Biography of Phish

During the early '80s, Phish emerged as the heirs to the Grateful Dead's throne. Although their music is somewhat similar to the Dead's -- it's an eclectic, free-form rock & roll encompassing folk, jazz, country, bluegrass, and pop -- the group adheres more to a jazz tradition than a folk tradition of improvisation and they have a looser, goofier attitude. After all, their drummer regularly plays a vaccuum during their concerts. Phish's main claim as the inheritors to the Dead's legacy is their approach to their musical career. The band didn't concentrate on albums, they dedicated themselves to live improvisation. Within a few years of their 1988 debut album, Phish had become an institution in certain sections of America, particularly college campuses. And their in-concert popularity didn't translate to record sales -- by the middle of the '90s, Phish was able to pack stadiums, but none of their albums had gone gold. Neverthless, the band was one of the most popular American groups of the '90s, cultivating legions of dedicated fans that followed the band from show to show and bought countless numbers of bootleg recordings.Guitarist/vocalist Trey Anastasio, drummer Jon Fishman, and guitarist Jeff Holdsworth formed the band in late 1983 while attending the University of Vermont. After meeting and jamming in their dormitory, the trio posted flyers across campus, recruiting a bassist. Mike Gordon answered the advertisement and he was soon added to the original lineup. The group began practicing regularly and they soon assembled a demo tape. At this time the group was called Blackwood Convention. The band played their first concert at a neighboring dormitory before the end of the year.During 1984, Anastasio took a semester off of college and concentrated on making music, recording a selection of songs on a 4-track tape machine. In the fall of 1984, Phish performed their first concert at Slade Hall at the University of Vermont. A few months later, they played the first of many gigs at Nectar's, a local Vermont bar. At this stage in their career, the band was agumented by percussionist Marc Daubert and, occasionally, a vocalist called the Dude of Life. Soon, the group was playing concerts on nearby campuses, including Goddard College's Springfest in 1985. Page McConnell organized the Springfest at Goddard and he became a fan of the band. Later in the year, after Anastasio and Fishman spent the summer busking in Europe, McConnell convinced the group to add him as a keyboardist in late 1985. Shortly after McConnell joined Phish, guitarist Holdsworth left the group. Throughout 1986, Phish play local Vermont bars. In the fall, Anastasio and Fishman transferred to Goddard College. For most of 1987, the band attended college and played gigs regularly. Early in 1988, Phish recorded Junta, which they sold at their shows as a cassette-only release. Also in 1988, the band founded the Oh Kee Pah Ceremony, a festival that that would become an annual ritual for the group and its fans. In 1989, the group played their first tour outside of New England, travelling through the South East. Phish also recorded their second album, Lawn Boy, in 1989, although the album wasn't released until the fall of 1990; the record was released on the independent record label Absolute A-Go-Go, a subsidiary of Rough Trade. By the time Lawn Boy appeared in stores, the band toured Colorado for the first time. By the end of the year, the a group of Phish fans established Phish.Net on the internet. The web site was the first indication of the dedication of the band's fans to the group's music.Throughout early 1991, Phish toured America, playing areas they had never reached before. During the summer, they recorded their third album, as well as a set of sessions with their old friend, the Dude of Life. Late in August, Rough Trade collapsed, taking Absolute A-Go-Go with it. Phish was left without a record contract but they were soon signed by Elektra Records. In February of 1992, A Picture of Nectar was released by Elektra. After its release, the group embarked on an extensive national tour, which was followed by their first European tour, during which they opened for the Violent Femmes. In the summer of 1992, Phish played a handful of shows on the first H.O.R.D.E. tour. Also that summer, Elektra reissued Lawn Boy and Junta.Rift, the band's fourth album and the first they recorded with a producer, appeared in February of 1993. After its release, Phish embarked on another American tour. During the tour, the group sold tickets that were specifically designed for fans taping the concert; all the taper's tickets were sold through their fan newsletter. Hoist, the band's fifth album, was released in 1994. "Down With Disease," one of the songs on Hoist, became the band's first video and it received some airply on MTV. Hoist sold better than the group's previous albums, which was an indication of how large the group's fan base had gotten. In the fall, Crimes of the Mind, the album Phish recorded with the Dude of Life in 1991, was released on Elektra Records. On Halloween of 1994, the band donned a "musical costume" and performed the Beatles' "White Album" in its entirety. The concert was part of an extensive American tour during which every show was taped. A selection of tracks were distilled for the double-live album, A Live One, which was released in the summer of 1995. Throughout 1995, they played occasional concerts, highlighted by their Halloween performance, where they played the Who's Quadrophenia in its entirety. In early 1996, Trey Anastasio released a solo side-project called Surrender to the Air, a free-form jazz album which featured contributions from a number of respected jazz artists. In April of 1996, Phish played the New Orleans Blues and Jazz Festival; the group attracted thousands of fans, who inadvertantly caused thousands of dollars of damage to the city. Following their performance, the organizers of the festival banned Phish from ever playing the festival again. During the spring Phish completed their sixth album, which was produced by Steve Lillywhite and released in the fall of the year. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine