Some bands manage to be so sprawling & wide-reaching in both image and sound that they captivate nearly everyone who gets exposed, a difficult approach that doesn’t always lend itself to getting far beyond your local show circuit, but one that certainly pays off big if you do happen to make it---because everybody loves you. Los Angeles based nutballs Fishbone are a good example of this phenomena (as were their scene compatriots the Red Hot Chili Peppers), encompassing influences from no less than funk, punk, ska, jazz, metal & hip-hop, then congealing those elements into a mildly controlled mayhem that, when digested with an open mind, proved impossible to resist. Seeing these guys live is quite an experience, every bit as fun & chaotically addictive as it sounds, and the brass section only amplifies that playfully uplifting vibe, “…got this feeling, got this feeling, got this feeling from the ocean, yeah, it’s all right…” While internal struggles tore the band apart in the mid ‘90s, there was a time when it felt like these guys couldn’t lose, and it always sounded like they knew it.
