When it comes to the future of Faith No More, plenty’s been said about how it’s pretty much non-existent. After the way their last tour was canceled and how some members believe frontman Mike Patton was “unwilling” to do shows with them, it sounds like their “semi-permanent hiatus” is more permanent by the day.

According to a recent interview with Kyle Meredith, Mike Patton said the band’s final performances over a decade sure felt like it was the end, even if no one really said it at the time.

“And I think that we all kind of felt it, but it was unspoken. And it’s funny: when you’ve been in a band or a musical situation for a period of time, you always, in the back of your head, you’re kind of thinking, ‘Well, maybe this is it.’ And I don’t mind that feeling. I don’t see it as a sad thing. I see it as being present and being able to really appreciate it while it’s happening.”

For many folks that follow Faith No More, many might see the various other projects Patton’s been spending his time with — Mondo Cane, Fantomas, Tomahawk, Mr. Bungle, etc. — as side projects. Yet in this most recent conversation, Patton explained that to him, there are no “secondary” projects. In his mind, each one is equally important because he doesn’t see any one project as taking precedence over any others, even one as massively popular as Faith No More.

“I’d never really understood, and I had to figure this out very early on, was the concept of a side project, that’s assuming that there’s a main one. And for me, I really never had one…Everything that I’ve done was of equal importance to me. They just weren’t viewed that way.”

Whether his former bandmates in Faith No More feel that way is a totally different thing altogether. Over the years, people like keyboardist Roddy Bottum has talked about the band’s inability to get back together after 2016. They had plans at one point to tour in 2021, but that fell through when Patton was dealing with some mental health issues and alcoholism.

With how it all went down, Bottum said he doesn’t really see anything happening with Faith No More in the near future.

“It’s not just me. I don’t think anyone’s sort of up for it at this point… I think we did a really good job. We played a bunch of reunion tours, and I think we did what we kind of set out to do… I just don’t see it happening again, honestly.”

Though Bottum spoke fondly of the band’s reunion tours in the early 2000s, drummer Mike Bordin explained some of how the cancelations went down in 2021 and how it was tough for the band.

“We were ready, we were prepared. And it came to pass that…our guy [Mike Patton] doesn’t show for the rehearsal…It was very clear that he was unable at that point to physically do it. We made the decision that, ‘Look, we’ve gotta support our guy.’”

Even though he said that scenario was painful both emotionally and financially for everyone involved in that tour, he understood that things changed with Patton and that was that.

“I’m grateful for the time with Mike Patton. Yeah, because my life would be very different without it. But I can’t force him to do something that he, from where I’m sitting, doesn’t seem to wanna do.”

As for bassist Billy Gouold, he told Radio Futuro last January that the band was “in a really weird spot, a really strange spot, and I can’t really tell you what’s going on.”

I know I can tell you all that as a massive Faith No More fan, I am thankful that the band got together at all. It allowed me to see them multiple times and experience some of the most amazing concert moments of my life. If they never come around again, I’ll be bummed but thankful that I got to see them at all…