Whether you’re an authentic, gray haired, patchouli wearing hippy that followed Hunter S. Thompson like a messiah, an over privileged trust-fund fashion hippy, a white capped, LaCoste belt wearing, pop your collar prep-hippy, a headie, or an average Joe you’ve surely heard of Phish (sorry for the cliches). And the funny thing is, Phish NEVER had mainstream play, it was their live shows and their famous Phish tours and Phish festivals that put them on the map. I must admit, I was 14 years old the first time I heard of Phish. I was still sporting the bowl cut and the Army green “Bush” T-shirt with the M*A*S*H logo on the front. Wearing some pretty heavy braces, I beamed as my childhood friend Sean handed me my first Phish ticket and said…”Wash uffitze drive me to firenze” And with a swipe of my hands and a confused look on my face the rest is history my friends…

Phish has a pretty extensive history, and what kind of borderline-obsessive fan would I be if I didn’t give you the whole spiel?

Guitarists Trey Anastasio, full name Ernest Joseph Anastasio III, Jeff Holdsworth, drummer Jon Fishman and bassist Mike Gordon met and formed Phish. what was then called Blackwood Convention, in 1983 at UVM. The band gained local popularity as percussionist Marc Daubert joined the band in 1984 , only to leave in 85′ and be replaced by Page McConnell on keyboards. After graduating from UVM, Holdsworth became disheartened by the music scene, left the band and the music business completely.  With the full lineup in place as Trey, Fish (Jon Fishman), Mike and Page Phish released six independent albums- one of which was The White Tape re released in 1998.

Steadily gaining popularity among fans that happened to encounter them Phish live, they began a period of locking themselves away to jam for days on end. These sessions, termed “Okipa Ceremonies”, eventually became 1988’s The Man Who Stepped into Yesterday, a senior study by Trey. Having been compared to The Chronicles of Narnia and The Lizard King, The Man Who Stepped into Yesterday tells the tale of life in the fictional world of Gamehenge. Later on that year, the band recorded Junta which contained a major amount of improv and is one of my personal favorites. Lawn Boy, released in 1990, contained more progressive styles and a dash of bluegrass.

By 1992 Phish had begun its first national Phish tour with big names like Blues Traveler, WSP (Widespread Panic) and The Spin Doctors (as a side note, “Little Miss Can’t be Wrong” makes me feel sooooo old! Do you remember the video with the paint cans? Classic…) By 1993 Phish was headlining their own tour on the heels of their 5th and 6th releases, Rift, and Hoist in 1994. Following the death of Jerry Garcia and the release of their only video “Down with Disease” of the Hoist album, Phish became more and more popular.

Following the release of “Down with Sickness” Phish would earn their first RIAA certified gold status with the album A Live One. As their first live album, A Live One contained Phish songs from tours throughout 1994; the album went on to receive platinum status in 1997. It was in 1995 that Phish, again, made use of their “Okipa Ceremony” type retreats to record Billy Breathes, their eighth studio album and what most fans consider to be their piece de resistance. Even Rolling Stone agreed, saying that, “Billy Breathes is a living thing, low in irony and high in deceptively laid-back ambition. Consider it a breath of fresh air from the country’s biggest cult act.”

It was shortly after the release of Billy Breathes that Phish embarked on their first privately run festival in Plattsburgh, New York – The Clifford Ball (to read more about The Clifford Ball go to the Phish Festivals page).  By 1997, the year that A Live One went platinum, Phish was composing jams so lengthy, some sets were only four songs long (which helps when you’re on your noodle game, check out some top notch noodling below).

Ben & Jerry’s had just introduced Phish Food – a tasty concoction of chocolate ice cream mixed with marshmallow, caramel and fish-shaped fudge chunks ( kind of like your typical rocky road, but better). Part of the proceeds went to the WaterWheel Foundation, the Lake Champlain Initiative and the Vermont Giving and Touring Branch programs. A second festival, The Great Went, also occurred in 1997 (again see more info in the Phish Festivals page).

