Luciano Berio, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI^[1] (October 24, 1925 – May 27, 2003) was an Italian composer. He is noted for his experimental work (in particular his 1968 composition Sinfonia for voices and orchestra and his series of numbered solo pieces titled Sequenza) and also for his pioneering work in electronic music.

Biography[link]

Berio was born at Oneglia (now part of Imperia). He was taught the piano by his father and grandfather who were both organists. During World War II he was conscripted into the army, but on his first day he injured his hand while learning how a gun worked, and spent time in a military hospital. Following the war, Berio studied at the Milan Conservatory under Giulio Cesare Paribeni and Giorgio Federico Ghedini. He was unable to continue studying the piano because of his injured hand, so instead concentrated on composition. In 1947 came the first public performance of one of his works, a suite for piano. Berio made a living at this time accompanying singing classes, and it was in doing this that he met American mezzo-soprano Cathy Berberian, whom he married shortly after graduating (they divorced in 1964). Berio would write many pieces aimed at exploiting her very distinctive voice.

In 1951, Berio went to the United States to study with Luigi Dallapiccola at Tanglewood, from whom he gained an interest in serialism. He later attended the Internationale Ferienkurse für Neue Musik at Darmstadt, meeting Pierre Boulez, Karlheinz Stockhausen, György Ligeti and Mauricio Kagel there. He became interested in electronic music, co-founding the Studio di Fonologia, an electronic music studio in Milan, with Bruno Maderna in 1955. He invited a number of significant composers to work there, among them Henri Pousseur and John Cage. He also produced an electronic music periodical, Incontri Musicali.

In 1960, Berio returned to Tanglewood, this time as Composer in Residence, and in 1962, on an invitation from Darius Milhaud, took a teaching post at Mills College in Oakland, California. From 1960 to 1962 Berio also taught at the Dartington International Summer School. In 1965 he began to teach at the Juilliard School, and there he founded the Juilliard Ensemble, a group dedicated to performances of contemporary music. In 1966, he again married, this time to the noted philosopher of science Susan Oyama (they divorced in 1972). His students included Louis Andriessen, Steven Gellman, Steve Reich, Luca Francesconi, Giulio Castagnoli, Flavio Emilio Scogna and Phil Lesh of the Grateful Dead.

All this time Berio had been steadily composing and building a reputation, winning the Italian Prize in 1966 for Laborintus II. His reputation was cemented when his Sinfonia was premiered in 1968. In 1972, Berio returned to Italy. From 1974–80 he acted as director of the electro-acoustic division of IRCAM in Paris, and in 1977 he married for the third time with musicologist Talia Pecker. In 1987 he opened Tempo Reale, a centre for musical research and production based in Florence. In 1988 he was made an Honorary Member of the Royal Academy of Music, London.^[2] In 1989 he received the Ernst von Siemens Music Prize. He was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1994.^[3] The same year, he became Distinguished Composer in Residence at Harvard University, remaining there until 2000. He was also active as a conductor and continued to compose to the end of his life. In 2000, he became Presidente and Sovrintendente at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome. Luciano Berio died in 2003 in a hospital in Rome.

Work[link]

See also: List of compositions by Luciano Berio

Berio's electronic work dates for the most part from his time at Milan's Studio di Fonologia. One of the most influential works he produced there was Thema (Omaggio a Joyce) (1958), based on Cathy Berberian reading from James Joyce's Ulysses, which can be considered as the first electro-acoustic composition in the history of western music made with voice and elaboration of it by technological means.^[4] A later work, Visage (1961) sees Berio creating a wordless emotional language by cutting up and rearranging a recording of Cathy Berberian's voice; therefore the composition is based on the symbolic and representative charge of gestures and voice inflections, “from inarticulate sounds to syllables, from laughter to tears and singing, from aphasia to inflection patterns from specific languages: English and Italian, Hebrew and the Neapolitan dialect." ^{[5] [6]}

In 1968, Berio completed O King a work which exists in two versions: one for voice, flute, clarinet, violin, cello and piano, the other for eight voices and orchestra. The piece is in memory of Martin Luther King, who had been assassinated shortly before its composition. In it, the voice(s) intones first the vowels, and then the consonants which make up his name, only stringing them together to give his name in full in the final bars.

