Chuck Mosley Has Eclecticism in His Genes

The debut album from Chuck Mosley and VUA (Vanduls Ugenst Alllideracy, his name for the musicians he assembled), 'Will Rap Over Hard Rock for Food,' is the former Faith No More and Bad Brains frontman's first solo album -- more than a decade in the making.

He did two albums with Cement, but when touring the last one, 1994's 'Man With the Action Hair,' his best friend, bassist and driver fell asleep at the wheel "with cruise control on 80."

"I broke my back, so we never got to tour the world, needless to say. And the record got shelved by the record label because we couldn't work it," says Mosley, adding that everyone fully recovered.

In 1996, he moved to Cleveland with his girlfriend, who was expecting their second child, and began putting together a band and working on an album. Then, Mosley suffered another set back.

"I got ripped off by an engineer. He took approximately $15,000 out of my pocket with the promise of a record and he basically gave me a s---ty ass demo, not even complete," Mosley says. "Mike Seifert formerly worked for that gentleman, and he came to me and vowed to make it better and make it up for that."

Seifert, who has since composed music for numerous films, and worked with Tori Amos, Bone Thugs 'n Harmony, Regina Spektor, Colbie Caillat, Guides by Voices, J. Mascis and others, ended up producing what is now 'Will Rap Over hard Rock for Food.' And he released it on his newly formed label, Reversed Image Unlimited.

They didn't just re-record songs from the "s---ty ass" version, either. "There was stuff that I had done since then that we opted to put on, and we just changed it around a little bit and did different things here and there," says Mosley.

"There is one song on this record that was actually written in my punk rock days, but it's actually the long psychedelic song that's on the record called 'Bob Forest.' That's the only one that's really old. Everything else is from the last 10 years, and one or two songs are from the last year. "

Of course, working on an album for more than a decade, players came and went. But Mosley always has friends willing to help him out for any live shows, such as the summer date he had opening for Korn in Milwaukee. Korn's Jonathan Davis guests on 'The Enabler,' the first single from Mosley's new album, alongside John 5 from Marilyn Manson and Rob Zombie's band. Other guests include Roddy Bottum from Faith No More and Imperial Teen, and Michael Cartellone, who plays with Lynyrd Skynyrd.

"I like the way it worked out because I think it's cool. It made it possible to have all these different people on there," says Mosley.

The album is an eclectic mix of hard rock, rap, psychedlia and even light playful ditties, such as 'Punk Rock Movie' and 'Nameless,' which isn't surprising given the genre-fusing bands of his past.

"I don't really have a say in the matter with eclecticism that comes out in my music, because of the fact that I'm racially mixed," says Mosley. "I have grown up taking in like a sponge all the different influences from my father and outside my father. I was listening to the Jackson 5 at the same time I was listening to David Bowie and Black Sabbath, and disco came along.

"I'll be the first one to say that I never liked to dance, but I always liked the music. I like rap. Punk rock came along when I was in 10th or 11th grade, so I liked that. That was part of my generation, and right after that came hip-hop. It would be contrived if I leaned to any one style, because I can't hold myself down to any one. I can't do it. I don't know how."