Fishbone interview

Twenty-five years after releasing their first EP, the world’s least categorizable band is hitting the road once again. Just when you’ve finally decided that Fishbone is a ska outfit, you’ll change your mind and conclude they’re a rock band, even as you’re thinking they might be a funk troupe after all. But there’s no debating what kind of influence Fishbone has had on the music landscape over the past few decades.

Lead singer (and lead saxophonist) Angelo Moore recently called me to chat about everything from Fishbone’s upcoming tour with The English Beat to why he’s taken up so many different saxophone variants over the years. The lively conversation was all over the map, and began with a light-hearted question from Angelo himself: “Whatcha want to know?”

What made Fishbone and The English Beat decide to tour together? Whose idea was it?

I believe it was our management who might have put us together, although we had talked about it a long time ago anyway. We were on the road somewhere and we had a couple of dates with Dave Wakeling on the east coast. And so we had talked about putting together a tour, to tour with each other, and now this was a couple of years ago, so I guess it’s happening now.

You’ve been doing this thirty years. Most bands, even if they’re successful, they don’t last that long. What do you think Fishbone’s secret is for lasting this long?

We like what we do, and it’s been providing us a way of living. It hasn’t been that easy, but it’s been providing us a way of living ever since then. It’s the only thing that we’ve done, so it has kept us above water. Sometimes barely above water, sometimes we sink, but we always manage to float up to the top again. So it’s good, man. I can’t really complain too much. Maybe a little, but not too much (laughs).

Some guys like Norwood have been with you for the whole thirty years. Most people, we don’t have any reference for working with someone for that long. How would you describe the relationship that you have with Norwood? Are you guys coworkers, are you like brothers, are you friends?

Yeah we’re like brothers, man. We’re like brothers and husband and wife, and we both got kids. And the kids are the music. And sometimes I’d like to have a divorce but I can’t because we’ve got the kids. And so with any marriage, man, you have to be able to look at your partner, marriage or family, you have to be able to look at your partner or your brother or your other half in a different way so that you can continue to create and enjoy.

There’s a documentary about you guys called Everyday Sunshine. I’m curious why you allowed all of that private stuff to be documented?

When I look at a lot of other bands that you see on television, right, a lot of these blues bands, rock bands, jazz, whatever, you see different documentaries about these artists who have made a big mark in history with their music and their art, and what they go through, the good times and the bad times. And so I figured the only way that the world is going to know about Fishbone is if we do the same. And at first I was like nah, I don’t want nobody knowing nothing about my life, or at least behind closed doors or behind the curtains. But after awhile I said man, if I’ve been doing it this long, I’m forty-four years old and I’ve been doing it for this long, I guess I don’t have anything to lose at this point. And so I just said well, you guys come on and film us, because I’m thankful that this is still happening.

What caused you to experiment with all these different kinds of saxophones instead of just sticking with the one kind of sax you started with?

Because I wanted to be able to cover every instrument in the band by way of saxophone. And you can’t just do it with one saxophone, you need all of them. So just in case someone was to make up a chord, if I wanted to play a chord, and I don’t play guitar, I play a little piano. But if I wanted my own band I could definitely do it because I’ve got all the saxophones. I’ve got bass saxophone which covers bass guitar, I’ve got baritone saxophone, tenor, alto and soprano. And I can play the drums. And I can play piano just enough to get the idea across. So that’s why I picked up more than one saxophone and more the one instrument, and the theremin too, because I want to create my own ideas myself. Of course it’s good to do it with a band, but if you can’t do it with a band, then you shouldn’t let that slow you down. You should do it on your own.

You’ve done some movie acting here and there. Is that something you want to do more of in the future?

Yes I do. I was just talking to somebody about that across the hall before you, man. I want to do acting, I want to get into acting in some type of way.

By the way, I’ve got a solo project. It’s called the Dr. Madd Vibe, and the CD is called Medicine Cabinet. It’s got reggae, ska, punk and jazz.

Have you and The English Beat talked about collaborations where you’ll perform together on stage?

You know what? I don’t know (laughs). I don’t know, but usually the way things go, we’ll probably end up collaborating, man, cause we’ve both been inspired by each other ever since, I’m thinking ever since we were kids. I know I was inspired by The English Beat and The Specials when I was a kid anyway. So it’s like it’s really cool because way later on in life, now, I finally get to play with my heroes, man. The English Beat are one of the groups that introduced me to ska.

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