The orchestral version of O King was, shortly after its completion, integrated into what is perhaps Berio's most famous work, Sinfonia (1967–69), for orchestra and eight amplified voices. The voices are not used in a traditional classical way; they frequently do not sing at all, but speak, whisper and shout. The third movement is a collage of literary and musical quotations. A-Ronne (1974) is similarly collaged, but with the focus more squarely on the voice. It was originally written as a radio program for five actors, and reworked in 1975 for eight vocalists and an optional keyboard part. The work is one of a number of collaborations with the poet Edoardo Sanguineti, who for this piece provided a text full of quotations from sources including the Bible, T. S. Eliot and Karl Marx.

Another example of the influence of Sanguineti is the large work Coro (premiered 1977), scored for orchestra, solo voices, and a large choir, whose members are paired with instruments of the orchestra. The work extends over roughly an hour, and explores a number of themes within a framework of folk music from a variety of regions: Chile, North America, Africa. Recurrent themes are the expression of love and passion; the pain of being parted from loved ones; death of a wife or husband. A line repeated often is "come and see the blood on the streets", a reference to a poem by Pablo Neruda, written in the context of savage events in Latin America under various military regimes.

In the last period of his production Berio was also interested in the use of live electronics, applied in some compositions as Ofanìm (1988-1997) and Altra voce (1999): the electronic music and technical part of such pieces was always performed by the musicians of Tempo Reale.

eSACHERe[link]

Together with another 11 composer-friends (C. Beck, L. Berio, P. Boulez, B. Britten, H. Dutilleux, W. Fortner, A. Ginastera, C. Halffter, H. W. Henze, H. Holliger, K. Huber and W. Lutoslawski) of Paul Sacher, he was asked by Russian cellist Mstislav Rostropovich on Sacher's 70th birthday to write composition for cello solo with use of notes creating his name (eS, A, C, H, E, Re). Berio composed piece Les mots sont alles. Compositions were partially presented in Zurich on 2nd May 1976. The whole "eSACHERe" project was (for the first time in complete performance by one cellist) performed by Czech Cellist František Brikcius in 2011 in Prague.

Sequenza[link]

Berio also produced work which does not quote the work of others at all. Perhaps best known among these is his series of works for solo instruments under the name Sequenza. The first, Sequenza I came in 1958 and is for flute; the last, Sequenza XIV (2002) is for cello. These works explore the fullest possibilities of each instrument, often calling for extended techniques.

The various Sequenze are as follows:

• Sequenza I for flute (1958);
• Sequenza II for harp (1963);
• Sequenza III for woman's voice (1965);
• Sequenza IV for piano (1966);
• Sequenza V for trombone (1965);
• Sequenza VI for viola (1967);
• Sequenza VII for oboe (1969) (rev. by Jacqueline Leclair and renamed "Sequenza VIIa" in 2000);
• Sequenza VIIb for soprano saxophone (adaptation by Claude Delangle in 1993);
• Sequenza VIII for violin (1976);
• Sequenza IXa for clarinet (1980);
• Sequenza IXb for alto saxophone (1981);
• Sequenza IXc for bass clarinet (adaptation by Rocco Parisi in 1998);
• Sequenza X for trumpet in C and piano resonance (1984);
• Sequenza XI for guitar (1987-88);
• Sequenza XII for bassoon (1995);
• Sequenza XIII for accordion "Chanson" (1995);
• Sequenza XIVa for violoncello (2002);
• Sequenza XIVb for double bass (adaptation by Stefano Scodanibbio in 2004).

Stage works[link]

• Opera (1970, revised 1977)
• La vera storia (1981)
• Un re in ascolto (1984)
• Vor, während, nach Zaide (1995; Prelude, interlude and ending for an opera fragment by Mozart)
• Outis (1996)
• Cronaca del luogo (1999)
• Turandot (2001; Ending for the Puccini opera)

Transcriptions and arrangements[link]

Berio is known for adapting and transforming the music of others, but he also adapted his own compositions: the series of Sequenze gave rise to a series of works called Chemins each based on one of the Sequenze. Chemins II (1967), for instance, takes the original Sequenza VI (1967) for viola and adapts it for solo viola and nine other instruments. Chemins II was itself transformed into Chemins III (1968) by the addition of an orchestra, and there also exists Chemins IIb, a version of Chemins II without the solo viola but with a larger ensemble, and Chemins IIc, which is Chemins IIb with an added solo bass clarinet. The Sequenze were also shaped into new works under titles other than Chemins; Corale (1981), for example, is based on Sequenza VIII.

