Phish

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This article is about the band. For deceptive internet practices, see Phishing.
Phish

Phish was an American rock band noted for their extended jam sessions and musical improvisation. Formed at the University of Vermont in 1983, the band's four members performed together for over 20 years until their breakup in August 2004. Their music blends elements of a wide variety of genres[1], including rock, jazz, bluegrass, and funk. Each of their concerts was original in terms of the songs performed, the order in which they appeared, and the way in which they were performed.

Although the group received little radio play or MTV exposure, Phish developed a large and dedicated following by word of mouth, via Phish.net (originally a mailing list, then a Usenet newsgroup, now a website), and the exchange of live recordings. Rolling Stone calls Phish the "living, breathing, noodling definition" of a jam band, and states that the band grew "to become a cultural phenomenon, followed across the country...by thousands of new-generation hippies and hacky-sack enthusiasts"; moreover, the band helped to "... spaw[n] a new wave of bands oriented around group improvisation and superextended grooves." [2]

History

1983-1992

Phish was formed at University of Vermont in 1983 by guitarists Trey Anastasio and Jeff Holdsworth, bassist Mike Gordon and drummer Jon Fishman. For their first gig, a Halloween dance in the basement of the ROTC dormitory, the band was billed as Blackwood Convention, a reference to a bidding convention in contract bridge. Their second gig — and their first billed as Phish — was November 3 in the basement of Slade Hall at UVM,[3] though another source gives the date as December 2.[4] The band was joined by percussionist Marc Daubert in the fall of 1984;[5] he left the band early in 1985,[6] and Page McConnell joined on keyboards in September. Holdsworth left the group after graduation in 1986, solidifying the band's lineup of "Trey, Page, Mike, and Fish" — the lineup that would remain for the rest of the band's lifespan.[6]

Following a prank at UVM with his friend and former bandmate Steve Pollak — also known as "The Dude of Life" — Anastasio decided to leave the college. With the encouragement of McConnell (who received $50 for each transferee), Anastasio and Fishman relocated in mid-1986 to Goddard College, a small school in the hills of Plainfield, Vermont.[6] Phish distributed at least six different experimental self-titled cassettes during this era, including The White Tape.[7] This first studio recording was circulated in two variations: the first, mixed in a dorm room as late as 1985, received a higher distribution than the second studio remix of the original four tracks, circa 1987. The older version was officially released as The White Tape in 1998.[8]

By 1985, the group had encountered Burlington, Vermont, luthier Paul Languedoc, who would eventually design two guitars for Anastasio and two basses for Gordon. In October 1986, he began working as their sound engineer. Since then, Languedoc built exclusively for the two, and his designs and traditional wood choices have given Phish a unique instrumental identity.[9] Recently, however, Languedoc has begun crafting guitars on custom order and, on a very limited basis, to the general public through local music shops.

File:Old phish.jpg
Phish in the fall of 1986.

As his senior project, Anastasio penned The Man Who Stepped Into Yesterday, a nine-song concept album that would become their second studio experiment. Recorded between 1987 and 1988, it was submitted in July of that year, accompanied by a written thesis. Elements of the story — known as Gamehendge — grew to include an additional eight songs. The band performed the suite in concert on five occasions: in 1988, 1991, 1993, and twice in 1994 without replicating the song list.[10]

Beginning in the spring of 1988, the band began practicing in earnest, sometimes locking themselves in a room and jamming for hours on end. Dubbed "Okipa Ceremonies" (also spelled Oh Kee Pa), one such jam took place at Anastasio's apartment, and a second was at Paul Languedoc's house in August 1989.[11] The band attributes the sessions to Anastasio, who discovered the concept in the films A Man Called Horse and Modern Primitives.[12] As a result of this dedication, the band issued their first mass-released recording, a double album called Junta, later that year.

