Phish was founded in late 1983 when Trey Anastasio posted flyers around the University of Vermont campus, looking for musicians to start a band. Jon Fishman, Mike Gordon, and another guitarist answered the call. Phish really took its present shape in 1985, however, with the departure of the guitarist and the addition of keyboardist Page McConnell, who persuaded Trey and Jon to join him at Goddard College. After that it was a steady climb from their regular gigs at Nectar's in Burlington to college shows elsewhere in New England to bigger clubs and halls nationwide. Fans began following the band from town to town, spreading the word that Phish was one of the most exciting and inventive new bands around.
Their status as one of rock's live treasures continues to grow. In 1995, Phish were among the top-grossing touring artists of the year, and 1996 is certain to see them rise even higher. This year's schedule reached its zenith at their Clifford Ball Festival this past August. The two-day event, held at Plattsburgh Air Force Base in Plattsburgh, New York, featured three sets of music from Phish each day, plus an eclectic assemblage of arts and amusements. Over 135,000 tickets to the weekend festival were sold, making it the largest concert event in North America in 1996.
The band has been enjoying strong album sales as well, with the recent gold certification of their 1995 double live album A Live One and their 1994 studio album Hoist.
As with all great live bands, part of Phish's dilemma has been how to recreate in the four walls of a studio the open-ended magic they achieve on stage. But the key to Billy Breathes just may be their decision to ease that effort, to try not to try. As the group explains, they approached their seventh record intent on debunking any and all myths about what would constitute the consummate Phish album. And as Trey relates, "Lo and behold, it happened."
In the recording studio, in rehearsal and on the road, Phish have always
pushed themselves to try new things, to take a fresh musical look at
themselves, to not tread the same ground twice. In keeping with this
tradition of innovation and invention, they hit the studio alone, just the
four of them. "The feeling was that we would stop trying so hard to
capture the live show, and just let things come naturally," Trey says. "So
we checked into The Barn, at Bearsville, with no preconceived notions --
just that it would be the four of us getting together."
As always, they arrived at a novel approach to writing and recording.
"Believe it or not, we started with one note," Trey says. "We called it
'the Blob.'" Mike explains, "We went around in a circle with one
bandmember at a time adding a note. We didn't have to play our own
instruments, and normal song structure didn't matter." Page adds, "At
first the Blob was a continuation of our ideas about breaking down the
rules. It ended up being an icebreaker to see where things could go.
Songs started to develop on their own."
For four weeks, the band worked this way, with virtually no one outside the band hearing what they were doing. However, the multiple tasks of producing and playing became somewhat fatiguing, and they took a little time off. "Recording can be a tiring process, so we took off for a month and looked at where we were," Trey says. "We decided we needed some outside perspective. Three days before we were to go back in, we found that Steve Lillywhite was available. Suddenly it was round two."
"It was good to close the door for awhile, so we could just play," says Fishman. "But it also made it clear why we need a producer. Steve was perfect -- he brought a fresh energy that was very uplifting." Adds Trey, "He brought a new point of view, seeing and hearing things we normally wouldn't." The sessions were energized, the band could concentrate on their playing and arranging, and the songs began to come together in a natural, almost effortless way. "Sometimes we would just jam when the tapes were rolling," Mike explains. "We didn't anticipate anything until the final edit was done."
One listen to Billy Breathes makes it clear that the process worked brilliantly. In aglowing four-star review, Rolling Stone called Billy Breathes Phish's best record to date: "As rustic as the New England countryside, Billy Breathes is a warm declaration of optimism....a breath of fresh air." From the first buzz of feedback to the last crystalline guitar and piano notes, it's obvious that the band felt at home in the studio and thoroughly enjoyed the sessions. Billy Breathes is suffused with a new confidence and vitality -- the playing is relaxed, the arrangements are warm, intimate and subtle.
Individually, the songs are among their best -- well-crafted and fresh, yet familiar; as an album, the vibe is organic and cohesive. Tracks include the soaring first single "Free"; the funky, rocking "Character Zero"; the smoking instrumental "Cars Trucks Buses"; the epic "Theme From The Bottom"; the dreamy, gentle "Billy Breathes"; and the cathartic anthem "Prince Caspian." The band's own favorites include "Taste" ("One of the most important songs on the album, where we really stretched our limits," says Mike); "Train Song" ("Great melody, great images," says Jon); and "Billy Breathes," which the band says developed the most from early in the sessions to the end.
"The Phish stuff is pretty slow for now," reads one sentence in the liner notes, and although the album has its share of rockers, the overall feel seems introspective, with airy tracks like "Talk," "Billy Breathes" and "Swept Away" setting the tone. Perhaps more than any of their other releases, Billy Breathes demands being listened to in its entirety, about which Phish is quite pleased. "As we were recording it, the album started to take on its own personality," Trey says. "It started feeling like a story. I'm a sequencing fanatic, and I really got into it on this album. There was kind of a natural sequence here that had to be found. When we sequenced the record, the idea was for it to be a journey from one place to another."
The album draws much of its intimate nature from lyrics by Trey's longtime friend and lyricist Tom Marshall, who contributed words to nine songs. Friends since eighth grade, Trey and Tom have been writing together since before Phish formed. "Tom and I are really close," Trey relates. "For some reason we connect. He is able to put into words feelings I have." On a recent scuba vacation to the Cayman Islands, the two wrote 27 songs, many of which appear on Billy Breathes.
Phish are justifiably proud of Billy Breathes, and it shows in their enthusiasm about the studio process and their desire to do it again soon. "This album shows the benefit of us being a band for 13 years," Jon says. "We really got down to the essence of each song. I think we're becoming more focused on making songs, rather than building around extended jams."
"With each album a different door has opened," says Page. "It would be nice if we could work like this all the time, if it was an ongoing process instead of this procedure where you stop and do an album every couple of years."
Phish's schedule for the immediate future is characteristically full, with a fall tour of the U.S. Highlights include their Halloween show at Atlanta's 20,000-seat Omni (sold out in twelve minutes), and their four year-end shows, December 28 and 29 at the Philadelphia Spectrum and December 30 and 31 at Boston's Fleet Center. In the first half of '97, they'll continue their U.S. tour and make two visits to Europe as well.
Trey concludes, "We had such a great time recording this album that when I looked at the tour schedule ahead of us, I got a bit sad realizing that we wouldn't be in the studio again for a while!"
