My guest today is a multi-talented musician, composer, songwriter, singer, programmer. and guitar player. Originally from Needham, Massachusetts, Richard Patrick is best known as the founder and frontman of the alternative rock band Filter. He’s also a founding member of Nine Inch Nails, contributing to the early albums and working with Trent Reznor.
With Patrick’s distinct vocals and Filter’s industrial, alternative rock sound, the band quickly rose to prominence, earning critical acclaim and a dedicated following. I’m excited to talk about all that and more with the one and only Richard Patrick. Welcome to the RUN GPG Hello. Thanks for having me.
Yeah. Excited to have you here. As I was telling you, you know, having a show like this, , you know, I get to talk to creatives, musicians, groups, and bands that had a big impact on me personally, my musical taste so many years later. And of course your work and your history have been a big part of my influence and so many others for decades since the nineties, obviously.
So again, really looking forward to discussing your story and your history in a little more detail. I’m excited about that. A little bit more of your backstory though, I mentioned in the intro that you were originally from Needham, Massachusetts, I think I’m saying that right? I was born in Needham and then two weeks later.
Is that okay? There we go. Because I was just going to say that’s not where your journey and your history in music actually began. So tell us, where did it begin for you? What drew you to pursue a career in music and in the industry? My father had a big stereo that he bought from Radio Shack called a Realistic Stereo.
It was, that was the name brand, Realistic. And he used to play Neil Diamond, Hot August Nights, all the time in 1974 when he got the record. And I was electrified. by this record. And there was a part in it where he, his guitar player was named Rich and he would go several times to the concert. He would go, take it away, Rich.
And I literally thought Neil Diamond was talking to me, you know what I mean? And I started to think about guitar and think about music and I just got fascinated with it. Later on, when I was nine years old, my mom, I asked my mom for a guitar, acoustic guitar. And she got me one for my birthday, and then eight months later, I got an electric guitar for Christmas.
And, I’ve been playing guitar ever since. And it was wild. I, I knew way early that I wanted to be doing music. I mean, it was just a calling, , immediately. And I got into a whole bunch of other music when I was in my teens. And, , yeah. So that’s where it all started. and, and you never look back. You never look back.
Well, at that time, you mentioned Neil Diamond, but, and then you talked about your teens there. What were your earliest musical influences? Well, my first, one of my first records that I got was like Van Halen, and I loved Eddie Van Halen’s guitar playing, and then I had Kiss. But there was a monumental moment in my life when my brother Robert, the actor who is the Terminator on Terminator 2, he’s the, he’s the actor, that’s my brother, wait, wait, sorry, say that again?
My brother, Robert Patrick, is the actor who played the liquid metal cop in Terminator 2. Right, like the most badass Terminator of all time. Yeah, the liquid metal cop. That’s your brother? That’s my brother, yeah. You were today’s years old finding out that that’s my brother, yeah. Wow. His name is Robert Patrick.
Yeah. He was scary as hell. He was scary as hell. Well, he was intimidating to grow up with. You know what I mean? He was nine years older than me and he was like a badass. He was always a badass. I can’t imagine. I’m just trying to picture it now. Like your brother was the Terminator. Like it’s wild. Yeah. So Robert, this dude came up to me.
I was reading the cover of kiss alive too, or something like that. And my brother knocked the record out of my hand and he handed me the clash London calling, and he said, Paul Stanley’s a from now on, you’re going to listen, you’re going to listen to the clash you’re punk. And so he’s. I’m like, okay, you know, I was 9 or 10 or 13 or I don’t know 10.
I think I was 10 years old It was like 1980. It was like 1978 or something I know I must have been I must have been 12 years old because it was in the early 80s and I got into Punk music and, or The Clash, I should say, and then that led to like, I also listened to a lot of Rolling Stones and the Beatles, , not as much Beatles as the Rolling Stones.
And then I listened to, at some point I got into U2. Like in around 19 83, 19 84, I was really, really into U2, and then I got into like 86, I got into skinny puppy and ministry, and that’s when I really started listening to industrial music because it was so heavy, but it wasn’t like heavy metal. It wasn’t hairband, you know?
And I, the hairband stuff just rubbed me the wrong way, you know? Um. So I, I really gravitated towards the more punkish kind of outlaw riot starting, you know, disgruntled people. Angry. good for your brother. Like, honestly, good for your brother. The Terminator literally told you to start listening to He didn’t use the word f either.
He said something else, but he’s like You will now listen to The Clash. That’s, that’s incredible. Oh, he’s got great taste. He’s got great taste. Yeah. who knew? , it’s funny though, because as we were saying, you know, before we started recording there, you know, the history of industrial electronic music specifically, it does come up a lot on the show.
And I think just because the groups we get to interview, like we talked to Moby recently, and he talked a lot about the industrial influence and like the infancy of like, electronic music at that time. And you know, the music that was heavy in terms of industrial was Skinny Poppy. It was Ministry, , Front 242, Frontline Assembly, , I think Front 242 as well.
Yeah. Front 242. I mean, , really cool. I mean, I think Assimilate by Skinny Poppy is one of the greatest industrial tracks ever. Oh, absolutely. Like absolutely song never gets old ever, and you can listen to it over and over and over again. But it’s, it’s crazy how revolutionary that genre became with just some samplers and synthesizers just like, what do you remember about that era?
Like it was such a golden, it was so avant garde and it was in skinny puppy and Trent Reznor took me to skinny puppy and he’s like, are you scared? I’m like, kind of, you know? And, , , we were, we, you know, we were watching, you know, here comes Ogre, he walks out on stage and he’s got blood and oil all over his face and his body and he comes out there and he’s just wearing this weird baseball cap and the music is so avant garde and, Percussive and killer sounds design and just this amazing assault on your, it’s just abrasive and heavy and, but still cool because you can groove to it.