On January 26, 1989, Phish played the Paradise Rock Club in Boston, Massachusetts. The owners of the club had never heard of Phish and refused to book them, so the band rented the club for the night. The show sold out due to the caravan of fans that had traveled to see the band.[13]

By late 1990, Phish's concerts were becoming more and more intricate, often making a consistent effort to involve the audience in the performance. In a special "secret language,"[14] the audience would react in a certain manner based on a particular musical cue from the band. For instance, if Anastasio "teased" a motif from The Simpsons theme song, the audience would yell, "D'oh!" in imitation of Homer Simpson.ⓘ In 1992, Phish introduced collaboration between audience and band called the "Big Ball Jam" in which each band member would throw a large beach ball into the audience and play a note each time his ball was hit. In so doing, the audience was helping to create an original composition.

In an experiment known as "The Rotation Jam", each member would switch instruments with the musician on his left. On occasion, a performance of "You Enjoy Myself" involved Gordon and Anastasio performing synchronized maneuvers on mini-trampolines while playing their instruments.[15]

Phish, along with Bob Dylan, The Grateful Dead, and The Beatles, was one of the first bands to have a Usenet newsgroup (rec.music.phish), which launched in 1991. Aware of the band's growing popularity, Elektra Records signed them that year. The following year A Picture of Nectar was complete: their first major studio release, enjoying far more extensive production than either 1988's Junta or 1990s Lawn Boy. These albums were eventually re-released on Elektra, as well.

The first annual H.O.R.D.E. festival in 1992 provided Phish with their first national tour of major amphitheaters. The lineup, among others, included Phish, Blues Traveler, The Spin Doctors, and Widespread Panic. That summer, the band toured Europe with the Violent Femmes and later toured Europe and the U.S. with Carlos Santana.

1993-1995

Phish began headlining major amphitheaters in the summer of 1993. That year, the group released Rift packaged as a concept album and with heavy promotion from Elektra. In 1994, the band released Hoist. To promote the album, the band made their only video for MTV, "Down With Disease", airing in June of that year. On Halloween of that year, the group promised to don a fan-selected "musical costume" by playing an entire album from another band. After an extensive mail-based poll, Phish performed the 30-song, self-titled Beatles classic — better known as The White Album — as the second of their three sets at the Glens Falls Civic Center in upstate New York. Following the death of Grateful Dead frontman Jerry Garcia in the summer of 1995 and the appearance of "Down With Disease" on Beavis and Butthead, the band experienced a surge in the growth of their fan base and an increased awareness in popular culture.

File:Halloween 1995.jpg
Poster for Phish's 1995 Halloween extravaganza

In their tradition of playing a well-known album by another band for Halloween, Phish contracted a full horn section for their performance of The Who's Quadrophenia in 1995. Their first live album — A Live One — which was released during the summer of 1995 became Phish's first RIAA certified gold album in November 1995.[16]

During this fall tour, the band challenged their audience to two games of chess, with each show of the tour consisting of a pair of moves. The band made their move during the first set, and, during the break between sets, the audience members could vote on their collective move at the Greenpeace table. The audience conceded the first game at the November 15 show in Florida, and the band conceded the second at their New Year's Eve concert at Madison Square Garden. Having played only two games, the score remains tied at 1-1.[17] This year-end concert would later be named as one of the greatest concerts of the 1990s by Rolling Stone magazine.[18]

1996-2000

Phish retreated to their Vermont recording studio and recorded hours and hours of improvisations, sometimes overlaying them on one another, and used those tracks as a basis to write most of the songs on the second half of Billy Breathes, which they released in the fall of 1996. Alongside traditional rock-based crescendos, the album has more acoustic guitar than their previous records, and was regarded by the band and some fans[19] as their crowning studio achievement.

