Mike Patton reveals battle with alcoholism during the pandemic

Mike Patton has once again opened up about his mental health struggles, revealing that he coped with alcoholism during the pandemic.

In a new interview with The Guardian, Patton discussed the upcoming sophomore album from his hardcore-thrash supergroup Dead Cross, stating that it was “forged through COVID, cancer, and alcoholism.”

Patton alluded to guitarist Mike Crain’s battle with squamous cell carcinoma, a form of skin cancer. Crain’s cancer eventually went into remission, with the guitarist crediting the making of the new Dead Cross album with helping save his life. Then the COVID pandemic happened, which sent Patton into a life of seclusion and solitude.

“My initial response to the pandemic was: ‘I love this shit!’,” Patton said. “It allowed me to be an antisocial motherfucker! I had maybe three months of that: ‘This is fucking awesome!’ Then something changed — and not for the better.”

Plans to tour with Faith No More were canceled, and fans were finally made aware of Patton’s struggles via a statement from the band: “We believe that forging ahead with these dates would have had a profoundly destructive effect on Mike.”

Earlier this year, Patton went told Rolling Stone that he became depressed and was eventually diagnosed with agoraphobia. In the new interview with The Guardian, he also revealed that he began drinking heavily.

“Because I was isolated so much, going outside was a hard thing to do,” Patton said, “and that’s a horrible thing. And the idea of doing more Faith No More shows — it was stressful. It affected me mentally. I don’t know why, but the drinking just … happened.”

There are currently no plans to reschedule the Faith No More shows, but Patton is slated to perform with Mr. Bungle in South America in December. He added that he’s been sober “for a while” and is doing “pretty good,” adding, “But I’m also afraid. I’m afraid of myself. … There are a few issues going on.”

When asked to clarify what issues he’s dealing with, Patton declined to comment: “I don’t know if I wanna tell you.”

Dead Cross’ new album II arrives October 28th. Pre-order it here.

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