This causes a minor conflict as “Riot” is based out of California and “The Slashtones” tape in New York. Tony Moore will be moving to California for the “Riot” reunion and can no longer be a full time cast member of “The Slashtones”, but the show's Director and Producers have decided that the character of “Tony Moore on bass” is not being written off of the show. Tony Moore will make sporadic appearances in “The Slashtones!” whenever schedules and time zones permit it. Rolling Tones Magazine has decided to take a look back at Tony Moore and his role in “The Slashtones.” Tony Moore has been a recurring cast member of comedy/variety show “The Slashtones” since it's fourth season in 1996, playing the role of “Tony Moore on bass”. Tony joined The Slashtones’ cast after first playing that role in “Life?!”, a dramatic short lived late 1995 Slashtones spinoff that was to air while “The Slashtones” were on hiatus after almost being canceled during it’s third season. “Life?!”, a gritty and oftentimes disturbing drama, also starred Harry Slash and Roderick Kohn of “The Slashtones”, reprising their comedic roles of “Harry Slash on vocals” and “Roderick Kohn on guitar” but portraying them in a serious manner to reflect the new show’s dramatic direction. Scott Deboys formerly of “Warrior Soul” played the part of “Scott Deboys on drums”. There was always trouble on the set of “Life?!”, Chris Carter (Ya Mutha) was initially part of the cast but walked out early on and Scott Duboys left shortly after the pilot episode was aired on January 29th, 2006. “Life?!” was then canceled and “The Slashtones” were revived from hiatus earlier than expected to fill the time slot.
The fourth season cast of “The Slashtones” was smaller than previous years, allowing the main characters more airtime to develop in their roles and critics were calling it the series’ best season. Harry Slash and Roderick Kohn once again portrayed their roles of “Harry Slash on vocals” and “Roderick Kohn on guitar”, Arno Hecht and Steve Bondy both reprised their respective roles from the third season and Lisa Anselmo revived her role of “Lisa Anselmo on vocals” from the series second season. Lez Warner, who was a recurring guest star, became a full time cast member in the role of “Lez Warner on drums”. The part of “Even Steven on bass” had to be written off the show as Even Steven Levee was recuperating from back surgery and couldn't rejoin the cast at that time so Tony Moore was added to the cast in a slightly altered version of the “Life?!” character “Tony Moore on bass”.
It was that acclaimed forth season in 1996 that aired the most live episodes in the series history but there was some turmoil at the end of the season. Due to circumstances beyond his control, Tony Moore missed the final live show of the season. The Slashtones resumed taping in the studio for future airing, but two of the network executives insisted that the part of “Tony Moore on bass” be written off the show. This made founding cast member (and the shows creator and director) Harry Slash very irate and he canceled the series and left the network.
Public demand for a comedy / variety type show like “The Slashtones” forced the creation of a sporadically aired Summer syndication spin-off series called “Not The Slashtones” in 1997, but Tony was not a part of that short lived show. “Not The Slashtones” was canceled in January of 1998 and “Life?! II” was renamed “Harry Slash & The Slashtones” a short time later with Tony continuing his recurring roll of “Tony Moore on vocals”, In 2000, Tony Moore, along with Harry Slash and Roderick Kohn, starred in the one-shot parody special that aired on The Extreme Network called “Johnny Soul & His West Coast Wranglers”. Tony played the role of “Tony Moore as Kao Bowie on vocals”. That one-shot episode subtitled ‘The Clap” became a cult classic and was often re-aired in syndication. The Extreme Network went bankrupt in 2001 and “Harry Slash & The Slashtones” was canceled at the beginning of it’s 8th season. Director Harry Slash revived the comedy/variety format of “The Slashtones” the following year in 2002 This time the cast was limited to only five main characters and Tony Moore revived his original role of “Tony Moore on bass”. After some preproduction and rehearsals, the series was ready to begin airing in syndication in 2003, but Arno Hecht was offered a role in the road company of “George Thorogood & The Destroyers”. Rather that write the character of “Arno Hecht on saxophone” off the show, the series director decided to put the show on hiatus until everyone was ready to resume production.
IIn 2004, “The (New Original) Slashtones” returned to the air for it’s 10th season (11th year). The show would feature Harry Slash, Arno Hecht, Roderick Kohn, Tony Moore and Steve “Budgie” Werner all in their original roles, but with new scripts and an even funnier directions. Critics loved the show and said the series had finally topped it’s incredible 1996 season, even though there were fewer live episodes. The series would continue airing new live episodes until mid-2006, when creative differences between two of the shows original cast members caused a split and forced the show’s director to cease all live episodes and return to taping in the studio. A change in the series direction happened once again as the director and the network decided to try something new and old at the same time. “The Slashtones!”, as the show would now be called, focused on reviving classic bits from other shows, but with their own twist on the scripts. Several new cast members joined and Tony Moore remained on the show in the role of “Tony Moore on bass” but would also play the role of “Tony Moore on vocals” in many episodes as well.
Please note, Tony Moore’s departure from “The Slashtones!” does not affect the character of “Tony Moore/Captain Moorevell” in the Saturday morning spin-off, “Slashtones, The Animated Series”. That series is drawn in Japan and all the character’s voices are done by John E. Soul in Norway. |
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