You know what I mean? That was it. We had that. They would put in a dance groove in the middle of it. You know what I mean? And, and,
you know, like just, it was just wild. That was the discussion we had with Patrick Codenese for Front242 is that it was like, it was still cool because it wasn’t like the mainstream, like you said, the metal stuff, right? So the industrial, you could be cool and listen to industrial. It was so electronic.
Yeah. And see the other, the other. element of electronic music. The most famous stuff was like Depeche Mode and some of their stuff is downright goofy. Like, like, you know, it’s, it’s downright Goofy. Yeah. and, but, but like, you know, even they had like black celebration and that’s when I got into Depeche Mode because there’s music for the masses is an incredible record, amazing record.
but, , I like the darker, tougher, meaner stuff. You know what I mean? I liked, that’s why I liked when I liked you too. I, the unforgettable fire, it was meaner. It was, it was really Irish, but it was, it was meaner, but it was still beautiful, elegant, you know, grand, graceful music. But they have a totally different realm in my, my book.
They’re just the coolest band ever. Like, you know, they’re, I like their triumphant, you know, amazing music that they put out, you know. Yeah, there was something about U2. Like, I remember it as well. there was something about U2, like, you know, they were, they were popular, they were mainstream, but they weren’t, you know what I’m saying?
Like, they were just a little bit. Another alternative, like, different, like, you know, The Edge plays the guitar like it’s, it’s, it’s, it’s this beautiful, echoey, amazing guitar playing that was so original. It was so mind blowingly original. And, , same with, , you know, the, the Clash guy, Mick Taylor? hmm.
Right? Is his name M Taylor? His name’s Mick Taylor. Right. , well, there’s Joe Strummer, , Nick. Nick Taylor. Nick Jones. Nick Jones. Nick. No. Is it, is it? We should look that up. We gotta, we gotta, that’s gonna drive me crazy. Check this. Look at the fact. Check it later. but, but yeah. Joe Strummer and, . You know, their guitar playing was very avant garde and crazy and jangly and a bit tougher and at the same time, you know, London Calling, I mean, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh.
You can hear the influences in Filter as well, like with your playing from that time, like even like the Cure, and Filter’s weird because Filter, the thing with industrial, like, like filter, I had to establish that I was, was something more than just a nine inch nails derivative thing. Cause people assumed, Oh, he’s from nine inch nails.
Guess what kind of music he’s going to make? You know what I mean? So I had to like, so I did like, Hey man, nice shot. But I also had songs like stuck in here. And, You know, , spent and, and stuff that were, the first record was kind of industrial because we used a lot of drum machines and stuff like that, but we really, I tried to take as much as I could from grunge as I could to, you know what I mean?
I, I kind of wanted a little bit more, I love drop D and, , different tunings like that. And, that steals from that’s, that’s kind of stealing from. grunge at that point in time, but I, I love my industrial influence, but it’s not nearly as much of an influence as it was when I was in Nine Inch Nails. You know what I mean?
Like, when I was in Nine Inch Nails, it was like, let’s make it harder. Let’s make it meaner. Let’s make it tougher. Let’s make it, you know, let’s, let’s make it, , you know, I was constantly, yeah, like being tried through darkness. Well, I get it. You know, like filter sound is very heavy. in some cases dark, which I want to get into in a minute here, but I want to, I want to kind of piece the timeline together here as well.
So, , moving along, right, you, you connected at some point with Trent Reznor and Nine Inch Nails. What’s the history of the group? How did that happen? Wow. well Trent, he was the guy at keyboards, Pi Keyboards and Audio in Akron, Ohio, who I knew, and Frank Vale and some other guys that I knew who worked at Pi Keyboards and Audio, and he was in this band called the Exotic Birds.
And Trent was just kind of going with the flow, with the Exotic Birds, the main guy was Andy Kubashevsky, who later went on to be in Stabbing Westward. And he, was just kind of going with the flow. And then he made the decision, like, I’m going to leave. Like, this is, I’ve got, I’ve got to quit. I’ve got to do my own thing.
And he, he disappeared. Like he literally disappeared. He went to work at great tracks and he didn’t go out and he didn’t do anything. He just like worked really hard at making his own music. And during that. That’s when he made Pretty Hate Machine. And so I had gotten severely into like Skinny Puppy and Ministry and he was like, what’s gotten into you man?
What’s up with you? And I was like, yeah, I only listen to Skinny Puppy and Ministry. My world is dark. You wouldn’t understand. And you know, and he was like, He’s like, well, I think I have something for you. It’s called Nine Inch Nails. Would you want to get together and listen to some stuff? And so I, and so I went over there and I listened to, the first song he played was the Adrian Sherwood version of Down In It, which was the record version that he released, and it was absolutely amazing.
And, but I wasn’t, I was kind of like, Oh my God, is this rap? Are you rapping now? Like, are you, are you rapping? You know? And then he was like, no, no, check it out. I’ve got more stuff. And he played me some other stuff, but then he played me at some point, he played me something he was working on called head like a hole.
And that was like, yeah. I mean, there was still some parts in it that I wasn’t necessarily, you know, I wasn’t really driving to, but the chorus was amazing. And the baseline in the verse was just amazing. Down, down, down, down. and so he had already been working with Chris Renner. Chris Renner was like his, he was going to play drums, but he was also his, his assistant in the studio.
And then Sean Bevin was actually working on it too, in the studio. and he was a friend of mine from the act cause he was always. He was everybody’s front of house guy. And then there was like, there was various keyboard players that would come in and just kind of play what Trent had already written.
in those early days. But yeah, we just, he just was like, okay, we got a gig. You know, he, you know, we got a gig, we’re going to go on tour with Jesus and Mary Chain. And we’re going to do this thing called Dance Party USA. It wasn’t called that. Was it actually called that? On USA Network, it was called Dance Party USA.
