Ninja Custodian

Full Name: Ninja Custodian

Perhaps no late-80’s Burlington contemporary was more of a fixture in the Phish scene than Ninja Custodian. Their role in Phishtory is quite significant: The members of the band (including Mike Billington, better known as Ninja Mike) were the ones who convinced John Paluska to see Phish for the first time.
Various members of Ninja Custodian (mostly Magoo and Ninja Mike) appeared with Phish over the years. Such guest slots included 3/6/87 (“Freebird,” with Ninja Mike on vocals), 5/28/89 (“Price of Love,” plus their own song “Funky (Breakdown)”), and 8/17/92 (“Terrapin”). Ninja Custodian also opened for several Phish shows. See, for example, Halloween 1989, and the aforementioned 8/17/92. And though they didn’t play along on 10/22/89, they were in attendance; listen to the stage banter before the encore and the subsequent modification of the lyrics to “Undun.”