Mr. Bungle

Biography

Formed in 1985 in Eureka, California, USA, this bizarre punk/metal/jazz amalgam was Mike Patton’s (Michael Allan Patton, 27 January 1968, Eureka, California, USA) first band prior to joining Faith No More, and the success of the latter’s 1989 album The Real Thing helped Patton to secure a recording contract for his previous project. Patton originally formed Mr. Bungle (named after an old educational film) with Trey Spruance (guitar/keyboards), Trevor Dunn (bass), Jed Watts (drums) and Scott Fritz (trumpet), recording a number of demo tapes in the late 80s. By the time of their major label debut the line-up featured Patton, Dunn, Spruance, Daniel Heifetz (drums, the grandson of noted violinist Jascha Heifetz), Clinton ‘Bär’ McKinnon (tenor saxophone/clarinet) and Theo Lengyel (alto saxophone). The sextet adopted an oddly costumed image to match their eclectic musical style, with Patton and Spruance adopting the respective pseudonyms Vlad...

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