The Life and Loves of an Air Guitarist - Part 3

Fishbone

Between 1991 and 1995 there was a weekly late night TV show for hard rock fans called firstly “Raw Power”, then “Noisy Mothers”. One week they did a feature on “Funk Metal” which was a new popular genre at the time and showed a video by a band by Fishbone called “Sunless Saturday”. I was impressed and bought the CD single which had a list of tour dates in the UK with one being in Birmingham shortly after. I managed to convince a friend with a car to come along (and take me!) and was blown away! I don’t recall much of that first gig apart from not knowing any of the songs bar the two on the single and that it was a total assault on the eyes and ears as the band threw themselves and their equipment around the stage while playing an amazing mix of rock, punk, funk and ska.

A few years passed and the home computer age arrived for me and I discovered a group of people on the internet who were fans of Fishbone and had an email list – the Nuttwork Neighbourhood - and so my musical education kicked off again thanks to this international family but mainly a lad up in Nottingham called Simon Smith and his recommendations of some excellent Latin rock/hip hop music – bands such as Ozomatli, Sergeant Garcia and Orishas.

Finally Fishbone returned to Europe in 2002 and I was determined in see them as much as possible so in November it was Sunday in Nottingham, Monday in Birmingham and then the following weekend in Amsterdam! The latter was supposed to be a meeting of as many Euro fans as possible, a chance to spend the day with the band and get backstage. The previous year they had done a similar thing in LA – but had a beach BBQ after the gig.

I was offered a bed for the night in Amsterdam from someone I had only communicated with via email (well dodgy!) but Arno turned out to be like all the other members of the “Fishbone Familyhood” and a great bloke. However when I arrived in Amsterdam I discovered that his phone had been cut off and I had no address for him! A helpful lady at Tourist Information managed to track him down and we finally met up by describing what coats we were wearing and standing at the meeting point of the rail station! We spent the rest of the day with some others and Norwood Fisher, the bassist, his partner and their daughter both of whom I had met at the UK gigs. The gig itself was recorded and released as a DVD/CD combo and I can be seen a few times dancing at the front!

Because of the mixture of influences on the members of Fishbone their music was a varied mixture of styles which meant that their fans came to the band from different musical directions. Some, like me, were into Rock, others Punk, Funk or Ska and so you would be recommended other bands to listen to; this led me to the funk of George Clinton’s Funkadelic, FFF (French Funk Federation) and Weapon of Choice, the ska of The Mighty Mighty Bosstones and Mad Caddies and made me listen with open ears to the punk bands my brother used to like and I always hated, mainly The Clash.

The mixture also makes it difficult for some to “get into” Fishbone as one minute they can be doing a gentle ska song, then a manic punk/thrash metal number and then a funky one. This also makes it difficult for record companies to pigeon hole them! However they are an amazing live band with huge amounts of energy and enthusiasm. Many people have commented that Fishbone on a poor night can still be leagues above many bigger bands and it’s just a pity that bands which were influenced by them (Red Hot Chilli Peppers & No Doubt to name two) have gone on to big things while for various reasons Fishbone have not really got the fame they deserve – but then would they still be the same band?

The Life and Loves of an Air Guitarist - Part 2

The 90’s

June 1990 and after a long gig free period I was once again seeing Robert Plant. September 1991 and I saw Dire Straits which is easily the worst gig I’ve been to. They were about to release a new record (“On Every Corner”) which was very country music influenced and as no one knew the songs the gig didn’t flow from the slow country songs to the great songs that made them famous. It was also not helped by the fact we were as far from the stage as you can get and near the merchandise stand so during some of the quieter songs you could hear people buying t-shirts etc. Amazingly on the 27th October 1991 Saxon were playing in Worcester so I had to go and see them again and even though there were not all that popular they still played with the enthusiasm of when I first saw them at their height in 1982. The venue was the Northwick Theatre (now an antiques centre) which was built in 1938 and the original interior followed plans by Art Deco designer, John Alexander. This meant you had people in leather, denim and Lycra surrounded by wonderful Art Deco mouldings!

1992 was a good year in many ways. In July I saw Fishbone for the first time (see separate Fishbone section) and in October I saw Ugly Kid Joe. Then in November I met Jane and shortly afterwards we went to see Bon Jovi which I think rates as one of my top gigs for atmosphere. After three gigs in one year I managed the same in 1993 this time seeing Living Colour in April, Robert Plant in July and Aerosmith in October. The Robert Plant gig was poor which after the three previous ones being so good was a big let down especially as I had told Jane it would be very good! The one highlight was the support band was Texas who had a big hit in 1989 (“I don’t want a lover”) and a brilliant début album but hadn’t been successful in the charts since and so seemed to be largely unknown by the audience.

After six gigs in two years I hit another drought only seeing Raging Slab with Jane in 1994 at JB’s in Dudley. This was a small club venue and in fact Jane met the female member of the band in the toilet and got chatting with her! I also spoke to another band member afterwards and we could possibly have hung out with them but I didn’t push it. Idiot!

Again one gig in 1995 this time Terrorvision, and Jane and I were possibly the oldest people there – we certainly felt like we were. Still it was a great pop rock gig.

1996 and as a birthday present for our daughter Pippa we went to see Alanis Morrisette in April, then the following year in May we took her to see Aerosmith – as she had complained when we went to see them in 1993 without her! She still mentions us “sneaking out” to go!

Shockingly it was to be five years before I went to another concert!