That summer, they mounted their first two-day festival — The Clifford Ball — at a decommissioned Air Force base in Plattsburgh, New York. Between 70,000 and 80,000 people were in attendance; MTV was on-hand to document the experience. In Phish's own makeshift city, Great Northeast Productions created an amusement park, restaurants, a post office, playgrounds, arcades, and movie theaters, and for two days Plattsburg AFB was the ninth largest city in New York. Aside from six "traditional" sets, the band rode a flatbed truck through the campground, serenading the audience at 3 a.m.[20] The concert's production company went on to host six more Phish festivals.

On October 31 1996 Phish covered the entire Remain in Light album by Talking Heads as part of the band's "Halloween musical costumes." This eventually contributed to speculation among Phishheads as to whether the term "jam band" should have a broader meaning and include more genres.[21]

By 1997 jams were becoming so long that several sets contained only four songs; their improvisational ventures were developing into a new funk-inspired jamming style. Vermont-based ice cream conglomerate Ben & Jerry's launched "Phish Food" that year and proceeds from the flavor are donated to the Lake Champlain Initiative. Part of Phish's new non-profit foundation, The WaterWheel Foundation was also comprised of two other now-defunct branches: The Touring Branch and the Vermont Giving Program.[22]

The Great Went, Phish's second large-scale festival, was held that summer at Loring Air Force Base in Limestone, Maine, just miles from the Canadian border. The band drew 65,000 people, qualifying the festival to be the largest city in Maine.[23] Band and audience collaborated yet again in a colossal work of art: individual pieces of art by fans were connected to a large piece of art by the band. A giant matchstick was lit, burning the resultant tower to the ground.[24]

The Story of the Ghost

Phish returned to Limestone in the summer of 1998 for the Lemonwheel festival, and 70,000 fans again made the event the largest city in Maine. Phish headlined Farm Aid in October, sharing the stage with Willie Nelson, Neil Young, and Paul Shaffer. Again, altering their approach to studio releases, the band recorded hours of improvisational jams over a period of several days and took the highlights of those jams and wrote songs around them. The result was The Story of the Ghost in October and the instrumental The Siket Disc released the following year. On Halloween in Las Vegas, Nevada, the group performed Loaded by The Velvet Underground; two nights later they played Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon unannounced and in its entirety to an audience of 4,000 in Utah.

In 1999, the band decided to forego the annual summer festival to prepare for the New Year's Eve millennium celebration. However, at the eleventh hour, Camp Oswego was held in July at the Volney Airport in upstate New York, with 65,000 in attendance.

For the Millennium Celebration, Phish traveled to the Big Cypress Indian Reservation in the Florida Everglades. Of the major New Years Eve concerts around the globe — Sting, Barbra Streisand, Billy Joel — at 85,000, Phish had the largest attendance of any paid concert event that night.[25] During ABC's millennium coverage, Peter Jennings and World News Tonight reported on the massive audience and featured the band's performance of "Heavy Things". Called "Big Cypress", the enormous festival culminated with an extended seven-and-a-half hour set that began at midnight and ended at sunrise.

2000 saw no Halloween show, no summer festival and no new songs: May's Farmhouse contained material dating from 1997. That summer, the band announced that they would take their first "extended time-out" following their upcoming fall tour.[26] During the tour's last concert on October 7, 2000 at the Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View, California, they played a regular show and left without saying a word as The Beatles' Let It Be played over the sound system.

The hiatus allowed the members of Phish to explore more deeply their musical side projects. Anastasio continued the solo career he'd begun two years earlier, formed the group Oysterhead, and began conducting an orchestral composition with the Vermont Youth Orchestra. Gordon made an album with acoustic guitar legend Leo Kottke and two films before launching his own solo career. Fishman alternated between Jazz Mandolin Project and his band Pork Tornado, while McConnell formed the trio Vida Blue.

2002-2004

Over two years after the hiatus began, Phish announced that they were getting back on the road with a New Year's Eve 2002 concert at Madison Square Garden. They also recorded Round Room in only three days. In their return concert, McConnell's brother was introduced as actor Tom Hanks. The doppelgänger sang a line of the song "Wilson", prompting several media outlets to report that the actor had "jammed with Phish."

