Jam Central Station 10.03.09: Phish Profiles Part 4: Trey Anastasio
Posted by Jeff Modzelewski on 10.03.2009
After reviewing the rest of the band, it's time to take a look at the leader!
Hey everyone. Hope you're having a good week. Fall has officially arrived to Ohio, and I'm a happy guy. Anytime I get to bust out my hoodies makes me happy. Hopefully it'll be sunny, but 50 degrees and brisk is fine by me. Hope you're enjoying the weather too.
I got to see Michael Franti and Spearhead on Wednesday. I'm going to get a full review done of the show this weekend, but let me just say, wow. They know how to put on one hell of an energetic show. They sounded great, the band was excellent, and the crowd was extremely energetic. Kudos to Franti and the boys for a great night.
I would talk about football, but I have nothing positive to say on that front. The Browns are pathetic. Simply pathetic. If anyone wants to hear me rant on Cleveland sports let me know. Otherwise, I'm happy that hockey season started and basketball season is almost here. That'll give me something to do other than pay attention to Cleveland's excuse of a football team.
Enough intro, let's get on with the show. Time to take a look at the leader behind Phish, the one and only Trey Anastasio!
As the band leader for Phish, Trey Anastasio has made an indelible mark on music, specifically the jam music scene. Trey has been the primary songwriter for Phish, the primary vocalist, and his guitar work is almost always at the front of the band's sound. His musical influence goes far beyond his work with Phish, however. Trey is a skilled composer, and has performed with some of the most prominent orchestras in the country. He has released numerous solo albums, and he played on and toured behind Dave Matthews' solo album Some Devil. Without a doubt, Trey Anastasio has had one of the most prolific careers in jam music history.
One of the funny things about Trey's career is that he very well could have ended up in Jon Fishman's place. Trey actually started out as a kid playing the drums, and he's still a proficient drummer to this day. He switched to guitar as a teenager, and, like most musicians, formed his first bands at this time. Always the songwriter, Trey wrote songs in middle school that would go on to become Phish staples in later years. It was in high school that he met The Dude of Life (origins of the nickname aren't clear), who became a close friend of Trey's. They began writing together, and formed a working relationship that continues to this day.
After high school, Trey went to the University of Vermont, where he met the other members of Phish. He transferred to Goddard College, where he studied both creative writing and composition. It was at Goddard that he first met Ernie Stiles, who taught him techniques for composition and arrangement. Trey quickly began incorporating these techniques into his work, becoming the primary songwriter for Phish. He began composing multi-part pieces for the band to perform. He also wrote the narrative "concept album" The Man Who Stepped Into Yesterday, a collection of Phish songs and narrative that became Trey's senior study at Goddard. Many of these songs, such as "AC/DC Bag" and "Wilson" continue to be staples at Phish shows.
After graduating, Phish became the primary focus for Trey. He wrote the first few Phish albums primarily as compositions, with the rest of the band learning their parts from Trey's writing. While Phish began moving towards a more improvisational approach to songwriting, Trey maintained his love of composition, and used that technique in many of his other projects. Phish's success in the early 90's led to a constant schedule of touring and recording for Trey and the band, and, as the primary songwriter, the work of leading the band fell mostly on Trey. He stepped up by writing some of the band's most memorable songs, often working around lyrics supplied from writings of his longtime friend and collaborator Tom Marshall.
In the mid 90's, Trey began working on projects outside of the scope of Phish. Surrender to the Air was a jazz ensemble that Trey organized and performed with. While they only played a handful of concerts and released one album, the work of the band was influential for Trey in the fact that it was very different than what Phish was doing. The band was a truly collaborative effort, as all of the music that they played in concert and on their only album was completely improvisational. Trey also released his first solo album in 1998, One Man's Trash, which was a collection of Anastasio songs along with experimental music. In 2000 Trey would release Trampled by Lambs and Pecked by Doves, an album he wrote and recorded with Tom Marshall. The album included early versions of many songs that would go on to become Phish songs.
