Trey Anastasio on New Phish LP, Whether He’ll Play With the Dead Again
Trey Anastasio checks in with Rolling Stone as he’s walking down New York’s Amsterdam Avenue toward Avatar Studios, where he’s deep into work on Phish‘s next album. It’s been just two years since the band’s prior full-length, Fuego, and the relatively brief interim reflects the healthy state of the band these days. Expect to hear several of the new songs on Phish’s upcoming summer tour, which kicks off June 22nd in Saint Paul, Minnesota. In an unusually long and candid interview, Anastasio talks about the band’s current approach to staying creative live, his stint with the Grateful Dead and what exactly happens after Phish step offstage.
How far along is the new Phish record?
It’s not as far along as Jon Fishman would like to think! We were laughing really hard. He actually got a little ripping about that. Because he came in and played drums on a few songs and then left to go on Bernie tour. And then we saw this interview: It said, “The Phish record is done!” We were all laughing at his, um, perspective. But it’s not done. It sounds really great to me. We’re really happy. The band’s firing on all cylinders right now, so this is the perfect time to go into the studio. We’ll see, but it’s been pretty joyous. We’re kind of all over the place, flying down to Nashville to work, and then I’ve been doing a lot of work on overdubs at Avatar, which is in Manhattan, and then we go to Burlington, and worked at the barn, and we’re even working at Page’s house and Mike’s house a little bit.
How has it been to record in Nashville?
Bob Ezrin is producing. He has a little studio down there. He’s got a pretty good collection of amps and engineers that he likes working with, so it’s advantageous for us to go down there. There’s also a studio that we track in called Ronnie’s Place. It’s got a great-sounding piano and a really good live room, so we tracked Fuego there and we liked it so much that we wanted to go back, so we did basic tracks there.
Do you think you’ll be playing some of those new songs on the road this summer?
I do think we’ll be playing them this summer! Actually, contrary to what Fish was saying, a couple of the songs we busted out last year have been tracked for the album. I’m not entirely sure what’ll be on there, but I think in the interview he said there weren’t any. That’s not true. Another reason why we were laughing.
It sounds like everything he says is wrong!
He’s focused on Bernie right now. He’s doing a lot of concerts with him, having a lot of fun.
I wanted to ask about the tour. How did you feel about the band’s playing last summer, and where do you see Phish going this summer?
Well, somewhere around 2014, we really started getting loose again. And I know it’s always tricky, because when you read these [tour] previews, and every band that’s ever lived is going to say, “The band’s never sounded better!” That’s what you say.