April 29, 1992: the L.A. riots begin and Fishbone play the first night of a two-night stand at UCSD's Price Center Ballroom to a mostly -- if not all -- white audience. I was there and I'll never forget it. The band was angry and on fire; they had grown up on the streets of South Central Los Angeles. It was the start of a tour for them, but also the end of their innocence.
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A new documentary on the band, Everyday Sunshine, is a film about the rise of the Fishbone up to today, when the band plays shows regularly, but to much smaller crowds than in their heyday. Fishbone is and forever will be one of my favorite bands, so watching this documentary reconnects me to them; for the non-fan, the film is just a great insight into band dynamics. Plus, Fishbone are red hot! The live shows were like nothing you'd seen before, mixing so many genres that you had to take notes. My personal favorites were their ska-influenced tracks.
The band came together as a result to forced busingin 1985. Most of its members grew up in South Central, with lone standout Angelo Moore, Fishbone's lead singer, who actually grew up in the very Caucasian Valley. Once they found one another ... well, the rest is history. The film has everything from animation to live footage to interviews with the band to comments from people like Mike Watt, Perry Farrell, Gwen Stefani and Flea -- and even a kidnapping! Members have come and gone, but the band goes on and still puts out records, so discover Fishbone or re-discover them and go see the documentary at the Whistle Stop on next Thursday.l Fishbone should have been huge!
Also, you can tune into FM94/9 on Jan. 8 at 7 p.m. to hear ne interview Everyday Sunshine co-director Lev Anderson.
Everyday Sunshine: Story of Fishbone (narrated by Laurence Fishburne, directed by Chris Metzler and Lev Anderson)
Whistle Stop Bar, 2236 Fern Street, San Diego
Tim Pyles hosts The Local 94/9, FTP show and the Coup d'Eat on FM94/9 on Sundays from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. He also books local acts at the Casbah and hosts the weekly Anti-Monday League. Check out his website and follow him on Twitter @thelocalpyle. You can reach him directly here pyleste@yahoo.com
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