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 Archives "What is Phish?"
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Last Updated: Monday, 18-Nov-2002 06:18:59 EST
What is Phish?
Members of the band have provided the following answers in different interviews:
"Phish is...a cross between East Coast rock-a-suey and rock donkey dunkel."- Trey Anastasio, in an NPR interview.
"We play authentic Jamaican roots reggae."- Mike Gordon, in the Döniac Schvice.
Phish fans describe Phish in many ways...
"All popular music between Phish and Glad All Over by the Dave Clark Five in 1964 has been a terrible mistake. Either you are glad all over, or you are dirt. Phish makes you glad all over."- Charles M. Young, Night of the Noodle Dancers, Musician, September 1994
Who is Phish?
Phish is a band from the Burlington-area in Vermont. Formed in 1983 and modified around 1986 when second guitarist Jeff Holdsworth left and pianist Page McConnell joined, Phish is: Trey Anastasio, Mike Gordon, Jon Fishman, and Page McConnell. Trey and Mike play guitar and bass guitar respectively. Jon plays the drums and Page plays keyboards.
What Does Phish Sound Like?
According to bassist Mike Gordon, Phish plays "bluegrass, Latin, rock, funk, classical, jazz, calypso, hard-core, and Broadway." Sometimes these styles are employed individually, other times they are fused together. Phish's music is characterized by simple lyrics, sophisticated instrumentals, extensive musical communication, and extended improvisation. Some of Phish's songs conform to conventional concepts of popular music, other songs serve as frameworks for improvisation.
What Makes Phish Unique?
Phish brings together technical skill, stylistic variety, tremendous understanding of music, creativity, and a willingness to experiment. These attributes in combination set Phish apart from most other musicians. Phish is a live band. Their albums are interesting and entertaining but do not define the band as their performances do.
- Christopher Wicklein <chrisw@ais.net>
http://www.cl.ais.net/chrisw/
Mike, Trey, Fish, and Page are the puppeteers that, when performing, use their instruments to make me act out sensless and unexpected original dances, which have no relevence on this planet...... Alien Theory?- D. Sheridan, Austin Tx
Phish is like jumping off the empire state building and landing on a giant jell-o mold. Sometimes you bounce, and sometimes you go through the surface and get stuck in the middle with the rest of the fruit.- Matt Caruso
I have seen Phish two different times. I fell deeply in love. I had luck in the parking lot of the Polaris Ampitheatre of Ohio and watched, within feet of me, a regular Mike Gordan, on a golf cart, play a small song for a small group of amazed phish-phans. It was so real. Phish personifies music. Music is merely a tool in which to communicate, Phish gives you a pallet in which to discover the different colors and textures of your own mind. It communicates with you and you communicate with it....For me Phish is more than a band; it is the greatest sound that has ever entered my ears and helps me get away from the everyday scheduled life that I lead. I thank them for the music and the great joy that it has brought me.- Kelly Toole mmmthc@hotmail.com
To me Phish is inspiration to open your mind to bigger and better things. Phish has the undeniable ability to capture the hearts of men and women, young and old . With so many styles, I think anyone could find themselves jamming to at least one song. They are my umbrella on a rainy day, and always there just when you need them. Basically, they're the best friend you could ever have; providing you with just what you want when you want it...in other words they totally kick ass!- Tamara ;)
Phish is sassy. 'Nuff said.- ben
Phish is like a good feeling; and like a good feeling you can't help sharing it, and you cant help but smile.- adam horne
Phish is a religious experience. Any Phish show is a pilgrimage to those who are there. It's not something you just go to, or just happen upon, it's the culmination of all your dreams right smack dab in the middle of reality. It is a pilgrimage. When the lights go out your journey is complete, yet just beginning. The time has come to be deluged with the most spiritual sounds, images and thoughts. When it's over the journey simply begins again.- Sean Blocher
Phish is responsible for one less cadaver-hacking miscreant practicing medicine today...- Dex
When you're a little kid and you're swimming with all of your friends, there is splashing, laughing, screaming, and all around noise. You are on the side of the pool taking it all in, then you decide to jump into the deep part on a whim. Suddenly, you go from pure chaos to pure harmony as you glide almost weightlessly underneath everything. The noises you heard before are now completely muffled and slow. You have temporarily left the world as you know it and escaped to one of peace. But right before you made this transition, you made a splashing sound when breaking the surface-almosta *phishhhhhhhhh* sound. That sound and that transition...that's Phish to me.- Jason Vytlacil and Nick Bommarito
what is phish? what isn't it?- LndaLwrnc@aol.com
Phish is like sex with a different person every night. The music is and always will be the same, but there are major differences in how it's performed that make it exciting and unexpected.......until the vacuum cleaner is brought in.
