Podcast Summary: The Magnificent Others with Billy Corgan

Episode: Patrik Mata
Date: January 28, 2026
Host: Billy Corgan
Guest: Patrick Mata (Community FK)

Overview

This episode of The Magnificent Others features a deep, wide-ranging conversation between Billy Corgan and Patrick Mata, the influential frontman of Community FK. The discussion traces Mata’s personal and artistic journey: his early days discovering art and music, the impact of Dadaism and outsider art, his struggles and breakthroughs establishing a unique sound in the LA punk and "goth"/death rock scene, and how the outsider ethos shaped both his music and his refusal to conform.
The conversation is candid, nostalgic, and often philosophical, touching on legacy, originality, subculture, and the creative process from analog days to the digital present.

Key Themes and Discussion Points

Origins, Determination, and Outsider Ethos

• Patrick's Early Urge to Make Art:
  • “I knew I could sing. I just knew it. And I just had this burning yearning in my heart that this is. I have to do this. I don't care about anything else.” (00:00)
• Outsider in Early LA Punk/Goth Scene:
  • Mata shares how no one wanted to play with him at first; his look and music made others in the LA scene dismiss or reject him.
  • “No one would play with me... They look weird. What's up with these guys?” (00:19)
  • Corgan frames how Mata, like some, “are the art, and everybody tries to figure out how to do what they do.” (00:27)
• Mystique and Escaping Categorization:
  • The lack of readily available biographical info on Mata—a purposeful mystique.
  • Mata: “Some of it [was purposeful]. Some of it. And I get yelled at about it.” (00:50)

Dadaism, Nihilism, and Artistic Ancestry

• Profound Dada Influence:
  • Mata cites Tristan Tzara, the Dada poet and anti-art iconoclast, as “my David Bowie before Bowie.” (01:37)
  • Mata: “That was a big influence on me.” (01:09)
  • Fascination with Dada’s “anti-art, nihilism, rejecting traditional beauty and logic,” and chance operations.
  • “I was studying to be a journalist...I discovered Dada by going into the art book area in the library and...I loved the visuals and everything.” (04:17)
  • On stealing Dada books: “I stole the one from the library, actually.” (04:49)
  • Resonance with Dada’s confrontational spirit: “That really attracted me, was the power...and how people didn't like him because of certain ways that he acted. That really turned me on.” (05:49)
• Dada’s Legacy in Punk:
  • Mata ties the Dadaist approach to punk nihilism and performance chaos.
  • “It was punk rock, it was pre punk...it was sure a little nihilistic, but...reflective of what happened to punk rock.” (04:17)
• Outsider Art and Individualism:
  • “Madness is a thing that I enjoy. Antoinette Artaud, he was a big thing for me. I have a lot of his collected works. Just the bravery of these people. They didn't give a. You know, it's like, this is how I feel.” (06:17)

Arrival in LA—Formative Experiences and Grit

• Leaving Home and Jumping into LA:
  • Mata’s story of taking a bus to LA at age 19, with only $50 and what he was wearing. (09:13–10:50)
  • Run-ins with LA legends, e.g., seeing Robert Plant directing traffic.
  • Surviving by eating stolen food out of necessity—an act he paints without shame.
  • Early immersion in the post-glam, nascent punk scene—meeting other musicians and artists, influenced by the chaos and cross-pollination.

Early Bands, Scene, & Community FK Formation

• Initial Musical Experiments:
  • Early days in bands with names like Orange, opening for Van Halen, influences ranging from Stooges to Patti Smith.
  • Frustration with bandmates who weren’t as intellectually inclined (17:20).
  • First true punk awakening via the Sex Pistols: “I took that [UK Anarchy in the UK 7”] home and never took it off my turntable.” (19:52)
  • “I went home, took my hair, cut it off...I’m in, I need to do something else now.” (20:22)
  • Beginnings of Community FK: recruiting bandmates in true punk scrappiness, finding a drummer after seeing him walk offstage in mid-set (21:25).
• Artistry as Instinct & Process:
  • “I did, but it was instinctive, too. I just like I always do...I'm inspired for the moment, and...whatever happens at that moment.” (21:59)
  • “I couldn't listen to anybody else's music...If I had a melody or an idea, I focus on that all day until I could get to a guitar or get to something and lay the idea down.” (22:29–22:52)

