Two legends of heavy music, Mike Patton and Scott Ian, finally ended up making music together when Scott joined the fold of the legendary Mr. Bungle a few years back. Per a 2020 interview with Metal Hammer, Patton explained the origins of Ian joining the Bungle fold:
“I had no idea if he’d do it… we don’t know each other very well, but I knew he was a fan and he had come to a bunch of our shows over the years and had been really nice. So, I thought, ‘You know what, let’s ask Scott if he would do it.’ I reached out and… I think he was really freaked out. I think he thought I was going to send him the new Bungle thing, and I had to explain ‘No, I want you to be in the fucking band!’”
Now, in a new interview with Mixdown, Scott revealed that the idea of he and Patton working together was actually attempted years prior, in a pretty serious way. As transcribed by Ultimate Guitar, Ian explains that he actually tried to recruit Patton to sing for Anthrax:
“When Patton texted me and asked me if I wanted to do Mr. Bungle. I was like, ‘You’re fucking kidding me?’ He’s like, ‘I told you we would work together.’ Because a million years ago, I had asked him just before Joey came back to Anthrax, I had said, ‘Hey, do you want to sing on the next Anthrax record?’ He continued:
We were drunk in a bar in Melbourne, Australia on a festival together. He was with Faith No More. He was like, ‘Oh, man. You don’t want me in your band. I’m a pain in the ass.’ I was like, ‘No, no, no. I think we could deal with it.’ He goes, ‘Yeah, but I got seventy-two projects and I could never commit.’ I’m like, ‘I know, really. I’m asking but I’m not really asking.’ He’s like, ‘Don’t worry, we’ll do something together someday.’ So then when he hit me up, he goes, ‘Remember in Melbourne when I said we would work together?’ I’m like, ‘Uh huh.’ He goes, ‘Guess what?”
Mike Patton singing for Anthrax is a crazy thought, but clearly things all worked out for the best musically.
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