- Robb Barrett
Phish is Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and a Thanksgiving dinner all at once!!!!!- Steve Tolve
"Phish is the drug that Huey Lewis was talking about. It gets you up in the morning, and puts you to sleep at night, and helps you forget about how screwed up everything around you is. Phish makes you laugh, makes your careless, and makes you forget about where you are. Phish is the lamest coolest band in the world.- magilla28@aol.com
Phish is the synergy of every object and being on earth. And they're kinda cute, too.- Phishman52@aol.com
Well, in my estimation, Phish can be considered so many things. They play all the musical ranges from rock to straight out funk. There music captivates the listner, as almost taking you through a journey in your mind. It causes sensations in your body that I can't even begin to explain to you. The Phish albums don't do the band justice. The only true way to understand is to go to a show and here them live.- Anthony Verre
When the song starts I'm here, and it's like two people dancing, then a third, then a fourth, then fifteen minutes later I'm on the moon and I forget what you just said. I think that is what Phish is.- Spee
Phish is the delightful shiver you get sometimes get when you take off your clothes in a chilly bathroom, just before you jump into a warm steamy shower.- Nick Dellinger, <ndelling@vt.edu>
Phish is the bright side of life!- Bart00000@aol.com
to me Phish is a living, breathing, community. I've never met a Phishhead i didn't like. We carry most of the same ideals and thoughts. We jam through the music together, just like Phish jams through us. It's as if were speaking the same language. A language of just pure, great, music.- kristyo
What is Phish? Why, it is a major portion of the soundtrack of my life.- Aaron Goldfeder
aaron@somewebsite.com
phish is the feeling inside you get when energy curls up from your toes, flows through your body, and overflows spilling out of your mouth in cheer for the most human experience of joy.- Phish4Head@aol.com
I've tried to explain it, but to someone who's never been to a show, it's impossible. Phish is music to get lost too. it's something to listen to and, no matter how many times you've heard the song, it never sounds the same. You can just sit back and chill or get up and dance. Phish is energy through sound and crowd. Phish is something to do on a rainy day.- Thomas Baker
<baker@li-fish.net>
The splendor of life. The sun is brighter, the sounds are clearer, and the world is even more beautiful with Phish dancing in my soul.- <jlgillies@email.msn.com>
While most music stops at your ears, Phish tunes fly thru your ears and penetrate your soul. It seeps into your limbs, forcing them to dance uncontrolably. Next it crawls to your cranium pulling a smile to your face as it gently massages your brain. Oh, did I mention it sounds nice too.- Michael Goldstein
golder@mktmakers.com
Phish is that taste or smell of something in your past that makes you smile.- ktrout@gateway.net
To me, Phish is like Christmas. I await each show with anticipation, and each song played is like a new gift opened.- Denise Teresa Delamore-Yeggy
ddelamor@blue.weeg.uiowa.edu
Phish is the greatest band on the planet. Only a few months and shows into my fandom, I already felt like I knew the band. Mike is the quiet, bizarre one. Trey is the outgoing one. And so forth. They're human beings. One of the greatest things I ever heard was when Trey played a tape recording to the crowd of his newborn daughter's crying. I think that's incredible.Any band that tells their new label that it's allow taping or no contract is great.
Any band that flew in a humungous hotdog while playing Auld Lang Syne in Boston Garden on New Year's Eve is Damn Great. Any band that did what Phish did at the Great Went with the collaborative art structure (and especially its fiery destruction) is Fucking Great.
Any band that learns Dark Side of the Moon the day of the show they play it at to give the pathetically half-full Utah venue a treat is simply the Greatest Band in the World.
And on top of that, they play kick-ass music.
What more could I ask for?
