best friend died of cancer yesterday, this song makes me remember him & tear up again 😭😧
Robert Griggs
Damn. I’ll think of that every time I hear this song. I hope you find a little peace remembering your friend listening to this song.
Евген из СССР
Держись друг! Он смотрит на тебя с небес
Goddess of Trans Lesbians
Best performance I've ever seen from an infant child.
zechariah
@John Nakosha shes british
John Nakosha
literally laughing my ass off
Riccardo Sala
this film can change your little life
John Carl Orca
it actually did.
kellie PRAGER
👍
Bran Scott
It certainly can.