PRINTMovie Review: Everyday Sunshine: The Story of Fishbone
The story of a band that didn't make it
Photo courtesy of Rotten Tomatoes
Fishbone, a black punk rock group, pushed the boundaries of a white-dominated genre.
December 3, 2011 | 12:08 p.m. CST
Everyday Sunshine is the story of a band that should have made it, but never did. The directors, Lev Anderson and Chris Metzler, presents a critically insightful look into the private lives and personal strife of South Central-L.A.’s ska-funk punk rockers Fishbone.
A black musical group that grew up on Parliament Funkadelic and SoCal punk rock, Fishbone ended up pushing the boundaries of radicalism in an entirely white-dominated genre. And not only was the music scene deeply segregated, but so was the environment they came from.
The band came together right after the integration of L.A.’s public schools. Intertwined with interviews from the band members and testimonies from a grocery list of artists who did make it (Ice-T, Gwen Stefani and Flea top the list), Everyday Sunshine presents the story of Fishbone in a historical context. It also offers an analysis of the Murphy’s Law timeline of its short rise and lengthy decline.
But in the end, it’s really a love story. And at the heart of that story is Fishbone’s founding member and bassist Norwood Fisher and singer-saxophonist Angelo Moore, who emerge as the band’s biggest advocates. It’s heartwarming, in a roundabout way. And it works. As Moore says, “Fishbone still plays.”
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