1983:
Inception - Trey, majoring in philosophy, Fish, studying chemical engineering,
& Mike, with a major in electrical engineering, are freshmen at University
of Vermont; Jeff Holdsworth, also an EE major, is a sophomore there. Trey
hears Fish playing his drumkit from outside his dorm-room door. He also
walks by Jeff’s room and hears Jeff’s ‘57 Les Paul (guitar). The three
of them get together and Trey posts a sign: bass player needed. Mike answers
the sign; they get together for a jam session, and Mike says, “Did I make
it?”
They
practice in the dorm lounge and make a demo tape. They play their first
gig as “Blackwood Convention” in the basement of a conservative dorm. They
use a hockey stick as a mic stand, play “Proud Mary” twice, “Long Cool
Woman in a Black Dress” once, and eventually are shut down so that a Michael
Jackson tape can be played.
1984:
Trey takes the second semester off and records “Bivouac Jaun” in his basement;
many cuts of this 4-track project mixed with Mike’s 4-track tapes and a
few 4-track-in-the-bedroom tracks by the band end up on Phish’s first studio
project known as “The White Phish Tape”.
The
first official gig as Phish is played in the basement of Slade Hall at
UVM in October 1984 (many later gigs were also played there); their friend
Anne Labruciano mixes 6 tracks of stereo sound, playing sound effects through
6 hidden speakers along with the music.
Phish’s
first bar gig is upstairs at Nectar’s in December. The Dude of Life appears;
also Daubs (Marc Daubert) is the band’s full time percussion player—he
co-wrote “The Curtain” (which used to have more words) with Trey.
1985:
Mike’s hall-mate Brian Long hooks Mike up with Goddard College people to
play Goddard Springfest.
Page,
at Goddard, is the organizer. Brian becomes first fan of band, dancing
alone while Phish plays Thursday nights at Doolins (a frat bar) for happy
hour. Amy Skelton joins Brian at Doolins.
Page
and Phish like each others’ playing at Springfest (Page has an R&B
band). Page comes for a gig with Phish at the Wilks/Davis/Wing dorm barbecue
on May 3rd, and he also joins the band in Burlington’s North End for practices
crammed into Fish’s bedroom; the room is so small that the bed must be
taken out during practice.
Trey,
Fish and two friends of Trey’s from home go to Europe and play in the streets
with a mini guitar made by Paul Languedoc (then at Time Guitars) and percussion
during the summer. While in Europe, Trey writes You Enjoy Myself, Dog Log,
the music to Harry Hood, and other songs. Page moves to Burlington from
Goddard; he and Mike share an apartment. Trey and Fish call Mike from Europe
to encourage Mike to come, and to emphasize that Page should not join the
band (“We don’t want keyboards, Phish is a two guitar band”). Mike stays
in Burlington, and teaches Page early songs: McGrupp, Fluffhead, Slave,
etc. Page feels confident that he will be in the band.
In
the fall, Page joins the band. Mike, Page, Fish and Brian Long live in
a red house next to the Harry Hood milk factory. Brian writes the words
to “Harry Hood” (Mr. A. Minor, a previous tenant, receives letters
saying, “Thank you, Mr. Minor).
In
November the band plays in the Goddard cafeteria and Mike has a peak religious
experience.
1986:
With Zenzile, a South African revolutionary, the band plays at Hunt’s (a
local club). Zenzile yells rhetorical poetry.
Jeff
quits the band. He graduates soon after, travels for two years, and eventually
becomes a born again Christian following Jimmy Swaggart. The band continues
to do more gigs at Nectar’s and other bars.
Mike
changes his major from Electrical Engineering to Filmmaking & Communications.
Trey
and Fish transfer to Goddard College (Page makes $50 for recruiting each
of them). On October 15th, Paul does the band’s sound for the first
time, at Hunt’s; 169 people attend.
1987:
Mike graduates. Trey and Marley live in a cabin with no electricity and
no running water for the summer, and Trey writes “Fee” as well as a second
section to “The Curtain” (called “The Curtain With”) which eventually becomes
Rift. Trey continues to work with his mentor/composing teacher Ernie Stires,
getting academic credit through Goddard, writing fugues and big band arrangements
(“Flat Fee”) which end up in Phish songs.
1988:
The first Oh Kee Pah Ceremony takes place in the spring.
In
August, Phish is promised a two week tour booked by club owner Warren Stickney.
Though Warren never calls back, the band drives from Vermont to Telluride,
Colorado, to play in Warren’s bar.
Junta
is recorded in Boston and sold at shows as a tape.
1989:
In April, Phish participated in the Rock & Roll Rumble at the Front.
Fish lowered himself, naked, from the rafters, to begin his vaccuum solo,
but it wasn’t plugged in.
In
August, the second Oh Kee Pah Ceremony occurs (source of Union Federal).
For
their first show at the Paradise in Boston, the venue is rented by the
band since the club didn’t feel they’d do well enough to book them for
a show. Many friends come from Burlington by bus. 650 people sell out the
club, with 200 more outside.
Also
this year, the band embarks on their first mini-tour into the SouthEast.
Lawn Boy is recorded at Dan Archer’s studio in Winooski, Vermont (with
some free recording time from winning that Rock & Roll Rumble) and
released on Absolute A-Go-Go (an independent label distributed by Rough
Trade).
1990:
In the spring, Phish tours Colorado, returning to play the Strand Theatre
in Boston at the end of April, and continuing with three more weeks of
shows in the Northeast and a trip through the South before taking some
time off to practice and write songs. (Before the fall, soundboard audio-taping
patches are discontinued due to essential equipment having been unplugged
by tapers attempting to tap in.)
Lawn
Boy is released in September, and the band tours some more through the
Fall. Late in the year, the Phish.Net, an Internet-based alliance of Phish
fans, begins to coalesce. New Year’s Eve is observed at the World Trade
Center in Boston.
1991:
There are no shows in January, but from the beginning of February through
May, Phish tours in the
Northeast,
Southeast (including a few shows with the Aquarium Rescue Unit), Colorado,
the West coast, the Midwest, and in the Northeast again.
The
remainder of May and June are spent recording at White Crow Studios in
Burlington. The band adds a horn section, “The Giant Country Horns” (Carl
Gerhard, Dave Grippo, and Russell Remington), for a jaunt in July, and
occasionally thereafter. Toward the end of the summer, the band spends
a couple weeks at White Crow recording with the Dude of Life.
Amy’s
Farm is a successful free outdoor show at Amy Skelton’s horse farm in Auburn,
Maine, in early August. During the remainder of August Phish goes back
into the studio to mix the new material.
Rough
Trade goes out of business and Lawn Boy (temporarily) goes out of print.
Elektra
signs the band in late November; most of the time from mid-September through
the end of the year is spent touring.
1992:
New Year’s is held at the Auditorium in Worcester, Massachusetts. A Picture
of Nectar is released on February 18th by Elektra, and Phish begins a national
tour in March, including dates in the Pacific Northwest in late April,
the upper midwest in early May and the Northeast in mid-May, wrapping up
at the Flynn Theatre in Burlington.
After
one month off, in June and July the band tours in Europe, opening for Violent
Femmes; they then continue July with four shows on the first HORDE tour,
and from the end of July into August they play at large outdoor amphitheatres
supporting Santana.
Elektra
re-releases Lawn Boy on June 29th and Junta in late summer. In September
and October Phish goes back into the studio to record Rift with Barry Beckett
(the first time they’ve worked with a producer). There is additional touring
following this toward the end of the year.
1993:
The New Year is ushered in at Matthews Arena in Boston. On February 2nd
Rift is released, and Phish tour throughout the country from February into
May.
After
a couple months of practicing and writing, the band hits the road again
between mid-July and late August. To accommodate audience recording, designated
taping areas begin to be created directly behind the soundboard and tapers’
tickets are made available via mail-order. The Phish Newsletter becomes
the Döniac Schvice (for obvious reasons).
