Mike Bordin may not be a household name but he has played with some of the most influential rockers from the 1970s through today. Bordin was born today in San Francisco in 1962 and he began playing drums as a teenager. While a student at Castro Valley High School, Bordin teamed up with some classmates in a band called EZ-Street. The band wasn’t notable for much other than being named after a local nudie bar, though its members included future Metallica bassist Cliff Burton and future Faith No More guitarist Jim Martin.
In 1979 Bordin formed the band Sharp Young Men which turned into Faith No Man which evolved into Faith No More. Faith No More had some success with original singer Chuck Mosley and made their initial appearance on MTV in 1987. Mosley left and joined the seminal punk band Bad Brains while Faith No More replaced him with Mike Patton from the band Mr. Bungle.
Once Patton joined Faith No More the band’s explosive mix of funk, metal, rap and rock finally had a singer with bombast to match. The first album with Patton, “The Real Thing”, was released in 1989 and it was nominated for a Grammy and broke through the Top 50 on the album chart. The massive single off the album, “Epic”, hit #9 on the chart is one of the blueprints for the rap-metal and nu-metal genres that would come years later.
The band followed with a Top 10 album in 1992, the platinum selling “Angel Dust”. Two more albums were released in 1995 and 1997 and both reached the Top 50. Bordin had begun playing with Ozzy Osbourne in 1996 and when Faith No More split up the following year he joined Ozzy fulltime. In addition to playing with Robert Trujillo and Zakk Wylde in Ozzy’s band, Bordin has filled in for Bill Ward on a Black Sabbath tour and toured with Korn.
In 2002 Bordin again teamed with former Suicidal Tendencies and current Metallica bassist Robert Trujillo. This time it was on former Alice In Chains guitarist/singer Jerry Cantrell’s album “Degradation Trip”. Faith No More reunited in 2009 for a series of tours and finally released a new album in 2015 called “Sol Invictus”.
Faith No More – “We Care A Lot” off the album “Introduce Yourself” 1987:
Faith No More - “War Pigs- Surprise You’re Dead” off the album “The Real Thing” 1989 live in Chile 1991:
Faith No More – “Midlife Crisis” off the album “Angel Dust” 1992 live in Germany 2009:
Faith No More – “The Gentle Art of Making Enemies” off the album “King for a Day…Fool for a Lifetime” 1995 live in England 2009:
Ozzy Osbourne – “Gets Me Through” off the album “Down to Earth” 2001:
Jerry Cantrell – “Anger Rising” off the album “Degradation Trip” 2002:
