Over the years, record label Three One G have released brutal and nasty tributes to Queen and the Birthday Party where avant garde noise makers like Melt-Banana, Cattle Decapitation, Weasel Walter, SSion and Some Girls lovingly massacred the catalog of these two beloved bands. Now the label is turning to Chelsea Wolfe, Daughters, Mike Patton, Metz, and many others and setting them loose on the songs of The Cramps.
The Cramps, of course, covered a whole lotta songs themselves, and their music is perfect for a project like Really Bad Music For Really Bad People. There’s even a Cumbia-style Cramps interpretation by Sonido De La Frontera, and Panicker’s contribution is a distorted electronic dance take on “I’m Cramped.”
The compilation marks the 100th release by Three One G Records. It will be available digitally as well as on limited edition vinyl. Order here.
A collaboration between French composer-arranger Jean-Claude Vannier (best known for his influential orchestration of Serge Gainsbourg’s classic Histoire de Melody Nelson) and Faith No More/Mr. Bungle frontman Mike Patton is something that needed to happen. I think so. The pair met in August of 2011 during the “A Tribute to Serge Gainsbourg” concert held at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles. Patton—he of the six octave voice—was one of several notable performers—including Beck, Sean Lennon, Zola Jesus, Victoria Legrand of Beach House, Ed Droste of Grizzly Bear and Serge’s son Lulu Gainsbourg—who performed Gainsbourg’s best loved songs while the second half of the show saw a performance of Histoire de Melody Nelson with Vannier conducting the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra and the Cal State Fullerton chorale.
Patton explains:
“We bonded immediately. I could see he had a dedication and attention to detail that was relentless so the respect I had for him in my mind was magnified in person. We spoke loosely about working together in the future… and it took some time, but after a few years I contacted him and we began to ignite some sparks.”
Corpse Flower was recorded with musicians in both Los Angeles (several players associated with Beck and Air) and Paris (including Gong’s Didier Malherbe and Bernard Paganotti of Magma!) Vannier described the process the duo used to create Corpse Flower:
“I would send Mike rough versions of the songs to get his thoughts, then I’d wait impatiently, staring at the clock, until I received his response. He made my music awaken with his unique perspective and interpretations of my songs. A formidable vocalist, with a sense of humor, Mike and I created a strong, beautiful and sincere collection of music, as well as a friendship.”
Here’s some background information about the new video from Corpse Flower from director Nino Del Padre:
“When I first listened to “A Schoolgirl’s Day,” I fell in love with the intense and ominous track. I also knew that coming up with a concept for the video would be challenging as Ipecac gave me full creative control. I spent a few days brainstorming and I had the track on loop while surfing the web for inspiration when I remembered a 1962 low-budget classic, Carnival of Souls. While watching parts of the movie with the song playing, I knew I had something that might work.
After spending some time editing a demo, I realized that this was going to work better than I thought, and I had something special. It’s almost as if the film was created for this song. The plot follows Mary Henry (Candace Hilligoss), a young woman whose life is disturbed after a car accident. The film has been named as a precursor to the works of various filmmakers, including David Lynch, George A. Romero, Lucrecia Martel and James Wan.”
I’m pretty sure most of us are well acquainted with one of Faith No More’s most controversial moments—the 1989 video for “Epic” directed by video visionary Ralph Ziman. The cringey, surreal video got animal rights activists riled up as it features a fish flailing around on the floor of the set seemingly in the throes of death as the song dramatically plays out. Historically, FNM’s reputation for fucking with their fans, bands they’ve toured with, and random people are well documented. They danced in the nude around Billy Idol in Seattle in 1990, and Mike Patton has told countless, wildly gross stories about the things he does with poop. Although not all the yarns were always factual, such as the rumor he took a shit in Axl Rose’s orange juice while Faith was touring with Guns N’ Roses in 1991. Now that we’ve established how members of FNM have enjoyed fabricating some of their antics let’s break down one of their greatest pranks and the video for “Epic” which started it all.