Phish
spends the fall recording Hoist in Los Angeles (including guests Bela Fleck,
Allison Krauss, the Tower of Power horn section and Jonathan Frakes); the
band ends the year with a short holiday tour culminating in the New Year’s
Eve concert at the Centrum in Worcester, featuring a giant clam.
1994:
Hoist is released on March 29th, and Mike directs a video for the single
track “Down with Disease” (this is Phish’s only studio-style video). Mike
also directs and edits a documentary of the process of recording Hoist,
entitled Tracking.
The
band then embarks on a national tour, continuing through mid-July. The
G-Crew (short for the Green Crew), a volunteer coalition of Phish fans
dedicated to minimizing the environmental impact of the crowds coming to
shows, becomes a welcome presence in the parking lots. (If you want to
find them, check at the Greenpeace table.)
Crimes
of the Mind, the album recorded with the Dude of Life back in 1991, is
released on October 25th.
In
the fall Phish tour again; the “musical costume” tradition is established
when the band solicits input from the fans and as a result plays the Beatles’
White Album in its entirety as the second set of their three-set Halloween
concert in Glens Falls, New York (concluding some time after 2 am). The
tour continues through the end of the year, and is captured throughout
on multi-track recording in preparation for the upcoming live album.
1995:
Phish greets the New Year at the Boston Garden with assistance from Mike’s
grandmother as well as a giant hot-dog in which they fly, playing, across
the Garden to the “cheap seats”.
“A
Live One” (double CD recorded live, the Clifford Ball, 1994) is released
on June 27th and the band goes back on the road in June and July; mail-order
tickets now become available for regular seats as well as tapers. The fall
tour commences on the west coast and the Halloween tradition continues
with a performance by popular request of the Who’s Quadrophenia at the
Rosemont Horizon in Chicago.
1996:
Fish is transformed into the baby New Year by a mad scientist at Madison
Square Garden. The band goes into the studio in late February and begins
recording a self-produced Blob of music. At the end of March they take
a month off and appear at JazzFest in New Orleans on April 26th. They then
return to the studio and can the Blob (except for two mintues); Steve Lillywhite
joins them in the studio to produce the album.
At
the beginning of July they head to Europe, playing some shows with Santana
and others on their own, and in August they return to the US for 11 shows
culminating with the Clifford Ball, a festival dedicated to the legendary
aviator. The album, “Billy Breathes” is released on October 15th and the
band begins a 35 show US tour beginning in the East and including a stop
at The Omni in Atlanta for the traditional Halloween concert. This year’s
“musical costume” is the band’s choice: The Talking Heads’ “Remain in Light”.
The band welcomes special guest percussionist Karl Perazzo for four shows,
and the fall tour wraps up at the Aladdin Theatre in Las Vegas with yodelers
and multiple Elvi.
1997:
The band ushers in the new year at Boston’s Fleet Center amidst a sea of
falling
balloons. In February and March, they return to Europe and to intimate
clubs and theatres to play 14 headline shows. On March 18, Phish joins
Ben and Jerry on Ben’s birthday for a show at the Flynn Theatre in Burlington
to benefit Lake Champlain cleanup and to celebrate the release of Ben and
Jerry’s new flavor, Phish Food. The band ventures again to Europe in June
and July, for another 18 headline shows and outdoor festivals, with plans
to follow up with a 19-show US tour in July and August. The US summer tour
culminates with The Great Went, a multi-day event in Limestone, Maine attended
by over 62,000. Phish’s next album, Slip Stitch & Pass (a selection
of songs from their March 1st performance in Hamburg, Germany) is released
on October 28th.
Fall
tour begins November 13th in Las Vegas and concludes December 13th in Albany;
on this tour, the Waterwheel Foundation, which was created to administer
the proceeds from Phish Food (ice cream) for Lake Champlain cleanup, takes
over the project of tabling at shows with information on environmental
and social issues from Greenpeace, who ceased to do this sort of work.
To complete the year the band plays a show in the DC area and then three
at Madison Square Garden.
