PHISH RENAISSANCE MAN

AS THEY CELEBRATE THEIR 41st YEAR TOGETHER, PHISH ARE IN THE MIDDLE OF A MAJOR RENAISSANCE — AND THE BAND IS JUST ONE OF FRONTMAN/GUITARIST TREY ANASTASIO’S MANY PROJECTS. IN THIS ONE-OF-A-KIND INTERVIEW, TREY DISCUSSES HIS MUSICAL REBIRTH, CREATIVE PROCESS, INTENSE PRACTICE REGIMEN AND SO MUCH MORE

- ALAN PAUL

MOST BANDS THAT SURVIVE FOR FOUR decades enter into a decades enter into a FOR FOUR nostalgic phase of their career. But Phish is on fire in year 41. The quartet, which formed in 1983 in Burlington, Vermont, released Evolve, their 16th studio album, in July. Their 26-date summer tour includes Mondegreen, a four-day gathering in Dover, Delaware, that is their 11th festival and first since 2015. And they launched the year with a New Year’s Eve performance of Gamehenge, a song suite they hadn’t played since 1994, and which had taken on almost mythical status amongst fans. The two-hour performance included a cast and a production team that rivaled a Broadway show.

Other highlights of Phish’s year include a run at the Sphere in Las Vegas that featured 68 different songs across four nights with each song having original visuals — and their annual Mexican retreat. 

“This feels like a renaissance period for Phish,” says guitarist/ singer/chief songwriter Trey Anastasio. “We don’t feel stagnant at all. This is a very vibrant period in our band’s life.”

As vibrant as Phish is right now, it is hardly Anastasio’s sole creative project. He is a man in constant motion, displaying boundless creative enthusiasm and energy. In addition to Phish, he tours regularly with the Trey Anastasio Band (TAB), a hard charging outfit that includes a horn section. Additionally, New Yorkers have gotten used to Anastasio popping up on stages around the city, sitting in with the likes of Billy Strings, Goose, Tedeschi Trucks Band and even Billy Joel. 

At 59, Anastasio says, he “feels like a kid again,” secure in his relationship with the three other members of Phish — drummer Jon Fishman, bassist Mike Gordon and keyboardist Page McConnell — and his 30-year marriage to his wife, Sue, and he’s happy that his daughters have launched into adulthood.