MIKE BORDIN

Michael Andrew 'Puffy' Bordin was born on November 27 1962 in San Francisco. Mike has always been a music fanatic and his first obsession was with Creedence Clearwater Revival. After family trauma at an early age he used music to escape, his early heroes were all guitarists such as Jimi Hendrix, Tony lommi, Jimmy Page and Ritchie Blackmore. 
When Mike was 10 he heard Black Sabbath in a friend's basement and their music had a profound effect on him. In 1975 Mike attended Castro Valley High School where he and Cliff Burton became friends. Black Sabbath convinced them both to be in a band. At 15 Mike was so desperate to see Black Sabbath he stole a neighbours car to get to the show. 
A second major turning point for Mike was seeing The Sex Pistols at Winterland in 1977.

Cliff and Mike's first band, Fry By Night, also featured Eddie Chacon who would later find fame as one half of the pop duo Charles and Eddie. 
Their next band was EZ Street whose leader and guitarist was Jim Martin and which took it's name from a strip-club in San Mateo . 
Mike part didn't last long as he was sent to boarding school in Menlo Park for 'behavioural problems', it was here he became serious about studying and playing the drums. 
His first drum teacher encouraged him to listen to jazz such as The Tony Williams Lifetime rather than metal. Mike went to university in college in Berkeley and threw himself into it whole-hearted, learning the basics from renowned drum guru Chuck Brown, who also taught Michael Shrieve and Terry Bozzio. Brown was a great influence on Mike's unorthodox style and taught to drum with a right-handed kit. 
He studied African percussion in school with a Ghanaian teacher C.K. Ladzepko who couldn't play a drum kit but he could play 30 different instruments with his hands, feet and elbows and sing different rhythms. This tuition and bands such as Echo and The Bunnymen and Killing Joke helped Mike break away from traditional techniques. 

In 1981 Mike answered the same ad as Bill Gould and both became members of Sharp Young Men, with Mike Morris (guitar/vox) and Wade Worthington (keyboards). The band became Faith. No Man, Worthington left and was replaced by Bill's childhood friend Roddy Bottum. Bordin, Gould and Bottum became a unit and replaced Morris with Mark Bowen, who stayed with them for a year. For a while the band tried different singers until Chuck Mosley became their permanent frontman. 
Cliff suggested Jim Martin to fill the guitarist position after Bowen's departure. 
At this time Mike sported an Afro hairstyle and was given the nickname 'Puffy' by Jim which stuck. 

On September 27th 1986 Puffy's friend of 10 years Cliff Burton was killed in a bus accident, this made Puffy more determined to succeed as a musician to honour his friend. 
Like Gould, Puffy began to find Chuck's drunkenness was hindering the band. On October 4th 1986 FNM played a show at Humboldt state university in Arcata, it was Puffy who received a copy of Raging Wrath Of The Easter Bunny from Trey Spruance. 
However it wasn't until two years later that Mike Patton became FNM's lead singer. When the band were on the hunt for a new singer Puffy asked Slash from Guns N' Roses to distribute an ad throughout their network, which he didn't do.
In the early 90s Puffy was often the object of the band's ridicule during interviews due to his intense personality. He maintained close relationships with members of Metallica and in 1989 FNM joined them on a tour of the States.
FNM again toured with Metallica in  1992 and he often made clear his disapproval of the way his fellow band members spoke of their contemporaries, particularly Guns N' Roses.

When FNM split in 1998 the band famously (and comically) blamed Puffy, who they claimed had left to joined Ozzy Osbourne.  

Ozzy Osbourne

Mike first played with his hero Ozzy Osbourne at an RIP Magazine birthday show in Hollywood, on November 9th 1990. The singer joined FNM for their rendition of the Black Sabbath classic War Pigs. Mike was able to explain to Ozzy how his music had changed his life and in 1996 Mike was invited by Ozzy to join his band. During the 1997 Ozzfest Tour Mike played with Black Sabbath filling in for Bill Ward who was suffering from health issues.
Mike featured on three Ozzy Osbourne studio albums Down to Earth (2001), Under Cover (2005) and Black Rain (2007). As well as Live at Budokan (2002) and re-recordings of Blizzard of Ozz (2002) and Diary of a Madman (2002). 
Mike left Ozzy's band when FNM reunited. He also struck up a friendship with bassist Robert Trujillo.

Other Projects

Mike played drums on Jerry Cantrell's second solo album Degradation Trip (2002), which also featured Trujillo on bass. He toured the album for only one month as he and Trujillo had committments with Ozzy. 
Mike has worked with Primus on several occasions. He provided guest vocals on songs from Primus' album Frizzle Fry (1990) and Sailing the Seas of Cheese (1991). He played drums on the song Choked, a collaboration with Primus' Tim Alexander and Tool's Maynard James Keenan, released on the compilation Flyin' Traps (1997).
Mike also joined Korn on tour in 2000 filling in for drummer David Silveria who suffered an injury to his wrist.