How Norwood Fisher and Fishbone Paved The Way For Ska Music

A lot of people would love to know how Norwood Fisher and Fishbone paved the way for ska music back in the day. The truth is they are like any other band that has gone through a lot of changes in their band members. Some of them would just call it quits out of nowhere and they would suddenly be left scrambling for replacements even if they are in the middle of the tour. Recently, Norwood admits it was all part of being the only ska-punk band in the world and he knows that the band is pretty strong right now compared to when it was first formed. It is evident there are a lot of fans who came to Fisher’s concerts and he would want to entertain each and every one of them. His passion for Ska music would inspire a lot of other bands to come up with their own ska music. In a recent interview, he stated that he would love to pave the way for other people to get into the music scene using their music as some sort of a catapult. He knew how the touring scene of playing their brands of music all over the country had a ton of rowdy fans. He grew up expecting a lot of riots to happen. There is a documentary about the band and that helped them get back to the scene. It is always a nice feeling to have some kind of rebirth in your career. They would not even mind competing with some of today’s hottest bands as they know they have their own brand of ska music and the new ones have theirs too.

They played at different venues from the Playboy mansion up to the Disney theater and they would not mind as long as they would send their fans home pretty happy. With all the changes, Norwood says that his band stuck long enough at a time when other bands decide to call it quits. He knows that despite all the other changes, Fishbone has a special love for music that they can’t seem to get rid of and he would not have it any other way. Fisher admits that there are a lot of changes he needs to get used to and he knows there will be a lot more in the future. Norwood can even recall how his cousin gave him some musical inspiration to start his own band and he started rehearsing in his own apartment. It was not long before they got discovered but not before angering a few of his neighbors. After that, the rest as they say is history. Their music became a mixture of a lot of things but it mainly became what is known today as ska music. Back in the early days, they got their inspiration from a host of artists from different genres. Thus, they were able to mix in their inspirations to come up with the songs that all their fans love them for.

A Brief Bio Of American Punk Rock Band Down by Law

Down by Law, initially formed in America, has only one original member currently, Dave Smalley; he is also the one that started the punk rock band in 1989. From the time the band was formed, it recorded its music at Epitaph Records but then switched labels in 1998. The band’s commercial success has been considerable; nonetheless, the band has been immensely influential, having recorded seven studio albums. By 2003, the band was recording and touring before they went on a break. After a few years in 2008, they came back to the scene to create new content and do a tour. The tour, meant for 2009, would have been the first after six years of missing in action.

The current members of the band are Dave Smalley, Sam Williams, Hunter Oswald, John DiMambro. They came together in Los Angeles, California, and the main genre they do is punk rock. The original members that Dave Smalley founded the band with include Dave Naz and Chriss Bagarozzi. Their first-ever album was called “Down By Law,” released in 1991. Brett Gurewitz, the founder of Epitaph Record, was the one that recorded both of their albums. The second studio album, called “Blue,” was recorded in 1992. The band split in 1993 after they finished touring and promoted their second album.

Bagarozzi, who played the guitar, was replaced by Sam Williams, Urlik, who dealt with the bass by Angry John Di Mambro, and Naz, who played drums, was replaced by Hunter Oswald. One of their best selling releases, Punkrockacademyfightsong was recorded by the new lineup and was released in 1994. A few of the songs like “Hit or Miss” got videos, and they managed to receive decent airplay from radio stations and MTV. Down by Law decided to do a tour that lasted for a year in an effort to promote their album. During the tour, they also supported some bands during their shows, including Pennywise, Burning Heads, NOFX, and the Vandals.

By 1997 the band had already worked on two more studio albums “All Scratched Up” in 1996 and “The Last of The Sharpshooters” in 1997. After recording the two albums, they left the record label they had been working with, Epitaph. After working with the record label for many years, they called it quits in 1998. Afterward, they briefly worked with another record label called “Go-Kart Records.” During that time, they released a new album, “Fly The Flag” and soon after, two band members, John Di Mambro and Chris Lagerborg, left the group. Unfortunately, after he departed from the band, Chris Lagerborg passed away in 2002 at 33.

It didn’t take long before the two members were replaced by Milo Todesco and Keith Davies, who took over on the drums and bass, respectively. Down by Law released yet another album in 2003, four years after their last one with the new members. This time they worked with Union 2112 Records, but the Windwardtidesandwaywardsails album wasn’t very successful. After the album failed, they went on a break again that year. The next time their fans heard from them was in 2008 after the band announced on their website that they’d be working on a new album. A year later, they went on another tour since the last one they’d done in 2003, performing in South America and America as well. In 2010 they did two shows in Florida and performed in the Netherlands as well.

Later on, in 2011, they signed up with DC Jam Records. They announced and released an album in 2012 called “Champions at Heart.” Consecutively in 2013, Down by Law also released “Revolution Time,” an album that had seven mini-tracks. Dave Smalley did some solo shows in 2015 and 2016, and in 2017 Oswald and Di Mambro joined the band again.