Chuck Mosley: ‘This is what I do’
Chuck Mosley, former singer for Faith No More and Bad Brains, is back in his element. After taking about a decade off to be a dad and to learn to be a professional cook, he is doing what he was meant to be doing, he says.
“Yes, riding around in a van and being hot and tired and old and miserable and not making any money. This is what I do.”
After the laughter subsided, he added, “I love it. I mean you have to.”
Mosley is likely best known for fronting Faith No More for the first two albums, “We Care a Lot” and “Introduce Yourself.” He actually replaced Courtney Love in the band in 1985. His rap/singing over hard rock rhythms and punk attitude helped make the group a fan favorite.
His behavior was erratic and after allegedly punching bandmate Bob Gould, then one of his roadies later getting into a fight with the band’s guitarist, Mosley found himself on the outs with the band. He sued the group in 1989 and eventually settled, giving up rights to the band’s assets and name.
He joined Bad Brains the following year and stayed for two years.
He later formed a funk metal band called Cement and in 2009 released an album called “Will Rap Over Hard Rock for Food” with his new group, Vanduls Ugainst Alliteracy. Mosley said the album name came from a car ride with some friends who complained after hearing three straight songs on the radio featuring singers rapping over rock melodies.
“They were like ‘Thanks, Chuck. You brought this on’,” Mosley said.
His show Saturday, Sept. 8, at JJ’s Bohemia will feature essentially an acoustic set with Mosley on vocals, two guitars and a conga. It’s stripped down because Mosley said it’s cheaper to travel that way. The only consistant band member is percussionist Doug Esper, who also handles booking the gigs.
“It’s just a band of random, no-name musicians,” Mosley said. “Whoever is available and dares to go out and be locked in a car with me with the promise of no money.”
Mosley said Esper has been hounding him to perform an acoustic set of his material for years and he finally relented. He said that he now enjoys it because the band has fallen into a groove that is centered around “starting out slow and then everything goes wrong really fast.
“Now I am having fun. At first it was horrifying. I had stage fright. I’m a terrible acoustic player and I’m the frontman, so it was just me. It started out real shaky, but I was playing three or four hours a day and got better.”
He said he’s written enough new material for an album, and he is very happy with the songs.