Filter Frontman Richard Patrick on Getting Clean, Nine Inch Nails + ‘Hey Man, Nice Shot’
Like a lot of musicians, Filter frontman Richard Patrick has seen his share of the dark side thanks to the excesses of his youth. The vocalist sat down with the KLAQ Morning Show in El Paso to discuss his past and how things have changed for the better since he got sober.
Patrick explained, “When you take a lot of drugs and alcohol, you can lose your mind and black out and do some crazy stuff.” Among that crazy stuff for Patrick was an incident aboard an airplane that led to his ejection and his eventual stint in rehab.
But it wasn’t all bad for Patrick, who tells the station that he turned his low point into the hit single ‘Take a Picture.’ Plus, the time away uncovered how unhealthy his life had become and the road to recovery led him to being a better singer. Patrick’s now been sober for nine and a half years.
The singer also took the time to discuss his short tenure with Nine Inch Nails, and explained, “I was in Nine Inch Nails and I wanted to spread my wings and see what I could do. In ’93, I left NIN, signed with Warner Brothers and in ’95, released ‘Short Bus.’”
‘Short Bus’ would be the album that would feature ‘Hey Man, Nice Shot,’ one of the band’s biggest and most controversial singles. The song was not written about Kurt Cobain, but because of the timing of its release, many people thought that was the case.
Patrick told the station, “The song was so controversial, and I was like, ‘What did I do?’ That was the tragedy of the song coming out after [Cobain] killed himself. The problem was the song was written in ’91 – my label, Warner Bros. or someone put it out and said, ‘It’s a song about suicide,’ so DJs in Seattle said, ‘No this song is about Kurt Cobain’ and they kept repeating it and repeating it over and over and when you repeat it, whether it’s true or not, it becomes the truth.” In the full interview at KLAQ’s website, Patrick reveals the true source of inspiration.
Filter entered the studio this spring to begin work on their new album, ‘Gurney and the Burning Books.’ It’s expected later this year.