From the Archives: An Interview with Angelo Moore of Fishbone
Originally appeared in NineVolt Magazine, June 2001
Angelo Moore, lead singer of Fishbone, is a hard man to get hold of.
Tried him at home; not there. Tried him on his cell phone; a message says the number’s not currently working. Tried him at home again; still not there.
Called his publicist, who seems surprised that I can’t get in touch with him; she talked with him earlier in the day, and he was expecting my call. She promises to find out what’s going on and call me back.
She calls me back, says she reached him on his cell phone, and that there must’ve been a reception problem when I tried. Just in case, though, she reads me back the cell phone number, to make sure I have it correctly…and I don’t. I’m off by one number. (Fortunately for my sanity, I later confirm that the reason I was a digit off was because she accidentally left the incorrect number on my voicemail.)
I call the newly-corrected number…and I get voicemail.
I try the number again…and, to my absolute astonishment, Angelo answers. I declare this to be nothing short of a miracle.
“Omigod, dude, you don’t even KNOW!” yells Angelo. “My life is a crazy fucking mishmosh whirlwind type of shit going on right now! I’m driving…I’m driving right now…I’m in L.A., driving on my way to my lawyer’s…but I can talk to you for a couple of minutes, and, then, if I could, if we could resume this interview later on today…? Cos I wanna talk to you today! It’s just that, when I’m on my cell phone, my cell phone costs a lot of money, man!”
I promise to make it short as I can; he repeats his offer for me to call him later if I don’t get everything I need. Not a bad deal.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
When Fishbone makes their stop at the Abyss on June 19th, the most recent album they’ll have under their belt will still be Fishbone & The Familyhood Nextperience Presents The Psychotic Friends Nuttwerx, which was released back in April 2000 on Hollywood Records.
They won’t, however, be supporting that album, per se.
Not that it’s not a great album and one that the band’s very proud of…because it is, and they are. But Hollywood Records, based on Angelo’s comments, didn’t offer any support for it. Not, like, EVER.
“We play some of the previous record, we play some of that, and we play a lot of older stuff, too, y’know; we like to mix it all in. But as far as the record company being behind it, they’re not behind it anymore; they never WERE behind it. They were just a tax write-off…and…AND…it’s a tax write-off with all of the famous people that are something nowadays on the radio and in the mainstream media, and they’re all on our record, and they still didn’t do anything with it. We had the perfect record for them to make it platinum, gold, whatever the fuck they call it, we had the perfect record for ‘em, man, we got ‘em all the celebrities on the record, all the people that we knew since we started that are celebrities now, and we got ‘em on the record, and they’re doin’ their thing, and Hollywood Records…Disney…just dropped the ball.”
To give more of a frame of reference to what Angelo’s on about, check out the guest list on The Psychotic Friends Nuttwerx: Blowfly, George Clinton, Rick James, H.R. (Bad Brains), Billy Bass, Lenny Castro, Jeff “Skunk” Baxter, the Fowler Brothers (Frank Zappa/Captain Beefheart), Charles Neville, Ivan Neville, Perry Farrell (Jane’s Addiction/Porno For Pyros), Flea, John Frusciante, and Chad Smith (Red Hot Chili Peppers), Gwen Stefani (No Doubt), Bronx Style Bob…and Donny Osmond.
No, seriously.
And what’s unfortunate is that, on that huge list of incredibly talented musicians, surely the one that gets asked about the most…and the one that Angelo’s surely the most sick of BEING asked about…is the one who people think is on there strictly for kitsch: Donny Osmond.
“Naw, I’m not sick about people asking me about Donny Osmond, cos Donny Osmond is the least of our problems. Donny Osmond is cool, he’s down to earth…he’s a good man. And so is everyone else on the album.
“The problem is John D…which was the guy that signed us, who worked at Hollywood Records. Rob Cavallo was another problem…I believe that’s the president or the chairman of Hollywood Records…was promised us that the record was just gonna be big and grandiose and a hit and everything and, ‘You can’t lose with this one, fellas!’ And Steve Lindsey, who was our producer, who also said the same thing, who was trying his best to get us to change our lyrics and music for the sake of the record company, and promised us that it was gonna be a hit at radio and all this other shit…and then when they released the record, they wouldn’t even give us a budget for the video. They wouldn’t even give us the correct promotion. They wouldn’t give us any billboards for advertising, or any advertising on bus stops or construction sites, where they have, like, blasts of the album up on the site. They wouldn’t do none of that for us. They promised us all this shit, and they didn’t give us nothing.”
That’s not why you’re talking on your cell phone and heading to your lawyer’s right now, is it?
“Naw, I’m goin’ to my lawyer’s cos I’m trying to finalize this fuckin’ divorce that I’ve been going through for the past five years!” laughs Angelo.
Quickly changing subjects seems to be in the best interest of both parties, so what better time to bring up the other reason besides Fishbone that brings Angelo Moore to Hampton Roads? In addition to the band’s gig at the Abyss on June 19th, Angelo will be making an appearance at Alpha Music on June 20th, doing that spoken word thing that he does so well…under the guise of Dr. Madd Vibe.
The press photo for Angelo in his full Dr. Madd Vibe attire makes him look like the unholy spawn of Screamin’ Jay Hawkins and—okay, this may just be me here—Nipsey Russell in The Wiz.
“Dr. Madd Vibe goes good, man,” says Angelo. “I get to say my spoken word and my poetry and talk about different issues and experiences that I’ve experienced in life, in this world, but mainly here in America, in racist America, as a black man.”
This alternate identity, such as it is, came about through “personal experience and me wanting to get out there amongst the people and recite my poetry and express what’s in my mind, on my mind, and in my heart. (Henry) Rollins does the same thing; he expresses what’s on his mind and in his heart and how feels about the world he’s living in, y’know. That’s pretty much what people do when they do poetry. Jello Biafra, Michael Franti, the Last Poets…shit, there’s so many people who do that kind of thing. But I’ve been getting a pretty good response so far.”
The avenue for publicizing his appearances at Dr. Madd Vibe isn’t quite as mainstream as that of Fishbone. “A lot of it’s alternative magazines, radio interviews…and interviews like that.”
Have you hit up NPR yet?
“NPR?”
National Public Radio?
“Uh…no. I don’t think that…” He pauses. “National Public Radio?” he repeats, incredulously.
Yep. You might be surprised; they put a lot of spoken word artists on there.
“Really?”
Seriously.
“Well, I didn’t know nothin’ about it, man.”
It’s pretty mainstream; if you could infiltrate that, you’d be set!
“Yeah, well, who’s gonna be the one to put my foot in the door?” he laughs. “That’s the next question!”
In the meantime, ‘til Angelo’s foot is keeping that door securely open, there’s always Fishbone, who have been around for about 20 years now (good GOD!) and, despite a fluctuating line-up, still have the same core members they started with: Norwood Fisher, Walter “Dirty Walt” Kibby III, and, of course, Angelo.
Angelo credits their longetivity to “our determination to play music, and loving what we do.”
Based on what Hollywood just did, it’s clearly a very strong determination and love.
“It is,” he says, firmly. “Sometimes I say to myself, well, I just think it’s a conspiracy. I think there’s somebody up in the building somewhere that does not want Fishbone to get out in the open. ‘Cause people don’t like hearin’ the truth, man. They don’t like hearin’ the truth, and they don’t like experiencing change. People like stayin’ stuck and bein’ comfortable. And I like being comfortable, too, but I don’t like bein’ stuck. Sometimes, you have to be uncomfortable just to get unstuck, so that you can make that change so that you can be comfortable.”
‘Nuff said, Angelo. ‘Nuff said.