It was a TV show for teens dancing. That’s that famous footage, have you ever seen it? I’ve seen it. That was that? And he’s wearing a scrunchie? Yes, I do remember, I’ve seen that footage. Yeah, that was Dance Party USA. But we knew it was a joke. We knew, we, we were like, we’re gonna f ing show up and and it’s gonna be ridiculous.
Like it’s gonna, we’re gonna be like, we’re gonna be laughed at. out of there because we were so totally not like Dance Party USA, but it was really funny. And we were like, literally, it was like 10 o’clock in the morning, they were shooting this thing and we, we started drinking beers early and cause we used to drink like gunfighters back then.
And We were drinking and, , we, we did the show and I, at one point, I fall off the stage and, you know, it’s, it’s super hilarious and, , but yeah, that was like our first thing that, one of our first things that we did, but then we played, we started playing shows around town and I remember just like, We, we went on tour with Jesus and Mary Chain and that was really cool because we, I think we, we established our, we started establishing ourselves as like something real.
So cool. So cool. Yeah. And then we came back to Cleveland and played a headlining set at Cleveland and it was like, totally sold out like it was like literally 15, 1600 people in the fantasy nightclub, which was a tiny little place. And, , yeah, it was amazing. I mean, it was early, early days were, were really crazy.
The history is just incredible. You know, I think You know, Trent was on to something with even the name and the branding, you know, at the end and everything, it was something that kids wanted on their shirts. They wanted it on, you know what I mean? Like the branding was, was there to, you know, it was, it was like that.
He hit home runs all the time. Oh, yeah, yeah. Smart guy. I was all the time. Yeah, yeah. I mean, the logo was something that you just wanted to put on your shirt. You just wanted to wear it. You know, like, NIN, I remember writing it on my school like, this is cool, I’m wearing it. Like, yeah. Yeah. Well, if you can find those vintage 9 inch nail shirts now, I have one.
I have one white one, yeah. It was off the Sin Tour that my dad bought. Oh, wow. Yeah. The OG ones I think are, I think a grand is probably what they’re selling for or something like that. Like they’re really expensive. But here’s a question. What was it like working with Trent Reznor and being a part of Nine Inch Nails during those formative years?
Like what stands out the most? Well, he, he taught me a lot and, I just wanted to bring the element of punk, like the f you. Like as much as I possibly could. And there was a moment where he was, he was like, okay, this is, this is the song terrible lie. And the guitar part goes B, C sharp. And I was like, okay, B, C sharp, you know, B, bam.
That’s how it goes. And he’s like, but you can’t play it like, you know, B, C sharp. You got to play it like f you. He’s like, you know, this is heavy s you know. And my little 21 year old mind was just like, Absolutely punk rock fully, you know commit. Yeah, you’re right like this is it and there was just a lot of moments like that You know, we’re we’re we’re going for it, dude We’re not gonna like that was the thing that I really really wanted to bring was like total commitment like fully not just playing a guitar part, but being as dedicated to the music as possible physically.
Like just be a presence on stage. But it was awesome. You know, I mean, you know, just doing rehearsals and preparing for everything and, , you know, and, and he, he just, Trent knew what he wanted, you know what I mean? But he was also open to like ideas. Like, you know, he, he, I would, Mess around with different guitar sounds and stuff like that for like the song ring finger.
I played a, , kind of a strat, you know, sounding guitar and he was okay with that. And yeah. So the creative process was all Trent, I’m assuming. Yeah. I mean, Like my big thing, my big thing was I showed up after he recorded the first record. I was constantly just like, let’s make this heavy and intense. And, you know, like he said with terrible lie.
And so that’s what I brought into the band. And then. He, in the record Broken, he listed me as like an influence, like, you know, he was influenced by his live band and he made this heavy record, you know, Broken. And that’s pretty much all I did, was I was, I was, I was like, I just wanted it to be heavy. I just wanted it to be mean and tough and, and, but passionate, you know what I mean?
As well as, you know, and so, you know, I’m not, I’m not saying he listened to me at all. I’m just, you know what I mean? I’m, I’m saying that I feel like from my perspective, I just wanted to make it intense as hell and, and, and engaging and tough. And that was pretty much cause he would, cause I would show up later and he would be like, well, we’ll check this out.
This is a song called wish, you know, and I already played guitar on it. Don’t worry about it. And then, you know, like, and we’re doing the video tomorrow, you know, like, and that’s why you’re here. Like, you know, and I would listen to the song wish for the first time and like, Oh my God, this is amazing. You know, like.
And that’s, but, but you can see like my creativity wasn’t, I wasn’t really doing much. You know what I mean? Oh. But, and that’s, that’s what eventually kind of led me to leave was, was the fact that like, you know, I have something to offer myself and I want, I wanted some ownership. You know what I mean? I wanted to Yeah, a hundred percent.
Be a part of it. A hundred percent. And, and, and own something. And own a part of it. You know what I mean? I want it to like, to be more right than just, than, than just the live guy playing guitar. Yeah, I get it. And I, and I, I mean, if you’re listening to skinny puppy ministry, that’s a big info. Of course, you’re going to want to make it darker and angrier and, you know, and all that.
But from what I understand you quit nine inch nails. What was the story behind that? Like what inspired you to break away and start filter? It was what I just mentioned. It was, it was, I, you know, I, I wrote, Hey man, nice shot and record companies were all about it and wanted to sign me and Trent didn’t know that.
And so when I went to Los Angeles to work on the downward spiral or be a part of the live show or do whatever I was supposed to do there, , prep for the live shows and stuff like that. I kind of made secret meetings and. Basically, you know, fortified my leaving by getting a record contract with Warner Brothers and getting a new manager and then having a new lawyer as well.
And, you know, there was, there was a couple of things that, you know, happened that was, you know, unsavory. And, , there was definitely a, it was definitely kind of a fight kind of a situation, but you know, it was ultimately, it was just, I have something, I have more, something more to say than, than just being a live guitar player.
