As it draws closer to the tenth anniversary of Faith No More’s most recent shows with vocalist Mike Patton, drummer Mike Bordin has claimed the singer is “unwilling” to perform with the band again.
While Faith No More last performed two dates in 2016 with Chuck Mosley, Patton hasn’t fronted the group since the conclusion of their Sol Invictus Tour the year prior. However, while a global live return was slated to take place in 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic forced the band to cancel these dates.
The band were again scheduled to take to the stage in 2021, though Patton’s mental health issues (which he later explained was a diagnosis of agoraphobia) necessitated their cancellation also.
In a new interview with the Let There Be Talk podcast, Bordin has expanded on the situation, discussing how their 2021 shows saw six months of instrumental rehearsing before Patton was set to join the band ahead of their live return.
“It came to pass that when the gear was in the truck, when it was rolling to Chicago, 36 hours before we were supposed to be on stage, and our guy [Patton] doesn’t show for the rehearsal, the one rehearsal that we’re gonna do,” Bordin recalled. “And we go to go see him and see what’s going on. ‘What the hell’s going on here? Our gear’s rolling already to the gig.’ And it was very clear that he was unable at that point to physically do it.
“We made the decision that, ‘Look, we’ve gotta support our guy,’” he adds. “It’s gonna be a s–t storm canceling f–king 75 shows, but none of us wants to be the guy that breaks his back and forces him to do something that he’s not in the position to be able to do. It wasn’t even an argument. The only argument was, ‘How the f–k did we logistically do this? Because we have to.’ I mean, we did support him in our way, and whether that’s perceived or not is beyond — I can’t control it.”
Since the cancellation of the dates, little positive information about a live return for Faith No More has been revealed. While Patton has been performing with Mr. Bungle regularly since their large-scale return to the live stage in 2022, Faith No More’s Roddy Bottum describing the band’s current status as being on a “semi permanent hiatus” in October 2024.
“So it’s my take, my position, my statement on it is that he’s gone from being unable to do the shows to clearly being unwilling to do shows with us,” Bordin continued. “And that’s heavy. That’s a big difference. That’s a big difference. And we haven’t really had much dialogue on it. … It doesn’t feel great to me. It honestly kind of hurts my feelings a little bit, but that’s personal. That’s a private thing. It’s business.
“We were never gonna force somebody to do something that they weren’t able to do,” he adds. “And now, as I say, it looks like it’s more really about being willing to do it.”
