Faith No More vocalist Mike Patton recently opened up on his contributions to Dead Cross’s upcoming LP “II” which is set to release this October 28 via Ipecac. It has been noted that the album has a cheeky lyrical reference to the Mötley Crüe frontman Vince Neil.
Mike Patton opens up on Vince Neil
By the time Patton replaced Gabe Serbian as the vocalist of Dead Cross in 2016, Dave Lombardo (drums), Justin Pearson (bass), and Michael Crain (guitar) had already written and recorded the vast majority of the band’s 2017 self-titled debut, and the singer’s only role was to re-record the vocals that Serbian had previously laid down.
The upcoming record was a different story. Although careful not to overstep any boundaries – “Singers are f***ing idiots. They think they own the f***ing show, but they don’t,” he recently said of singers who think the band spins around them – Patton was with the band throughout the creative process behind “II”.
In a new interview with Revolver, Patton was asked how this affected the album’s writing process. Comparing the situation to his experience with Faith No More, Patton replied:
“I don’t know if it affected the way the music was approached, but it definitely affected my approach. I’d been a replacement singer another time, with another band. [Laughs] That was Faith No More, and our first record took off. It was a great success. Then, once I dug my teeth into it on the second record and integrated better, that’s when we found our collective voice.
“And I would say the same with this band. The first record was like, ‘Here’s the music — go!’ That’s not to say it was a rush job, but this one was a lot more thoughtful and methodical. And it took a lot longer due to the pandemic.”
Apparently, the lyrical content is one of the album’s aspects to which Patton actively contributed. Throughout the record, Patton’s signature weird humor sees him name-dropping a number of fellow musicians, including Billy Joel, Poison Idea guitarist Tom “Pig Champion” Roberts, SNFU vocalist Ken “Chi Pig” Chinn, as well as Vince Neil.
Regarding one particular simile which references the Mötley Crüe frontman, Patton said:
“What did I say again? I forget. Wasn’t I kind of making fun of him? Oh, yeah: ‘Like a Vince Neil who sings too many songs.’ Yeah, like fat, old — we all know where he’s at now. I’m conscious of that, and I also fear that I may become that. [Laughs] So why not talk about it?”