In 1998, Trey also formed the beginnings of the original Trey Anastasio Band. This group did not have a name (they were commonly referred to as the Trey Anastasio band, although Trey would later use this name for a completely different band starting in 2006), and the group would continue to grow and evolve. The first incarnation, commonly known as The Trio, featured Trey with drummer Russ Lawton and assist Tony Markellis. As Phish went on hiatus in 2000, Trey began working with The Trio in earnest, and the Trio expanded to The Sextet through the addition of a trombone, trumpet, and saxaphone. The Sextet toured throughout 2000, and the group expanded to The Octet in 2001 with the addition of a flute and keyboard. The Octet toured larger venues and played sets that consisted of Phish songs, original Trey songs, and cover songs. He added the final pieces to this group in 2002, and The Dectet played with Trey on his self-titled 2002 album and subsequent tour. Trey would continue to play with this group of musicians on his solo tours through 2004. Parts of this group would reunite as the "Classic Trey Anastasio Band" in 2008.
In 2000, bassist Les Claypool was asked to form a band to perform at the New Orleans Jazz Fest. Claypool contacted Trey to be a part of the band, and together they decided to ask Stewart Copeland of The Police to join the band as the drummer. Oysterhead was born, and was originally meant to be a one-off performance for the Jazz Fest. Tickets were in high demand, and the reception of the show led to the band deciding to continue to work together. They recorded The Grand Pecking Order in 2001 and a brief tour followed. The band reunited for Bonnaroo in 2006 and, although no plans exist at the moment to bring back Oysterhead, the history of the musicians involved make it likely that the band will eventually return.
Phish returned from hiatus in 2002, but the return did not last long. Phish announced that, after the end of their 2004 tour, they would break up. The "final" Phish shows took place at Coventry during August of 2004. After the breakup of Phish, Trey began working with a new cast of musicians, known as 70 Volt Parade. Trey released the solo album Shine during this time, and his shows with 70 Volt Parade were more rock-oriented than previous solo shows. 70 Volt Parade soon underwent a name change and became the Trey Anastasio Band, confusing many fans who had originally called the Trio/Sextet/Octet/Dectet group the Trey Anastasio Band.
Trey also collaborated with Dave Matthews as part of Dave Matthews and Friends. Ray Paczkowski and Tony Hall also joined the band and had previously worked with Trey. The band performed on Some Devil Matthews' solo album, and on the subsequent tour. Trey would often play a couple of songs with just him and Matthews, performing both Dave Matthews Band and Phish songs. The band primarily toured in 2003 and 2004, with sporatic performances in 2005 and 2006.
As I mentioned earlier, Trey is also a composer and has done significant work in orchestral settings. He released Seis De Mayo in 2004, a completely orchestral album featured many earlier Trey works in a variety of orchestral settings. He also released Time Turns Elastic in 2009. The composition was written in 2006 and recorded with the Northwest Simfonia in 2008. A shortened version of the piece was recorded by Phish as the first single from their reunion album Joy. Trey has performed this piece with Orchestra Nashville, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, and the New York Philharmonic.
While his work with Phish has been extensive, Trey Anastasio has developed a significant catalog of work outside of Phish. His talent beyond the jam music that Phish is known for is obvious when you explore his jazz, blues, and orchestral work. For an artist like Trey to be respected enough to work with the New York Philharmonic is almost unprecedented, and an accomplishment that few musicians could ever dream of achieving. With Phish back together, it's likely that will once again become Trey's primary musical outlet. However, I wouldn't be surprised to see more solo material or orchestral work to come from Trey in the near future.
Start off this week with a 1998 version of the Phish classic "You Enjoy Myself" from Providence.
I have to bring out some Oysterhead. Here's "Pseudo Suicide" from 2001
And "Oz is Ever Floating" from 2006
Trey with Dave Matthews doing "Everyday" and "Bathtub Gin"
And Phil Lesh and Phriends from 1999
Here's a great video from an amazing performance, the String Cheese Incident from Rothbury this year. This doesn't even come close to capturing the experience of being in the middle of this crowd.
Finally, from just a couple days ago, here's Gregg Allman sitting in with the Dave Matthews Band
Phish announces possible Halloween covers
Phish has released a list of 99 potential albums that they might play as their cover album for the Halloween show at Festival 8. You can visit the Festival 8 Website to view all of the covers. They're "killing off" the albums one by one until there will be only one left for Halloween.
