Norwood Fisher and Chris Dowd are two of the original members of Fishbone. A band that has a tumultuous past, but has managed to reform with the original line up sans Kendall Jones for a tour that heads to Europe and Japan in August. There is also new music planned for the future and hopefully some live shows here in America. I spoke to Norwood on the phone and Chris chimed in with a brief text exchange while securing a passport for Japan. 

Punk Globe: Norwood you're on tour with Mike Dillon right now. How is that going?

Norwood: Dude, it's fucking awesome! We are out here and I am pushing myself musically in this situation. I love it. We're kind of riding the edge. It can fall apart at any time, I mean we're doing a different set every night, but thus far, it's beautiful. 

Punk Globe: Where are you now?

Norwood: Last night we were in Wyoming and we are headed to Salt Lake City.

Punk Globe: The band is leaving for Europe and Japan soon. Are you excited to play with this line-up again? 

Norwood: Yeah! We leave on the 26th. I am absolutely excited. It will the first time since 1993 playing with this line up. We are writing songs and exploring like we used to. Yeah, I am super excited.

Chris: It's Amazing. Humbling. Like any creative collective of artists it has it's challenges, differences. It is hard to keep the ego in check. But, to be able to play music with the group of guys you built an original bond, shared musical ideas, and built something together with. That's priceless.. You can't put a dollar amount to that. It's cosmic!

Punk Globe: Is there a U.S. tour after Europe? Any shows planned?

Norwood: Absolutely! We will probably do an East Coast run in August and then do some extra stuff in the fall.

Punk Globe: Fishbone played some legendary venues in Los Angeles like Madame Wong's in the late 70's. What do you remember about that time?

Norwood: The audiences back then were just excited about music in general. Los Angeles had a vibrant and exciting music scene. You could go to any club, any day of the week and know that you could see something that was good. It might be two shitty bands and two great ones on the bill as well. 

Punk Globe: Speaking of earlier shows. Do you remember your first time on tour in the southern regions of America?

Norwood: When we first started touring we played a lot in the Midwest and the northeast. I remember asking my manager, "why don't we go to the south?" and he and the booking agent said we would be killed. When we finally went to the south I found there was nothing to be afraid of. It was fucking awesome. The audiences were amazing. We did the "Licence to Ill" tour with the Beastie Boys and that was the first time we went to some parts of the south and by and large it was an amazing experience with a bunch of amazing people. We were met with some racism but it wasn't like racism was exclusive to the south. You can to the University of Wisconsin and read the graffiti on the wall and think they hate black people. You can go to upstate New York and encounter things. 

Punk Globe: With Trump in office, a lot of people feel hopeless. Where do you see us headed as a country? What positive spin can you put on it?

Norwood: In every problem lies a solution, right? My personal opinion is we are suppressing our feelings instead of working through our feelings, we should be honest about them. Maybe the national discourse should be dealing with our past in regards to our present. Maybe it should be dealt with as a national illness. Don't sweep it under the rug. People do have real feelings of hatred and fears of other people.

Punk Globe: It's a bit like a divide and conquer thing in a way. 

Norwood: I've had a lot of conversations about this and what I recall historically is Black Panthers going to speak to white racist southerners and actually getting across a point, like hey, we don't want that much distance from you, we're all poor, you know, we have something in common. And they created an understanding. That's something I know of historically that happened and I think it should be emulated. 

Punk Globe: Norwood, you also give bass lessons in person and online. Or so I read. Is that true? 

Norwood: Absolutely. I do lessons via Skype. And if I'm on tour and coming through your town, if I have time, I can set that up in person. 

Punk Globe: How would someone contact you to take lessons?

Norwood: I have a Facebook page. Or simply e-mail me at Norwoodlessons@gmail.com.

Punk Globe: Can we expect new music from Fishbone in the near future?

Norwood: That's the idea. Everyone in the band is a songwriter. I am really happy with what I am hearing from everybody. We are rediscovering ourselves. It's really a healthy thing.

Chris: We are working on music now. I am always writing, searching, excavating for sounds. Like a musical archeological quest.

Punk Globe: Chris, you've been involved in other projects outside Fishbone like Seedy Arkestra and The UltraInfidels. Any plans to do something similar to those two things in the future?

Chris: When I left the band in 94/95, I moved to New York and made the Seedy record, then moved to London. I returned to Los Angeles in 2003. I am always looking forward to playing and seeing friends and family and sharing the gift of music. I was working on ” the Dowd Jones” but I have to put that on the back-burner for the foreseeable future. 

Punk Globe: Norwood, do you have any other projects going on besides Fishbone?

Norwood: I am playing at a bunch of different levels. I just released a single not long ago which is available on i-tunes called   "Outta My Muthafuckkin' Mind" with Trulio Disgracias. I have a full length in the can which I am figuring out how to market. I am moving towards releasing vinyl. Just need to pull out some cover work and art work.

Punk Globe: To wrap it up. Any advice to people in bands who are experiencing internal turmoil? You've had your share. Any regrets?

Norwood: I don't know what I would do differently. I am in such a good place now and I don't think I would be here if I had done anything different. It was very difficult at times. There were times when I wanted to give up. I'm glad that I didn't. I could look back at things and think I could have paid more attention at a certain juncture, or damn, I shouldn't have signed that contract. But, the thing is that life is a journey and you learn a lesson along the way. That's really all that matters. Being in Fishbone is like being in a family and the fans are our support system. It's like if you marry somebody and love them to death, there's going to be problems. The bottom line is it's about the music, right?  I'm in a band that basically came through the spirit of punk rock. So, I didn't get here thinking shit would be easy.