Pancho Tomaselli and Chris Moore Keep the Beat on New Band
By DONNA BALANCIA -Take a major metal rocker, a frontman from a black ska-punk band, a WAR bassist and one of the industry’s best known drummers and what do you get? A new band called Project N-Fidelikah.
With Project N-Fidelikah, which introduced its first performance the other night at The Troubadour, you get an amazing night of physical, and funky music that gets people on their feet.
Comprised of George Lynch (Dokken) on guitar, studio drummer Chris Moore, Pancho Tomaselli (War) on bass, and Fishbone’s Angelo Moore on vocals it’s an unlikely grouping, but in an unlikely world, the band really works.
“The idea behind the band is to break down barriers, make us all think a little bit more,” said drummer Chris Moore, whose relation to Angelo Moore is not by blood.
The band has a full album due in February and two videos that are about to be released, one for the song “Landslide Salvation” and the other for “I Wanna Be White But I Can’t.” Bob Daspit mixed the album.
The songs deal with issues common to most of us, some are common to rock stars, but regardless it appears Project N-Fidelikah wants to help change the world.
Before the foursome stepped on stage they screened video on the backdrop that covered topics of social concern in quick-cut/MTV style. The band moved in on the stage and there wasn’t a quiet moment until the guys took a bow six songs and one wild presentation later.
‘We all wanted to create something different, something with substance” – Chris Moore
Favorites of the night were “Anchor Baby” and “I Wanna Be White But I Can’t,” which both address how society handles certain issues. “I Wanna Be White But I Can’t” covers a myriad topics related to achievement while “Anchor Baby” deals with those women who trapped the men into paying support forever. This band does not shy away from issues.
And to think it all came together because of a chance meeting at the ESP Guitar offices.
“Pancho and George are both Signature Artists with ESP Guitars, which means they each have their own Signature models,” said Chris Moore. “One day, Pancho was at the ESP offices and brought up the idea of working with George,” Chris said. “The ESP folks gave Pancho George’s number, and that was the beginning. Last year, I happened to jam with George at an event in San Jose. We just kind of connected musically at sound check. When it came time for the show, George came over to me and said, ‘Hey let’s do that jam we did at sound check!”
The jam at sound check faded away, but the vibe remained.
“The vibe remained and that’s what was important,” Chris said. “George and I started talking and he brought up the project he was doing with Pancho, who I knew — I’d seen Pancho with PHILM and was a total fan. We all agreed to meet at The Mint in LA.
That meeting lasted five minutes and a band was formed, based on each band mate’s desire to do something different, something with substance.
Chris said the guys tried a retro way to record.
“We jammed at Angelo’s studio and whenever we were onto something, we’d hit the RECORD button,” Chris said. “We jammed and wrote for four days. Here’s the best part: when we went in to record, we did the whole thing on three-quarter-inch tape for a total analog sound and vibe. The idea was to capture us playing ‘live on tape.’
“With the other three members on tour and me finishing my drum book-DVD, we wrote it, rehearsed it, recorded it and had it mixed in four months!”
Setlist:
1. Project Blackout
2. I Know
3. Landslide Salvation
4. Exposure for Pay
5. Anchor Baby
6. I Wanna Be White But I Can’t
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