As well as original works, Berio made a number of arrangements of works by other composers, among them Claudio Monteverdi, Henry Purcell, Johannes Brahms, Gustav Mahler and Kurt Weill. For Berberian he wrote Folk Songs (1964; a set of arrangements of folk songs). He also wrote an ending for Giacomo Puccini's opera Turandot (premiered in Las Palmas on 24 January 2002 ^[7] and in the same year in Los Angeles, Amsterdam and Salzburg) and in Rendering (1989) took the few sketches Franz Schubert made for his Symphony No. 10, and completed them by adding music derived from other Schubert works.

Transcription is a vital part of even Berio's "creative" works. In "Two Interviews," Berio mused about what a college course in transcription would look like, looking not only at Franz Liszt, Ferruccio Busoni, Igor Stravinsky, Johann Sebastian Bach, himself, and others, but to what extent composition is always self-transcription.^[8] In this respect, Berio rejected and distanced himself from notions of "collage," preferring instead the position of "transcriber," arguing that "collage" implies a certain arbitrary abandon that runs counter to the careful control of his highly intellectual play, especially within Sinfonia but throughout his "deconstructive" works. Rather, each quotation carefully evokes the context of its original work, creating an open web, but an open web with highly specific referents and a vigorously defined, if self-proliferating, signifier-signified relationship. "I'm not interested in collages, and they amuse me only when I'm doing them with my children: then they become an exercise in relativizing and 'decontextualizing' images, an elementary exercise whose healthy cynicism won't do anyone any harm," Berio told interviewer Rossana Dalmonte.

Perhaps Berio's most notable contribution to the world of post-WWII non-serial experimental music, running throughout most of his works, is his engagement with the broader world of critical theory (epitomized by his life-long friendship with linguist and critical theorist Umberto Eco) through his compositions. Berio's works are often analytic acts: deliberately analyzing myths, stories, the components of words themselves, his own compositions, or preexisting musical works. In other words, it is not only the composition of the "collage" that conveys meaning; it is the particular composition of the component "sound-image" that conveys meaning, even extra-musical meaning. The technique of the "collage," that he is associated with, is, then, less a neutral process than a conscious, Joycean process of analysis-by-composition, a form of analytic transcription of which Sinfonia and The Chemins are the most prominent examples. Berio often offers his compositions as forms of academic or cultural discourse themselves rather than as "mere" fodder for them.

Among Berio's other compositions are Circles (1960), Sequenza III (1966), and Recital I (for Cathy) (1972), all written for Berberian, and a number of stage works, with Un re in ascolto, a collaboration with Italo Calvino, the best known.

Berio's "central instrumental focus", if such a thing exists, is probably with the voice, the piano, the flute, and the strings. He wrote many remarkable pieces for piano which vary from solo pieces to essentially concerto pieces (points on the curve to find, concerto for two pianos, and Coro, which has a strong backbone of harmonic and melodic material entirely based on the piano part).

Lesser known works make use of a very distinguishable polyphony unique to Berio that develops in a variety of ways. This occurs in several works, but most recognizably in compositions for small instrumental combinations. Examples are Différences, for flute, harp, clarinet, cello, violin and electronic sounds, Agnus, for three clarinets and voices, Tempi concertanti for flute and four instrumental groups, Linea, for marimba, Vibraphone, and two pianos, and Chemins IV, for eleven strings and oboe, as well as "Canticum Novissimi Testamenti" for 8 voices, 4 clarinets and saxophone quartet.

Bibliography[link]

• Osmond-Smith, David. 1991. Berio. Oxford studies of composers 24. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press.
• Francesco Giomi, Damiano Meacci, Kilian Schwoon, "Live Electronics in Luciano Berio’s Music", Computer Music Journal 27 (2), The MIT Press, 2003
• Francesco Giomi and Kilian Schwoon, "Ein Kontinuum der Verwandlungen: Luciano Berios Altra Voce", in Topographien der Kompositionsgeschichte seit 1950 (Tobias Hünermann & Christoph von Blumröder eds.), Cologne, Signale aus Köln/Verlag der apfel, 2011

External links[link]