Here is the list of potential cover albums:
AC/DC – Back In Black
Aerosmith – Toys In The Attic
Allman Brothers Band – Eat A Peach
Arcade Fire – Funeral
Band – The Band (Brown Album)
Beach Boys – Pet Sounds
Beastie Boys – Hello Nasty
Black Sabbath – Paranoid
Blind Faith – Blind Faith
Bob Dylan – Blood On the Tracks
Bob Dylan And The Band – The Basement Tapes
Bob Seger – Against The Wind
Boston – Boston
Brian Eno – Before And After Science
Chicago Transit Authority
Clash – London Calling
Credence Clearwater Rivival - Green River
Curtis Mayfield – Superfly Soundtrack
David Bowie - Scary Monsters
David Bowie – Hunky Dory
David Bowie – Ziggy Stardust
Declan McManus – This Year's Model
Devo – Freedom of Choice
Doors – The Doors
Duran Duran – Rio
Eagles – Hotel California
Elton John – Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
Eric Clapton – 461 Ocean Blvd
fIREHOSE – flyin' the flannel
Fleetwood Mac – Rumours
Frank Zappa – Apost rophe
Frank Zappa – Hot Rats
Genesis – The Lambs Lie Down On Broadway
Grateful Dead – American Beauty
Guns & Roses – Appetite For Destruction
Hall & Oates – Private Eyes
Huey Lewis And The News – Sports
Jane's Addiction – Ritual de Lo Habitual
Jimi Hendrix – Are You Experienced?
Jimi Hendrix – Electric Ladyland
John Lennon – Plastic Ono Band
Jonathon Richmond and The Modern Lovers – The Modern Lovers
Journey - Escape
KISS - Alive II
King Crimson - Larks' Tongues In Aspic
Led Zeppelin – I
Led Zeppelin – IV (Zoso)
Leonard Cohen – I'm Your Man
LOVE – Forever Changes
Manu Chao – Clandestino
Medeski Martin & Wood - Shack Man
Metallica – Master Of Puppets
MGMT – Oracle Spectacular
Michael Jackson – Thiller
Michael McDonald – If That's What It Takes
Miles Davis – A Tribute To Jack Johnson
Minutemen – Double Nickels On The Dime
Neil Young – Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere
Neil Young – Tonight's The Night
Nirvana – Nevermind
Pavement – Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain
Pearl Jam - 10
Peter Gabriel – So
Pink Floyd – Meddle
Pink Floyd – The Wall
Pixies – Come On Pilgrim
Police – Ghost In The Machine
Pork Tornado – Pork Tornado
Primus – Sailing The Seas Of Cheese
Prince – Purple Rain
Queen – A Night At The Opera
Radiohead – Kid A
Rage Agaist The Machine – Evil Empire
Ramones – Ramones
Rolling Stones - Sticky Fingers
Rolling Stones – Exile
Roots – Phronology
Rush – Moving Pictures
Saturday Night Fever Soundtrack
Springsteen – Born To Run
Steely Dan – Pretzel Logic
T.Rex – Electric Warrior
Talking Heads – Fear Of Music
Television - Marquee Moon
Tom Petty – Damn The Torpedoes
Tom Waits – Rain Dogs
U2 – Joshua Tree
Van Halen – Van Halen
Van Morrison – Astral Weeks
Velvet Underground And Nico
Violent Femmes – Violent Femmes
Ween – White Pepper
White Stripes – Elephant
Who – Who's Next
Wilco – Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
X – Los Angeles
Yes - The Yes Album
ZZ Top – Tres Hombes
So far they've killed off Damn the Torpedoes, Shack Man, Sports, Fear of Music, I'm Your Man, Velvet Underground and Nico, Who's Next, Elephant, Rubber Soul, White Pepper, Rumors, Seas of Cheese, Eat a Peach, Clandestino, and Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain. I was surprised that Eat a Peach,Velvet Underground and Nico, and Rubber Soul all got killed so early in the game, since I thought those might be strong candidates. I'm putting my money on Sticky Fingers,, with strong possibilities going to Exile on Main Street, So, Van Halen, Are You Experienced, Apostrophe, and Hot Rats. I don't think that they'll be doing anything from after 1990, and I'm counting out anything from Pink Floyd, The Who, The Beatles, and The Talking Heads simply because they've done those artists before. My dark horse is Thriller, but I don't know if they could pull it off.