At the end of the 2003 summer tour, Phish held their first summer festival in four years, returning to Limestone for It. The festival drew crowds of over 60,000 fans, once again making Limestone the most populous city in Maine. In December, the band celebrated its 20th anniversary with a 4 show mini-tour culminating at Boston's Fleet Center. During the Albany date on this tour, Phish invited founding member Jeff Holdsworth onstage for the first time since 1986.

In order to avoid the exhaustion and pitfalls of previous years' high-paced touring, Phish played sporadically after the reunion, with tours lasting about two weeks. After an April 2004 run of shows in Las Vegas, Anastasio announced on the band's website that after a small summer tour the band was breaking up. Their final album, Undermind, was released in late spring.

The band jammed with rapper Jay-Z at their second Brooklyn show in the summer of 2004, and performed a seven-song set atop the marquee of the Ed Sullivan Theater during The Late Show with David Letterman to fans who had gathered on the street, a move reminiscent of The Beatles' final performance on the rooftop of the Apple building in London. Their final show was also the last Phish summer festival — Coventry — named for the town in Vermont that hosted the event. 100,000 people were expected to attend, and it was simulcast to thousands more in movie theaters across America.

File:Pharewell.jpg
Phish's final bow, August 15, 2004

After a week of rain that prompted rumors of a sinking stage, Gordon announced on the local radio station that attendees should turn around, no more cars were being allowed in. As only about 20,000 people had been admitted, many concert-goers abandoned their vehicles on highway roadsides, shoulders and medians and hiked to the site, some as far as thirty miles. With the number of people that walked in, the crowd grew to an estimated 65,000 in attendance.

The band broke down crying onstage several times during the final concert, most notably when McConnell choked up during the ballad "Wading in the Velvet Sea" and elicited Anastasio to say a few words of farewell.

Coventry was an emotional goodbye for Phish and for its audience; an end to Phish's chapter in rock music. Without any help from radio, music television channels or album sales, Phish became one of the biggest live acts of all time. As Rolling Stone put it:[27]

Given their sense of community, their ambition and their challenging, generous performances, Phish have become the most important band of the Nineties.

Future plans

In a recent Sirius Satellite Radio interview, Anastasio mentioned a Phish reunion is "definitely not 100 percent out of the question." Gordon concurred, stating that "everybody's getting along really well. There's no reason it couldn't happen ... it would probably be a long time away ... I can never be sure, because I've never been able to predict the future."[28]

As for now, the members are busy with their own personal projects. Anastasio continued his solo career with his own band and performed with Oysterhead in June 2006. Gordon has played with Leo Kottke and the Benevento-Russo Duo. At Bonnaroo in 2006, he played with his newest project, Ramble Dove, which is the name of the country outfit he fronted in his directorial feature Outside Out, and has also joined Grateful Dead drummers Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann along with Steve Kimock as the Rhythm Devils. Anastasio and Gordon toured as a four-piece with the Benevento-Russo Duo in the summer of 2006. According to Gordon, McConnell "hasn't been as much in the public eye, but he's been working on an album for awhile now".[28] McConnell debuted his new solo project at a festival in September held by jam band moe. and released his self-titled debut on April 17, 2007. Fishman has performed occasional shows with the Everyone Orchestra and The Village, but has, for the most part, retired from the music business.

Music

Phish's musical ethos is a playful mix of improvisation, rock, jazz, bluegrass, reggae, Latin, heavy metal, folk, blues, barbershop quartet, country, progressive rock, acoustic, and classical. Some of their original compositions (such as "Theme from the Bottom") tend towards a psychedelic rock and bluegrass fusion, with more rock, jazz and funk elements than The Grateful Dead, The Allman Brothers Band and other earlier jam bands. Their more ambitious, epic compositions (such as "You Enjoy Myself" and "Guyute") are often said to resemble classical music in a rock setting, much related to the genre of progressive rock. All told, the band performed 620 individual compositions, of which 226 were originals (of the 244 they penned) and 394 covers.

