They brought the punk in the funk’, a sentence I have heard while watching the trailer of the new documentary ’Everyday Sunshine: The Story of Fishbone’, co-directed and co-produced by Chris Metzler, narrated by Laurence Fishburne, and which ‘explores the personal and cultural forces that gave rise to California's legendary Black punk sons that continue to defy categories and expectations’.
Fishbone, the effectively unclassifiable band, was celebrating the release of their new EP ‘Crazy Glue’ (just released on October 11th via DC-Jam, 25 years after their first record ‘In Your Face’) at Amoeba on Tuesday night, and frontman Angelo Moore did not miss mentioning the upcoming screening of the documentary next Friday in Los Angeles (and about everywhere in the country in the following weeks, just go there to check the screenings: http://fishbonedocumentary.com/screenings.html).
On stage, the band was as eclectic as their music, displaying their different personalities, from dreadlocks to shaved head, from rap-sportswear outfit to mariachi clothes, which I must say, was perfectly suiting elegant lead singer Angelo Moore, even matching the touches on his large saxophone.
If ‘Crazy Glue’ is their first studio release in five years, their bouncing hybrid sound seems to have stayed intact, produced for people to have a fun time, with explosive horns, hard rocking guitars and this signature mix of ska, punk, rock and funk that would eventually end up into a chaotic cacophony, dominated by Moore’s wild stage presence.
On the small Amoeba stage, he was the one moving like a mad man at the head of a New Orleans-style carnival, showing a visceral energy, sweating a lot under his melon hat, and soon revealing his shaved tattooed head.
They started their set with the song titled ‘Crazy Blue’, and from reggae grooves they escalated to other heights, with more and more funk in the mix, giving people a great time with ‘Everyday sunshine’, which was sounding like an old soul classic, whereas Moore was moving frenetically, channeling James Brown in the role of a gospel choir’s manic preacher.
They were working without setlist, may be deciding what to play in the inspiration of the moment, but encouraging people to buy their last record, ‘Everybody should buy it before leaving’, … the energy was pretty high, and it was only an in-store at the end of the afternoon,… I can easily envision what madness they will unleash at the Bootleg theater on Thursday night.