Gone Phishing

One of my favorite bands is Phish.  I have only been listening to them for a small fraction of their career, yet I feel like I've been a fan forever.  Unless you are one of my college buddies (hey guys!), you may not know much about them, and you probably haven't heard their music.  So I'm here to tell you why you need to give them a listen.

Phish played their first gig at the University of Vermont at an ROTC dance in 1983.  That was the year I was born.  So they've been around awhile and they have a history.  I'll try and keep it concise and focus on their music.  Basically, you need to know that they've gone on "hiatus" twice, one of which was supposed to be a permanent break-up in 2004.  So the current era is considered to be Phish 3.0.  I attended my first Phish show on New Years Eve at Madison Square Garden in 2002, which was also their first show back after their first "hiatus."  It was a great show, although looking back and listening again, it was admittedly a little shaky in spots.  However, it still got me hooked.

Phish is Trey Anastasio (guitar), Mike Gordon (bass), Page McConnell (keyboards), and Jon Fishman (drums).  One of the reasons I am drawn to their music is that it can not easliy be placed in any particular genre or category.  You will soon see what I mean.  The big umbrella label they are often given is simply "jamband" due to their large amount of improvisation, or jamming.  Some call them the successors to the Grateful Dead due to their jamming and extremely loyal fans who follow them around the country.  There are definitely some common characteristics between the two, but Phish is most certainly its own entity.  Phish is known for their live performances, moreso than their studio albums.  So to get a true taste of the band, be sure to check out their live recordings.  You can find a recording of just about any Phish show they've ever played due to the fact that they allow fans to tape and trade their shows.  This is a huge part of their scene.

Now let's get to the music.  Improvisation has always been central to their music, much in the tradition of jazz.  However, they have funky songs, bluegrass songs, blues songs, rock songs, jazz songs, cover songs, reggae songs, ballads, psychedelic songs, and even acapella songs.  They are known for using humor in their songs and live shows (Fishman sometimes plays the vacuum - literally), and have often played tricks on the audience.  They play while jumping on trampolines, and sometimes switch instruments.  Some of their music has even been arranged for orchestras.  For their halloween shows, they typically will cover some other bands' album from start to finish.  They've covered the Beatles' White Album, The Who's Quadraphenia, The Talking Heads' Remain In The Light, The Rolling Stones' Exile on Main Street, and most recently Little Feat's Waiting For Columbus.

Some of my favorite Phish songs (the short list):
You Enjoy Myself
Tweezer
Down With Disease
Chalkdust Torture
The Curtain (With)
Reba
46 Days
Wilson
Divided Sky
Julius
David Bowie
Stash

Some cover songs in their regular rotation:
Loving Cup - The Rolling Stones
Frankenstein - Edgar Winter
Roses Are Free - Ween
A Day In The Life - Beatles
Bold As Love - Jimi Hendrix
Drowned - The Who
Johnny B. Goode - Chuck Berry
Rock n' Roll - The Velvet Underground

Phish sells out major venues and are continually at the top of annual ticket sales each year.  Yet somehow they remain under the radar of pop culture.  You won't hear their latest hit on the radio, but they are still able to sell millions of tickets every year because of a strong grassroots fanbase.  They will be playing four shows at Madison Square Garden in New York City in December, concluding with a New Year's Eve show.  They have sold 80,000+ tickets to their own festivals in remote locations, including their most recent Superball IX in Watkins Glen, NY over the July 4 holiday weekend in 2011.  Phish 3.0 has made a strong comeback with healthier, cleaner, and more mature band members.  I'm a huge fan of the current era of Phish, and hope they continue making music together for years to come.