Ever since leaving Nine Inch Nails to form Filter back in 1993, the name Richard Patrick has been synonymous with industrial-tinged rock.
With their debut album Short Bus spawning the hugely successful single Hey Man Nice Shot, Filter’s trajectory started on the up and has only soared higher over the ensuing years.
“It was really fun because I wanted to make something that was really agro and crazy, but something that also had hooks.”
Richard Patrick
Despite having to overcome potentially crippling personal problems along the way, Patrick has managed to constantly maintain the rage musically. He flirted briefly playing alongside Dean and Robert DeLeo of Stone Temple Pilots and Ray Luzier of Korn in the project Army Of Anyone, but after a triumphant return to Filter with 2008s Anthem For The Damned Patrick rekindled his love affair with music and the band that gave him life.
After a seven-year wait, Filter is set to return once more with The Algorithm on August 25, bringing Filter into the modern music era while still endorsing the band’s signature sound.
HEAVY caught up with Patrick to find out more.
“I am really psyched,” he enthused of The Algorithm. “I think it’s definitely a great body of work, and I’m excited. It reminds me of the old days, like Title Of Record, that era, and I’m super pumped and can’t wait to hear the reaction from the fans.”
We ask him to dive deeper into the album musically.
“Well, I love working with new artists when working on Filter records,” he began. “I love working with Sam Tinnezs and Zack Munowitz and my bandmates Johnny Radtke, Elias Mallin and Bobby Miller, and it’s… it was really fun because I wanted to make something that was really agro and crazy, but something that also had hooks. Something that you could walk away with and hum to yourself, and I think we did that.”
In the full interview, Patrick talks more about what to expect on The Algorithm, the singles released and how they represent the album, the album title and where it comes from, developing the album musically, his guest artists and what they brought to the table, the early days of Filter, how his vision for the band has changed over the years, their 30th anniversary and reflecting on his achievements, his upcoming tour with Rob Zombie, Alice Cooper and Ministry and more.