Further information: Phish and their music

Discography

In addition to their thirteen studio-recorded albums, Phish has released a multitude of live shows: seven traditional live albums, and a series of 27 complete concerts called Live Phish. Phish has also released 6 videos, containing live concert footage and documentary material. The band's Junta went "Platinum", and the albums Lawn Boy, A Picture of Nectar, Rift, Hoist, Billy Breathes, and Farmhouse reached Gold status.

Further information: Phish discography

Concerts and fan base

The driving force behind Phish was the popularity of their concerts. Each one a production unto itself, the band would constantly change set lists, details, and add their own antics. With many fans flocking to the venues hours before they opened, the concert was the centerpiece of an event that included a temporary community in the parking lot, complete with "Shakedown Street": at times a garment district, art district, food court, or pharmacy.[29] For many, one concert was simply a prelude to the next as the community followed the band around the country.

Tickets by Mail

Fans were able to purchase tickets before the general public by using Phish Tickets By Mail, a mail-order service available through Phish.com or their newsletter, Doniac Schvice. Orders were filled on a first-come-first-served basis, making every attempt to return all orders before tickets went on sale through traditional outlets. In 2002, Phish abandoned the mail-in method of Tickets-By-Mail in favor of an Internet-based ticketing system, allowing ticket-seekers to submit all necessary information online. Abandoning the first-come-first-served philosophy, orders were instead filled by lottery.[30]

Fifth member

A dedicated group of fans — CK5 — unsuccessfully attempted to have Chris Kuroda officially recognized as a member of Phish. The band's lighting designer since 1989, Kuroda was completely responsible for the visual aspect of a Phish concert, establishing it as important as the aural. Each concert was an original experience, and Kuroda's ability to equate light and sound during an improvisational jam was unparalleled.[31]

Comparisons to the Grateful Dead

Phish is often compared to the Grateful Dead,[32] but the similarity is more cultural than musical. Fans of both bands would often tour for weeks at a time, travel from show to show, and support themselves by selling food and homespun goods to the pre-show parking lot community. It is worth noting that just as Jerry Garcia had frequently collaborated with a non-Dead member, lyricist Robert Hunter, Trey Anastasio frequently shares writing credit with lyricist and non-Phish member Tom Marshall.

The comparison extends to the business practices of both bands: the primacy of live shows over studio albums and commercial appearances, the fan-friendly taping policies[33][34] and generous archival release programs,[35][36] and the familial quality of the organizations themselves further align the legacies of the two bands.

Musically, the bands' similarity was more of ethic than aesthetic. Their embrace of group improvisation in a rock context is their unifying factor; however, Phish tended to more closely follow a jazz language or tradition in their playing (similar to The Allman Brothers Band),[37] which is very distinct from the Grateful Dead's roots in folk and Americana.[38]

Fan activities

Like the Grateful Dead before them, which had legions of loyal fans nicknamed Deadheads, fans of Phish — known as phans, phriends, phamily, Phishheads, or any number of ph-substituted appellations — have created over a dozen fan organizations. Maintained by fans for fans, these run the gamut of profit status, and indirectly work to the benefit of the band. Among the more noticeable groups is "The Phellowship", a group that celebrated seeing shows sober together,[39] and the "Green Crew" who worked after concerts removing trash and refuse.[40] People for a Louder Mike (PLM) was an informal effort to campaign for the increase of Gordon's bass in the mix,[41] and The Mockingbird Foundation is a fan-run charitable organization dedicated to music education for children. There are organizations for gays and lesbians[42] as well as female fans, and communities of fans on Usenet newsgroups such as rec.music.phish and on Phish.net.

