104 - Faith No More with Roddy Bottum

104 - Faith No More with Roddy Bottum

Author: Rock n Roll Book Club February 21, 2026 Duration: 56:58

Roddy Bottum is best known as the keyboard player in Faith No More & his new book The Royal We is out now on Akashic Books. 


Roddy moves to San Francisco from L.A. in 1981 & a l;ittle while later he joins what was originally known as Faith No Man. After a few lineup changes (including a brief stint with Courtney Love as lead vocalist) the band morphs into the first incarnation of Faith No More with Roddy writing their breakthrough track We Care A Lot. 


The band make their first trip to the UK for a small tour including a show at Dingwalls in London. 


Things really start to come together when lead vocalist Mike Patton joins & The Real Thing album comes out in 1989 - backed by a top 10 single in Epic. 


Roddy’s keyboard sound sets the band apart from their contemporaries & a huge tour with Metallica & Guns n Roses follows. We hear about Roddy’s experiences as a gay man in this very masculine & often toxic world. 


The Angel Dust album follows in 1992 as the bands commercial peak continues - the band comes to an end in 1998 although a couple of reunions have took place since in 2009 & 2015. 


Roddy also tells us about his other project Imperial Teen, a very different sounding band to Faith No More. 



It takes anything from 5 to 40 hours to prepare each episode of Music Maps - if you’d like to make a contribution to help us cover the costs & time of producing these episodes for you, you can do so at this link: ko-fi.com/musicmaps



It is hugely important for us to get positive reviews & star ratings - if you have enjoyed Music Maps & can spare the time to do either we would hugely appreciate it. 



You can see our upcoming live events here: https://rocknrollbookclub.co.uk/events



Instagram: @rocknrollbookclube17


X: @simonmusicmaps


Facebook: E17rockbookclub



Hosted, Produced & Edited by Simon Cardwell

Music by Andy Maxwell



Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.


The Music Maps Podcast from the Rock n Roll Book Club isn't your typical music show. It's an audio expedition where geography is the guide. Every episode starts with a specific location-a city, a venue, a forgotten roadside attraction-and uses that place as a launchpad to explore the sounds, stories, and scenes connected to it. You might find yourself deep in the blues clubs of Chicago one week and tracing the underground punk threads of a small European town the next. The conversations are wide-ranging, connecting the dots between iconic artists and obscure movements, all anchored to a point on the map. Listening to this podcast feels like adding a new, richly detailed pin to a global atlas of musical influence. It’s about the context behind the chords and the cultural soil from which genres grow. The result is a continuously evolving, deeply human portrait of how music and place are inextricably linked, one fascinating destination at a time.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 50

Music Maps Podcast
Podcast Episodes
103 - The Undertones, Teenage Kicks & John Peel with Mickey Bradley [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:04:01
This week we celebrate 50 years of The Undertones with the one & only Mickey Bradley - our starting point is Derry in the late 1970s as we trace the formation of the band at the O’Neill house on Beechwood Avenue. Althoug…
101 - The Blitz with Robert Elms [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:09:32
This week esteemed writer & broadcaster Robert Elms joins us to tell us about the legendary Blitz nightclub in London’s Convent Garden. Back then Central London looked very different to today - back then it was an empty…
100 - Dexys Midnight Runners with Kevin Rowland [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 38:47
Join us to celebrate 100 episodes of Music Maps with the mighty Kevin Rowland to discuss hew recent memory Bless Me Father & the story of Dexys Midnight Runners. We start with Kevin’s early years in Wolverhampton, the fa…
99 - Ringo Starr & The Beatles with Tom Doyle [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:17:40
Our starting point is the breakup of The Beatles as writer Tom Doyle joins us to talk through the life of Ringo Starr, his biography is out now. His debut album Sentimental Journey arrives in March of 1970 & is quickly f…
98 - A Certain Ratio - Live At Hurrah 1980 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 42:19
Join us for a live conversation linked to the recent release of ACR:NYC - Live at Hurrah 1980, with A Certain Ratio, director Merrill Aldighieri - moderated by Dave Haslam.45 years after A Certain Ratio’s first performan…
97 - Pulp with Mark Webber (Sheffield) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:08:30
Join us to hear all about Pulp with Mark Webber - Mark found his way into the band by way of running the fan club (Pulp People) before eventually joining full time in 1995.Mark's wonderful new book 'I'm With Pulp Are You…
96 - 1995 with Anna Doble [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:04:17
Join us to round out 2025 by travelling back 30 years to 1995 with writer Anna Doble. Among much more we discuss the battle of Britpop with Blur v Oasis, the disappearance of Richie Edwards & the return of the Manic Stre…
95 - David Bowie with Paul Morley [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:23:01
This week we are joined by music writer Paul Morley to guide us through the early years of David Bowie - from his early life in Brixton & Bromley through to his formative experiences in Soho, his early bands & his origin…
94 - Del Amitri with Justin Currie (Glasgow) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:01:21
This week we welcome Del Amitri frontman Justin Currie to talk us through the history of the band - starting in Glasgow in the early 1980s following in the footsteps of the success of the Sound Of Young Scotland on Postc…