Faith No More are on “semi-permanent hiatus”, says keyboardist

Faith No More in 2015 — (Image credit: Dustin Rabin/Press)

Faith No More are on “semi-permanent hiatus”, according to keyboardist Roddy Bottum.

The 61-year-old, who joined the pioneering alt-metal band in 1983, makes the revelation in a newsletter on Substack. He describes the status of multiple projects, saying that while Faith No More is on hold, he remains active with Man On Man, Crickets and Nastie Band. He’s also making a new album with his pop outfit Imperial Teen.

Faith No More released their latest album, Sol Invictus, in 2015 and haven’t played a concert since 2016. The band were scheduled to return to the stage in 2020, but the dates were postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The rescheduled shows were then cancelled the following year.

In a statement, the band said their live plans were cancelled to protect the mental health of vocalist Mike Patton. “We believe that forging ahead with these dates would have had a profoundly destructive effect on Mike,” they wrote.

In a 2022 interview with The Guardian, Patton revealed he developed agoraphobia and depression during lockdown, and started drinking heavily. “Because I was isolated so much, going outside was a hard thing to do,” he said, “and that’s a horrible thing. And the idea of doing more Faith No More shows – it was stressful. It affected me mentally. I don’t know why, but the drinking just… happened.”

Patton has since returned to the road with his avant-garde/thrash band Mr Bungle. He also says he’s now been sober “for a while”.

Bottum’s project Man On Man, co-helmed by boyfriend Joey Holman, released their second album Provincetown last year.

The keyboardist will release a memoir called The Royal We at an undisclosed date. His Substack post describes the book as “an ode to San Francisco, bicycle messengering, sex work, heroin, dreadlocks, the birth of politics in punk rock, wheatgrass, witches, crystal meth, coming out, self-love, and the burning down and obliteration of a great American city”.

Louder’s resident Gojira obsessive was still at uni when he joined the team in 2017. Since then, Matt’s become a regular in Metal Hammer and Prog, at his happiest when interviewing the most forward-thinking artists heavy music can muster. He’s got bylines in The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Independent, NME and many others, too. When he’s not writing, you’ll probably find him skydiving, scuba diving or coasteering.