Everyday Sunshine: The Story of Fishbone
Playing Nov. 18 to 20, 24 at Pacific Cinematheque
For a band as hard to pin down, enjoyably frantic and downright spazzy as Fishbone was during its heyday in the late '80s and early '90s, it's strange to see the venerable L.A. group given such a conventional, at times depressing documentary treatment.
Everyday Sunshine: The Story of Fishbone is not without its charms-particularly the band's two remaining original members, Angelo Moore and Norwood Fisher, who keep the show on the road despite diminished returns and increasingly divergent points of view on how and why the band should continue.
Formed in South Central Los Angeles in 1979 while the band was still in high school, Fishbone infiltrated a number of music scenes with its high-octane live shows and sweaty amalgam of ska, punk, funk and metal. However, that same eclecticism and defiance of categorization would ultimately prove an insurmountable obstacle in gaining mainstream success.
Not surprisingly, the film paints a picture of a band that "coulda been a contender," combining live footage, 1970s-style animation, overly serious narration by Laurence Fishburne and typical talking head interviews with celebrities and indebted musical contemporaries such as the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Jane's Addiction and No Doubt.
Following the familiar Behind the Music story arc, the film charts the band's initial success, followed by its inevitable downfall: disappointing sales, record label problems, band members leaving over creative differences, bruised egos and, in one case, joining a religious cult, which led to an attempted kidnapping/rescue by other members of the band. Strangely, what the film lacks is a strong sense of redemption for Fishbone and, in particular, its ever-smiley frontman Angelo Moore, who's had to resort to living with his mother and dabbles with playing the Theremin-not necessarily what you'd expect or hope for in a movie with such an optimistic title.
