Have you ever felt like you've been taught a lesson? Ya know, when you
know you are thinking something wrong and someone catches you and sets
you straight? Well in early May Jaime T, marlee the webmistress, and I
road tripped to Pittsburgh to catch Fishbone headlining, and to see for
ourselves whether or not the discussion over the "resurgence" of
Fishbone was hype or reality. I can admit that the cries of "sellout"
from some of the hardcore fans had me slightly worried. They were
coming closer to our home later in the summer as the first opening act
of the RHCP tour, but I've seen Fishbone in arenas before and knew that
I had to experience the new lineup in a club setting. Fishbone calmed
my fears about the future of the band and taught me a lesson for ever
doubting them!

Fishbone in many ways is a band on the bubble. They are still trying to
find their niche after wearing out the "next big thing" label in the
early 90's and the "pissed off indie skapunk" vibe they emanated the
last few years. Going on their 20th year in the business and down to 3
original members, many predict that the band will develop into a P-Funk
type of collective, with a great catalog of material, an occasional new
record, and legendary live shows.

P-Funk they are not. This is no free-for-all, sing and play when you
want, make up the setlist, let's bring out every family member to do a
spotlight so the show is 4 hours long type of thing. Fishbone is a 5
piece rock band that plays 20 or so songs a night and gets out. But
their material is so diverse and strong, their musicianship is
top-notch, and their energy and vibe is so powerful that they make an
impression on fans the same way P-Funk did (and to some extent still
does). Fans get the whole package when being initiated into the 'Bone -
it's an attitude, a lifestyle, a sound, etc. It's more than just a band
and has been for a long time.

The joint in Pittsburgh (Club Laga) was a nice sized place with a weird
bar arrangement - the bar was surrounded by a cage and you could only
go in with ID, and couln't bring any brew out. I went in the cage to
get a beer and Angelo was set up behind the bar swapping CD's into the
PA and playing with his iBook. I asked him if he was DJ'ing off it and
he said no, just doing some writing. He launched QuarkXPress and was
working on some flyers and poetry. I was happy to see Angelo had the
style to pick a nifty little iBook as his machine of choice!

The first band was an average local ska band, then there was this
terrible "rap" duo that was actually 2 dorky white guys - one looked
like Scott Evil from Austin Powers and the other was a fat guy with
phatter pants. They had flashlight glasses on, prompting the guy next
to me to call them the "Insane Residents Posse". I came up with the
moniker "1 Skinny J". We had a good laugh then talked about how cool
Spearhead is (prompted by my choice of T-shirts that night). The only
thing I remember about their performance was the skinny guy yelling
"I'd rather go down on my dad than fuck with Fishbone" before leaving
the stage.

Finally Fishbone took the stage. Norwood was sporting a kimona Barry
White would have been proud of, although his dread-spike was a little
on the limp side. Dirty Walt must have taken all the viagra, I don't
know. Angelo was in his usual gear of a temporary T-Shirt, suspenders,
and pants hanging half off his ass. Walt looked very subdued in his
cool shades. The new guys Spacey T, John and John all looked ready to
go to work and they quickly burst into "Swim". The sound was decent and
the pit erupted.

As the show continued with an excellent mix of tracks from the last 18
years it became apparant that the crowd contained the type of people
that I'm gonna start calling "Fishbone Skazis", meaning they insist on
imposing their opinion that Fishbone's 80's ska music is the only music
worthy of their stupid skanking. These guys, sporting their various ska
credentials on their carefully purchased T-shirts, would only dance to
songs from Fishbone's first 4 records. When the band would play a new
track (even ska tracks like "Just Allow" or "It All Kept Starting Over
Again") these guys would look around at each other, trying to figure
out if it was a new or old song, and then not dance if it was new. And
of course these are the guys that were determined to stand directly in
front of the stage, so there was a noticable difference in the crowd
for the new songs and the old songs.

Highlights included "Bonin in the Boneyard", "AIDS and Armegeddon",
"Lyin Ass Bitch", "Monkey Dick", "The Suffering", "Sunless Saturday",
"Just Allow", "Behaviour Control Technician", "Karma Tsunami" and "When
Problems Arise". Most songs were juiced up for all they were worth -
harder, faster, more intense when needed, then slowed down to emphasize
some funk that you might have missed. For example, they crawled through
a funked up chorus of "Monkey Dick" and got the crowd chanting to the
chorus of "When Problems Arise" before the song even started.

They also pulled up some set-list suprises like great versions of "I
Wish I Had A Date", "Cholly", and the entire "If I Was a... I'd"
throwdown. They played most of the tracks from the new album and every
one went over well. "AIDS and Armegeddon" in particular benefitted from
the live setting, with Spacey T and John McKnight tearing up that
chunky guitar riff. As I've stated before, regardless of what you think
of the new disc's straightforward songwriting and production, the
material is great and several songs will surely become staples of
Fishbone's live show.

After a short break they came back with "One Planet People", "Freddie's
Dead", and the ultra-funky "Shakey Ground". Norwood hit another
dimension with his bass on this appropriately-entitled song penned by
Funkadelic's Billy Bass and Eddie Hazel. The greasy, woody -- downright
NASTY - bass that Norwood plays is something to behold, even more
impressive when he's plucking and popping lines from a fretless that
would impress Larry Graham.

They finished off with "Party At Ground Zero" and even the Skazi's were
groovin. By this point Jaime T had found his own space in the corner by
the speakers and Marlee and I had cleared a few feet to do those moves
you can't control. The Zone of Fishbone Funkativity is the best I can
describe it. It has the funk-booty vibe that we are all familar with
but it adds the need to hop, skank, mosh, and sing along. The result is
a musical euphoria that is rarely reached and precious in it's
pureness. Fishbone is one of the few bands that can take a whole crowd
of young, old, blacks, whites, punks, funkateers, metalheads, and dorks
there. This more than any label, record, or political agenda makes them
a monumental and still relevant musical movement.

by DJ Raz (raz@wfnk.com)