Kyle Hollingsworth Band announces tour
The Kyle Hollingsworth Band has announced upcoming dates that will take the band through mid-December. The band will be doing co-headlining tours with both Zach Gill and the Ryan Montbleau Band, along with their own headlining dates.
Kyle Hollinsgsworth Co-Bills with Zach Gill
October 7 San Diego, CA Winston's Beach Club
October 8 Los Angeles, CA
The Mint October 9 Santa Barbara, CA SOhO
October 10 San Francisco, CA The Independent
October 11 Sebastopol, CA HopMonk Tavern
October 13 Eureka, CA The Red Fox Tavern
October 14 Eugene, OR WOW Hall
October 15 Seattle, WA The Triple Door
October 16 Bellingham, WA Wild Buffalo
October 17 Portland, OR Mississippi Studios
Kyle Hollinsgsworth November Dates
November 11 Burlington, VT Club Metronome
November 12 New York, NY Sullivan Hall
November 13 Baltimore, MD The 8×10
November 14 Philadelphia, PA The Khyber
November 15 Richmond, VA Capital Ale House
Kyle Hollinsgsworth Co-Bills with Ryan Montbleau Band
November 17 Charlotte, NC Neighborhood Theatre
November 18 Raleigh, NC The Pour House Music Hall
November 19 Charleston, SC The Pour House
November 20 Asheville, NC The Garage at Biltmore
November 21 Athens, GA New Earth Music Hall
December 12 Denver, CO Cervantes' Masterpiece Ballroom
Yonder Mountain String Band goes acoustic for ITunes
Yonder Mountain String Band has released The Show: Solo Acoustic Recordings on ITunes. The album consists of solo acoustic versions of songs from their recent album The Show. Each band member recorded the songs that they wrote for the album acoustically for this release. After a somewhat negative response to the sound of The Show, this may get some of the fans who are currently unhappy back on the Yonder train.
Gregg Allman confirms dates
Gregg Allman will take his band out on the road in November. Gregg Allman and Friends will play a handful of East Coast dates starting November 11. Only a few dates are confirmed as of right now, so hopefully we'll be getting more info in the next week or so.
Disco Biscuits to play Brooklyn Bowl
Despite regularly filling up larger venues in New York, the Disco Biscuits will play the Brooklyn Bowl on October 11. Tickets go on sale Monday, so if you're in the New York City area, you'll probably want to get your tickets early. The band will also include a copy of the EP On Time with the price of a ticket to the show.
Particle to play Denver
Particle will be joining Lotus for a show at the Fillmore Auditorium in Denver on October 17. Particle is set to be the opening band for the show, although with these two bands nothing is concrete. Lotus is playing at the Quixote in Denver on the 16th before their show with Particle on the 17th.
Big Gigantic give away Wide Awake
If you're looking for the new Big Gigantic album, head on over to their website for a free download of the album. Wide Awake is available for a free digital download. The group is currently on tour, with dates scheduled through late November.
Before I go, I wanted to add a little commentary here on the subject of live albums. I'm very happy that so many bands are releasing so many good live recordings. It got me to start thinking about some of my favorite live albums, however. I'm a huge Dave Matthews Band fan, and one of the reasons for that is the album Live at Red Rocks. I bought this album mainly because it was on sale and I was intrigued by the band. It blew me away, and inspired my lifelong fandom. I know every note of that album. But now DMB has release probably upwards of 40 live concerts through various formats. I'm never going to have the opportunity to know those shows as intimately as I know Red Rocks. It's great to have, but it takes away some of that familiarity. I'm not saying it's bad that the band is doing this (as so many other bands are), just that I do miss the fact that a new live DMB album used to be something very special. Now there are new recordings coming out every couple of months. Any thoughts on that?
Well, hope you enjoyed the column this week. For my Ohio readers, you should get off your computer and head over to Lodi for the NORML Harvest Festival today (October 3). I'm there, and you should check out the Groove Prophets if you do make it. If not, you're loss. Until next week, Jam On!
