The crazy encounter a young Caroline Polachek had with Mike Patton
As the frontman of Faith No More and Mr. Bungle, and with many other celebrated projects, Mike Patton has transformed popular music. From metal to pop, his work has triumphantly covered many different bases, and this dexterity has attracted fans from across the eclectic landscape of genres we know today. One of his most prominent fans is Caroline Polachek.
Although Polachek first found fame as the frontwoman of synth-pop heroes Chairlift in the mid-2000s, she is now hailed as one of the leaders of the contemporary scene, embodying the postmodern present with her seamless blend of styles and textures. A uniquely exceptional songwriter, singer and performer, while the hyperpop tag might be something she’s inextricable from today, despite its controversial origins and meaning, it makes sense that when just a teenager, she would be a fan of Patton’s immensely tradition-defying sonics.
When speaking to Ace Hotel, Polachek revealed her love for Patton and an unbelievable encounter with him when she was just another underage teen failing to get into a show with a fake ID. Conversing with the DJ Justin Strauss, she started by saying that as a child in the suburbs of Connecticut, there were no zines, and at the time, she wasn’t aware of any “cool music magazines”, with the only culturally significant publication she would occasionally get her hands on during this period was Vogue.
As a teenager, though, she would free herself from suburban ennui and travel to New York City to explore and go to shows. Somewhat surprisingly, given her connection to the world of pop, the gigs she would go to were a mix of post-hardcore, emo, DIY punk and jazz.
One venue she recalled being a favourite was Knitting Factory. This lauded haunt has always championed artists who transcend the limits of rock and jazz with a penchant for the experimental. Naturally, it was here that she had her encounter with the great innovator Mike Patton.
Polachek explained: “Oh, yeah, I love Knitting Factory. I loved Mike Patton and anything that he was associated with. I would see him play with John Zorn, and to me that was just the coolest, weirdest stuff. Mike Patton actually personally walked me into a show at the Knitting Factory — they weren’t taking my fake ID and I couldn’t get in.”
She continued: “I was sitting, sulking on the front step and trying to figure out what to do because my friends all got in, and I looked up to find Mike Patton looking at me saying, ‘What’s wrong?’ I said, ‘I can’t get into the show tonight’. And he goes, ‘I’ll walk ya in’. And that was just the coolest thing that had ever happened to me in my whole life at that point.”
Watch a clip of Patton and Zorn at The Knitting Factory below.