After parting ways with original Faith No More vocalist Chuck Mosley, the band joined forces with 21-year-old Mike Patton for their third album, The Real Thing. Armed with Patton’s aggressive vocals and innovative musical arrangements “Epic” would become FNM’s first top ten hit and, with respect to Mr. Mosely, put the band on the map. The video was a massive hit with MTV viewers and FNM performed it live and unhinged at the MTV Video Music Awards show in September of 1990 and on Saturday Night Live in December of the same year. Living up to their rep as tall-tale tellers, and likely to help quell some of the negativity surrounding the fish in the video gasping for air from its gills, a story began to circulate that the fish in question was named Linear Soul Child and was formerly a pet of Icelandic chanteuse Björk. The part about Björk owning a fish called Linear Soul Child isn’t that hard to buy, but the rest of the tale is slightly fishy, and it goes like this; Björk was given the fish as a gift from a fan after her poetry reading in San Francisco. She then traveled to FNM keyboardist Roddy Bottum’s home in Berkley, California where he was throwing a party. Sometime during the evening, the fish disappeared. In another unlikely move, it was alleged during an interview with CNN (?) Björk would make the following statement about her beloved Linear Soul Child and what, if anything, the members of Faith No More had to do with its possible demise after appearing in the video:
“I know those guys, I know they wouldn’t do anything to harm [him]. But I know, if I had gone home with MY fish, which was given to ME, none of this would have ever happened.”
The fish from the “Epic” video.
While I’m sure we’d all love to believe the fish in “Epic” belonged to Björk, it’s simply not true. Sure, it’s not hard to conceive Björk was traveling with a fish she got as a gift from a random fan in San Francisco, but it sadly never happened much like the shitty Axl Rose orange juice caper. As far as the idea for the fish to be used in the video and where it came from, there are two accounts—one from director Ralph Ziman and the other from FNM bassist Billy Gould. Gould claimed the idea to use the fish in the video was his, inspired by the ethos of director John Waters, and in Gould’s words, how to get “maximum attention for minimum money.” In an interview from 2010, Zimon debunked the Björk rumor (which he had never heard until then) and gave his version of how the fish ended up in the video:
“It wasn’t Björk’s goldfish. But yes, I am responsible for that. And it wasn’t even a goldfish, interestingly enough. I was talking with someone about this yesterday. We made that video in 1987. I remember the band had one day off from tour, and they were in London. The record company had phoned us on very short notice and asked us to do a music video. They made it sound like a really low priority. I think it was being done for Warner Bros. at the time. I just made a list of a bunch of things I thought we could do. Exploding a piano. A fish flopping around. We literally had one day to pre-produce it. So we handed the fish off to the art department. I can’t remember what it was. If it was a carp? It was a freshwater fish. We shot that in London in some studios next to the tour venue. And we wound up letting that fish go in the river when we were finished. We had a couple of them. We would let them flop around, and then we’d swap it over, and we’d shoot another one. I don’t remember what kind of fish they were, but the animal handler had brought them in because they were so feisty.”
First of all, Zimon must have meant to say the video was made in 1989, not 1987 as that would pre-date Patton’s formal affiliation with FNM. Anyway, now that we know the fish in “Epic” was some sort of British freshwater fish, Mike Patton has also gone on the record saying the song is about sex, or more accurately, the frustration associated with not getting it on enough. Later in 2005, Patton would say his unique vocal stylings in “Epic” was his attempt to cultivate his sound to be in line with Debbie Harry’s performance on “Rapture,” a song Patton often covered in live performance during his time with Mr. Bungle.
Da Show was a blink-and-you-missed-it program on MTV hosted by Doctor Dré (not to be confused with Dr. Dre of N.W.A) and Ed Lover of Yo! MTV Raps fame. It was best described as a kind of variety show that would welcome timely guests and musical acts including a rather epic appearance by Faith No More on December 26th, 1990.
