Faith No More’s Billy Gould says band 'got lucky' with debut

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As Faith No More prepare to relaunch 1985 debut album We Care A Lot, bassist Billy Gould reflects on album sessions 31 years ago

Faith No More in 1987
Faith No More in 1987 (Image credit: Getty)

Faith No More bassist Billy Gould reckons the band “got lucky” with their 1985 debut album We Care A Lot.

It hasn’t been commercially available since 1996 but will be reissued on August 19 via Koolarrow Records, and features a remaster of the original album along with alternative mixes, demos and live cuts.

And looking back 31 years since the record’s launch, Gould suggests they were fortunate to catch a break with the album, which featured frontman Chuck Mosley.

He tells the Independent: “We did a lot of things that didn’t make sense to people outside of the band but I think that’s ever been a problem. As long as it made sense to us, we always kind of found our way through it. We were playing this weird music and we just got lucky!

“We were recording demo tapes but they were falling flat, so my theory was if we recorded in a 24-track studio, it would sound better and people would take us more seriously.

“It’s a stupid way to look at it, but that was my 21-year old brain trying to figure out why we weren’t connecting with people. That said, we tried it and that’s what ended up being the first side of this record. We then we got signed a week afterwards – it happened that quickly.”

He previously said he stumbled across the original album master tapes while cleaning out his basement. And before he played them again, Gould says he was adamant that they wouldn’t sound up to scratch.

He continues: “I always felt like the record sounded pretty 80s – it just had a very dated sound. But I threw a couple hundred bucks down to bake the tapes, just to see what they’d sound like now, more out of curiosity than anything.

“I’m listening on the monitors as the reels are getting played and it sounded fucking great! It brought me right back to when we were mixing it.

“So I told the other guys and they said, ‘Hell yeah, let’s put it out!’ A lot of people don’t know this side of the band so it’s a cool thing to be able to put out again.”

Faith No More issued their seventh album Sol Invictus last year.

We Care A Lot cover

We Care A Lot cover

We Care A Lot Deluxe Band Edition tracklist

  1. We Care A Lot
  2. The Jungle
  3. Mark Bowen
  4. Jim
  5. Why Do You Bother
  6. Greed
  7. Pills for Breakfast
  8. As The Worm Turns
  9. Arabian Disco
  10. New Beginnings
  11. We Care A Lot (2016 mix)
  12. Pills for Breakfast (2016 mix)
  13. As The Worm Turns (2016 mix)
  14. Greed (Original demo)
  15. Mark Bowen (Original demo)
  16. Arabian Disco (Original demo)
  17. Intro (Original demo)
  18. The Jungle (Live)
  19. New Beginnings (Live)
Scott Munro
Scott Munro
Louder e-commerce editor

Scott has spent 35 years in newspapers, magazines and online as an editor, production editor, sub-editor, designer, writer and reviewer. Scott joined our news desk in the summer of 2014 before moving into e-commerce in 2020. Scott keeps Louder’s buyer’s guides up to date, writes about the best deals for music fans, keeps on top of the latest tech releases and reviews headphones, speakers, earplugs and more for Louder. Over the last 10 years, Scott has written more than 11,000 articles across Louder, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and Prog. He's previously written for publications including IGN, Sunday Mirror, Daily Record and The Herald, covering everything from daily news and weekly features, to tech reviews, video games, travel and whisky. Scott's favourite bands are Fields Of The Nephilim, The Cure, New Model Army, All About Eve, The Mission, Cocteau Twins, Drab Majesty, The Tragically Hip, Marillion and Rush.