And I want to do my own thing. You know what I mean? And it’s called Filter, you know. Yeah. Yeah. Interesting, interesting history. so you leave Nine Inch Nails, you start your own group, Filter, and at the time it’s described as a blend of like industrial and alternative rock. That’s what, you know, the critics are describing it as.
How do you describe Filter sound at that time when you, you know, when you started the band? And like, how did you go about developing the unique sonic identity back then? Because it did have a distinct sound, right? Like, what was your creative process? What are your thoughts on the original sound of filter?
Early on when I was like 17 or something, I tried to get a record deal with , a 3:00 AM or no, not 3:00 AM , a and m records. And their big complaint was you sound way too much like you two, you have to sound original. And it broke my heart. And when I was in nine Inch Nails, I mean, Trump was. Fully, like we are totally original.
Like it’s not ministry and skinny puppy. It’s, it’s not a derivative thing that sounds similar to that. There was a lot of songwriting in it. Like, I mean, he worked the songwriting angle, you know, really heavily chorus verse bridge, you know, the whole thing. And when I started working on the filter stuff, I was just, I was just really like, okay, I want to make it heavy.
I want to have songwriting. But I also really love big guitar sounds like that are just driven guitar sounds. Because I was also listening to a lot of Pantera as well. And, you know, I just love guitar. Chunk, chunk, chunk, chunk, chunk, chunk. You know, like, I love that. deep sounding guitar parts. And, that was pretty much it.
And, you know, as you listen to filter, you can see that like the first record was kind of industrial more. It’s the most industrial record we ever had other than crazy eyes, which was, I consider that to be pretty industrial, but, , title of record, it became way more rock band like sounding and, take a picture was just completely out of character for the whole.
the whole thing. And, , but that was pretty much, I think it was because I was hanging out with Darcy from the Smashing Pumpkins. And I just, I saw the lighter side of, of life as well. And my YouTube kind of influence came at me and Take a Picture was born. And I just, I wanted to explore that. I wanted to explore a softer side as well because Stuck in Here was on short bus, so I was like, well, I did something soft on short bus and that went platin so I’m allowed to kind of experiment and see how light I can get.
And you know, the big complaint from the record company was like, well, this is such a departure. And I’m like, I know it is, but like, Welcome to the Fold is not. Welcome to the Fold is, is, is a hell of a song. Welcome to the Fold is one of the heaviest. Yeah. I mean, it’s incorrect. Like that song. I mean, if you want to go to the gym and get pumped or just, you know, get it out there.
Like, that’s a great song to listen to. You know, I love it. I always like to, you know, ask, you know, the history of some of the most iconic songs and albums of the musicians and groups I interview. Hey man, nice shot. We were talking about it earlier. Hey man, nice shot. One of filter’s most iconic songs. Did you say you wrote that first or can you share the story behind its creation and the inspiration for its lyrics as well?
Cool. Yeah, I was just in my mom and dad’s house in South Carolina, and they had lent me, and I was with some friends, and I just remember coming up with that guitar riff. And it was based off of a Lard song by ministry, Al Jorgensen, and, and Biafra, they have a song that’s called Pork Boy that goes
like, it’s triplets on the the 12th fret. And I remember playing that and being like, that’s so cool. You know, it’s so repetitive. And it reminds me of U2 in a, in a good way, like the, you know, the guitar playing and you too. And then I just kinda moved it down the fretboard. And it was like, d n n, sha ga ga ga ga ga ga ga ga ga ga, you know, and I just kept moving it down the fretboard, and it just all made sense.
And then, skip ahead a a month or two later, I was I was We had a bassline on there that I didn’t like, and so I changed the bassline to da da da da, you know, the, the intro bassline that you, we all know and love. then it became time to sing, and I remember having tons of guitars all the way through the verses and stuff, playing, playing whatever, and I just hit the mute buttons on the guitar on the, on the eight track, and it was like the whole thing cleared up.
And, and it was just drums, bass, and my voice. And I thought, man, that sounds cool. And then I, when it kicked back into the chorus, I was like, you know, and so there was a lot of writing with the equipment as well. It wasn’t just, you know, on the guitar. It was like, he had to work the equipment that we were using and we programmed the drums and we.
Did a whole bunch of other stuff. And finally, I stared at the microphone for like a month, like just horrified of like, can I sing? Can I, I’ve been telling everybody I’m an okay singer. Like, can I sing? And I finally like, over like, I think it was like, like the whole summer I’d waited and waited and waited and goofed off and drank and went and put in bay and hung out with my friend.
Like I literally came up with all these things to do. And then finally I was like, I gotta do this. And so I went into the studio and. I knew that I was totally alone, and I just started writing the lyrics. I wish I would have met you. Now it’s a little late. What you could have taught me, I could have saved some face.
And I was thinking about the public suicide of Arba Dwyer. Like, why he did that. And I started to, then I got to the chorus and I was like, okay, I know I want to sing something high. So I started saying, Hey man, or a man has gone, Hey man, have fun, you know, like sarcastically saying, like, I’m glad you killed, like, good for you.
You killed yourself. Great. You, you, you screwed up everybody and you killed yourself. Bit like, what are you thinking? Kind of thing. After getting the vocals done, and then at the very end of the song, I was like, I wish I would have met you. I was a little concerned that I sounded too much like Perry Farrell on, you know, , he, he has a song called, , Ocean Size.
I wish I was ocean size. And so I went, I wish I would have met you. And I was worried that like, it sounded too similar to him. and there were, there were moments where I was like, is this too. you know, grungy. Is this, you know, is this too much like Soundgarden? But I was like, I don’t care. It’s so awesome.
It sounded so good to me. And when I finished the song, I played it for some friends of mine that had heard earlier stuff that we had did. We had this song called, I think it was called Thorns or something like that. And it sucked. And like, my friends were like, sure. Yeah. Rich, like, yeah, I guess it’s okay.
