I don't get too much enjoyment out of sitting around the campfire and looking at old photos. That's just not me. I don't get the thrill of doing that. So, I don't sit around listening to my old records.
— Mike Patton
I lived in Bologna. I go back quite often, and I still have lots of connections and lots of friends. It was a nice period in my life.
I don't read or write music in the traditional sense, so I have to figure it out on the fly while I'm in the studio.
I lived in Italy for quite a while and married an Italian woman. While there, I immersed myself in the complete culture: the music, art, literature, film, food, and history. It's easy to fall in love with. As a country, Italy does a good job of holding onto its rich traditions and culture. There's a real lack of embracing history in America.
As an artist, I would never let myself get boxed in. I'm a human being, too, and like most humans, I have interest in many different types of music.
I have a big mouth.
Everything with Peeping Tom is kind of a guessing game. It's constantly exhilarating but also exhausting.
'A Perfect Place' is character-driven. The director for that wanted a couple of identifiable themes with a bunch of variations. That is what I did. The director for 'The Solitude of Prime Numbers' did not want that at all.
I got a PS3 and a PSP. The Wii looks fun.
I have to make an effort about things like going to the grocery store. That stuff reminds me that I don't live in the real world, and you know what? I'm thankful.
Some artists can work under one guise, whether it's a name or a band or doing film soundtracks, put all of their ideas in one pot and move on. Me, I need to compartmentalize.
When you're young and creative, you don't know how to channel all that creative energy, so sometimes it goes to the wrong places.
I don't actually read that much. I like movies a bit more. That's how I come up with ideas - by seeing things, hearing things, recycling things. Stealing things!
If they're acting like a dog, sometimes you're forced to treat people like dogs.
I've got a comfortable home for my music where I can put out whatever the hell I want, and I feel like the slate is really clean, and I can get away with anything. It's a nice, free feeling.
I am perfectly aware of my position in commercial music.
You don't want to eat haute cuisine all the time; it's not healthy.
Conducting is way over my head.
Orchestral musicians have a different approach than we do, and when I say 'we,' I mean musicians who don't know what they are doing.
I know where my bread is buttered, and for the most part, I'm better off doing my own thing.
I am constantly amazed at the musicians that are able to do the same thing over and over for 20 or more years. That would drive me absolutely insane.
I really don't want to put more than a couple of records out a year, and I think that makes sense - on an artistic level, but also for my label.
I'm a little tired of travelling the world, jaded as that may sound.
Sometimes a certain project will have a smell... It will have a little stench about it. That is a warning signal. You know it's going to be a nightmare. You know they are not going to like it, and it's not worth it.
My fear is getting stuck doing the same thing over and over.
All time faves would be 'Smash TV,' 'NHL Hockey,' 'Grand Theft Autos,' 'NBA Lives,' 'Sonic.'
I like to have a few things going on at once. It feels natural.
I create a guise or a band that I can operate within, and within each one of those bands, I've got an M.O. or a set of rules and parameters I can work within.
A lot of concerts are just too safe.
I consciously did not want to put a sub-Mr. Bungle band on the map. I don't think the world needs that.
I know that whatever I put out, whether people think it's pop or noise or whatever, it's always going to be some kind of a freak or mutation. It's not going to be anything pure that a lot of people will relate to. And that's fine.
I don't like to use toilets - ever.
Having my own label, I have to look at things in a realistic, bottom-line manner.
When you have to put on shades in the studio, you know you have to stop.
My wife is Italian, and I lived there for six years.
To me, finding sounds, or even recording, is a compositional process. The studio is kind of an instrument.
From what I've heard, videogame soundtracks - obviously, there's less budget and all of that - it just seems like game soundtracks are farmed out among friends. And it seems like more of an afterthought. It's a videogame. It's much more background.
There are so many ideas that I have in my mind, of projects that I would love to tackle, people I would love to work with, genres I would love to experiment with, and sounds that don't fit any of my previous projects that I need to find a home for.
I've always been interested in film, so to get involved in any way in the genesis of making a film or music for a film is fascinating to me.
The Faith No More stuff isn't about me. It was a band. Maybe that's where a lot of journalists got the wrong idea. You don't just pluck a song off a tree and put vocals on it.
You don't have to release everything you do. Some ideas need to just stay on the shelf.
If I'm not happy with the quality of something I'm working on, I won't put it out. That does not mean that others won't question the quality.
It feels really good to be the bad guy, and 'The Darkness' is as bad as it gets.
Things die for a reason, and in Bungle's case, it was a lot of reasons. It was great while it lasted but not something I'd go crawling back to.
Most solo artists go out on their own and put their name on the record. I prefer to create little alternative universes.
A lot of people assume that musicians are comrades by nature. It's cutthroat like anything else.
My tools are musicians, effects, things like that.
Acting is even stranger than I thought it would be.
I would like to do more film scoring, period. Whether it is a big film, a small film, or just anything. I feel like I have a lot to learn, and what better way to do it than on the job?
Most film scores have one vibe, and they stick with it.
