Phish, the premier jam band in rock n' roll, completed its four-night engagement at Madison Square Garden w/ last night's New Year's Eve performance. Early one morning last week, Trey Anastasio, the band's guitarist and sometimes leader, checked in w/ The Post from his home in Vermont. Here's what was on his mind.
Question: This hour isn't really rock-star style. Do you always get up this early?
Trey: I get up at 6 am when I'm home, and go to bed at 6 am when the band is touring. See, I have a couple of little kids - I have to get up early. So I guess I'm a rock star, but when I'm in Vermont, I have to be a regular guy first.
Q: Ok, you're a regular Joe, in a band that's grossed more than $54 million since '95. That's a lot of money. Do you ever have to remind yourself of any of the rules of life?
Trey: So far, things have remained in perspective. Maybe in 10 years I'll be able to look back and take stock of what's happened, but right now I'm just kind of growing w/ the whole thing. That's not the greatest answer, but it's pretty much the truth.
Q: Outside of the obvious - like the instruments you and your bandmates play - what do the individuals bring to Phish?
Trey: Phish is a band w/ no spare parts. That's what makes us unique. We try to create an atmosphere where everyone gets to be themselves to the fullest.
Q: Then who is everyone?
Trey: Jon is the class clown. Mike is the classic introverted rock bass player. Page is the understated elder. We used to call him "Dad" as a nickname - he is our father figure.
Q: Who are you?
Trey: I'm the overbearing leader type, although I sometimes shy away from that. If Page is the father, I guess I'm the mother.
Q: A couple of years back, at the Beacon Theatre during an Allman's Brothers show, Gregg was sick as a dog. He left the stage and the Allmans pulled Page out of the wings to sit in.
Trey: See? There you go. The Allman Brothers needed somebody responsible, and there he was.
(suddenly, conversation stops as a whine of pain fills the phone)
Q:Trey, are you screaming?
Trey: Not me. The baby just got its finger caught in the drawer. (more screaming ensues, now mixed w/ dad's comforting coos) See? This is the rock star's life.
Q: Is touring your vacation, or is it time at home?
Trey: I love touring, but I also like the contrast of home - too much of anything isn't good for anyone. Each is an escape from the other, and each will keep me sane - I think.
Q: You know a lot of songs. Are there tunes you wish you wrote?
Trey: There's this Los Lobos song we've been covering a lot lately called "When the Circus Comes to Town". It's a great song, and when I play it, I feel like I wrote it. Then there's the seven or eight Beatles songs I wish I wrote...
Q: Which of your own songs do you consider a high point in your own writing?
Trey: There are probably two songs I feel that way about. There's an early song, that isn't really a song, that sums up our first five years, called "You Enjoy Myself." That one isn't a song a much as it's a piece of music. And there's a new song I just wrote, called "Driver", that I'm particularly happy with. But I'm pretty self-critical. It would be much easier to tell you all the songs I wish I didn't write.
Q: How do you write?
Trey: I sit w/ my guitar a lot - that's probably because I always carry it around w/ me. Some of the stuff is written at the piano - the composed-musical stuff. The sing-song kind of tunes usually come on the guitar. Lately we've been holing up in old Vermont farmhouses and having writing sessions. It's a new thing for us, but it's been really successful.
Q: Whenever you read about Phish, there's always a mention of The Grateful Dead in the first couple of sentences. Why do you think the comparisons are made, since your music and the Dead's are so different?
Trey: We are not the same band. It must be said they were and remain one of my favorite bands. In fact, the Dead are one of the most important American bands, if not the most important. To me, the Dead are a genuine link to traditional American music. They moved music history forward. Jerry Garcia was as important a figure in this country's music history as Bill Monroe or Elvis. Phish has learned a lot from them. They are an influence. But, that said, we are also very different. The most important lesson we learned from the Dead was how to be a live band.
Q: What else has the Dead taught you guys?
Trey: Subtlety is the biggest musical lesson. Most bands use volume and speed to relate energy to an arena audience. A quite, introspective moment is much more powerful.
Q: What made a band like the Grateful Dead great?
Trey: Truth. They were true to who they are, to their own experience. So the lesson I learned from Garcia was to be myself, not be like him. That's the point. My three all-time-favorite guitarists are Jerry, Hendrix, and Zappa. They are all totally unique from one another, yet oddly similar. They were all striving for this depth where a solo would take you on a journey. But the journey was their own vibe: Zappa was sarcastic, Hendrix was bluesey, Jerry was downhome. I guess I have a suburban vibe. But I still want to get to the places that they got to. Is that meandering garble?
Q:Maybe a little. Trey, when you're in an improvisation w/ your bandmates, what triggers the song within the song to emerge? How do you decide what direction the jam will go?
Trey: The biggest thing is listening to each other. We spend a lot of time listening. If you listen intently, you can forget about yourself. That's a goal. Then you can react to what everybody else is playing.
Q: You must have "off" nights when this doesn't work. Do you find the fans cheering for mistakes as well as brilliant playing?
Trey: I think they'd prefer to hear us play brilliantly.
Q: Have you made blunders and been applauded?
Trey: When that happens it isn't applause I hear, it's more like laughing - in a good way... laughing together. See, we want brilliant moments as much as the fans. It's selfishness, but it's a rush. That said, you don't spend your time trying to make the crowd go "Woo!" The intent is to have something genuine happen and not worry how anybody is going to react. My point is, we try not to worry about that. Instead, we'd worry about how we feel. I had a musician friend who said, "People don't always know when playing well". There 's a lot of truth in that.
http://www.phish.net/archives/interviews/1999/19990101.html
Maybe they will be like every other band and have 10 "farewell" tours. haha. Maybe I should write a letter. "p-p-p-please come to Cleveland Ohio....pretty please" **que the sad baby lip** J/k