But when I played them Hey man, nice shot. They were like, dude, this. This, this is good. And like every person I played it to was like, holy rich. This is really, really like, kind of like, wow. Like rich, your life has changed. Like you’re totally like, they all were like, wow, this is like you winning the lottery kind of thing.
You know what I mean? When I was done, they were like, this is. This is going to be huge. Like, just random friends of mine, Terry Galvin, you know, Mantra Bench Car, like, Scott Kern, my friend from Cleveland, Ohio, like, a lot of people were just like, damn, this is really good. So, weeks later, when I played it for my friends who lived in Hollywood, They were like, you could get totally get a record deal with this.
And so there was a couple of close calls. My, someone who was scoring a movie wanted to use Hey man, nice shot for my, one of my brother’s movies. And he offered to buy the song, including the publishing for 700. And I knew Like, absolutely not. Like, no way am I gonna, am I gonna give this song away for, for, you know, 700.
And, , there was a lot of weird little close calls like that where I had to be super careful. You know, it’s such an iconic song, like, you know, decades later, it’s still an oh s song every time you hear it. Yeah. Every time you hear it. Like, you know, those iconic, like, you know, timeless songs, , like that, you know, years later, you never get tired of listening to them.
You created one. It’s one of your first, like you did, you created it. You know, there’s that one and a few others. I like to think I created a few. You did. You absolutely created a few. That one though.
You know, I feel like everybody had that one. Like, Trent had, you know, Head Like a Hole. It was Head Like a Hole. Like, the whole album was good, but it was Head Like a Hole was the one that kind of went, Okay. Right? You know, when we were talking at front, it was a headhunter, you know, it was that one song, right.
Or, you know, Moby, the one he was talking about recently, the one, he had the one song that did it for him. Right. But then like you referenced it, a title of record, the sophomore alb it was more refined and experimental. Right. So why, why the evolution in the music and how did, I mean, you kind of touched on how critics responded, but how did fans respond to it?
Yeah. Yeah. Title of record was a different scenario because I’d been on tour with some guys, Gino, Leonardo, Matt Walker played drums on the first short bus record. And, I decided Maybe we should have some, some real drums on, on some of the songs, on some of the records. And so I started to expand the sound into more of a traditional, you know, four piece.
And with still the bells and whistles of programming, like, you know, computer programming that, you know, is the industrial kind of vibe. And I DeLeo, who was my senior. He ran the equipment, but he also was like a programmer and he did a lot of the sound design and stuff like that and Heidel was an opus I mean it was like I started writing for it right after I got back and the first song I wrote I think was Captain Bly And, messed around with other producers and did some stuff, and then I finally told everybody, like, all I need is, like, this, someone to run the equipment so that I can sit back and do all these ideas that I have in my head, and they granted me that, and I got a studio that I, I put together with my friend Doug Belladere, who, who, who, who, who?
We took a loft space and we put two control rooms in it or two, a live room and a control room. And then we had a rehearsal hall right next to it. And it was like, you know, amazing. I, I was like, this is my clubhouse. And so I threw a ton of parties there, , had a great time, but, , started while I was dating Darcy Retsky Brown at the time, I just started, Making as much music as I possibly could, and, and there was some other great little moments, like Gino Leonardo, , came in, and he was like, well, I have this song called, you know, this song that I have, and it was It’s Gonna Kill Me, and it was all the music was done, like, it sounded amazing, I’m like, this is, amazing.
All we have to do is put vocals on it. So like we, I said, bring the tracks over, put them into my computer, let’s go. Let’s, and I, and I, you know, and then we added drums to it and live drums and the, and Steve Gillis did an amazing job putting live drums to it. And there was just a lot of freedom like that.
And, but it was still, it was really, it was really, I was really kind of holding my cards close to my chest and kind of keeping control of as much of it as I could. Although Gino did a great job of like overdubs on guitar, the song skinny, he primarily came up with most of the music for that. I made a big edit on it that, that created the chorus, , for the song.
I remember telling him like, no, we do this four times and boom, it’s a huge chorus and he’s like, okay. And, Songs like I’m not the only one. but take a picture was literally, I had a guitar and I played four four chords that was the chorus and then I went back and well no actually I came up with the verse guitar part and then the four chords on, , for the chorus and I remember thinking to myself is it that easy?
Like is it that easy to write something? That, You know what I mean? Like, like, it’s shocking how easy and fun and sweet it was to just make, take a picture, you know? And I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it. Like other people, like Gino tried to record a little bit of it and I was like, no, wrong tempo.
The tempo is 120, like, you know, like, it’s fast, or faster, and, and I just remember jumping into it, and then it came time to write the lyrics and sing it, and it was just stream of conscious, you know, I was trying to, I was trying to fill up the tape, I was trying to sing as much as I could without really thinking about the lyrics, and, , you know, I wake on my airplane, I wake on my airplane, my skin is bare, my skin is theirs.
You know, So it was just a stream of consciousness. Yeah. And then the chorus, I remember thinking, could you take my picture? Cause I won’t remember because it was all about my alcoholism. I was living like full, full, full blown alcoholic. Later, I realized it was a total cry for help because of my alcoholism, but at the time, I thought I was just being artsy, you know what I mean?
I thought I was, I was like, no one’s going to get what I’m talking about. And then of course, in interviews, I’m like, yeah, you know, sure. It’s about me getting naked on an airplane, blah, blah, blah, blah, which really happened. You know, it was just, I’m 90 percent of that was bullshit. So would you say that the, like, The influence of that music at that time had a lot to do with your, well, you’re saying it, you know, with your personal life, right?
Like who you were dating and, you know, what was happening at that time. Yeah. It was definitely, I was living in the moment and the record was autobiographical, you know what I mean? Like when, when Darcy ended up leaving me, like, that’s when I wrote, I’m not the only one. And when I wrote it, I didn’t know that.
