For Immediate Release November 13, 2012 Fan Q & A with JIM MARTIN, Formerly of FAITH NO MORE After a silence of over a decade, Jim Martin agreed to a Q&A session with fans via a British based fan site. A set of 15 questions were selected by administrators of the fan site from over 500 submissions by fans eager to hear from Jim. What follows is a Q&A session with Jim Martin, former Faith No More guitar player, songwriter, and producer, and fans of Faith No More. Some weeks ago, the FNM “fan club guy” was asking about how to contact me, he wanted to talk to me about the fan page.. After several exchanges via email, he and I decided to do a Q&A thing for the fans. My departure from FNM in 1993 was controversial; I left while the band was still at the peak of its success. I am proud of my contributions to the success and legacy of FNM. I appreciate the time and effort it took to put these questions together. Thank you for the opportunity 1. Nefertiti Malaty Q: What do you consider the highlight of your career? A: Performing with Bo Diddly, Klaus Mein, Metallica, Gary Rossington, Pepper Keenan Sean Kinney Jerry Cantrell John Popper Jason Newstead, singing Misfits songs with Metallica live during our tour with them and GNR. 2. Eric Land Q: You are an influence to many younger guitarists today, but who were your biggest influences and what do you remember about how those people helped to craft your sound and play style? A: My influences to a greater extent were Jimmy Page, Jimi Hendrix, and David Gilmore. Mostly Page. His method of using a pick and his fingers at the same time and his way of squeezing the humanity out of a guitar. It’s funny how influences work. My influences were influenced by old blues men. Those legendary blues men were influenced by their tribal ancestors. The tribal ancestors are the link back to the beginning; they are the keepers of the essence. Through my influences I am connected to the roots of time and the music that elevates the primordial spirit of mankind. We do not truly compose anything genuinely new, the listeners and the presentation are what is new, and it is the perspective that varies. The ability of expression and improvisation, the stuff of creation that fascinates all life. 3. Grant Q: It was great seeing you play again during the Metallica event...also some very great words spoken about Cliff....it was great to see ya! Weird question, Big Jim...and I only just thought of it while scrolling through the last post on FNM Blog: What was the deal with you being the only clothed FNM member in the infamous "FNM underwear poster"? Did you just think the photo idea was dumb, or did you think it'd be better/funnier with one dude dressed to the nines in jeans, leather vest, etc. while everyone else was near nekkid. Thanks for doing this Q&A, man! Excited to see the responses! A: I remember it was one of the first big photo shoots for us set up by London Records. Ross Halfin, “Famous Rock Photographer”, was pretty aggressive, barking orders and abusing band members, particularly Puffy. He ordered everyone to strip down. I said “forget it” (I thought it was dumb). The other guys did, he snapped the picture and at that moment, I understood why he was famous… 4. Anonymous Q: I'm a crazy obsessed fan and have listened to just about all the bootlegs and read all the interviews...Despite "not being into" the music on Angel Dust (so it is written in places), you played flawlessly all of 92-93 and I even caught you banging your head enthusiastically during the Phoenix Festival. Also, while others were bad-mouthing you, you always played it off with a joke and came off as the bigger person (you were hilarious in the Maida Vale interviews!)...somethiing doesn't add up. Were you really that unhappy? If so, how do you keep such a cool head and stay so professional? A: Thank you for the great compliment. My publicized “not being into” Angel Dust was all about the way the whole process went down. There was a lot of weird pressure to follow up The Real Thing, and as a consequence, the album AD was more contrived musically than I thought was necessary. I wanted more of the record to happen in the studio and Bill wanted every last tack nailed down before we went in. I wanted to spend time with it, management and the record company wanted to rush it out the door. There were a bunch of journalists in the studio. We were paying for a bunch of sampling that we could have created. Matt Wallace was calling me on the phone complaining about Mike Patton’s performance. Management and record company were calling me complaining about Mike Patton’s performance and desire for outside projects. The record company president came in the studio and said: “I hope nobody bought houses” All the air got sucked out of the room. That was one of those great moments when reality slaps you in the face. Some of my associates (had) bought houses. The pressure was on, and everyone wanted to be in the studio with me while I recorded, endlessly tinkering and fucking with me and fucking with Matt, and Matt is a really fucking wound up guy already. Prior to AD, I would work alone with Matt and his assistant engineer period. I had to kick everyone out and even though it was not a new concept it really pissed everyone off. Live performances were always very strong. From my perspective, we came across a lot heavier than the records. Over time, the chord progressions and the arrangements would morph in subtle ways that would make the set heavier than the studio version. As far as the bullshit in the press, yeah, there was a lot of negativity, and I tried to avoid being part of it to the point of refusing interviews. Of course I was unhappy; individuals were making decisions which would prove to be damaging to FNM. However, despite these distractions, real people paid to see a show and we were able to deliver thanks to the support of a great crew and a great sound man, Greg Bess, who was used to working with the heavy bands. I actually really enjoyed those shows. 5. Anonymous Q: If you could collaborate for a single cover song with any musician, dead or alive, who would that be and what would the song be? A: I sure miss Cliff. Cliff Burton. We could do any song and twist it up horribly. I think if there were an opportunity to collaborate, we would write something new. Put Dave (Donato – Agents of Misfortune) in there on the drum kit and create something Cliff’s mother would call “Fucked Up Weirdos”. 6. Matt Slavsky A: I'll get this one out...what is your relationship like now with the members of Faith No more? Q: To be honest Matt, that is an emotional subject. There has been much negative rhetoric in the press, and it was my choice to either play their game, fight with them and let the press spin it, or leave them to play with themselves and allow you to make a decision based on the work I left behind. In an effort to avoid the negativity, I chose the latter. However, there are some points that I would like to address. I read a couple of interviews Matt Wallace did, and his simplified explanations can lead one to believe that I hate homosexuals, I did not contribute to Angel Dust, and I did not play guitar on the record. Ouch. Something else is a little more accurate. The guitar parts are mine; that’s me playing guitar on all the tracks. I contributed much to the songwriting and arrangements. Bill added some fluff to “Midlife Crisis” and “Midnite Cowboy” and wrote everything for his song “Small Victory”, Mike wrote everything for “Malpractice”, I wrote everything and created the samples for “Jizzlobber” ; Bill contributed the keyboard outro. Mike wrote all of the lyrics for the album except Roddy wrote lyrics for “Be Aggressive”. Matt’s commentary about Roddy seemed a little weird; we (band members) all knew Roddy was gay long before he “came out” and it was not an issue for anyone. Matt also forgot to mention that he and I spent a lot of time together on the production of TRT and AD improving the recording method and sonic profile in the studio. I insisted on the co-producer credit for FNM on those 2 records because of that work. Notice The Real Thing and Angel Dust are the only two FNM records co-produced by Matt Wallace and Faith No More. I saw something in Wiki where someone pulled a comment out of an old bucket: Jim Martin said “I don’t know why It’s called Angel Dust, I had nothing to do with it” While that is true, it is not complete. The idea was Roddy’s, and nobody else had anything to do with it either. He came in with a basic concept of a bird front, meat locker back, and Angel Dust for the title. The question was: “How do we get it (Roddy’s idea) to the record cover?” We lost control of the sleeve art on the last 2 releases.