Fishbone – Stockholm Syndrome (Consigliere) (13thfloor Album Review)
For well over 40 years L.A. ska punk outfit Fishbone have earned a reputation for high-energy, up-tempo performances and an unswerving engagement with political and social issues.
And despite the many changes in line-up over the years, it’s business as usual on Stockholm Syndrome.
From the opening track Last Call In America, a funky number that speaks to the sad state of affairs in contemporary USA featuring Parliament Funkadelic legend George Clinton, the scene is set for some hard core social commentary:
“Hatred has consumed the nation
And the guns keep firing, And it’s always us that takes the blame…”
Angelo Moore is in the mood to tell it like it is, living up to his self-stated aim.
“When both eyes are open… how can you not see what the fuck is going on in your society and not say something?” he said in May this year in a Q&A with stand-up comedian and TV host W. Kamau Bell at the Grammy Museum.
“It’s like holding in a turd and refusing to go to the toilet. It’s gonna get toxic.”
Adolescent Regressive Behaviour is an anarchic, chaotic song that channels one of the main themes of this album:
“Can’t move forward from what happened way back, Adolescent regressive behaviour”
As Moore explains about the Fishbone of old and why the name for this album – “At one point it started to transform into Fishbone penitentiary,” and goes on, “The music was good – fun times, some of the best shows ever. But that ain’t got nothing to do with the dysfunction that was part of the mix.”
Hence Stockholm Syndrome – praising your captors.
There’s more reflection in Suckered By Sabotage, starting out as raw punk thrash and breaking to reggae, moving between the two as the song progresses:
“Don’t show up for the gig, Now the crew that’s had your back is looking at you whack!”
The bi-polar nature of the music reflects the self-destructing story of the lyrics that refers to substance abuse, self-doubt, cowardice and overall disappointment. Moore is definitely facing up to the demons of his former self and the band of old.
Fishbone’s music has always varied between genres and Secret Police takes the album in a different direction sounding almost new wave in style. The overtly political song, written by second longest member of the band Christopher Dowd, is a commentary on racial hatred, inspired by the actions of Karl Rittenhouse.
“I thought that was pretty fucked up,” Dowd said of the incident in which Rittenhouse murdered several people after joining a local militia to protect businesses during unrest after the shooting by police of Jacob Blake in 2020.
“He should have learned to play the piano or saxophone or something,” Moore said. “Instead he was too backed up with shit and he had to go and do that instead.”
Dowd sings – “Donny hates chinks, niggas, wet backs and jews so he joined the armed forces for the red, white and blue… He’s been deployed to a town at a riot near you – He joined the Secret Police.”
Rittenhouse was acquitted of murder and has since appeared at several Republican events and conventions hailed as a hero. He even met with President Donald Trump who is referenced a number of times on this album.
“I haven’t slept right since that orange **** walked down that escalator…,” Dowd said of Trump.
Gelato The Clown is a playful tune with a strong message – don’t let the bastards get you down:
“If you gotta bully that’s bringing you down… doesn’t mean you have to let them crush your dreams.
The gods of karma are right on time…
A lesson taught to the tyrant that brings tears…
You’re gonna get a taste of your own medicine”
Moore sings with an obvious tilt to today’s White House.
Why Do We Keep On Dying is a classic reggae protest song:
“Am I subhuman to you? Though you’re mentally enslaved by the system you create to justify your lust and hate…”
You’ll want to sway along and join in the chorus, just as you did to Bob Marley.
And Hellhounds On My Trail is a vintage ska number, familiar to Fishbone fans:
“I got the police on my back with a billy club lodged in my sacroiliac… no protection, wrong complexion, movin’ in the wrong direction.
Every day my vote means less in a fair and free election!”
These themes are familiar to us all and need to be retold for fear of them being accepted as normal.
“You gotta put it in your music, your poetry,” Moore says. And he’s not wrong.
He’s not wrong, either, to have us dancing and having a great time while he does it.
In the song Racist Piece Of Shit, a full-noise ska jumparound, Trump gets another working over:
“You’re not a proud boy, you’re just a fuck boy drinking the kool aid of a mad Orange King…
Ohh, you’re just a racist piece of shit!”
This is classic Rude Boy music at its best!
All through this record the band belt out the music with verve and passion. Alongside Moore on vocals and saxophone are Christopher Dowd on keyboards, trombone and voice, James Jones on bass, former Fishbone member back for another stint Tracey ‘Spacey T’ Singleton on guitar, trumpet and vocals from John Williams II and drummer Hassan Hurd.
For all full-noise, fast-paced anger at modern-day America the final song, Love Is Love, is reminder that we need each other to build a better life, delivered in an almost late Beatles-style singalong:
“Black, white or brown. They, her and him. You’re beautiful the way you are…
How we gonna build each other up when we keep tearing each other down?
Love is love is love.”
As Angelo Moore says, “You gotta express your anger, your discomfort.” But adds, “(you got to) express your love too.”
Alex Robertson
Stockholm Syndrome is out now
Click here to watch the 13th Floor MusicTalk Interview with Fishbone
