Christopher Dowd Describes His Roller Coaster Ride with Fishbone

If you were in the alternative rock scene in LA during the 80's then you had to know the music of Fishbone. The all Black, eclectic six-piece got their start in their hometown of South Central Los Angeles as a five piece. They met their sixth member when they got bussed to the valley for high school. The band played a heady mix of rock, funk, punk, ska, metal and soul and during their teen years they scored a record contract and became (along with Jane's Addiction and The Red Hot Chili Peppers) a mainstay in the alternative music world. The band still tours today, although only two of the original six members are in the group now. Recently, renewed interest in the band has surfaced thanks to the documentary, Everyday Sunshine: The Story of Fishbone. The question that now looms with their strong cult following is, will the original lineup get back together to reclaim their legacy? With the set up for the Grammy awards in downtown LA as our backdrop, keyboardist/vocalist and founding member Christopher Dowd weighed in on this question fiercely. "Things have to be straightened out. There was a time I was begging Angelo to do it. I'm not begging anymore. Over the years I have kept in contact with all of the original members of the band -- there was just a lot of emotional abuse that went down and people have to own up to that. For this thing to happen again, we need to be real with ourselves and with each other." When asked to explain why he left the band, Dowd becomes animated and states, "When we started this we were a family. We had some of the greatest moments and some very fucked up moments. Kendall Jones (founding member/guitarist) left the band right before our biggest tour (Lollapalooza '˜94). I wanted to pump the brakes on this thing for a minute after that tour. I wish we could have been more real with each other. Like I said, we were emotionally abusive towards each other and I needed to get away from that. I had wanted to take a break from touring since '89. We had been touring non-stop since then. The tension had been building!"

The tension and his departure from Fishbone led Chris Dowd on an intense journey. Dowd explains, "I left the band in '94 and I put out my own record with the band Seedy Arkestra (The Puzzle which featured songwriter David Ryan Harris and the dearly departed Jeff Buckley). I was writing and producing and I was able to get Morley Cain signed to Sony. I toured opening shows for Jerry Cantrell. After that I went back to London and I just focused on songwriting. I came back to LA and honestly, from 2000-2004 I drank myself blind! I was miserable. My marriage was falling apart, Jeff Buckley passed away, Lane Stayley had passed away -- I just really needed to find myself during that period." One of the ways Dowd was able to find himself, was to dive head first into one of his all time loves; cooking! "Kendall and I would have cook offs! We would get everyone together while on tour, send someone to the grocery store with a list, and we would cook for everyone. People could see that I took that shit seriously! I ended up enrolling in Le Cordon Bleu. On the second day of the class my instructor walked in with a Fishbone T-shirt on! HA! I started catering different events -- cooking gave me back my confidence. It gave me back my focus and sense of self. With all the touring we did I just lost a sense of who I was and I needed time to get that back. I needed time to be honest with myself".

It's this type of earnestness Chris is bringing to his latest musical project The Ultra Infidels. When asked to describe the project Chris states, "We are recording and we are getting ready to go out on tour with a band called Kings Go Forth. I'm not sure how we are gonna release this new music -- not sure how to get it to people but I know I WON'T be signing any 360 deals again! I am gonna make sure I get paid!" With the musical landscape looking much different now than in the late 80's/early 90's, one might think Dowd would be a bit intimidated about jumping back into the music scene. Chris defiantly declares, "I have heard folks telling me that. Everything is different, everything has changed, and you won't be successful. Look, people are touring right now! People are doing it right now. When we put this new music out if it reaches five million people that would be great! But if it only reaches five people, that's ok too. If it goes double platinum, great but I will be ok if it only goes double plywood, Ha! I was in the way of my own success last time around. I am open to see what happens. My hope is that the people who are watching this version of Fishbone who miss my contributions and what I did with the band will gravitate to what I am doing now. I hope they gravitate to it and I hope they dig it."

Hope becomes the optimal word in the Fishbone saga. Some have wondered why mainstream success eluded the band many moons ago. Even The Roots' drummer Questlove has spoken of the dreaded "Fishbone curse", the idea of being universally respected by musicians but sanctimoniously ignored by the mainstream. Dowd bristles when he hears this and exclaims, "Fishbone curse?!!? Man there is no curse! The curse of Fishbone was Fishbone! We did it to ourselves! I left the band because there was too much ego, plain and simple! When I joined the band I was not a virtuoso. I didn't want to be a session musician and play on a bunch of people's records like (drummer) Fish. I dealt with the emotional side of music. I wanted to write the shit that was gonna get on the radio! There was no curse. It was all about individuals not taking responsibility for what they did." When asked to give his opinion on the current version of Fishbone, Chris smiles and simply states, "They are at, where they are at. That's all I can say about the band now -- it's just a different animal. When we started the band we just wanted to embrace all kinds of music. I know the myth is that we were only into funk and then the "darkies" got bussed to the white school and the white boys showed us rock! That's a lie. We were already experimenting with different types of music! We said fuck the musical barriers. We loved melody, harmony, rhythm and soul. We wanted to do it all and play it all. We did exactly that, and we got it right." Without hesitation Dowd also adds, "I wouldn't hold your breath for a Fishbone reunion but then again; never say never! It's a roller coaster ride -- I do think we should get together if for nothing else, to just set the record straight, and I would love to do new music with the guys. New Fishbone music would be my goal if we got together again."

Looks like the musical roller coaster ride for Chris Dowd will continue as he prepares to unleash his latest musical project The Ultra Infidels and as he and the rest of the original members of Fishbone weigh the pros and cons of reclaiming their alternative rock legacy. Let's hope the ride this time around is less bumpy and let's hope it lasts a little bit longer.