Faith No More's 2015 comeback with Sol Invictus, their first new record since 1997's Album Of The Year, was the cause of much excitement, as fans the world over celebrated the return of one of the most unique, innovative and influential artists in modern rock history. So when Mike Patton, Bill Gould, Jon Hudson, Roddy Bottum and Mike Bordin walked off-stage together following their headline set on the closing day of Aftershock festival on October 25 that year, no-one could have predicted that it would be their final gig of the 21st century to date. But here we are.
In October last year, band keyboardist and co-founder Roddy Bottum declared that the San Francisco quintet are on a “semi-permanent hiatus”, having had their attempts to play scheduled shows in 2020 and 2021 thwarted first by the Covid pandemic, and then by frontman Patton's diagnosis with anxiety disorder agoraphobia. Patton has since returned to the stage with Mr. Bungle, but Faith No More's cancelled tours were never rescheduled, and the quintet's current status is unclear, even to bassist Bill Gould, who formed the band with his best friend Bottum in 1979, originally as Sharp Young Men.
During a new interview conducted with Chile's Radio Futuro, which you can listen to below, the bassist was asked for an update on the band, and admitted that he's in the dark as much as anyone.
“I don’t know. I honestly don’t know," he replied. "And you don’t have to believe me [laughs] but there’s nothing… Right now we’re in a really weird spot, a really strange spot, and I can’t really tell you what’s going on. I don’t know myself. I get different information from people, and I’m in the band, so…”
When the interviewer suggests that Gould calls the shots in the band, the bassist pauses before saying, "Not really. If I did, probably we'd be playing in Chile next week."