• Centro Studi Luciano Berio - Luciano Berio's Official Website

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Luciano Berio

• Luciano Berio biography and works on the UE website (publisher)
• Tempo Reale, Florence, centre for music research founded by Berio
• The Living Composers Project, "Luciano Berio" biography and list of works
• "Luciano Berio", AllMusic, by Joseph Stevenson
• Obituary from the Daily Telegraph
• Obituaries: "Luciano Berio, 77, Composer of Mind and Heart, Dies", New York Times, by Paul Griffiths (May 28, 2003)
• New York Philharmonic: "Luciano Berio's Musical Odyssey" (2008)
• CompositionToday, "Luciano Berio" by Gavin Thomas
• "Berio/Dubuffet - a conversation" (compiled by John Fowler, 1996)
• A brief analysis of "Luciano Berio's 'Sinfonia'", Allen B. Ruch (2003)
• "The maestro they love to hate", John Whiting (1996)
• La Folia Online Music Review, "This Represents At Least a Thousand Words I Was Not Counting On" (Berio's Sinfonia), Grant Chu Covell (November 2005)
• (French) Biography, IRCAM (23 November 2007)
• Luciano Berio CV

Listening[link]

• Excerpts from sound archives of Berio's works
• The Complete Works for Solo Piano, New Albion, 1997 (with David Arden, pianist; John Yaffé, producer)

References[link]

1. ↑ (Italian) quirinale.it
2. ↑ "Luciano Berio, London Sinfonietta". London Sinfonietta. http://www.londonsinfonietta.org.uk/artist/luciano-berio. Retrieved 14 October 2009. 
3. ↑ "Book of Members, 1780–2010: Chapter B". American Academy of Arts and Sciences. http://www.amacad.org/publications/BookofMembers/ChapterB.pdf. Retrieved 16 June 2011. 
4. ↑ Daniele, Romina (2010). Il dialogo con la materia disintegrata e ricomposta, un'analisi di Thema (Omaggio a Joyce) di Luciano Berio. Milan: RDM. ISBN 978-88-904905-1-4. http://books.google.com/books?id=89wbtoXaH20C&dq=romina%20daniele%20poesie&source=gbs_similarbooks. 
5. ↑ "Visage di Luciano Berio" (in English) (htm). Temporeale.it (Tempo Reale). http://www.temporeale.it/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=219:visage&catid=35:produzione&Itemid=62&lang=en. Retrieved 2011-08-28. 
6. ↑ Moody, Rick (2010-05-25). "The Tragedy of Consciousness" (in English (text from Temporeale.it on Berio's Visage translated in English)) (html). Articles. TheRumpus.net. http://therumpus.net/2010/05/swinging-modern-sounds-23-the-tragedy-of-consciousness/?full=yes. Retrieved 2011-08-28. 
7. ↑ http://www.andante.com/article/article.cfm?id=16426
8. ↑ Berio, Luciano (1985). Two Interviews. New York: M. Boyars. 

Mike Patton
Background information
Birth name	Michael Allan Patton
Born	(1968-01-27) January 27, 1968 (age 44) Eureka, California, U.S.
Genres	Various
Occupations	Musician, songwriter, actor, producer
Instruments	Vocals, various electronic instrumentation/programming, sampler, drums, percussions, bass, guitar, keyboards
Years active	1985–present
Labels	Ipecac, Tzadik, Warner Bros. Records, Slash
Associated acts	Faith No More, Mr. Bungle, Fantômas, Tomahawk, Peeping Tom, Lovage, John Zorn, Kaada/Patton, Dillinger Escape Plan, Hemophiliac, Maldoror, General Patton vs. The X-Ecutioners, Rahzel, Zu,

Michael Allan "Mike" Patton (born January 27, 1968) is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer, and actor, best known as the lead singer of the experimental rock/alternative metal band Faith No More. He was also the founder and lead singer of Mr. Bungle, and has played with Tomahawk, Fantômas, Lovage, The Dillinger Escape Plan, and Peeping Tom.

Known for his eclectic influences and experimental projects, Patton has earned critical praise for his diverse vocalization. He has many producer or co-producer credits with artists such as John Zorn, Sepultura, Melvins, Melt-Banana, and Kool Keith. He co-founded Ipecac Recordings with Greg Werckman in 1999, and has run the label since.

Biography[link]

Early years[link]

Patton was born and raised in Eureka, California, where he formed Mr. Bungle, with Trey Spruance and Trevor Dunn, in 1984. During the late '80s Mr Bungle recorded the cassette-only recordings, The Raging Wrath of the Easter Bunny, Goddammit I Love America, Bowel of Chiley and OU818, featuring tracks that would later be included on their first Warner Brothers album.