The LA Scene: Hostility, Breakthroughs, and Being Too Weird

• Adversity and Alienation:
  • Describes playing gigs where other bands and bookers actively disliked them, refusing to pay or let them on the bill.
  • “I'm not going on after these guys. I don't want these guys on our bill. They can't play. They're horrible. I mean, they look weird.” (27:00)
  • “They refused to pay us...I thought, hmm, this is kind of dadaistic. Is this interesting? And I kind of... saw it as a version of success.” (28:09)
• Turning Point:
  • Securing a high-profile LA Times article and an opening slot for Killing Joke, despite universal skepticism.
  • The emergence of a cult audience slowly over weekly gigs at the ON Club, from two people to a burgeoning, trenchcoat-clad scene. (30:47–32:46)
  • Influence on LA goth visuals: “I was wearing white face and all this stuff and had a Rosicrucian priest jacket that I adored... then kids started showing up wearing black trench coats and eye liner.” (31:28)

Sound, Songcraft, and Originality

• Early Sound:
  • “If you listen to the first album...that was our very first set list.” (23:17)
  • "It was noise. Don Bowles did our first gig. Don Bowles did our sound and he was dressed in drag and he had these hot pants...he played the PA like an instrument." (23:24–23:45)
  • “I was also getting into Public Image...tried to write a song like that...but I could never copy some person. I could never sound like someone I really liked. You know, I had to have my own voice.” (24:04–24:35)
• Breaking Rules, Originality, and Anti-Pretense:
  • Corgan observes “there's no Beatles on that record...it sounds like you've wandered into this new zip code that's totally your zip code.” (24:55)
  • “I'm just expressing myself in it.” (26:02)
• Reception:
  • Hostile reviews, skepticism; yet the rawness and authenticity begin to resonate.
  • “People would go, they don't deserve this. They're not musicians...We're better than they are.” (30:46)
  • Underlying audience begins to appear—true outsider scene forming.

The Watershed—First Recordings and “Close One Sad Eye”

• First Album—“The Vision and the Voice”
  • “I got that from a Crowley book.” (32:49)
  • Nostalgia and emotional reflection: “How beautiful it was and what a time it was. You know, you'll never be repeated. You can't repeat things.” (35:14)
  • Innovative use of early synth: “We had access to a Prophet 5...let's throw the manual away and just see what happens.” (35:25)
• Second Album—“Close One Sad Eye” and MTV
  • “That’s when goth happened. 83, 84.” (54:49)
  • Unexpected MTV exposure: “To be on MTV in 1985 was, like, shocking...I had no idea that was gonna happen. I wasn't against it, mind you.” (55:43–55:57)
  • The meaning of the title: “You have to have one eye open at all times. So that's what that means.” (57:11)
• Song Structure Evolution
  • “Things get a little more shinier, a little more prettier looking and I'm learning to do song structure just by nature.” (57:17)

Legacy, Goth/Deathrock, and Enduring Influence

• On Subcultural Commodification:
  • Corgan: “Here we are...40 years after the release of this moment...this burgeoning kind of form of music which we now would generally call goth.” (60:02)
  • Mata: “That’s not an ego trip...It’s a fact.” (60:53)
  • Recognition that the LA version of goth/deathrock became hugely influential, though often overlooked.
• On Staying True, Even as Others Commercialized:
  • “I didn’t chase that. I didn’t chase, I'm going to get a record deal. It happened usually accidentally.” (50:12)
  • Refused to play the industry game unless it was with peers he respected.

