Mike Patton has canceled his upcoming tour dates with both Faith No More and Mr. Bungle, citing “mental health reasons.”
“I have issues that were exacerbated by the pandemic that are challenging me right now,” Patton said in a statement. “I don’t feel I can give what I should at this point and I am not going to give anything less than 100 percent. I am sorry to our fans and hope to make it up to you soon.”
Patton noted that both Faith No More and Mr. Bungle “support me in this decision and we look forward to working through this in a healthy way.”
To that point, the members of Faith No More have issued their own statement expressing support of the band’s frontman. “We believe that forging ahead with these dates would have had a profoundly destructive effect on Mike, whose value to us as a brother means more to us than his job as singer,” the band said. “He can count on our 100% support to do what he needs to do to get things right. Just as we also ask for your support right now.”
The impacted dates include Faith No More’s upcoming US tour, including shows with System of a Down and festival appearances at Chicago’s Riot Fest; Slipknot’s Knotfest in Indianola, Iowa; and Aftershock in Sacramento, California. Mr. Bungle had only two shows on the docket — an appearance at Riot Fest and a warm-up gig in Chicago — but both have been called off.
Last year, Patton spoke with Heavy Consequence about navigating the pandemic, telling us, “I took the pandemic as an opportunity … I like being at home and I’m not really a social guy anyway. So f**k it, I’ll stay home and make music. No big deal. So the first three months were like gold. I was totally working every day and during the pandemic I’ve worked on three or four different records. So to me, it wasn’t that much different than my norm.”
He added, “However, after like three months, I was like, ‘F**k this shit, this is getting old. Come on, I gotta go to a f**king restaurant.’ And it became a little more laborious. … I think moving forward, during the pandemic … there’s no end in sight so this is the way we’re going to live for now. So it’s on me to figure out how do I adjust, and not just close myself up and isolate.” Read the full interview here.
See the full statements from Mike Patton and Faith No More below.
