Faith No More keyboard player Roddy Bottum celebrates his 46th birthday today. The classically trained musician was one of the founder members of Faith No More and has also performed as front man of Imperial Teen and has composed music for films, TV and documentaries notably the movie Adam and Steve.
In tribute, here’s Roddy at his best for Imperial Teen and FNM
Next up a compilation of Roddy’s best bon mots over the years – Roddy in his own words:
On Faith No More
“Faith No More is a good place to be, but there’s only so much input you can have as an instrumentalist in a band. I needed to express myself in a little bit more clearer terms. So, words, lyrics and message were important at the time we started doing the Imperial Teen thing … And I’m playing with people I am really close to.”
Oasis magazine, July 1996
“We don’t have a problem with that. I think it’s kind of what we’re best at – confusing people.”
Des Moines Register 1992
On Jim Martin
“Jim was very good at whatever Jim did. Getting rid of him was a real cleansing exercise, we were all very uptight with him.” [Was it a nasty split?] “It was very simple. We did it by fax.”
Unspecified European magazine 1995
On his sexuality
“I’m gay, and I’m open to that. But it’s just an uncomfortable feeling to be pigeonholed in any way,” he says. “Although, I am gay. I’m certainly not embarrassed about it. I’m proud of that. Being called any one particular thing, even if it is what you are, is sort of limiting.”
Oasis magazine, July 1996
“I would never have thought as a gay teen I’d be in a band that would be considered heavy metal or hard rock.”
Advocate magazine, August 2001
On Roddy
“I’m a fucked-up individual.”
1995 interview with Phil Sutcliffe, republished on The Quietus, describing a troubled year.
On touring
“I haven’t given it a lot of thought. I’m gonna try to just jump right in. If I think about it, it’s gonna make me miserable. I wanna get on the plane, no suitcase, I don’t want to be carrying a lot of stuff round Europe, just go with a couple of shirts and see what happens. Wouldn’t that be cool?”
1995 interview with Phil Sutcliffe, republished on The Quietus
“People like to ham it up. It’s their life, you know; if it isn’t really torturous, then what have they been doing all these years? To say that it hasn’t been torturous means they haven’t been working hard. So of course they have to act like it’s really horrible. That just implies that they’ve really been working hard all this time.”
Interview with Italian magazine Rockerilla November 1994
On the Internet
“It’s just a big bathroom wall. Stupid comments… But there’s some specialty groups that are pretty interesting. I went into these literary groups a couple of times, they were interesting…”
Interview with Italian magazine Rockerilla November 1994
On songwriting
“It’s always been really democratic. Most of the the songs this time [King for a Day..] I think started with Billy [Gould, bass player], playing with his computer setup, bringing in ideas, and we’d all kind of work around them. Billy has a really good ear, for keyboards especially, and he plays a lot with guitars; he wasn’t bringing in just bass ideas or anything.”
“I think I can take certain songs to a certain point, and then I start questioning myself, and then I’ll usually look for someone else’s input. I always like a drummer’s input. Dynamics really interest me.
Interview with Italian magazine Rockerilla November 1994
On Courtney Love
“Courtney and I have been friends for over 20 years and we have a mutual respect for each other’s craft…She’s a total professional and compulsively fixates on a project until it’s perfect.”
C0ntact Music March 2005
On Kurt Cobain
“I really loved Kurt and we got along really well.”
Rolling Stone June 1994
On how he got into rock music
“Drugs..San Francisco (smiles) I moved to San Francisco when I was about 17 got mixed up with a shitty crowd and here I am.”
Interview with UK TV station Channel 4 July 1997
And some Roddy YouTube for you to enjoy
Bravo TV Germany 1993
On MTV 1991
Italy TV 1992
Happy Birthday Roddy!!! Can’t wait to see you own NYC in 4 days!!!
Happy Birthday Roddy!!! Can’t wait to see you guys own NYC in a few days!
Happy birthday RB! NYC is the best place to spend a birthday!
Admin-I love these birthday features…very cool stuff. Thanks!
gunna tip my “Yinzling” yer way Friday night, Roddy!
Happy belated birthday !! I already sent him a b-day wish via Twitter and Facebook. It’s so cool to have the same (almost) birthday together !!! Thanks to the creator of this site to make fans and Pattoniacs just like me a little more happier each day ^^
hi,
just right click with your mouse on the download links and choose “save as”, then you’ll have the mp3 files on your computer.
hi omri
Hey there thnaks for putting that up! Was just wondering is there anyway i can download that somehow? Not sure how to download from quicktime.
Thankyou
-Yeah, It’s an AMAZING job…What would we have done without this site??? Endless Thanks To YOU Creator of This Priceless Site!!!-
happy birthday roddy!!!
great job on this blog man, really!
thank you so much for keeping us updated on all things FNM.
We really appreciate your efforts.
Nice! Many THX omri!
in 1995 fnm performed in tel aviv, israel, on the night of roddy’s birthday. you can download the fm broadcast of the show here:
http://omrili.blogli.co.il/archives/54
HAPPY B-DAY RODDY!! – 46 Candles Are Lit 4 U!!
Happy Birthday, Man!!!
happy birthday Roddy! love ya!