For my
first post on the new blog I figured I’d tackle a subject I’m pretty passionate
about, something that really strikes a chord in my poor heart. That subject is
Phish, and since the bands reinstatement in 2009, I’ve tried to hit the road a
few times each year to catch them live.
Whether
it’s at a Halloween rager in Atlantic City where everyone is dressed in their
Frankenstein best, or at an outdoor pavilion when the rain is coming
down faster then you can say David Bowie, the atmosphere is always lit up with
dancing voices and singing feet. In this post I will try and break down what it
is that keeps the insiders in and the outsiders out, why it's better to let go
rather then to hold on, and above all, why I love Phish.
Anyone
out there who’s not entirely familiar with Phish, they’ve been deemed arguably
the greatest cult rock and roll band of the past three decades (the word “cult”
might turn you off, but it’s a crucial component I’ll get to soon). I could hit
you with some facts about how many shows they’ve sold out, how many
international cities they’ve booked over the years and the number of quality of
studio albums they’ve released, but those would all just be figures and
statistics.
To give
you a quick taste of what their capable of, they routinely cover songs by The
Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin. If you can’t appreciate, or God
help you, don’t recognize at least two of those names, then you have some
serious discography’s to start downloading.
The
question remains, what is it that magnetizes millions of fans to follow around
this lesser known four-piece rock and roll band named after a misspelled
animal? There’s no doubt Phish’s following is a dedicated group of live music
enthusiasts, and the funny thing is it’s the same thing that keeps fans in that
keeps them out. This is where the “cult status” comes into play. There’s a few
reasons that drive the smartest and most sensitive music fans away from getting
anywhere near Phish. Here’s the biggest one:
“Steal
away before the dawn and bring us back good news, but if you've tread in primal
soup please wipe it from your shoes. Just then a porthole pirate scourged the
evening with his cry, and sanctuary bugs deprived a monkey of its thigh.”
Those
are a few lines from the first verse of a relatively well-known song called
“Cavern.” Anyone who knows what songwriter and lead guitarist Trey Anastasio
was thinking when he wrote those lyrics may speak now or forever remain
confused. Don’t bother googling it either, as that will take you through a maze
you’ll never get out of.
My
point is this, that song and those lyrics make absolutely no sense. There’s not
one logical sentence or phrase that will tell you anything about
anything. The last line of that song is, “Whatever you do, take care of your
shoes.” So I guess if you’re in college and you pass out at a party, it’s some
pretty sound advice. Otherwise, pure fucking lunacy. Any sane person would say,
“Wow, I wonder what Trey was tripping on when he wrote that!” Because well,
they were evidently some pretty transcendent drugs.
You
definitely don’t need a raging acid trip to enjoy yourself at a Phish show, but
that’s beside the point. What I’m focusing on is the pure ambiguity of almost
every Phish song, and that’s what steers a lot of people away from the band;
this inability to understand.
[Quick
footnote: The lyrical concept behind “Phish” is actually based on a
creative writing thesis by Trey during his time at Goddard College in Vermont.
Essentially he created a fictional kingdom called “Gamhendge,” which features
characters and storylines relating directly to the kingdom’s reliance on time.
Time was created by the sky God Icculus, the recipe for which was then written
down in the helping friendly book. The lizards, a race of people practically
extinct from doing things smart people don’t do, depend on the helping friendly
book, which gets stolen by Wilson, the evil King of Prussia. With the help of a
retired Colonel, Forbin, Icculus dispatches the helping friendly mocking bird
to retrieve the helping friendly book and bring it back to its rightful place
in the Gamehendge Time Phactory. That's a broad overview.]
Back to
all this ambiguity and why it seems like the only thing you can learn from a
Phish song is a silly fantasy story. The bottom line with Phish is this, if you
can’t listen to them because the lyrics aren’t deep enough for you, then you’ve
already lost half the battle and Phish has inadvertently weeded you out of
their fan base forever. The thing you realize about Phish is they’re all about
having a good time, and their ability to spread that joy to their audience in
live shows is what solidifies their epic presence.
A
couple weeks ago at the Merriweather Pavilion Trey put his guitar
down and bounced around the stage for the better half of a ten-minute groove.
Most lead singers won’t sacrifice that kind of ego, and most won’t even have
the chance to because of the constraints they put on themselves and their
music. Worrying about constraints isn’t a priority when it comes to Phish, and
this is something I think they try and spread through their musical community.
Constraints, particularly mental
constraints, are things we experience everyday; it’s a by-product of our
largely whacked out society. We all have a hard time letting go and accepting
the truth, we have obsessive thoughts and we all don’t like something about
ourselves.
Why
can’t we just say enough is enough and drop all these mental burdens? That
would make sense, right? It would, but this is life and we have
obligations and responsibilities and things we have to be mad about!
"AHH!
Stupid possum! I dented my car when I ran you over! I can’t believe that crazy
Suzy Greenberg! What a bitch! Why doesn’t she just get checked by a
neurologist!" These are things we might think are tough to get over,
because well, why shouldn’t we get mad about someone or something trying to
ruin our day? Phish has taught me how one can avoid this trap; that thinking
too much can be a bad thing.
When
I'm listening to Phish I don’t have to question or contemplate anything in that
moment. I don’t have to think about rules or constraints or paranoid thoughts;
I just feel. I don’t know what I’m singing along to half the time and I love
that. I love that there’s a fanatical king named Wilson who’s trying to steal
the recipe for time and declares that anyone who possesses it is a crook. I love
that Harry Hood can feel good, good, good about home. I especially love that
Fluffhead was a man with a horrible disease.
Listening
to Phish is ultimately about letting go for the sake of letting go, because
above everything, no one truly knows anything, except for those genuine
feelings that come from within us. Phish makes sense, because like life, it
makes no sense at all when you look at it from a purely logical
standpoint.
Just
like the helping friendly book holds the recipe for time, I believe Phish’s
music holds the recipe for happiness. That happiness requires two things: a
mind that’s willing to let go, and a body willing to express it. What's even
better is this phenomena occurs with any type of music; Phish just happens to
be one awesome example.
You can
see below I've compiled a must listen playlist of both studio and live
performances. The studio songs are linked to Youtube, and the two custom live
sets are from shows I've personally attended the last four years.
Keep in
mind there are a slew of Phish songs that do have meaningful and easily
understood lyrics. Most of these I've included in the studio songs. I selected
the live songs based on their inherent jamtistical sound quality and just
because I dig 'em. Enjoy!
Studio:
"Waste"
"Free"
"Bug"
"Reba"
"Roggae"
"Dirt"
Live:
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