Joining Faith No More[link]

Patton joined Faith No More in January 1989 replacing Chuck Mosley, who then played with Cement.

Faith No More's The Real Thing was released later that year. The album reached the top ten on the US charts, thanks largely to MTV's heavy rotation of the "Epic" music video, (which featured Patton in a Mr. Bungle T-shirt^[1]).

In the United States, Faith No More released three more studio albums; (Angel Dust, King for a Day... Fool for a Lifetime, and Album of the Year) Faith No More officially disbanded in 1998.^{[citation needed]}

When interviewed about his lyrical content with Faith No More, Patton responded, "I think that too many people think too much about my lyrics. I am more a person who works more with the sound of a word than with its meaning. Often I just choose the words because of the rhythm, not because of the meaning".^[2]

Mr. Bungle and beyond[link]

During his time in Faith No More, Patton continued to work with Mr. Bungle. His success in mainstream rock and metal ultimately helped secure Mr. Bungle a record deal with Warner Bros.^[3] The band released a self-titled album (produced by John Zorn) in 1991, and the experimental Disco Volante^[4] in 1995. Their final album, California, was released in 1999.

Patton's other projects included two solo albums on the Composer Series of John Zorn's Tzadik label, (Adult Themes for Voice in 1996 and Pranzo Oltranzista in 1997). He is a member of Hemophiliac, in which he performs vocal effects along with John Zorn on saxophone and Ikue Mori on laptop electronics. This group is billed as "improvisational music from the outer reaches of madness".^{[citation needed]} He has also guested on Painkiller and Naked City recordings. He has also on other Tzadik releases with Zorn and others.

In 1998, Patton formed the avant-garde metal supergroup Fantômas with Buzz Osbourne (of The Melvins), Trevor Dunn (of Mr. Bungle), and Dave Lombardo of Slayer. They have released four studio albums. The band is still together as of July 2011.

There have been several projects over the years featuring Patton that have not been officially released, although some live bootlegs do circulate. These projects include House of Discipline (with Bob Ostertag and Otomo Yoshihide), Moonraker (with Agata Ichirou of Melt-Banana, Buckethead and DJ Eddie Def), Christian Fennesz and Mike Patton, and Patton & Rahzel. Patton contributed vocals to the Team Sleep song Kool-Aid Party, but the song did not make it onto the final album.^{[citation needed]}

Patton performing with Fantômas at Quart Festival, Norway on July 9, 2005.

In 2004, Patton worked with Björk and the beat boxer Rahzel on her album, Medúlla.^[5]

In 2005, Patton signed on to compose the soundtrack for the independent movie Pinion, marking his debut scoring an American feature-length film. However, this had been held up in production and may be on the shelf permanently.^[6] His other film work includes portraying two major characters in the Steve Balderson film Firecracker. He has also expressed his desire to compose for film director David Lynch.

In February 2006, Mike Patton performed an operatic piece, composed by Eyvind Kang, at Teatro di Modena in Italy. Patton sang alongside vocalist Jessika Kinney, and was accompanied by the Modern Brass Ensemble, Bologna Chamber Choir, and Alberto Capelli and Walter Zanetti on electric and acoustic guitars. Patton remarked that it was extremely challenging to project the voice without a microphone.^[7]

Patton's Peeping Tom album was released on May 30, 2006 on his own Ipecac label. The set was pieced together by swapping song files through the mail with collaborators like Norah Jones, Kool Keith and Massive Attack, Odd Nosdam, Jel, Doseone, Bebel Gilberto, Kid Koala, and Dub Trio.^{[citation needed]}

"I don't listen to the radio, but if I did, this is what I'd want it to sound like", Patton said of the project. "This is my version of pop music. In a way, this is an exercise for me: taking all these things I've learned over the years and putting them into a pop format."

—Mike Patton

In May 2007 he performed with an orchestra a few concerts in Italy, by the name of Mondo Cane, singing Italian oldies from the 50s and the 60s.

Mike also provided the voices of the monsters in the 2007 film I Am Legend starring Will Smith.