We had like a breakfast together and then I was totally, she was like, well, I think I want to try and see some other people and blah, blah, blah. And I was like, she was already married and I was already like, dude, this is crazy. And so she, and so I thought she was breaking up with me. And so I went directly to the studio and I remember taking some medicine and getting in front of the microphone and we already had the music and I just sat there and I just.
Rift, like, like I, I did one or two takes where I was just kind of mumbling and, and singing totally stream of conscious. And we put the words together, you know, we did a comp as they say, and it was so spellbinding. You know what I mean? It was so fresh and real that like, I didn’t want to go back and Make it, I wanted to do what you two did for like Elvis Presley in America off of the unforgettable fire where it was just kind of stream of conscious and it was great.
And remember getting done with it and just being like why and crying and kind of being spent on it. And yeah. We just were like, let’s see if we can’t put this together and we’ll just use it as a demo. And then, but everyone who heard it was just like, my God, it’s, it’s so captivating. And so I, that, that was just one of those things where it was like, you know, yeah.
Another iconic song. Yeah. So you got two. It’s gonna kill me was, was because this, this other girl that I was kind of hanging out with was, was feeding me tons of, of medicine that was not prescribed by a doctor. And , you know, it’s going to kill me, you know, like it just came to my head, you know what I mean?
And, but there’s so many other songs on it that. That cancer was my Earth Day song, like we were talking about Earth Day back in, you know, 97, 98, we were talking about Earth, Earth, the Earth Day, you know, how, how man’s polluting the world and like, you know, cancer and how we are a cancer. And, , that was kind of my protest song for that.
And there’s, it just, it just goes on and on. And I just remember thinking, and Welcome to the Fold was like, well, so much of the record is this moody kind of stuff. Where’s the rock, you know? So I wrote Welcome to the Fold in the tail end of writing. And I was super excited about it. And, , we did welcome to the fold and we tracked it, but we got to this middle section and I literally had, it was, it was 17 minutes long or something like that.
It was like 10 minutes long, this middle section that was all mama, give me my medicine. And what I did was I sang the song sober. And did all the hard work on this A OK and everything like that and sang the verses and choruses sober. But I promised myself that I would take Mushrooms at midnight and sing whatever popped into my head for this middle section.
And, , Ray Lee’s, Ray, not Ray Lee’s, Ray, Delay of was just like, okay, let’s go have some dinner. We grabbed some dinner, came back and, I tripped out on mushrooms and came up with this whole middle section that we use probably like 1 percent of. And I wonder if we have those tracks still around floating around.
You promised yourself you’d take mushrooms at midnight. Yeah, I promised myself I’d take, well, at night, you know, cause you could mood light that, that studio so well with like all these different lights that we had. And it was all mood lit and there was a crowd inside the control room just like laughing their balls off.
Like I was, I was funny as hell back then, you know, , yeah. What an incredible history. Richard, like what an absolutely incredible history. It’s, it’s mind blowing to, to think about all that you’ve been through the history of the music and, you know, just the influence that your music and music that you’ve been involved with, the names you’re mentioning at the time that you were working with and the different influences to this day.
Right? How they stood the test of time. The other thing that was interesting about Filters branding or Filters music was the videos. They were praised for their artistic direction, right? And the visual storytelling, which I’m obsessed with, is the visual and the branding. How did you collaborate with directors?
to bring your songs to life visually. Like what was the inspiration? I was pretty much wide open to the, to the video stuff. There was one video where I, where I kind of meddled in it and I think it hurt. It was, where do we go from here? But there was all the other videos. It was like, I called up Kevin Kerslake.
I was like, I saw, you know, your Smashing Pumpkins video for, The first song on their record, , Denon and Denon and then, and then it’s not, , another one. Yeah. What’s the name where that’s going to kill me? You know, and that’s what it’s what in part inspired, like, take a picture. Really? Yeah. Yeah. Billy was like, push yourself, Richard.
You gotta, you gotta push yourself and do some different stuff. You can’t just do a one, you can’t be a one trick pony. And I was like, okay, damn. He’s like, and it’s all easy. You can do it. You can topple it. You can topple it. That’s what he used to say. You can topple it. You can topple it, Rich. You can do it.
You know, , man, again, the history, eh, the, the, the history that you have with, , you know, these front men, . Yeah. You’re a front man yourself, right? Mm-Hmm. . Just, it’s crazy to think about. I’m also really excited, and I don’t mean to say like, I don’t mean to to, to bring it up out of turn, but like, I’m also really super proud of the record we put out the algorithm.
Mm. There’s been a lot of records that I’ve put out, and I’m, I feel. They’re pretty good, but like the algorithm really kind of brought it back for me. It kind of, it was a great record and, , I’m super proud of it. And, it’s it to me, fortified what I’ve always believed, which is that, you know, I still got it.
Oh, you definitely still got it. Are you kidding me? Oh yeah. Hell yeah. and again, you know, some of those iconic, you know, albums. Right. And songs like to this day, you know, when you, when you create a, you know, such an incredible, , you know, body of work and, , and, and art and things like that, it, and when they stand the test of time, right.
You know, they, they last longer than you do so many years later, you touched on it and, and you, you’re pretty open and vocal about talking about, you know, your struggles with addiction and things like that. And, and we do like to get deep on the show if we, you know, from time to time, if it helps others.
Looking back, what, what led to the issues, like why, you know, did you have those, those issues with drugs and alcohol and what eventually helped you correct the situation? The drinking became binge, crazy binge. I had no self control at a certain point. So I was doing other things. I was doing some drugs and, I would stay up for three days.
And it was fun as hell. I mean, I got to be honest with you. When you’re, when you’re 27 and you’ve done everything and you’re a rock star and you’re, you’re hanging out with your friends and you stay up for three days. It’s, it’s, it was, I got to say it was pretty fun. It was pretty fun. But the reality was is I would drink.
to come down and, then I would be really hungover for like a day or two and eventually like I started running out of, I just got to this point where like I was drinking but I would wake up in the morning like really early like at 5 a. m. or 6 a. m. and I would be like, well, it’s still dark out, maybe I should, you know, Crack a beer open, you know, and then I would get drunk, and I would be drunk at 10 a.
m., like, wasted, you know, and, you know, I couldn’t do anything. And I would, you know, make an ass out of myself. The humiliation of being an alcoholic is just awful. And I was totally, totally, completely alcoholic. And I knew it in my soul. Like, I knew that this was wrong. I literally could not believe that I could get sober.
