Mike Patton Talks Jean-Claude Vannier, Corpse Flower 2019 Interview

Downbeat recently spoke to Mike Patton about his latest musical venture with French composer, arranger, and producer Jean-Claude Vannier. Random excerpts from the interview have been posted below.
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Patton’s versatility and audaciousness serve him well on Corpse Flower (Ipecac), the upcoming smoky, psychedelic-tinged album he made with French composer, arranger, and producer Jean-Claude Vannier—best known for his work with Serge Gainsbourg. Patton and Vannier first clicked at a 2011 Gainsbourg tribute concert, and some time later decided they’d like to collaborate.

“The one thing we agreed upon is that we wanted it to sound like a nomadic record with lots of different languages and lots of different sounds, but no geographical GPS point.” Patton said.

Their transatlantic operations could’ve been disastrous. Patton said the biggest challenge turned out to be language barriers, until they found an inventive solution: Vannier would write in French and Patton would reply in Italian. When it came to the actual music, they had no problems communicating.

“[For example,] I’d describe to him, ‘OK, for this song. I want it to be like a ghost coming from beyond the grave.’ Or he’d suggest, ‘Hey, sing this from the point of view of a gun. You’re not the person shooting the gun, you are the gun.’ … In certain ways, [it was like] working with my past bands—like in Faith No More we would describe lyrical or vocal approaches in a really similar, kind of cinematic, visual way.”

I’m a self-taught kind of weirdo, and whatever it is that I’ve learned over the years, I’ve done by listening and by working on the job, and making a lot of mistakes, whether they’re recorded or not,” the singer recently said. -Mike Patton

For as long as I can remember, I’ve had multiple projects going,” he said. “If I was only doing metal or hardcore or noise or improv, and didn’t have other outlets, I’d go crazy. So, to me, this is about maintaining a personal balance. That’s probably hard to see from the outside, but it makes sense to me.-Mike Patton

Read the entire interview @ this location.