What's the big deal with Phish?

[Ben Logan]

Some of their stuff sounds like Camper Van Beethoven to me. They've got this one jingle that goes, "Let's go out to dinner and see a movie..." That one rocked me. Sounded like my life at the time.

I don't see what's not to like. I also don't understand why some people go apeshit for them.

[GrizzlyAtom]

oddly enough, I read somewhere that Trey is a HUGE My Bloody Valentine fan and he gave major props to Kevin Shields for being an innovative tone genius or something. He even stated that he wanted to cover Loveless in its entirety for one of thier Halloween shows, but got shot down by the rest of the band. wierd

[percussion boy]

What makes me uncomfortable is not disliking Phish's music, but disliking it while *wanting* to like it because their hearts seem to be in the right place. My guess is they play that weird boring shit because they *love* it, without any calculation about what the industry wants. Betcha they also look out for their crew and their fans.

Should I be worried because all my favorite musicians were crazy, miserable, or complete assholes? Don't answer that.

[Roman Sokal]

i dunno- personally i hate those hippie dirt-stink toe-jam-cheese bands. i suppose the dead were ok, but what usually happens is that the bands are actually alright, but its the fans that kill it for me. same goes with hockey and the toronto maple leafs- great team, but the fans ruin it!

[foley]

well, I have to stand up for the Grateful Dead here. Though they could unquestionably be one of the worst bands you've ever heard (out of tune singing, guitar, and playing the wrong chord all at the same time in front of 40K people), they could also be the best. When it clicked with those guys, it was quite a monster to behold. Perhaps no better improv band on the planet.

With Phish, who I have seen only once (back in the Picture of Nectar days), there were never any bad shows. No screws ups, nothing out of key, etc. Therefore when they "clicked" it lacked the payoff of the Dead (imo). They were, I guess, too polished for me to appreciate. Their cues were too obvious, and their jams too scripted to really bring that Joy that the Dead could conjure.

Finally, I would like to say that I grew up on a steady diet of Minutemen, Mission of Burma, and Jimi Hendrix. I am no hippy. However, I will say that when the Dead clicked there was something I can only describe as magic in the air. They could literally transport a stadium full of the doctors, teachers, teenagers and the homeless to another, more beautiful place. To me, that is what music has always been about. It's the same thing the Velvets were doing in '66, the same thing Wilco did last time they came through this town. It's nothing be ashamed of.

[hogfish]

phish is a good band......they also make assloads of cash.which is never a bad thing
they own a phat studio on a mountain in vermont with an equally phat API console
they are a better playing band than the grateful dead on many levels, and prove the
fact that one good drummer will always kick the ass of two mediocre ones.......however, one thing that the grateful dead will always have over phish is a
great catalog of songs with really good words........listen to the grateful dead circa
1969 to 1973 (aoxomoxoa, live dead, skull and roses, workingmans dead, american beauty, bears choice, garcias first solo record, europe 72) and you will hear a tight band with good sounding 3 and 4 part harmony and an edgy and funky garcia playing a fender strat thru a stack o fender twins.......if you never listen to any dead records cept workingmans dead and american beauty, those two will pretty much crystalize what they were about.......also,JS bach was all about the technique
try playing a prelude and fugue from one of the 48 without a fully developed left and right hand and im guaranteeing that you will fall on your face (hard), not to mention that those books (well tempered clavier, inventions and sinfonias, and
clavier ubung) were written primarily as keyboard playing instruction manuals for his
brood of children (he had 20, 13 survived past the age of 7) the artistry of these pieces only comes into focus after the technique is mastered.......

[Silverlode]

Phish's studio albums are well produced and contain some good songs.

Trey Anastasio is a killer guitarist. Period. He knows how to craft a solo, no doubt, and makes some nice sounds on the instrumnet. I like his singing voice a lot, too.

I hate the jam band vibe, though.

I basically consider Phish a jazz fusion band with a singer.

Overall, I like Phish.

[Zeppelin4Life]

I can read music..I have been able to read it since I was about 7 years old..then I learned how to read more than one note at once, and chords, and weird drum rhythms, and all that. but honestly, It doesnt help one bit if you dont have FEEL. thats whats going on. give the same sheet music to different bands, and some will make it sound much better. its not in the music, its in the way you play it...so really, theory and reading can help but many people can and have gotten by without it

Dave

[mjau]

I used to hate Phish, because they'd come to my town every year and with them would come thousands of temporary street people. But...I have to say that I came around to it. So some of their stuff goes on, but shit, so does Neil Young's, and I love that as well. To me, the beauty of Phish is that they can take a simple 4 chord progression (i.e., Bouncing Round the Room) and turn it into something much more interesting.
I lived on the Vermont/N.H. border for 2 years, and the best way I can describe Phish is that they are all Vermont, all the way - and that's a very good thing.

...it's good to be back on TapeOp...been gone for 3 months almost

[JGriffin]

I know I'm gonna get flamed to a little brown crisp for saying this, but the whole technique/theory aspect of this thread is reminiscent of the Toto thread...some argued that all the technique Toto had didn't matter because Toto made insipid, bland music. It's a matter of taste, what's "bland and insipid" to you may be a pop gem to another, but it's a valid point--if the music don't move you, the technique ain't worth dookie. Well, here we are again. Trey and co. may be brilliant technical players with oodles of theory under their belts, and they may not, I don't know. But the music does nothing for me.

goodnight, vienna.