Like, I, I literally was like, I, I So I called a friend of mine, Mark Pollack, who , had gotten sober and he said, Rich, I don’t know if it’s going to work for you, but it totally worked for me. And it was the best thing I ever did. And I just heard that on Marcus to party as hard as me. And I, I, I remember thinking to myself, like if he can do it, I can do it.
And then I called up my now wife, Tina, and, to ask her to come and get me or come and visit me on tour. And she showed up a day later. She showed up, actually, no, I called her in the blackout and, and she showed up that morning and was like, I’m here, and she literally, like, I’m here to help you, you know, and, and I just was like, you know what?
I can’t take this. I, I, I gotta quit. So I quit the tour and sent everybody home and everyone was floored. But it was the only way I could really save my life was to just quit it completely and utterly and, just go back to go to California and see what they had to offer. And so I went to Promises and, that’s where I met Chris Cornell.
Chris Cornell was in rehab with me and. , I was about to leave and he goes, Rich, don’t do it, don’t, this is the only game in town. This is the only deal in town. This is the only way to get sober is to do it this way. You got to do, you got to try it. And so I listened to him and, , focused on being sober and doing what they told me.
And I, I focused on listening to people and I did what they told me. I followed and just. succumb to the program and it was the best decision I ever made. It was the hardest thing I ever did. I’m super proud of it. And I’ve told my story and when people reach out to me on Instagram, they go, Hey, I heard your story and I’m really blown away and I’m going to try and get sober.
And I try and work with them as much as I possibly can. I’ve made some friends that You know, have, have been sober because of, you know, they were inspired by my story. And so I’m just super grateful of that because that’s what, you know, I, I was inspired by Chris, you know, and he, that’s how sobriety works is you, you are sober and other people are attracted to that.
Yeah. And, , That’s interesting. What an incredible story. I appreciate you breaking that down. I, I thank you very much for doing that. You know, if anybody’s, you know, listening or watching and they, you know, might inspire them to make a change, you know, if you could help, you know, somebody that goes a long way, it really does.
You just, you really, really, really, really, really have to believe in yourself and you just have to succumb to the fact that like you’re powerless and the only way to do it is just to hang out with your kind. And Chris, yeah, Chris later ended up killing himself and that’s. What keeps me sober is the fact that, like, Chris died, so I, so I have to, like, I have to stay sober in his honor so that, so that, you know, so that I learned from his mistakes, you know, and, and.
Yeah, no, I appreciate that. No, so much for sharing that. We really, We really appreciate that. You know, as we’ve been discussing, you know, you’ve been around for a long time. You’re a veteran of, you know, we talked about industrial, alternative rock, , what are your thoughts on the current state of the music industry and maybe those genres?
And where do you see it going? The music industry is really crazy right now because Back in the day, if you were lucky enough to get a record contract, which was hard, they took care of you. Like from my perspective, I mean, not, not necessarily in the early days with Nine Inch Nails, but from, from my perspective, my record company Warner Brothers was a godsend.
They were absolutely amazing. I asked for the moon and they were like, sure. You can do whatever you want. We’re here, it’s an artist oriented label. We do what you want us to do. And I’m like, okay, so I want to grab 30, 000 worth of equipment, go back to a little house in Cleveland, Ohio, and make my record, and then have someone else mix it later on.
And they’re like, done. You know, and like I remember going through my equipment and getting all this fancy stuff even tied for thousands and, you know, just amazing stuff and they bought all of it and put it together and road cases and, , we, I went across the country out to, , to, , , Cleveland, Ohio and sat there and, , with Brian Leeskang and worked on these records.
We were at the first record short bus and I just remember being taken care of. And then, you know, money, I had money. They gave me, they gave me a, a pretty much an allowance to sit there and work. And they gave me an advance, you know, which I used to live. And then it was like, Hey, let’s do a video. Here’s 300, 000 for that.
Who do you want to work with? I want to work with Kevin Kerslake. He did the Smashing Pumpkins video that I like, , you know, and they were like, great, here’s his treatment. You know, I get in touch with this guy. He gives me his treatment. I’m like, I love it. Let’s do that. That’s the video for Hey Man, Nice Shot.
and they pretend and they put someone on the road with us who was a liaison between all the people that we were supposed to meet, all the press we were supposed to do. And so she lived on the bus with us, which was. Crazy, because we were pretty wild back then, but, , it was amazing. And now you just don’t have that anymore.
So the way they’re doing it now is if you have a tick tock following of like a hundred thousand people and you have your own built in following already. You can get a records deal, but I don’t know how much they take care of anybody anymore. I think they just kind of take their money, they put the records out.
They, I don’t, I don’t know if they have A& R people. I don’t know. Like it’s bizarre. It’s, you know. Yeah. You hear stories from different ones about the current state of the industry and it’s kind of a mess. It’s a, it’s a, you know, it’s all ham hocked, ham hocked. But like you said, you know, it’s not so much about.
Making great music. It’s about following and money, right? Is the way I got it. I mean, it’s always, you know, it’s always been about making a profit, but it’s a little bit different these days, right? Where it’s like attention. It’s, it’s, it’s wild because like Billie Eilish is truly one of the most talented her and Phineas are, are some of the most talented people ever.
Right. And they made it by going viral off of their own You know, iCloud, , you know, SoundCloud and stuff. And I remember my daughter told me about Billie Eilish when Billie Eilish was 16. Yeah. Back in 19, back in 2018. I’m still doing that. 19, back in 2000, you know, whatever it was, 17 or 18 or 16 or somewhere around there.
