Phish

Phish biography

Phish is an American rock band noted for its musical improvisation, extended jams, exploration of music across genres, and its adoring fan base. Formed at the University of Vermont in 1983 (with the current line up solidifying in 1985), the band's four members – Trey Anastasio (guitars, lead vocals), Mike Gordon (bass, vocals), Jon Fishman (drums, percussion, vocals), and Page McConnell (keyboards, vocals) – performed together for over 20 years before breaking up in August 2004. They reunited March 2009 for Phish in Hampton, a series of three consecutive concerts played in the Hampton Coliseum in , and have since resumed performing regularly.

Phish's music blends elements of a wide variety of genres, including rock, jazz, progressive rock, psychedelic rock, hard rock, funk, folk, bluegrass, reggae, country, blues, avant garde, barbershop quartet and classical. Each of their concerts is original in terms of the songs performed, the order they appear in, and in the way they are performed.

Although the band has received little radio play or mainstream exposure, Phish-much like the band it is most often compared to, the Grateful Dead-has developed a large and dedicated following by word of mouth, the exchange of live recordings by trading tapes with other fans and selling over 8 million albums and DVDs in the United States. Rolling Stone stated that the band helped to "...spawn a new wave of bands oriented around group improvisation and superextended grooves."

History

Formative years: 1983–1988

Phish was formed at The University of Vermont in 1983 by guitarists Trey Anastasio and Jeff Holdsworth, bassist Mike Gordon and drummer Jon Fishman. For their first gig, at Harris-Millis Cafeteria (a location students fondly call "The Grundle") at the University of Vermont on Dec. 2, 1983, the band was billed as "Blackwood Convention". The band was joined by percussionist Marc Daubert in the fall of 1984, a time during which they promoted themselves as playing Grateful Dead songs. Daubert left the band early in 1985, and Page McConnell then joined the group on keyboards and made his debut on Sept. 26, 1985 at a show for WRUV Radio in Burlington. Holdsworth left the group after graduation in 1986, solidifying the band's lineup of "Trey, Page, Mike, and Fish" - the lineup to this day.

Following a prank at UVM with his friend and former bandmate Steve Pollak — also known as "The Dude of Life" — and Anastasio decided to leave the college. With the encouragement of McConnell (who received $50 for each transferee), Anastasio and Fishman relocated in mid-1986 to Goddard College, a small school in the hills of Plainfield, Vermont. This first studio recording was circulated in two variations: the first, mixed in a dorm room as late as 1985, received a higher distribution than the second studio remix of the original four tracks, circa 1987. The older version was officially released under the title 'Phish' in August 1998.

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