By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 5 cats
Director: Chris Metzler | Lev Anderson
Country: united_states
Year: 2011
Running time: 107
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0840358/
Thom says: “This film was a real find but it shouldn’t have been. Co-director Metzler had also co-directed one of my favorite documentaries PLAGUES AND PLEASURES ON THE SALTON SEA (2004) with Jeff Springer & I had shamefully forgotten that fact until after seeing this great rockumentary. Being a huge musical fanatic most of my life, and by 1979 (the year Fishbone formed in Los Angeles and started performing on the alternative scene with their fusion music of ska, funk, punk, soul, and metal) I was heavily switching my allegiances to alternative from soul and disco with my brother Chuk’s introducing me to Elvis Costello & the Attractions, who opened the floodgates for me. Still, I somehow overlooked Fishbone, but knew of them. So this film was not only massively entertaining but also a sensational education about this power-performance band. I’m actually going to go back and purchase some of their CDs I was so impressed with the concert footage in the film. Fishbone was interestingly made of up a sexy quartet of African-American teenagers that produced driving rhythms with undoubtedly a combination of styles that were unique and thrilling to watch. They were somehow thrown in with the popular punk acts of the era and while certainly establishing a core audience never made the top of the charts. The film gets very personal as it explores the intriguing character shifts amongst the band members. The group starts losing members, largely because of what seems to be ego problems. One of the charter members turns to the Christian Right and even an intervention fails to get him to return to the fold. Through all the dissension & in-fighting the group still exists to this day, showing a commitment to their art that is compelling. I wish this dynamic director duo could make documentaries about hundreds of my most-loved acts. I was hooked from beginning to end. This was a major documentary coup. 5 cats”
Toni says: “I recommend everyone obviously seeing this doc, checking out our interview with Chris, and SEEING Fishbone live since they are REALLY still going strong. They performed for 2 hours straight tonight and will be back to the east coast later this Summer, their sound is truly genre defying.
“I also added a link to one of my favorite songs they performed live last night and a very silly link to them covering ‘Jamaica Ska’ in the Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon sort of come back in the mid 1980s, BACK TO THE BEACH:
“http://www.fishbonelive.org (Celebrating 25 years and STILL Red Hot!)
“http://spoileralertradio.libsyn.com/chris_metzler_salton_sea_documentary (Back in 2008, leaves off leading up to this documentary :))
“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HBfCynDO6g (This was one of our favorites performed last night, Hide Behind My
Glasses)
“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xK2–2TrJRg (Back to the Beach with Fishbone cameo, prepare to giggle)”
Julie says: “This movie is definitely worth seeing based upon its merits. It’s an excellent doc! One interesting thing that I discovered from this movie is that Fishbone was playing ska punk way before it became recognized as a genre, and many other bands were influenced by them. And yet many people don’t know of Fishbone. In fact, if you look up ska punk on wiki they’re not mentioned! And I was not sure who they were till I saw the movie and recognized the more non-ska punk/more ‘mainstream’ song ‘EveryDay Sunshine’ that brought them into the public limelight way after they should have been.
“Ironically I left LA about the time I would have discovered Fishbone on the local scene and then was in Texas and Germany where I was cut off from a lot of the latest and greatest music (although saw some great concerts in Germany!) so this was all new to me when I saw the movie….
“While watching this movie, I was amazed to discover the great influence Fishbone had on the ska punk bands that I did know of and saw live when I moved to/lived in Boston starting in 1990, so that aspect was very interesting, but there was so much more to this movie than that.
“I found this excellent song by the band in an older incarnation showing their ska punk side: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sv81_XhtAL4&feature=related. I loved this version and thought it was a great example of the original music these (mostly) musically home schooled guys started …. (They still do play this song-saw a recent recording out there as well)
“I especially loved the set they did that was shown at the end of the movie that I couldn’t find out there easily. I’m curious if it’s out there available to the public. I just loved it.
“Thanks to Chris Metzler for enlightening the world to this fascinating story!”