Yeah. It’s social media following, right? So, so the cream is rising to the top. But like, it’s wild how different it is. And, you know, rock is not that big anymore. You know, that’s the sad thing is rock music isn’t really that big anymore. And, it’s expensive to be in a rock band. It’s very expensive to be in a rock band.
You make noise, so you have to find a place that’ll allow you to make noise in. You know, basically what, what I’ve done was, you know, was I started off using a little studio in my house to make the beginnings of the record. Then I would go to a studio and flesh it out and add guitar, you know, overdubs and stuff like that and do drums in a studio.
Then I would go to a mixer and spend, you know, six weeks at it with a mixer, Ben Gross. And, you know, we had a place to stay every time we did anything. And now, because budgets are gone, I have my own little studio that I, that I have and then all of my bandmates have their own private home studios. And so I’ll come up with the major piece of music, like the main piece of music, and then I’ll sing it and then like I’ll send it out to my friends.
guitar player Bobby and he’ll play bass on it and, , sing overdubs or sing background harmonies or something like that. So we send it through Dropbox and, and that’s how we work on it. Eventually it’ll come time to do drums and we’ll just spend two days with a great drummer. Who will flesh it out on drums for two days.
And that’s the most expensive part about doing a record these days is just, but the, you know, it’s like my monthly rent and, you know, for my little studio. And, I’m luckily I’m moving into movie scores as well. Oh, you are. So, yeah. So that supplements my studio time as well. but, , It’s wild. I mean, we made, you know, the algorithm was probably 15 grand and the amalgamate cost 600, 000.
Wow. Title of record. I mean, people are like, oh boy, those first three records, man. They were amazing. Yeah. Each one of them costs like 400, 000 to make. Yeah. It, you know. It’s interesting. You, you, you referenced the fact that rock’s not as big. popular, or what did you say? It’s not as, It’s not as big as it used to be.
Not as big, but you know what’s interesting? I read a, I mean, my favorite artist, real quick, just, just to, as an example, my favorite artist right now is Rez, R E Z Z. She’s an EDM artist. And then I have this other singer that I really love, Scarlord, who is just this amazing kid, , from the Midlands of, of England.
And he’s just got this insane. Raspy scream. And it’s like, it’s like trap metal, really? Yeah. It’s interesting though, because yeah, like it’s, , we’re just, the nice thing about the internet and the, you know, social media and things like that is we’re discovering all these really cool, , sounds and groups.
A lot of the stuff I’ve been listening to, I couldn’t even tell you who they are because they’ve been curated on, you know, band camp and. You know, what’s the other one? Soundcloud, like you said, and a few others, you know, is where you’re hearing it or somebody’s sending it to you or you, you know, it shows up in a feed or a, you know, a mix, but the, The interesting thing is like, I was reading that the most pop or the highest grossing tours the last few years were Depeche Mode, The Cure, , you know, the 40 plus crowd, you know, it’s almost like we still want that sound from the eighties and nineties.
We were craving it and they’re the highest grossing tour. The Cure played, I think it was a two or three nights in Montreal where I was, , sold out, couldn’t get a ticket. Nothing. It’s not, you know. Crazy, right? It’s a 40 plus spending the money. Well, filters having a resurgence now. I mean, filters bring a resurgence and I’m just happy to be here.
One hundred percent to make it happen. So here’s, here’s the wrap up here. , Richard, I appreciate your time so much, but a couple of questions left. What’s next for you and filter? You just got back from the world tour, but what current projects or tours should we know about? Well, I’m doing Freaks on Parade again with Rob Zombie and Alice Cooper and Ministry.
That’s so successful, they brought it back for a second year. Then I’m working on new music constantly. , I’m not sure when I’m going to put out another record, but I think it’s going to be fairly quickly because I already have 15 songs and it only takes, you know, two weeks. You know, 10 to make a record, you know, I’ll announce at some point that I’m going to release a new record, , when I figure it all out.
But then I do a new movie I’m going to be working on that stars Nicolas Cage called Gunslinger. Cool. Nicolas Cage. Yeah. Yeah. And, I’m, I’m constantly working. I’m constantly doing stuff. Did I, do you have some equipment too that you personalize? Don’t you? Yeah. I have a. I have this, it’s my guitar tone from short bus in a pedal.
Okay. And the best way to run this thing is you plug your guitar into here, into the input, and then in the output, you put it into the, the effects return into your amplifier and bypassing the effects loop and bypassing the preamp on it. And this thing becomes your preamp and it sounds amazing. And where do we get that?
You can get this at FilterPetals. com FilterPetals. com, okay, we’ll make sure we’re sure. I’m sure it’s going to be FilterPetal. FilterPetal. We’ll make sure before, we’ll make sure before we release it. Yeah, FilterPetals. com. FilterPetal. Okay, and here’s, here’s the, , the final question, , Richard. If you could have dinner with any three people in history, past or present, who would they be and why?
Benjamin Franklin, FDR, and John Lennon. Okay. Whoa, so we got Benjamin Franklin, FDR, John Lennon. What a dinner table. Yeah, that would be awesome. You wouldn’t do, you wouldn’t do Trump, Kanye? And Rick Fuentes, what’s his name? Rick Fuentes? Yeah, I don’t know. No, I, I could imagine just eating shit out of all of them if I had to.
I mean, like mentally, I, you know, I, I would just, like, here, here we go. This is, listen, dude, I, After next tour, I’d love to have you back and promote that if, you know, like, , down the line, cause I had an absolute blast with this conversation. It was, , it was such a cool history. , I’ve been a fan of yours for a long time, your music and your, I mean, filters always on my playlist, always, you know, so I’m glad we could make this happen, brother.
Where do you want the people to find you and follow you? , Instagram filter underscore Richard Patrick. Nailed it, brother. Anyways, enjoy the day, man, and, , get some rest after the world tour.
