From high school hijinx band to avant-thrash supergroup.
Mr. Bungle’s start began almost 40 years ago. While lead singer, Mike Patton went on to famously front Faith No More, he never remained anchored to one single music project. Describing his voice as versatile is an understatement as Patton always used it instrumentally as much as melodically. However, his voice and his creativity are the likely reasons for his long list of collaborations with among others, Laurie Anderson, Fred Frith, Amon Tobin, Bebel Gilberto, Björk and John Zorn. While FNM may have been Patton’s longest-standing gig, Mr. Bungle seemed to always have a throughline for the artist. Rising highest during the late 90s and early 2000s buoyed by the remnants of the grunge era, their album California was easily the most accessible to date. While the band has had some rotation of membership, Patton, bassist Trevor Dunn and guitarist Trey Spruance have remained at the heart of Mr. Bungle. For this latest iteration of the band, Anthrax’s Scott Ian is sharing guitar duties while Slayer’s powerhouse drummer, Dave Lombardo is manning the throne, elevating Mr. Bungle to supergroup status.
The band spent almost two decades in stasis until they performed three shows in LA, San Francisco, and New York. Additional shows were added due to the demand for tickets and soon after, the band entered the studio to ultimately re-record their 1986 demo, The Raging Wrath of the Easter Bunny. Support for this release took Mr. Bungle on a short northeast tour that brought them to History in Toronto on Sept. 13. The 19-song set featured songs from the new album, also offering a number of surprising covers, including Seals and Croft’s Summer Breeze, Spandau Ballet’s True and I’m Not In Love by 10cc. Opening the show was the math rock duo, Battles.
Aron Harris
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