After the Lemonwheel festival of 1998, and in the the Okipa tradition, The Story of the Ghost (1998) and The Siket Disc (2000) , their ninth and tenth albums, were released. The Story of the Ghost, considered their funkiest album allowed Mike Gordon to take more improvisational liberties, a pretty good decision in my opinion. The Siket Disc was available through their notorious website mail ordering system in 1999 and was officially released in CD form in 2000. With the rising popularity of ambient music, think Stars of the Lid and Richard Bone, and films incorporating this type of music , think Donnie Darko, Phish integrated this style into The Siket Disc – with much success, it’s one of my personal favorite soundtracks for aimless driving.

Skipping their annual summer festival experience, Phish opted for an intense rehearsal period for their upcoming millennium bash “Big Cypress” at the Big Cypress Indian Reservation in the Everglades. With over 85,000 people scrambling for Phish tickets, Phish had the largest audience of any artist performing that night (that includes Billy Joel!).

The last album released by Phish after their first “break” was 2000’s Farmhouse with collaboration from Tony Markellis, Russ Lawton, Tom Marshall and Scott Herman. Each song was a rehashing of Phish’s previous work and included their biggest single of all time “Heavy Things” which reached #22 on Billboard’s Adult Top 40.

“Heavy Things” (sorry no visuals guys…)

After 17 years as a band and 1,300 (!!!) concerts together, Phish called it quits, walking off the Shoreline Amphitheatre stage in 2000 with the recording “Let it Be” by The Beatles playing to a stunned audience. During their two year hiatus, Mike Gordon recorded an album with Leo Kottke and directed two movies Outside Out and Rising Low before ultimately performing solo. (If you’re a guitarist or bassist, these are two must-see movies). Trey continued his solo career and formed Oysterhead with Primus lead singer and bassist Les Claypool (see photo taken from Bonnaroo 2006 below and my favorite Osyterhead song – “Little Faces”).

It had to be about 95 degrees in Manchester, typical Tennessee weather for June, and Trey and Les played to an audience who seemed to be more enthusiastic to see them then the headliner- Beck (and I don’t blame them).

“Little Faces” (Not my video- thanks to the cats over at Bonnaroo.com)

McConnell created the short-lived jazz/electronica fusion band, Vida Blue, and Fishman divided his time between Pork Tornado, a country-based side project formed in 1997, and the Jazz Mandolin Project which has been around for just about 15 years.

After that two year break, and the end of my insanity, Phish announced their return with a New Years Eve Phish concert in 2002 at Madison Square Garden. This show is most famous for the appearance of McConnell’s brother Steve, who strikes such a striking likeness to Tom Hanks that newspapers around the world reported the actor’s jam session with the band (catch an article here). At the end of their 2003 Phish tour, they returned to Limestone for a summer festival that once again sold out to a HUGE audience of 60, 000. And later on that year, at the band’s 20th Anniversary show in Boston, Jeff Holdsworth took center stage as temporary lead and founder of Phish for a 30 minute set (a noble and totally nostalgic move in my opinion).

After a few short-lived tours, mostly lasting a couple of weeks at a time, Phish announced once again that they were breaking up and their final album Undermind was released a month later. Their last festival to date was coined Coventry and had an expected 110,000 Phish ticket holders. However, a storm quickly reduced that number (see the full story on the Phish Festivals page).

During the past four years between Phish’s break up and Phish’s reunion, each band member, with the exception of Fishman, maintained their respective solo and side projects. Mike Gordon continued with Leo Kottke and the Benevento/Russo Duo and his new band- Ramble Dove, a honky tonk super group (which I missed at Bonnaroo 2006 during G. Love’s performance). Trey has continued with his solo career, (actually there’s a Trey Anastasio tour going on right now so expect photos soon! I got my tix there for the Chevrolet Theater performance on Oct 17th!) while McConnel released a debut solo album in 2007.

At the moment, the only information I have available is that Phish tickets to their three day show at The Hampton Coliseum will be up for grabs quite soon, (there are a few websites on here that I’m linking to just because I’ve had luck with them in the past, so bear with me if this site looks Phishy haha!). My purpose is to make my personal knowledge available to you about a band I am extremely passionate about, so by posting links to available tickets, tour info, scheduling etc…I hope to boost interest in a band I thought I’d lost forever. So, please join me in experiencing an American staple, it will change your life…I promise.