- Mark Toscano
Phish is my travel agent ... and they're damn good at it too :-D- debz
Phish is a golorious cacaphony of strange noises. They just make the world a better place to live in. They make me proud to be a human!- Lisa Volpe
An amazing phenomenon, especially on stage. A resevoir of pure talent, as well as creativity. Something, that by just listening to, brightens your day. Last of all, Phish is an unusual breed of musicians that won't falter under the pressures of the corporate musical industry.- Drema Banta
<banta@fuse.net>
Phish is the brink of insanity.- Jenni Kegley <kegley@prodigy.net>
PHISH is what makes me feel like I'm on the playground in elementary school again. That's enough of the real world - I'm At recess.- John
The Phish Experience is, to borrow the phrase from Leary et al., "Surfing the Chaos". The chaos itself is not what makes Phish stand with few peers, if any, on the top of the musical world, it is the dynamic that they cover within that chaos. When you are completely into a tight Phish tune that seems as though you have heard it your whole life, which slowly expands into a jam that completely loses you in its twists, turns, teases and syncopations, only to find yourself saying "Holy Shit! They're still in the middle of (insert great Phish song)!" -- you know what the Phish experience is all about.With great awe for the power of Phish,
-MUMBY
"Phish is a unique musical organization, headed by four extremely talented musicians with one purpose in mind...."Sharin in the Groove!"Other bands could stand to learn a real life lesson from Phish, (If you wish to be successful, you must take care of those who support you.) No other band that I know of pays a much attention to their fans as Phish does. Thus, the sense of community one feels when belonging to the Phish nation completes the circle of satisfaction that surrounds this band.
Peace out:)
- Bor Draw (Rob Ward)
Phish is the reason my leased car has gone over the mileage limit.- Sean Brady
Phish is. Phish is the other side of the mirror. Phish is also good times. Phish is the song in your head when you hear no music. Phish is everything and nothing at all. Phish is deep.I also wrote a poem:
phish is like a peanut butter and jelly
sandwich- Nicholas Setteducato <nsettedu@stern.nyu.edu>
Describing phish, giving the vibe a name or description would only diminish it to plain language. It is undescribable. The feeling, the energy, it would be like giving orgasm adjectives - you can't describe an experience so spiritual or moving. What I can say is Phish is that moment in Antelope when the song goes from silly repetitive to serious in five notes.- randy phreedman
What is Phish? a musical journey through a topography lesson. They set the music to a trip upstream, over a mountain until you break into clouds and float into another plane where you find yourself climbing a river and swimming a mountain.- James O'Melia
Restcat@aol.com
"I've always thought of Phish as a very hot bar band with a gift for improvisation who evolved and developed a progressively larger following through hard work and persevereance. The band is steeped in rock history, the members having grown up during the 1970's, and born among the music of the 1980's (and the 80's influence stays with them to this day). They are now a touring entity that will play on for a very long time, and perhaps eventually develop a legendary status not unlike the Grateful Dead's, but at the same time alltogether Phish-like in nature."- Kirk Johnson <newkirk@olympus.net>
"Phish is the coolest nerds in the world"- Doug Milam via Bob Mihalek <mihalek@ohioonline.net>
"Phish is a lifestyle, a way of thinking. It is a way of allowing your mind to roam freely to sound of music. It is a way of exploring yourself, your surroundings, and those around you. That which is logical is insignificant, yet at the same time, important. It is the unexpected, yet better than your wildest expectations. It is serious, while at the same time, resounding with childish freedom. Most of all, it exists for you and because of you."- Brian <brc3818@aol.com>
"Phish is the epitome of spiritual and musical creaminess!"- <Quaver@Delphi.Com>
Interesting query, that. What IS Phish? In my humble opinion Phish is a band made up of 4 unbelievably talented musicians gifted in the art of improvisation.
That would be your average textbook definition if such a definition existed but there's so much more to it than that, it's really hard to explain it to someone that is unfamiliar with them, there is no way to make them understand what the music does to you, how it makes you feel, why you HAVE to move when you hear it.
I've tried several times to explain what Phish is to friends, co-workers and associates because they have a tough time understanding my pre-occupation with this strange band they've never heard of. I've played tapes for them, tried to give them an idea of what the shows are like, explained the sense of community one feels at a show even though the fans come from all walks of life, etc. They just don't get it no matter what questions they ask, what examples I give them so really I think for one to fully understand what Phish is one would have to find out for oneself. It's like trying to explain what Love feels like to someone who's never felt it, you just can't do it. It has to be taken in and experienced for yourself...plus there's the fact that Phish means different things for different people so my take on it could be completely different from somone elses. You listen, you feel and you make it your own so if you're interested enough to find out for yourself what Phish is go to a show, get some tapes and talk to some people...it's always good to have more than one opinion so check it out and see what you find.
