"3 Strange Days" by School of Fish

   Hey everybody! The Dial has pulled another faint signal out of space and time, in order to transmit to this very blog, and thus, your speakers. Settle in for School of Fish, and their tale of “Three Strange Days”!

I have to begin by giving a shout out to my friend Heath, a loyal Radio Dial follower, and a co-worker of mine from the days in which I worked at the Waves Music record store in St. Charles Towne Center mall over 20 years ago! (Great memories of the 90s!)

He reminded me of the current spotlighted tune, which I hadn’t heard in years. Once I pulled it up online, I knew I he had directed me to a perfect Radio Dial entry. Thanks for checking in, Heath! Now, on with the spotlight!

“For three strange days, I had no obligations… My mind was a blur, I did not know what to do...”

Taken from the band’s 1991 debut self-titled LP, “Three…” peaked at #6 on the US modern rock chart, and #12 at US mainstream rock. I was quite impressed by this tune back then, and waited for it to scale the hot 100, but it never did. I really think it was shortsighted of Capitol Records (their label at the time) NOT to promote “Three…” to pop/top 40 outlets. Okay, so it probably wouldn’t have reached the top 10, in an era in which artists like Paula Abdul, Boyz II Men, Color Me Badd, and Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch dominated the hot 100, but I think it at least would have reached the top 30.

Searching online about the meaning behind the song, I found a variety of interpretations, with the majority leaning toward a drug trip, primarily LSD. But other credible expositions include that the song is about losing a job, and the resultant three days of deep depression, or that it details the mental after effects of an emotional traumatic experience, as with the collapse of a romance. There’s also multiple discussions about the meaning behind the line... “Johnny Clueless with his simulated woodgrain” that really delves into some deep metaphysical stuff. I’ll let you choose whether to explore those topics any further. I simply tend to think it’s about a drug trip, nothing more, nothing less.

Of additional note is the single’s B-side, an appropriately alt-rocked rendition of Prince’s 1982 classic “Let’s Pretend We’re Married”, in which the original tune’s particularly risqué lyric regarding “Marsha” was left intact, but is largely buried in the mix near the end of the tune.

School of Fish managed to avoid the one-hit wonder label with 1993’s “Take Me Anywhere” from the Human Cannonball LP (their second album), which peaked at #5 on the US Modern rock chart, but just like its predecessor, did not crack the hot 100.

“I think I lost myself, when I lost my motivation… Now I’m walking ‘round the city, just waiting to come to…”

Tragically, lead singer, songwriter and founding member Josh Clayton-Felt succumbed to cancer at the age of 32 on January 19, 2000. Following his two School of Fish LPs, he released two solo LPs, and two posthumous albums, one of which was a tribute LP containing unreleased material from Josh and songs written for him by various friends within the music industry.

Guitarist and co-founding member Michael Ward joined the Wallflowers in 1995 and contributed to their debut hit LP Bringing Down the Horse, and its various hit singles, “6^th Avenue Heartache” (US #33), “One Headlight” (US #2), and “The Difference” (US #23). He also appeared on the band’s cover of David Bowie’s “Heroes”, a US #26 hit from the soundtrack of the 1998 Godzilla movie.

The other members of SOF, Dominic Nardini (on bass, and tambourine) appears to have retired from the music scene following the dissolution of the group, but drummer Michael “M.P.” Petrak later joined punk act Samiam, and appeared on their recordings from 1995 through 1999.

The School of Fish self-titled LP was released on April 1, 1991 (no joke!), several months ahead of the album that would drastically shift the direction of rock music, Nirvana’s legendary “Nevermind”, which dropped on Sep 24 of the same year. Once Kurt, Krist, and Dave’s masterpiece was released (accompanied by Soundgarden’s “BadMotorFinger”, and Pearl Jam’s “Ten”, which were released right around that same time as well), then all eyes and ears were on grunge and alternative rock. I believe that School of Fish, while not exactly grunge, certainly would have benefitted from the increased attention on alt rock had their album come out later in the year, during this groundswell of interest in the genre. Maybe more singles would have been released, or perhaps “Three…” would have been their big break into the mainstream. We can only wonder. One thing that is certain, these guys deserved to be bigger.

So check out the tune and video below, and drift back to a simpler time in music that is unbelievably nearly a full three decades past. And if any of my other Dial followers would like to suggest a song, by all means please do so! You may just enlighten me to a song I had forgotten about!

“It was completely still, except the pounding of my heart… bringing me back to life, from three strange days… Three strange… Three strange days.”