Relationships, Collisions, and Community

• Interactions with Rozz Williams (Christian Death):
  • “We never played the same shows together. We were too proud.” (70:48)
  • Later became friends: “He was really shy and we weren't really friends at first...But we respected each other from afar.” (71:55)
  • Rozz gifted Mata a jailhouse tattoo as rent payment.
  • Shared influences in collage art, Dada.
• Musician Stories (Daniel Ash, Bauhaus/Love & Rockets):
  • Story of Ash trying to buy Mata’s guitar, which is later stolen—a story of lost musical “Excalibur.” (67:57–68:38)

The Creative Process—Production, Analog vs Digital

• Minimalist, Analog Mindset:
  • Still prefers minimal, out-of-the-box, analog recording: “I'm more of an analog type person. If I had more opportunity to go into a studio and do 2 inch tape, I would do that tomorrow.” (80:08)
  • “I'm more naked. I'm more minimal. I don't know why that is. It's just the way I am. And I just like it simple.” (88:09)
• Process Over Planning:
  • “I'm inspired for the moment and...then you document it and then you move on, and then the next thing doesn't sound at all like that.” (22:16)
  • Corgan contrasts Mata’s spontaneous, self-contained creation process with his own self-admitted, “architect/nerd” approach.
• Digital Age Perspectives:
  • Mata is ambivalent toward digital music’s sterility, though acknowledges new tools, plugins, and possibilities (“You can get Lennon's vocal doubling thing...I’d like to see that.” – 87:23).
  • “There's got to be another one somewhere...who's got something to say...I champion those people.” (81:49)

The Enduring “OG” Outsider

• On Being Imitated, Not Imitating:
  • Corgan: “There are those artists who are the art. And everybody tries to figure out how to do what they do in a form of imitation, but the artists themselves can't imitate themselves because they are the art.” (41:06)
  • Mata: “Yeah, it does. Yeah. And I totally agree. I agree.” (41:08)
  • “I know that there's not another person like me. And it's not an ego trip.” (43:10)
• Encouragement for Future Artists:
  • “My thing is to continue doing this because that's all I know how to do. I'm...going to just keep doing the way. Any way I can.” (82:01)

Notable Quotes & Moments

Patrick Mata:
“To me, that was anti fashion.” (06:53)

Billy Corgan:
“I think it's easier for me now as a fan of music, to look back and I could see the through thread...when I get back to you, there's nobody before you.” (60:25)

Patrick Mata:
“It's a beautiful record...and I'm sure most of the focus is probably more on the second one, because that's where it all really kind of comes together in a way that is probably more easy, easier to discern for the modern ear...” (32:57)

Billy Corgan (on Mata’s originality):
“That’s what I mean, the joke about no Beatles. It's like songs just kind of start and stop... it lacks the pretense in a way.” (34:01)

Patrick Mata:
“How beautiful it was and what a time it was. You know, you'll never be repeated. You can't repeat things.” (35:14)

Patrick Mata (on Rozz Williams):
“He was so sensitive and so shy and very funny. Very funny guy, very smart, a great artist.” (71:55)

Patrick Mata:
“I'm not trying to be a punk. That's just the way I feel.” (81:03)

Key Timestamps

• 00:00 – Patrick’s earliest artistic impulse.
• 01:37 – Influence of Tristan Tzara/Dadaism.
• 05:23 – Discovering Dada as proto-punk; stealing library books.
• 09:13 – Arrival in LA, survival stories, first impressions.
• 13:28 – Early musical skills, Dylan’s surrealist era influence.
• 14:57 – Band formation stories; split and early gigs.
• 19:52 – The life-changing moment: getting the Pistols 7".
• 20:28 – Transformative effect of punk, forming Community FK.
• 27:00 – Hostile reception, being “too weird” for LA clubs.
• 30:47 – LA Times feature, Killing Joke gig.
• 32:49 – “The Vision and the Voice” and nostalgia.
• 35:25 – Prophet 5 synth experiments.
• 54:49 – “Close One Sad Eye” era, MTV breakthrough.
• 60:25 – Legacy and American contribution to goth/death rock.
• 70:48 – Relationship with Rozz Williams/Christian Death.
• 80:08 – Modern production approach, digital vs analog.
• 88:09 – Closing: minimalism, process, staying true as an artist.

Conclusion

This episode provides a rare, intimate look at Patrick Mata’s journey from outsider kid to scene pioneer—one who fused Dada, punk, and alienation into a singular influential sound. Mata’s story is both a living time capsule and an ongoing call for radical self-expression, individuality, and defiance of trends. The conversation is a must for anyone interested in underground music history, the origins of goth/death rock, and the philosophical side of creativity.