He is regarded as very hard-working. Faith No More keyboardist Roddy Bottum remarked about Patton "caffeine is the only drug he does", in reference to the Faith No More song "Caffeine" from the album Angel Dust, which Patton wrote while in the middle of a sleep-deprivation experiment.^{[citation needed]} He also worked on the Derrick Scocchera short film "A Perfect Place" for the score/soundtrack, which is longer than the film itself.^{[citation needed]}

In December 2008 along with Melvins, Patton co-curated an edition of the All Tomorrow's Parties Nightmare Before Christmas festival.^[8] Patton chose half of the lineup and performed the album The Director's Cut in its entirety with Fantômas. Patton also appeared as Rikki Kixx in the Adult Swim show Metalocalypse in a special 2 part episode on August 24.^[9]

In 2009 Patton created the soundtrack to the movie Crank: High Voltage. He also performed vocals on the track "Lost Weekend" by The Qemists.

On May 4, 2010 Mondo Cane, where Patton worked live with a 30-piece orchestra, was released by Ipecac Recordings. The album was co-produced and arranged by Daniele Luppi.^[10]

"Recorded at a series of European performances including an outdoor concert in a Northern Italian piazza, the CD features traditional Italian pop songs as well as a rendition of Ennio Morricone's 'Deep Down'."^[11]

Video games[link]

Patton is known to be an avid video game player.^[12] In 2007, he provided the voice of the eponymous force in the video game The Darkness,^[13] working alongside Kirk Acevedo, Lauren Ambrose and Dwight Schultz. Patton reprised the role in The Darkness II in 2012.^[14]

He also had a minor role in Valve Corporation's 2007 release Portal as the voice of the Anger Sphere in the final confrontation with the insane supercomputer, GLaDOS. He has another role in the Valve title Left 4 Dead, voicing the majority of the infected zombies.^[15] He also voiced Nathan "Rad" Spencer, the main character in Capcom's 2009 video game Bionic Commando, a sequel of their classic NES title.

Faith No More reunion[link]

In February 2009, Faith No More announced that they were reforming for a tour and possibly new material, first as a footnote on a blurb for Patton's score for Crank: High Voltage and later as an official announcement on fnm.com.^[16] Their first gig on the road again was at the Brixton O2 Academy in London, where 1990's Live at the Brixton Academy was recorded, on June 10, 2009. They have played as one of three headliners at The Download Festival 2009, in Castle Donington, which was Faith No More's first time at the festival. At the festival they played "Chinese Arithmetic" while Patton humorously sang the lyrics to "Poker Face" using a beat-box effect embellishing Gaga's vocal style. Bassist Billy Gould has also stated that an American tour is "not out of the question". In June 2009 Faith No More announced that they will be headlining the NME stage at Reading & Leeds festival.^[17] On July 4, Faith No More performed a concert together at the Open'er festival in Kosakowo Airport near Gdynia, Poland.

Faith No More also played the large Roskilde Festival near the city of Roskilde, Denmark.^[18] Faith No More also performed in Portugal in Optimus Alive'10, where Mike Patton sang one song, "Evidence", completely in Portuguese. They had already played the same song completely in Italian on June 14, 2009, at the Rock in Idro Festival in Milan. 12 August 2009 was the date for FNM's first Turkish live appreance in Istanbul. On August 14, Faith no more played at the Spirit of Burgas Festival in Burgas, Bulgaria. Faith No More headlined the Australian Soundwave Festival in 2010. On the 27th of August 2009, Faith No More played in the Olympia Theatre in Dublin, Ireland and were supported by local band Adebisi Shank.

On September 1, 2009 Faith No More played at Israel Trade Fairs & Convention Center in Tel Aviv, Israel, supported by Monotonix and Dinosaur Jr. August 2009 Faith No More headlined the Radio 1/NME Stage at both Leeds & Reading Festival where they played the theme tune to popular UK Soap Eastenders as part of their setlist. On December 5, 2010, they played alongside Primus in Santiago de Chile,^[19] which was the day after their performance at the Teleton Chile.^[20] In 2011 they also performed at the Chilean Rock Concert Maquinaria^[21] on November 12 and 13, as well as at the SWU Festival on November 15.^[22]

Faith No More were to top the bill on Sunday July 8th 2012 of the Sonisphere Festival UK festival at the iconic Knebworth House venue, but On March 29, the festival was cancelled. ^[23]

Reaction to fame[link]

Patton (left) performing with Bill Laswell (bass) in a Jazz band.

