For over four decades, Fishbone and its irrepressible vocalist, songwriter, and saxophonist Angelo Moore have flattened audiences with its’ mellow-harsh-ing brand of ska-punk meets funk-metal steeped in screamo socio-political lyrics, on record (including Moore’s jazzy, spacey solo work), in concert and every mosh pit that they embrace.
That Moore & Co’s newest album, Stockholm Syndrome (which brings them to Philadelphia on Friday the 13th at The Fillmore with Less Than Jake), is even more intense when it comes to all that is legislatively conscious – for example, “Last Call in America,” co-written by original members Christopher Dowd and Walter “Dirty Walt” Kibby and and “Racist Piece of Shit” – and rhythmically crunching, says it all, loudly and proudly.
A.D. Amorosi spoke with Moore during a morning’s ride (“somewhere outside of Arkansas where I can see swamps”) in Fishbone’s tour bus.
An Interview with Angelo Moore of Fishbone
A.D. Amorosi: So, it’s 40 years since the Fishbone EP with “Party at Ground Zero” and almost the same amount of time since your major label album debut, the aptly titled In Your Face, both of which I remember intently. What’s your recall of Fishbone coming out with such a bang? Both records broke a lot of ground.
Angelo Moore: Give me a break. Wow. I remember that it was all fun, all the time. There was a lot of stuff that we didn’t know when it came to studio vernacular, and even explaining ourselves to the producer (David Kahne). We were still growing up, and discovering each other. The major label business – that was the best way for us to get our music out to the world. But they had their own agenda too. All the contact stuff, getting ripped off for over 30 years; that’s another story. At that time, the label presented us with a way to put our music out into the world.
A.D. Amorosi: Can you say something about your forever Fishbone partnership with Christopher Dowd (keyboards, trombone)? Listening to Stockholm Syndrome, it doesn’t sound as if the two of you have lost any of the band’s raw power or singular vision – only naturally progressed it all.
Angelo Moore: That’s nice to hear. It took a lot of re-invention in myself to make that so. Christopher and I have our childhoods in common as well as our musical tastes. The legacy of Fishbone? We still believe in it. Our fanbase still believes in it, too.
A.D. Amorosi: The last time we spoke it was around the time of your solo stuff as Brand New Step and your Sacrifice album. You talked then about your Project N-fidelikah ensemble, The Angelo Show: The Olegna Phenomenon, the Dr. Madd Vibe – and you wished that you had stretched yourself beyond Fishbone sooner. Now that you have a bunch of solo stuff out and a new Fishbone album – and pleased to be Fishbone, still – what say you?
Angelo Moore: I know, I’m a loyal dumbass, right? (laughs). But, I’m glad that I was, and am, a loyal dumbass, because now we have a new album out, are touring for a month with Less Than Jake before our own gigs. I’m glad I stayed.
A.D. Amorosi: Because you do, however, release solo music more often – at your want – what do you recognize when you write that which is a Fishbone track or an Angelo Moore song? How do you separate the two things?
Angelo Moore: I never understood when the guys in Fishbone would say they didn’t want to do something of mine because it sounded like Madd Vibe. This music that’s coming out of me is coming out of Angelo. Angelo is Fishbone. It just comes out of me. I never got that – all I could do is be Angelo. I only have things like Madd Vibe because my ideas couldn’t be translated into Fishbone. I had to make it happen somewhere else with another group of musicians who knew how to get it out there with me.
A.D. Amorosi: When did the music and lyrics for Stockholm Syndrome come about; its genesis?
Angelo Moore: A lot of it came from the end of the Fat Mike era. We began making more songs. Even if we couldn’t agree on what we wanted to do, those songs were there, and great, but unfinished. So, Fishbone finished them, and much of that is on the record. It turned out to be a great piece of work too.
A.D. Amorosi: Your political agenda has always been clear, but, when you came to “Centuries of Heat” the last time around, you could tell that you had upped your game and that everything on the lyrical tip got serious. Can you discuss Fishbone’s socio-political reawakening and how that leads to “Racist Piece of Shit” on the new album?
Angelo Moore: Chris wrote that one, and I’m right there with him. It’s obvious what’s gone on within society when it comes to racism. “Centuries of Heat.” The wars that happen now have been building up for thousands of years. Croatia. Gaza. You can’t get caught out in the street when things happen there. Those songs are great points of education and entertainment.
A.D. Amorosi: I thought about the fact that George Clinton is a guest on the new album and that you by this point in your career hold equal legend to him. Thoughts?
Angelo Moore: I never saw it. I grew up listening to everything George did. I grew up listening to him, James, Brown, Captain Beefheart. Jimi Hendrix. Buddy Miles. Fela Kuti.
A.D. Amorosi: We started this interview talking about 1985. Who are you now that you weren’t when I first saw you on stage as Fishbone? What did you have to grow into to grow as an artist?
Angelo Moore: Well, I’m sober now. I haven’t had a drink since 2020. That helps a whole hell of a lot, the entire AA program. That helped me get through everything and keep Fishbone in existence. I wouldn’t have been able to do that if I was still drinking. Now, it’s great music, great lyrics, and great living. “Fun” spelled backwards is “Nuf,” and when I say enough, I mean it. Conflict and dysfunction only get in the way of great music and the imagination you can have while doing that.
Tickets for Friday’s show, June 13 at The Fillmore in Philadelphia, PA are available for purchase here.
Images: (header and bottom) Matt Dessner
About Post Author
Discover more from dosage MAGAZINE
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
