Fishbone photo: Matt Dessner
Fishbone, with special guest Being Hvman, are at Skully’s Music Diner on Monday, April 20. Doors at 6, music at 7. Tickets available on Ticketweb in advance or at the door.
I was a teenage metalhead. The music I bought was pretty much exclusively from the “Hard Rock/Metal” section at the record store. I read all the glossy metal magazines – Hit Parader, Circus, Metal Edge, RIP. It was in one of those magazines that I saw Scott Ian of Anthrax wearing a Fishbone t-shirt. Of course, at the time, I didn’t know what band the shirt represented and I had never heard of Fishbone.
Google tells me Fishbone’s Truth and Soul album came out in September 1988. My parents were divorced, I lived in Ohio with my mom, my dad lived in Florida and I’d go visit during holidays. Perhaps it was during the Christmas season of 1988 that I found myself in Florida, watching some Saturday morning variety show intended for teenagers. I’ve been trying to find evidence of this show but when all I have to go on is “Saturday morning variety show in the ’80s that Fishbone performed on,” I’m not getting the results that would help me identify what the show was. Regardless, after realizing that THIS was the band featured on Scott Ian’s shirt, and after having my mind blown by the ska-funk sounds that were foreign to me at the time, I quickly went to a store that was named something like “Record Warehouse” or “Tape World” or something like that and bought a cassette copy of Truth and Soul and preceded to listen to it the rest of my vacation (and after).
While the discovery of Fishbone didn’t turn me into a full-blown ska-funk fan, what it did do was open my ears to music outside of my comfort zone. I expanded my horizons, I bought music by bands like the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Jane’s Addiction, neither of whom were that well known at the time. I bought my own Fishbone t-shirt and started wearing it to shows.
In 1991, as a sophomore at Ohio State University majoring in Journalism and writing for the student paper, I did my first ever interview with a musician – a phoner with Joey Ramone (!!!!!!) to preview his band’s upcoming show in Columbus. After the show, as I used to do back then and that I still do to this day, I stood behind the Newport Music Hall opening to meet Joey, get him to sign the article, and maybe even ask if I could get a picture with him. All of this was achieved and what was I wearing? Yep, my Fishbone shirt.
Having had luck interviewing Joey Ramone, my confidence was through the roof. With one interview under my belt, I was now a music journalist, and I started making a list of all the bands I wanted to interview and at the top of the list … Fishbone. As this was 1991 and the internet wasn’t around, actually finding out how to get in touch with Fishbone’s publicist was impossible. I had no idea what I was doing so I wrote a letter … yes, wrote a letter … to the band’s record label, whose address, I believe, was listed on the inside cassette cover. Of course, I never got a response.
I saw Fishbone a few times throughout my college days and the immediate years following graduation but, as far as I know, the band hasn’t played in Columbus since the mid-90s.
32 years after putting Fishbone on my “dream interview” list, I was afforded the opportunity to hop on a Zoom call with keyboardist Chris Dowd for a chat for BigTakeover.com. I was quick to let him know that I was finally able to cross a Fishbone interview off my bucket list. He laughed. And then, in 2025, I had the chance to chat with lead singer Angelo Moore, also for BigTakeover.com. Even know, I can’t believe that I’ve spoken with two members of the band.
On Monday, April 20, Fishbone returns to Columbus for the first time in decades as part of the 40th anniversary In Your Face tour. And, you better believe I’ll be trying to get a photo with the band. I don’t currently have a Ramones shirt but if I can find one between now and then, I’ll wear it so we can go full circle!
