The first time I interviewed Fishbone, was 14 years ago and even back then the band was already regarded as veterans of the ska-punk scene and one of the key innovators of crossover music. Man, I guess time flies by when you are having fun!

 

As a band with one of the best live shows in the world and one that has inspired so many of today’s most successful bands in one way or another, it is only fitting a Fishbone documentary titled Everyday Sunshine will try to capture that legacy and premiere at the LA Film Festival this week. Bass legend and cool motherf@#ker Norwood Fisher is here to reflect on his long history with the band and celebrate the ongoing strength of Fishbone.

 

The Pier: So have you seen the Everyday Sunshine documentary and what are your feelings about it?

Norwood: I saw a rough cut back in December last year and I have heard it is very different now. I personally enjoyed it. I thought it was reflective of where the band is at, but I think a couple of other people thought it was depressing.

 

At the very least what you are going to get with this film is people giving their honest opinions to whatever was asked. So when I watch the film what I saw was honest. My involvement with the project was I just tried to help the filmmakers connect with the different people. So that was my main thing, connecting those six degrees of separation. 

 

The Pier: You must be excited to see the final version then?

Norwood: Yep, I just made them promise not to make the film a Hallmark card, you know what I mean? I don’t want to see Fishbone propaganda, I want to get all of it. I love what I do, I think I have the greatest job in the word, but it is not easy either.

 

No one in our band has seen the final film. I am going to the premiere and I am not going to miss it for the world.

 

The Pier: That is pretty awesome, the filmmakers got Laurence Fishburne to narrate the documentary, plus you have guests like Gwen Stefani, Flea, Ice-T and Tim Robbins just to name a few. That is pretty bad ass right there.

Norwood: Exactly man and all the people that actually took time out of their lives to sit up and do interviews, I thought that was fucking amazing when I hear about it. I actually think I am going to get more out of it by going and watching this film blind. I am so much looking forward to it.

 

The Pier: From what you know of, is there anything in the documentary that may be hard for you to personally watch? The band has seen its fair share of high and lows over the years.

Norwood: I can’t really speak on that as I don’t know what the end result is going to be. Except I know that they got some pictures of me of when I used to work at Taco Bell (haha). I was a fryer back then dude, when Taco Bell would actually fry their taco shell fresh. I was that guy fucking slaving over that hot boiling oil. I was glad to be working there though because I bought a better bass for myself with that money and I bought my brother Fish a drum-set.

 

The Pier: As you watched the film and got to reflect over the band’s long history, did it give you a chance to think of what your favorite period of the band was?

Norwood: You know what, I am programmed to be in the here and now. My favorite time really is the present in my life. Honestly though, there was point when the band was really young and was just discovering the world and gaining in our popularity and were just beginning to tour - it was like the age of discovery for Fishbone, around 1984 to 86. The world was just opening to us and was a lot of fun. I am still having now fun, believe me, it is just different (haha).

 

The Pier: From a creativity perspective do you have a favorite moment with the band? You guys have explored so many elements of the musical spectrum.

Norwood: There was a creative period unlike any other period with the band. After we finished touring around Truth & Soul we actually took two years to write and go towards making The Reality of My Surroundings and basically we got a rehearsal space in downtown LA and we would rehearse six hours a day, six days a week. We got our own recording equipment so we could demo our songs and being home that long we would also just start doing all these different projects.

 

It seemed like we were rehearsing between four to six bands a day. We would do six hours of Fishbone rehearsal, go have dinner and go back to the rehearsal space and jam with bands after bands after bands. That was me, Fish and Kendall (Jones). Our playing was so strong during that period of time, I loved doing that and being so fruitful and making all that music. We were pushing ourselves as musicians to another level.

 

The Pier: Speaking of the Reality album, on the CD version you are front and center on the cover in that super thoughtful pose. What were you pondering at the time when that was taken?

Norwood: I can only imagine, the band had begun to take ourselves more seriously as a whole. So somebody might have been saying, “Don’t smile,” or some shit like that and so I was probably getting ready to rebel against that whole concept of not smiling. I am going to smile my ass off (haha). 

 

The Pier: You have had the opportunity to play with thousands of bands over the years. Is there any band that absolutely amazed you?

Norwood: Shit there were lots of bands like that. Some of them you have heard of, some of them you haven’t and never will. Some of No Doubt’s first shows were with Fishbone (haha). Thelonious Monster was truly one of those bands. Flea and Anthony (Kiedis) had talked about this band to us but when I first saw them, I was like, “Holy Shit!” That singer (Bob Forrest) is off his fucking rocker dude. Bob and I became best friends after that show because I was a fan.  

 

The Pier: Well he has been getting plenty of airtime on TV recently as one of the councellors on Celebrity Rehab.

Norwood: Right, which is in-fucking-credible. He was one of the most notorious motherfuckers that Hollywood had to offer to the world. Ok, he actually grew up to be a credit to his race. 

 

The Pier: So looking to the present, after a leave of absence, is Dirty Walt ofishally back in the band now?