- Tina Campbell <phishphreak@xensei.com>
"Phish is a time to relax, kick back, and relieve yourself of all your worries. In times of trouble, a little Phish in my stereo is good enough to make things better."- Sean Nowlin <hide@en.com>
http://www.en.com/users/hide
"It trancends mere classifications. It is Rhythm and Blues. It is Jazz. It is Psychedelic Show Tunes. It is Phish, and it is more fun than sex in guacamole."- From a review in the Vermont Vanguard (now defunct), September 29th, 1988
(Thanks to Mike Rowe for supplying this quote!))
"Phish is rock music's biggest dirty little secret."- Spin Magazine
(Thanks to Dan Hantman for supplying this quote!)
"Phish is that warm, fuzzy feeling I get just before I drift off into sweet slumber....."- Jay Caples
"Phish is like Frank Zappa and Carmen Miranda having non-gravitational sex in a hot molecule oven!"- Yangety Ed
Phish, to me, first of all, is about great music. Not even "great". Music is a way of expressing feeling that goes beyond the capabilities of words, so how can one describe the music? Phish plays the type of music that finds a way to get deep inside of me into areas where most music cannot get to. The music of Phish can fit almost any mood I am in. It changes, not with me, but because of me. Phish's music will always remain personal to anyone who can truly hear it.
The question "What is Phish?" obviously has a different answer for every person it is asked of. This, to me, is another appeal of the music. No phish fan will forget their first concert, or when they first REALLY got into the band. Yet, every time you meet someone new who likes phish as well, they seem to listen to the music at a completely different angle. You talk with them, discuss the music with them and it is like discovering Phish all over again. The music has an infinite quality about it.
- Glen
g.cochrane@utoronto.ca
"Phish is that delightful feeling you get while sitting atop the washing machine as it goes into the spin cycle."- Dan Hantman
dan@netspace.org
Phish to me, is the embodiment, of everything that pop music in the commercialized 90's is not. Phish to me is superband. Able to rise to great peaks with little effort, able to play any form of music anywhere, anytime, and make it sound phat. PHISH IS THE COHESIVE DISBURSEMENT OF PURE, ENERGETIC JOY, NO ONE PART GREATER THAN THEIR SUM, THAT SEEMS NEVER LOSES LUSTER, AND OOZES WITH CREATIVITY. Phish is one of the last vestiges of great American adventure (being on tour). I love phish more than anything in the entire world, so essentially, phish is life. It doesn't matter how many shows I've went to , or what songs I've heard, there's no where else I'd like to be. As long they keep it real, count me in for the long haul. PHISH IS SALVATION."- J.C., AKA BRAMAN420@ROCKETMAIL.COM
"Phish is: the emotional equivalent to waking up Christmas morning as a child, and seeing all the gifts under the tree wrapped, or unwrapped."- A. Cox
"Phish is to music what everything else is not, but everything else is incorporated in Phish's music."- Danny G.
"Tension.....release; An obsession with being free of gravity; Silly; A musical language we can all learn something from; Diversity in style; A damn good time!
Phish has brought a new idea to music and musicians who are inspired in a like mind - we express ourselves through music, Phish has a jolly conversation we participate in and want to laugh at it.
Phish is.....Count Basie; Duke Ellington; Charles Mingus; Miles Davis; Colonel Forbin; Elvis; Mr. Rogers; The Jolly Green Giant; Special Agent Dale Cooper; Sun Ra, Wider than the Beatles - Taller than Jesus; Bela Lugosi; Bela Fleck; The Late Night Movie; Fermat; Rod Serling; Abbie Hoffman; A 9' Grand Piano; The Dawn of Man; Statler and Waldorf; Art; Fresh Fish Tacos; The Kratt Brothers; Miracle Max......with a side of psychedelic tofu.
There is no real way to describe Phish in just a few words.....but I guess that depends on your point of view."