It’s been said that Faith No More was the only metal band to ever appear on the short-lived show and man, did they ever fucking bring it and then some to the studio’s tiny stage and live audience. After the band spits out a blistering version of “Epic,” Dré and Ed Lover crash the stage so Ed can do his famous(?) “Ed Lover Dance.” Following that Dré and Ed stick around on stage while Faith performs “Edge of the World,” a downtempo number from their 1989 album The Real Thing. This is yet another bizarro time capsule from the 90s that I had no idea even existed until today and the nine-plus minute video is well worth watching as the then 22-year-old Patton delivers a more than solid performance on this long-forgotten show. Patton in pajamas for the WIN!
Faith No More performing “Epic” and “Edge of the World” on the ‘Da Show.’
A colorized image of Bela Lugosi as “Dracula” by artist Micah Carey.
Well, it’s that time of year again when most of us turn our attention to all things Halloween, including yours truly. So, to get you in the spirit of the season, let’s learn a little bit about an Italian cat by the name of Bruno Martino. The jazz composer, piano player, and crooner who gave us the musical gift that is the “Dracula Cha-Cha” (also known as the “Dracula Cha-Cha-Cha”).
For most of his career, Martino played the nightclub circuit in Europe and wrote music for other performers. His 1960 song “Estate” would bring him his greatest success and was covered by the likes of jazz trumpeter Chet Baker and Shirley Horn. Though for my money Martino’s jam about the Prince of Darkness and everybody’s favorite blood-sucker Dracula, the “Dracula Cha-Cha” is Mr. Martino’s crowning achievement. Martino wrote the bouncy number along with Bruno Brighetti, and it is quite the earworm. The song is said to have inspired the bonkers 1998 novel by author Kim Newman, Dracula Cha-Cha-Cha (the third book of Newman’s “Anno Dracula” series) which reveals a wild reality where Dracula was never killed by Dr. Van Helsing. The groovy tune has also been covered by a long list of other musicians including experimental Australian band The Tango Saloon with the fucking glorious vocals of Mike Patton on their 2008 album appropriately titled Transylvania.
I’ve included images of various album covers for Martino’s “Dracula Cha-Cha” as well as his original 1960 version of the song. I’ve also posted The Tango Saloon/Mike Patton version below because it rules and let’s face it, Patton is God. Dig it, ghouls.
It has been 26 years since Faith No More tore the roof off of the Brixton Academy in London on April 28th, 1990 during their tour in support of their third record, The Real Thing—the band’s first album with vocalist Mike Patton after FNM parted ways with former vocalist Chuck Mosely in 1988.
The show was released on both VHS and DVD called “Faith No More: You Fat B**tards: (Live at the Brixton Academy) and on vinyl as FNM’s only live album “Faith No More: Live at the Brixton Academy.” The band’s performance at Brixton is mind-meltingly energetic and the then 22-year-old Patton commanded the stage like a hyperactive kid who decided to mainline a dozen Pixy Stix just for fun. Which might help explain Patton’s wardrobe changes during the show that included a skeleton mask, a police helmet and the eventual loss of his shirt mid-way through the performance. As a die-hard fan of Black Sabbath it wasn’t hard for me to love FNM’s ferocious seven-minute cover of “War Pigs” which nearly gives the original a run for its money. It was also an opportunity for Patton to show off his prodigious six-octave range which he does with mind-altering precision. Get ready—the annihilation of your auditory functions await!
Faith No More performing a cover of Black Sabbath’s ‘War Pigs’ at the Brixton Academy in London, 1990.
As out there as they are, Mike Patton’s best known rock bands Faith No More and Mr. Bungle have rarely engaged me as much as his more nakedly avant-garde work. The first taste I got of Patton’s deeper weirdness was with the 1996 album Adult Themes for Voice, an entirely a capella disc that consisted of nothing but processed vocal sounds arranged into very strange compositions. He followed that a year later with Pranzo Oltranzista, a weirdly food-themed suite for a voice/cello/sax/guitar/percussion quintet. The sax on that album was played by John Zorn, whose Tzadik label released both of those albums, and with whom Patton has done some of his most edifying non-rock work.
Patton is on the cusp of releasing a new LP with yet another of his more outré collaborators—the wildly eclectic Norwegian singer, soundtrack composer, and member of the avant-rock trio Cloroform, John Kaada. Due to the duo’s shared fandom of film music (Patton already paid tribute to the form on the Fantômas album The Director’s Cut in 2001, the same year as Kaada’s recorded debut), their ongoing collaboration is significantly less noisy then most of the work Patton’s known for, but while it’s less fitful, it’s every bit as much of a trip through seemingly incompatible genres as Mr. Bungle can be. Their work is informed by Romantic and Baroque classical, carnival music, Spaghetti Western soundtracks, Berlin Cabaret… The resulting music is evocative, moody, and just plain HUGE. The pair’s first collaboration was 2004’s Romances, and a 2007 live DVD documents a Danish festival performance they undertook in Romances’ wake. They’re set to release their second album this week. Bacteria Cult features eight songs composed jointly by the duo, orchestrated by Kaada, performed by Norway’s Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, and naturally featuring vocals by Patton, who had this to offer when we asked about the reactivated collaboration:
Getting a chance to work with John Kaada is always a joy and an honor for me. He is a truly creative musician. When I heard these songs I knew I wanted to be part of this project and John welcomed me with open arms. It’s shocking to me that filmmakers are not knocking down John’s door to hire him.
The album’s lead-off track “Red Rainbow” has been streamable on Bandcamp for a little over a month now, but it’s Dangerous Minds’ privilege today to serve as the exclusive host of the complete Bacteria Cult album stream. Listen after the jump…
Mr. Bungle were a ‘90s avant-garde rock band that carved out a bizarre niche somewhere between Naked City and Frank Zappa with their second LP, Disco Volante, a wild, unpredictably genre-jumping headfuck. Because their debut LP was, though definitely weird and twisty, still more of an identifiably funk-metal record, the band held a large appeal to proggy dude-bro music fans whose thirst for eccentricity outpaced what Primus were prepared to offer. If that’s the reputation by which you know the band, and that turns you off, I get it, but I’d encourage giving Disco Volante a fair hearing.
The band were able to pull off such aggressively uncommercial music on Warner Bros. Records partly because the early ‘90s were such an indulgent, lucrative period for the industry, but also because of the band’s singer. Mike Patton had achieved a measure of clout in his other job as the frontman for Faith No More whose The Real Thing album and its single “Epic” had become hits. But though Mr. Bungle’s debut came after Faith No More’s success, Bungle was Patton’s first band, formed in 1985 when its members were still in high school.
Their high school talent show has turned up on YouTube. They go here by the name “Bister Mungle,” because, well, high school boys are just that hilarious.
Amazing how many elements of the band’s later notoriety are already in place here, especially the unabashed zaniness and the genre-hopping.
Remarkably, members of this goofy kid band would go on to play in a huge number of bizarro rock and avante-garde outfits. Apart from Faith No More, the versatile Patton has been a member of the experimental metal band Fantomas, founded Ipecac Records, and collaborated with artists as diverse as John Zorn and Dillinger Escape Plan. Indeed, the man’s discography is too prohibitively long to go into here. Bassist Trevor Dunn is also all over the place, having played in Fantomas, Tomahawk, his own Trevor Dunn’s Trio-Convulsant, and even The Melvins. And Bungle guitarist Trey Spruance has long helmed a heavy-friends side project called Secret Chiefs 3.
The band’s name came from “Lunchroom Manners,” a short educational film that found a measure of cult status when Pee-wee Herman screened it during a performance that was taped for an HBO special. Here it is…
(John Phillip Law and Marisa Mell in Danger: Diabolik)
There’s no question that one of the more beloved movies here at Dangerous Minds is that deliriously kitschy caper film, Danger: Diabolik, Mario Bava‘s ‘68 ode to love, leather, Marisa Mell and…Marisa Mell. The same could be said for its somewhat hard-to-find Ennio Morricone soundtrack.
While uniformly great from start to finish, and full of quotable dialogue, it’s perhaps best remembered for its insanely catchy main title song, Deep Deep Down. You can hear Christy‘s renditions of the song below (in both English and Italian), but below that is one from Mike Patton.
Say what you will about Patton’s various bands (Faith No More, Mr. Bungle), because I can say very little. He does, though, do a fully committed Deep Deep Down!