Patton has garnered critical praise and has been made a heavy metal icon; however, Patton's reaction to this fame has been unconventional. He has acted irreverently towards the music industry, and expressed his distaste for the infamous lifestyles of rock stars. In a 1995 interview with the San Francisco Chronicle, he stated: "It's hard to see as much as you'd like to with our schedule on the road, but it's harder to do coke and fuck whores every night. Now that's a full time job."^[24] His attitude towards popular music is also evident in his songwriting, as Allmusic critic Cammila Albertson writes: "When Patton sings 'Roll it up and smoke it again/Bottoms up and drink it again/ Fix it up and shoot it again/ I can't believe I did it again,' (Mojo by Peeping Tom) he is keenly aware of the way it sounds for such an avant-garde composer as himself to recite perfect rock & roll cliches. His lyrics mock the self-important coolness of the music industry and self parody his own place in it."^[25] His contempt for the over-the-top antics of figures in popular music is often cited as the main reason that Patton has always been so guarded about his privacy and personal life.^[24] Mike Patton has stated that he enjoyed his time in Faith No More:

"They were good years. It was a decade of my life. It was lots of ups and lots of downs, but ultimately that's where I learned my chops and learned the craft and the business."

— Mike Patton, Artisan News Service

Personal life[link]

Patton married Italian artist Titi Zuccatosta in 1994. They separated in 2001. During an appearance on the radio show, Loveline (Listen), Patton said that it was a case of two people wanting different things and hinted that his excessive work habits may have been a factor. "It's very hard. It's a daily struggle", he commented in regards to the rigors of juggling a busy music career and a marriage. "It had to happen... Even though we knew each other really well when we got married, it doesn't get easier." He later added, "We're trying this. See what happens. There's still hope." Patton used to own a home in Bologna, Italy (which he sold around the time of the break-up), and speaks fluent Italian.^[26] He was interviewed by music journalist Lucas H. Gordon and the answers were given by Patton in Italian.^{[citation needed]}

Patton's right hand is permanently numb from an on-stage incident during his third concert with Faith No More, where he accidentally cut himself on a broken bottle and severed the tendons and nerves in his hand. He can use his hand, but he has no feeling in it (despite his doctor telling him the opposite would happen).^[27]

Style and influences[link]

Patton's vocals touch on crooning, falsetto, screaming, opera, death growls, rapping, mouth music, beatboxing, and scatting, among other techniques. Critic Greg Prato of Allmusic writes, "Patton could very well be one of the most versatile and talented singers in rock music";^[28] colleague Blake Butler called him "a complete and utter musical visionary and a mind-blowing and standard-warping genius."^[29]

Discography[link]

Selected filmography[link]

• 1990 - Live at the Brixton Academy, London: You Fat Bastards by Faith No More (VHS)
• 1993 - Video Macumba - Short film compiled by Mike Patton containing abstract and extreme footage
• 1998 - Who Cares a Lot: Greatest Videos by Faith No More (VHS)
• 2002 - A Bookshelf on Top of the Sky: 12 Stories About John Zorn
• 2005 - Firecracker - Frank/David
• 2007 - Kaada/Patton Live - Live performance DVD
• 2007 - I Am Legend - Creature Vocals (voice) (credited as Michael A. Patton)[2]
• 2008 - A Perfect Place - Short film soundtrack by Patton (Released with film as CD/DVD special edition)
• 2008 - Live From London 2006 - Live DVD release of a performance by the Fantomas Melvins Big Band in London on May 1, 2006
• 2008 - Metalocalypse - Patton voices the character of reformed rocker Rikki Kixx on episodes "Snakes N Barrels II" part one and part two. This special 2 part, half hour presentation aired on The Cartoon Network August 24, 2008.
• 2009 - Crank: High Voltage - Film Score
• 2010 - Bunraku - Narrator

Video games[link]

• 2007 - The Darkness - Voice of The Darkness (Starbreeze Studios)
• 2007 - Portal - Voice of the Anger Sphere (Valve Software)
• 2008 - Left 4 Dead - Infected voices (Valve Software)
• 2009 - Bionic Commando - Voice of Nathan Spencer - the Bionic Commando (Capcom)
• 2009 - Left 4 Dead 2 - Infected voices (Valve Software)
• 2012 - The Darkness 2 - Voice of The Darkness (Digital Extremes)

References[link]

• Zorn, John, ed. (2000). Arcana: Musicians on Music. New York: Granary Books/Hips Road. ISBN 1-887123-27-X.

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Mike Patton

• Ipecac Recordings
• Mike Patton on Myspace
• Peeping Tom on Myspace
• Mike Patton at the Internet Movie Database