Norwood: I hope so. If you had asked me about him leaving in the first place I would have said never - Walt will never leave Fishbone (haha). Walt’s back dude! If you come to see Fishbone you are going to get some Dirty Walt. Everyone in the band feels that Walt is such an asset to the group. All the original members are missed, as the impact that line-up had on people was incredible. I think when Walt left, I felt like he really represented something to people that is really distinctly Fishbone.

 

The Pier: So I got to ask is there a reunion show with the OG members on the cards? We always hear a lot of rumors on it.

Norwood: It’s possible. It is nothing that anybody is really charging to make happen at this point. There are conversations about it. For me it is just really good to be able to talk to my old friends. That’s the way I am looking at it right now. If I can talk to Chris Dowd periodically, have Walt back in the band. I haven’t talked to Kendall in a long time but it was nice to reconnect with him as well. Right now I am keeping it simple and the friendship is there and that’s what matters the most, if the rest of it comes so be it.

 

I am really happy with the current line-up. But I would be lying if I didn’t say I would be excited to play with the other guys, as they built the vehicle and those songs we all wrote together created the foundation for me to continue to have a career to this day. I appreciate all of those guys! I also appreciate the new guys as they help keep the legacy alive and the wheels rolling. It is a beautiful thing.

 

The Pier: Fishbone has had a lot of success in Europe, particularly France in recent years. Why do you think that is?

Norwood: The French have always been really open to what we have done and have a really good relationship with the French audience - we always have. France was the first place overseas we ever played. England wouldn’t even release our fucking records and they didn’t want to see us in Japan. The whole rest of the world heard us after that.

 

The Pier: How have your perceived the response to your last studio album Still Stuck in Your Throat? Very positive?

Norwood: Overall yes. With that album we did set out to make a very honest record. There is a part of me when I listen to it where the original intentions are and know we made an honest to where we were at record.

 

The Pier: So the big question is the band working on new material;  and what can you tell us about it?

Norwood: So far we have been working on new material individually. The next level is about to come in the next couple of weeks. We are looking for a rehearsal space right now. We want to record a new album as soon as possible. I would love to put out something this year. Either a full-length or an EP, I don’t know. The band is prolific overall and we all write a lot.

 

Me personally, my writing is all over the place man. I have been writing punk rock and reggae tunes. Crazy funk tunes. I have some cool bass lines that I am really proud of. The stuff I produce will be the most fun. I always try to bring music from a good natured place even if I don’t understand how it got there. I use that term good natured, sometimes when I am listening to David Bowie, I think his song-writing is from a good natured place. Like his song Suffragette City makes me so happy.

 

I am keeping this new music aggressive too. I feel stronger, I actually feel more powerful in my old age (haha). It is because I am healthier than I have ever been. I am better shape now than my entire life. I do more, like surfing, snowboarding and I just put wheels on my Fishbone skateboard. Openly I have stopped drinking and drugging, not that I was ever a hardcore drug guy. The little I was doing I just kind of stopped.

 

The Pier: Hardcore Fishbone fan question time, the lost Fishbone album, The Nuttcase Scenario. Do you think it ever see the light of day and/or has most the songs reappeared on later releases?

Norwood: That album was not completed. What would have been that record, Dallas Austin has those masters. Honestly, I think it was very unfortunate, Dallas produced it and it was super killer. I think it was an album that I think Chim Chim’s Badass Revenge could have been. We just went about Nuttcase totally different and Dallas had the right idea at that point. He was focused on it and Dallas and us as the band seemed to be making better decisions. 

 

We had enough songs for an album, but the record just never got mixed. We may have needed to do some finishing touches. One Planet People and Dear God were written during those sessions. I am thinking of bringing three other songs from those sessions to the table when we start rehearsing for the next batch of Fishbone songs. 

 

Dallas Austin is an amazing producer and businessman and I can’t imagine those masters are lost. The engineer that recorded those sessions gave me rough mixes for those three songs I want to re-introduce to the band.

 

The Pier: What is the latest with your mega side project Trulio Disgracias?

Norwood: I am preparing to release the Trulio album as we speak. The record is a 12 song, over two hour odyssey. So that gives you a clue on the length of the songs. It is a double titled album called, The Mystic Portals of Nutness Await/Enter the Unuttednations. Over 76 people are featured on the record counting myself. It is an amazing piece of work. Right now there is a guy Johnny Grinder who is doing animation for one of the songs. We have an intention to bring this album to a theatrical level.

 

The Pier: Lastly, There has always been talk of a tour featuring the black rock bands: Fishbone, Living Colour and Bad Brains. Do you think this will ever happen?

Norwood: While all of us still alive it is always possible. We are interested in doing it and we keep the conversation alive. It is just very difficult, we all want to have new material out when we do it, so far it just never coordinated. We wanted to get an album out last year but sometimes there are, honestly, internal problems with me and Angelo (Moore), where we just don’t see eye to eye when recording. But we got to at least communicate on some kind of level to get something done. We work at it and it is not easy. At the end of the day, there is a real love for what we do and each other.

 

Check out more information on the new documentary Everday Sunshine RIGHT HERE