Bill Gould on Faith No More’s Jewish Roots and New ‘Talking Book II’ Album

As a co-founder of legendary band Faith No More, Bill Gould first found international success when the 1987 single “We Care A Lot” took off. Faith No More would go on to mainstream success just a few years later when 1989’s “The Real Thing” took off and the group became an MTV staple. Notably, Faith No More – which also includes singer Mike Patton, guitarist Jon Hudson, drummer Mike Bordin and keyboardist Roddy Bottum – was handpicked to open for Metallica and Guns N’ Roses on their co-headlining stadium tour in the early 1990s.

Faith No More would eventually go on hiatus in 1998, remaining broken up until 2009. Bill Gould never slowed down, even during Faith No More’s years off, not only playing with other artists (including Fear Factory and The Dead Kennedys’ Jello Biafra) but also starting the Koolarrow Records label.

While speaking with Gould on March 31 about the forthcoming Koolarrow release of “Talking Book II” – as also featuring Gigante Sound co-founders Jared Blum (Vulcanus 68, Vision Heat) and Dominic Cramp (Borful Tang, Lord Tang) – we were also discussing Yebiga, Gould’s own label of rakija. I had asked Gould whether he was of Serbian descent, since he was producing Yebiga through a Serbian family. This led to a brief and organic discussion of Faith No More’s connection to Judaism:

“I found out that my family roots go from that area, my father’s side. I have a Jewish background, but it got erased in World War II. We found out that some of the village where my family came from was sort of close to the Serbian border.”

I then asked if any other members of Faith No More had Jewish roots, and the answer was affirmative:

“Yeah, the drummer [Mike Bordin]. I believe he’s Russian and Ukranian.”

Jewish hard rock fans ought can further rejoice in the coolness that Mike Bordin was not only a key member of Faith No More, but also a long-time drummer for Ozzy Osbourne and prior contribution to recordings and/or live appearance for Korn, Primus and Alice In Chains’ Jerry Cantrell.

Any way you slice it, Bill Gould is still at it with a variety of great projects – including “Talking Book II” – and he and his Faith No More tour are slated to be out on the road on a co-headlining tour with Korn and special guests Helmet and Scars On Broadway this summer.

More on Bill Gould can be found here and here.