Faith No More had called off the shows that were announced in fall last year. Singer Mike Patton was unable to perform as hoped due to mental health issues, partially worsened by the pandemic. The other members of Faith No More issued a statement expressing their disappointment about the tour cancelation while also throwing their support behind their bandmate.
Mike Patton talks about the mental issues
Faith No More initially reunited for touring purposes in 2009, 12 years after issuing its previous studio set, “Album Of The Year”, and followed that up with 2015’s “Sol Invictus”.
In a new interview with Rolling Stone, Patton opened up about the issues that caused the cancelation of Faith No More and Mr. Bungle’s live appearances, saying:
“It’s still going on — but it’s better. [Pauses]. It’s easy to blame it on the pandemic. But I’ll be honest, man: At the beginning of the pandemic, I was like, ‘This is f***ing great. I can stay home and record.’ I’ve got a home studio. So I was like, ‘Yeah, what’s the big deal?’ And then something clicked, and I became completely isolated and almost antisocial [and] afraid of people. That sort of anxiety, or whatever you want to call it, led to other issues, which I choose not to discuss. But I got some professionals helping me, and now I’m feeling better and getting closer to diving back in. Towards the end of the year, I’ll be doing my first shows in, like, two years, which is the longest time since I started doing this, that I’ve been out of the game.”
Asked to elaborate on the “other issues” that led to the cancelations and whether that included “substances” and “alcohol”, Patton said: “It was a little bit of everything. But mostly, in my experience, it was mostly mental. I saw some therapists and all that stuff, which is the first time I ever had to do that in my life. And they basically diagnosed me as having agoraphobia; like, I was afraid of people. I got freaked out by being around people. And maybe that was because I spent two years basically indoors during the pandemic. I don’t know. Maybe it reinforced feelings that I already had. But just knowing about it, talking about it, really helped.”
As for where things stand with Faith No More now, Patton said: “Radio silence. [Laughs]. I don’t know. We may reschedule stuff; we may not. I’ll just leave it at that. It’s a little confusing and complicated. So if we do, we do. If we don’t, that’s cool, too.”
Patton is scheduled to make his return to the live stage in December with Mr. Bungle in South America.