- Jeremy Stout <Jeremy_Stout@KEET.PBS.ORG>
"The music of Phish is a lot like the comedy of Steven Wright -- you dance/laugh and wonder what kind of fertile mind can produce such brilliance; sometimes it's scary; sometimes it can make you cry. But ingenious, it's always ingenious."- Andrew Van Alstyne
"Phish, well, Phish is a grand banana eating contest. Moments of high fused with moments of higher to produce moments of highest. A drunken collaboration of sober people. amazing more than things that aren't. The rush you feel when you first discover something that gives you a great rush. Only better. So good it will make you pop."- Cully Johnston
"Phish is what you need to mellow out and "become one with dreams while you're awake" (thanks Mike). Having all of your remembrances of everything in life sculpted into the span of time your brain functions while the rhythms and harmonies of Phish are wafting through the air.... Phish is what you need to let something wash over your soul which leaves you with a feeling that is like no other. From the moment they walk on stage to the time you die, Phish is in your blood, soul, mind, body, essence, even your earwax. Phish isn't just a band from Burlington, Phish is a way of life, a genetic additive, and a mind, body and soul altering harpoon that gouges into you and can't be ripped out either without taking a chunk of you out with it, or killing you. Thanks Trey, Mike, Fish, and Page. Memories shall last a lifetime because a lifetime is worth remembering."- JOSH CRONLUND
joshin@juno.com
"Phish is a conglomeration of several musical styles that force the listener to bellow. Bellow is a term that I use loosely, for the "bellower" must be someone who dances. In other words; I love Phish. Phish is also a series of spontaneous dance moves that often resemble Mike Gordon's nose. Or the Jitterbug. Without Phish, there would be no place for Trey to make poignant social commentary."- Joel Garber
garb0037@tc.umn.edu
"Phish is me, ME, that big awkward guy who wouldn't be caught dead dancing, whirling like a Sufi mystic, riding The Groove as it slithers its way through turns and twists and great spinning eddies, from gentle delicate crystalline stillness it wraps around itself in an ever-tightening helix, weaving-grinding-pounding-screeching-SOARING its way OUT THERE, where it's sometimes scary and I'd swear I was on acid except I didn't take any ('cause I knew how TOTALLY unnecessary it would be) and suddenly, alone in the center of this vast and writhing sea of my species, I am unable to hold back the shear JOY of it all and a great orgasmic bubble of laughter bursts forth from my soul and all the endless hassles of this doomed and dirty world are utterly forgotten...
...and then a short bearded guy wearing a dress comes out from behind the drums and plays the vacuum cleaner during a touching rendition of "Purple Rain."
THIS is Phish."
- Mike Rowe
MWRowe@LBL.gov
"Phish is that twenty dollars you forgot about which you find in your pocket...Phish is the extra cigarette you find in your pack. Phish is an exhilarating combination of pure energy and total beauty. Phish opens minds, and soothes the soul."- Matt H.
"The music of Phish is the orgasm of the soul.....nothing more and certainly nothing less."- phrendleo
<phrendleo@earthlink.net>
"Phish is a band.
Phish is four guys, just like you or me. Perhaps one of the most talented groups to ever hit the big time. They're music is jazzy, funky, rockin', silly, and at times downright insane. Wherever they go or whatever they are associated with becomes overrun by large masses of young people, who have developed what can be described as a neo-hippie cult. Since the early 90's their growth has been organic, geometric.It all began with a bunch of guys just trying to jam and have a good time..... Now they are a American phenomenon."
- Young Yun
"The Eternal Phish is not that which can be expressed."- Alanb@planet.net
"Phish is the musical equivalent of the wonder and ecstatic joy of all the possibly perceived glimmerings of what is right and good in the human spirit."- J. Houlahan
"Phish's music is a specific variety of folk music. Not the genre, folk. It is folk in the way that anthropologists refer of folk, because it belongs to a people. It is the music of second generation suburbanites; the possession of a people actively in search of a meaningful culture. In their emigration from one temporary home to the next Phish provides the theme music: Pre-21st Century American High-Way."- Matt Collins, 22 yrs old, Pittsburgh, PA (Paraphrased and elaborated excerpt from a letter drafted on 4.13.97)
"Phish is a total experience that transcends music alone. It is a completely unidentifiable feeling that comes from the music and the atmosphere of a show. Where else do see thousands of people jamming out to Neil Diamond??? (I couldn't think of any either) The best way I know to describe the feeling I get from Phish is: IT'S THE HIGHEST "HIGH" YOU'LL EVER FEEL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"- Robyn Turner
"Phish is the most pleasing thing you can put in your ears."- Daniel Ritchey
"Phish is an incredible musical experience that finds its way into your soul, and creates all kinds of great emotions that i'd try to explain in words... but i can't. ;)"- aLi
If you've got an answer to the question "What is Phish?" that you think deserves here, check out aLi's survey and send in your thoughts.
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