Being many things to many people, Mike Patton is a singer, actor, musician, and composer.
Born in Eureka, California, he formed the genre-defying alternative act Mr. Bungle at age 17, and would remain associated with the band for over a decade as it married experimental rock with other musical genres. Mr. Patton next joined Faith No More, which moved among crossover hits, orchestral pop, and soul, attaining worldwide success. The latter band completed a reunion tour.
In 1998, he formed the experimental noise act Fantômas with former Mr. Bungle bassist Trevor Dunn, Buzz Osborne of The Melvins, and Dave Lombardo from Slayer. A few years later, he joined Tomahawk, a very alternative rock band founded by Duane Denison of the Jesus Lizard. In early 2013, Tomahawk releases its much-anticipated fourth full-length album, Oddfellows.
As a musician, he has collaborated with everyone from John Zorn to Massive Attack to Norah Jones to Tunde from TV on the Radio. In 1999, he founded the record label Ipecac Recordings alongside manager Greg Werckman. Ipecac has released most of his own recordings as well as works by The Melvins, Isis, Josh Homme, and more. 2010 saw the release of Mike Patton Mondo Cane. Mr. Patton curated a collection of vintage Italian pop standards and recorded the album with a full orchestra and sung in Italian; bolstered by live shows, the project has garnered a considerable following.
Going beyond music, he starred in Steve Balderson's independent feature Firecracker, alongside Karen Black and Susan Traylor; contributed voiceover work to the video games The Darkness (both installments), Bionic Commando, Portal, and Left 4 Dead 2; and voiced the creatures in Francis Lawrence's blockbuster I Am Legend, starring Will Smith.
Mr. Patton supplied the musical score to Derrick Socchera's 2008 short film A Perfect Place. This was soon followed by his first feature score, composed for Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor's Crank: High Voltage, starring Jason Statham and Amy Smart. He next composed the original score for Saverio Costanzo's The Solitude of Prime Numbers; the 2010 Italian romantic drama, which starred Alba Rohrwacher opposite Luca Marinelli, won several awards.
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