Fantômas

Fantômas
Background information
Origin	California, USA
Genres	Avant-garde metal
Years active	1998–present
Labels	Ipecac
Associated acts	Melvins, Slayer, Faith No More, Mr. Bungle, Peeping Tom, Tomahawk
Website	ipecac.com/bio.php?id=3 Ipecac Website
Members
Mike Patton Buzz Osborne Trevor Dunn Dave Lombardo Dale Crover (touring member)
Former members
Terry Bozzio

Fantômas is an avant-garde metal supergroup formed in 1998 in California, United States. The band is named after Fantômas, a supervillain featured in a series of crime novels popular in France before World War I and in film, most notably in 60's French movie series.

History

Fantômas began just before the collapse of Faith No More as a series of spasmic, avant-garde metal songs composed by vocalist and bandleader Mike Patton. Patton then sent the demos to guitarist Buzz Osborne (of The Melvins), bassist Trevor Dunn (of Mr. Bungle) and drummer Igor Cavalera (of Sepultura) with the intention of forming a Supergroup. Cavalera declined the offer, but recommended who he thought would be perfect for the project: Dave Lombardo of Slayer, who accepted.^[1][2]

In mid-2005, the band toured Europe with Terry Bozzio on drums, because Lombardo was on tour with Slayer. Lombardo returned to the band for the final dates of the tour, which concluded on September 15, 2005. However, there are rumours that Bozzio will perform drumming duties on a future Fantômas album.^[3]

On May 13, 2006, Patton revealed to Billboard.com that a fifth Fantômas album has been planned. Of the album, Patton says "The next record is going to be an all-electronic affair. It's going to take some creative planning on how to record it and execute it, but there will be no acoustic instruments on it whatsoever. We're pretty much about to go into hibernation mode. I need to, once I have a little time, go back to the drawing board, and start writing the next one."^[4] In November 2008, Rock-A-Rolla, a UK-based alternative music magazine, exclusively revealed on their website that the new album is currently being worked on and a tentative June 2009 release is possible,^[5] however in the May/June 2009 issue of Rock-A-Rolla, in an interview with Greg Werckman, Werckman stated that Mike "hasn't even begun" recording the next Fantômas record.^[6]

Style

Patton performing with Fantômas at Quart Festival, Norway on July 9, 2005.

Though rooted in heavy metal, their music touches on many different musical genres, making liberal use of experimentalism and noise. Fantômas' music is also noted for its absurdism and offbeat sense of humor; one critic dubbed their style "dada-metal,"^[7] a reference to the "anti-art" dada movement of the early 1900s. Critic Greg Prato describes their music as "completely original…especially when compared to the blah and predictable alt-rock of the late '90s."^[8] Patton rarely sings conventional lyrics with the group, preferring his own bizarre style of voice music or scat singing.

The band arrange albums around concepts or themes:

• Fantômas (aka Amenaza Al Mundo) is based on science fiction comic books, with every song simply given a page number (Page 1, Page 2 etc.). The artwork was mainly taken from the Italian comic Diabolik.
• The Director's Cut is a series of reinterpretations of motion picture theme songs. Some versions are rather loyal to the sources (such as the eerie lullabye from The Night of the Hunter), while others offer radical takes on the music (such as the theme from The Godfather tackled in part as a thrash metal song).
• Delìrium Còrdia is one extended song, with the concept of surgery without anesthesia.
• Suspended Animation (recorded in the same sessions as Delìrium Còrdia) is an album of twisted cartoon music, each track named after a day in the month of April 2005, and the limited-edition, first pressing of the album was itself (literally) a calendar of the month.

Non-album songs

Fantômas have also performed a few songs which do not appear on their albums.

• "Chariot Choogle" (1:51) - A cover of the song by T.Rex, released on the album Great Jewish Music: Marc Bolan. Mike Patton recorded this cover and attributed it to Fantômas.
• "Zemariam" (3:36) - A version of the song which John Zorn had originally written for his band, Masada but eventually never performed nor recorded. To celebrate Masada's 10th Anniversary John Zorn organized the release of an album known as The Unknown Masada. Fantômas contributed this song to the release. The song was arranged by Trevor Dunn, and is one of the only songs by Fantômas not to have been written or arranged by Mike Patton.
• Where Is The Line (Fantômas Remix) (5:28) - Released as a B-Side on Björk's "Where Is The Line" Vinyl release.
• "Animale In Calore Surriscaldati Con Ipertermia Genitale" (0:44) - Released on the Fantômas / Melt-Banana split through Unhip Records in 2005. The cover art was drawn by Italian artist Igort.

Members

• Mike Patton (vocals/noise, keyboard, melodica, sampling)
• Buzz Osborne (guitar)
• Trevor Dunn (bass)
• Dave Lombardo (drums)

Discography

Videography

Footnotes

External links

• Official site
• Interview w/Buzz Osbourne from Lambgoat.com