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 1

The 70’s & 80’s

As a child growing up in early 70’s Britain I listened to a mixture of music; my first vinyl singles were Mud, Brotherhood of Man, Emerson Lake and Palmer, Rubettes & Darts and my first LP’s were various ABBA ones.

I didn’t have a favourite musical style and while at secondary school the gang/group I was in would follow the “leader” as to what music he decided we would like – we changed from punk, to rockabilly to rock at his whim, we were that sad and pathetic!

That all changed in 1979 when the New Wave of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM) hit the country. This caused a split in our gang as Nicky, the “leader”, had seen Grease; decided his real name was Kenickie (!) and that we should now be into Rock and Roll. I refused and so we went our separate musical ways, to be fair he is still a teddy boy with the proper clothing, hair etc so it seemed we have all continued on the path set at that time.

1979 and the NWOBHM was the launching pad of some great British bands such as Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Saxon, Samson (who’s lead singer Bruce Dickinson soon moved to Iron Maiden), Judas Priest, Scorpions, UFO, Def Leppard, Girlschool, Motorhead, Whitesnake, Gillan & Rainbow. The latter three bands were formed from ex members of the influential Deep Purple who had split a few years earlier. From other countries KISS, AC/DC & Aerosmith were also making an impact. Sadly it was also the year Led Zeppelin split after the death of John Bonham – strangely one of the bands that led to the rise of heavy metal and allegedly the band after which the term was first used, were not there to see the huge rise in popularity of the genre.

My first true rock LP was Iron Maiden’s “Number of the Beast” – if you’re going to get into Heavy Metal you might as well start with a classic. At the same time I was given “Close to the Edge” by Yes. Both of these were birthday presents and both musically very different. The first rock LP I bought myself was a live Hawkwind one, which was so awful I took it back to the shop and exchanged it for Deep Purple “In Rock”., a much better choice and still a favourite.

Concert wise the main places to see bands were in Birmingham, about 30miles away, but to a teenage kid with no money and no transport it could have been the moon really. So when a friend invited me to go and see Saxon at the Birmingham Odeon (4th October 1982) I jumped at the chance. At the time “The Eagle Has Landed” tour was touted as the loudest and also the brightest in the world; this was a time when all the rock bands were vying for the title of loudest band in the world. It was the brightest as the highlight of the gig was the lead singer coming down on to the stage from above in an Eagle shaped framework holding aircraft landing lights that could be seen 5miles away or something. I came away impressed. And deaf!

It wasn’t till December 1983 that I went to another gig and that was to see Robert Plant on his first solo tour following his “Principle of Moments” record. He was supported by It Bites who had a hit with “Calling all the Hero’s”. Then almost another twelve months before my third gig which was Iron Maiden on their “World Slavery” tour in October 1984.

Following that it was Mama’s Boys (1985), ZZ Top on their 1986 afterburner tour, Robert Plant (1988) and then Jimmy Page (1988) on his first solo tour with Jason Bonham on drums and John Miles on vocals. This featured an instrumental version of “Stairway to Heaven” with Jason conducting the audience with the singing, and a great version of John Miles’ “Music (was my first love)”.

The bands I spent my meagre funds on were Saxon , Iron Maiden, ZZ Top, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Ten Years After, Mountain, Rush and Yes to name the main ones. Fortunately this was the time of the Friday Rock Show with Tommy Vance on BBC Radio 1 so even though I didn’t buy many LP’s (although I built up a good collection of about 200 before CD’s were affordable) I heard a lot of good bands and recorded a lot of classic concerts broadcast on those Friday nights which I’ve still got on tape and some I’ve transferred to CD. These include Thin Lizzy, Gary Moore, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Twisted Sister, Dumpy’s Rusty Nuts, Climax Blue’s Band, Man and Dio.

In the early 80’s the Worcester Arts Workshop held “discos” in their cellar – these started off as a mix of stuff but the music became more rock orientated and so I heard a lot of new stuff that way. I also started to ruin my hearing by head banging right next to the speakers!

That concludes the first part of my musical journey!