Faith No More’s Billy Gould says he once sold off his entire record collection for albums he didn’t want – in order to annoy people.
And it’s just one example of how desperate his band were to avoid fitting in when they broke through in the 1980s.
The reunited outfit are currently on tour supporting comeback album Sol Invictus, released in May.
Gould tells the Guardian: “I traded my classic vinyl collection for Huey Lewis And The News records just to piss off my friends.
“It was the stupidest thing I’ve ever done – but for about 10 minutes I got a lot of satisfaction out of it.”
FNM have always made a point of changing direction, and the concept is well-represented by 1992’s Angel Dust, which their label didn’t want to release because they were certain it would flop.
Gould says: “The classic line was, ‘I hope you didn’t just buy houses.’”
But frontman Mike Patton adds: “Of course we did.”
By that time the band were supporting Guns N’ Roses on tour, and enjoying the fact that Axl Rose’s fans didn’t like it – until the experience became boring.
“If it hadn’t gone on as long, it would have been okay, but we did it for six months,” Gould says. “It got to be like, this was our life. It’s like working in a job with people you don’t understand and who don’t understand you.”
Patton recalls: “It makes you examine yourself – ‘Is this who we are now? This isn’t my deal.’ You overdo it sometimes. There I am, peeing on Axl’s teleprompter. I didn’t really have to do that.”
But FNM’s rebellious attitude persists. Keyboardist Roddy Bottum observes: “The best possible scenario is if we leave people confused.”
And they still manage to surprise each other, which is important to them. “To hear anything one of us does at this point is fascinating,” says Bottum.
“I think I know these guys and then they’ll do something that’s like, ‘Wow, that is really fucking weird.’”
He adds of Sol Invictus: “I think we accomplished what we need to accomplish. If we all died today I think we would have done a good job.”