Live recording circulation

Because Phish's reputation was so grounded in their live performances, concert recordings are commonly-traded commodities. Official soundboard recordings can be purchased through the Live Phish website, while legal bootlegs produced by tapers with boom microphones from the audience are frequently traded on any number of music messageboards. Phish fans have been noted for their extensive collections of fan-taped concert recordings; owning recordings of entire tours and years is widespread.

References

  1. ^ "Phish.Net FAQ Genres page". Retrieved 2007-03-14.
  2. ^ From the 2004 The New Rolling Stone Album Guide http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/phish/biography
  3. ^ "Phish FAQ". Retrieved 2007-03-09.
  4. ^ "Live Phish Download, 12/02/2003 Fleet Center, Boston, MA". Retrieved 2007-01-03.
  5. ^ Pharmer's Almanac: Vol 1, pg. 32 (1995)
  6. ^ a b c "The college years".
  7. ^ "Early demos".
  8. ^ "White Album".
  9. ^ "Paul Languedoc profile".
  10. ^ "The Man Who Stepped Into Yesterday".
  11. ^ "Oh Kee Pa Ceremonies".
  12. ^ Gehr, Richard, and Phish. The Phish Book . 1st ed. Burlington, VT: Villard, 1998.
  13. ^ "The Boston Globe, 11/30/03 archived on Nugs.net" (PDF).
  14. ^ www.phish.net - language
  15. ^ "Trampolines". Retrieved 2007-06-15.
  16. ^ ""List of Phish albums certified as gold or platinum" at riaa.com". Retrieved 2007-06-14.
  17. ^ ""What Does Chess Have to Do with Phish?" at Phish.net".
  18. ^ Fricke, David (September 30, 1999), "Phish", Rolling Stone, p. 60{{citation}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  19. ^ ""[Billy Breathes] is, even in the band's view, light years better than any of their previous studio efforts" - in Guitar World interview, archived at Phish.net".
  20. ^ "Phish.net account of "The Clifford Ball"".
  21. ^ Ghosts of Jam Bands Past: The Definition of a Jam Band Sister Mary Carmen, April 1999, Jamband.com, Retrieved September 9 2007
  22. ^ "Phish Food".
  23. ^ ""They Came, They Partied, They Went" by Chris Pollock, Washington Post, August18, 1997".
  24. ^ "Phish.com account of The Great Went".
  25. ^ "Official band history of 1999".
  26. ^ "Hiatus".
  27. ^ Rolling Stone review of Lemonwheel by Matt Hendrickson, pp.20-22, 10/1/98, Issue #792
  28. ^ a b "Phish Members for summer tour at Rollingstone.com by Benjy Eisen, [[May 3]], [[2006]]". {{cite web}}: URL–wikilink conflict (help)
  29. ^ Gibbon, Sean: Run Like an Antelope: On the Road with Phish, pg. 95, St. Martins, 2001
  30. ^ "Phish.net FAQ — Tickets by Mail". Retrieved 2007-03-09.
  31. ^ "Phish.net FAQ — Chris Kuroda". Retrieved 2007-03-09.
  32. ^ "For Phish fans who dig the road, the music never really stopped".
  33. ^ "Phish and Band Member Taping Policy".
  34. ^ "Grateful Dead vs. Archive.org and The Fans".
  35. ^ "Live Dead, Archive Releases of the Grateful Dead".
  36. ^ "Live Phish, Archive Releases of Phish".
  37. ^ "Interview: Trey Anastasio, the brains behind Phish, plays from the heart on Billy Breathes - December 1996".
  38. ^ "Grateful Dead: Debut Article".
  39. ^ "Phish.net FAQ — The Phellowship". Retrieved 2007-03-09.
  40. ^ "Phish.net FAQ — The Green Crew". Retrieved 2007-03-09.
  41. ^ "Homepage, People for a Louder Mike". Retrieved 2007-03-09.
  42. ^ "BrianRobert.com — Association of gay and lesbian Phish fans". Retrieved 2007-03-09.

External links

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