B-Sides

The middle of August signifies the end of an era. In case you somehow haven’t heard, the luminary rock band Phish is hanging it up after 21 exuberant years. Given that the band had little commercial success, it really did pull off the unthinkable and impossible.

By generating a sizable and devoted fan base that was both appreciative and demanding, Phish had no choice but to give it their all, night in and night out. In the end, their performances became more than just rock concerts. They evolved into gatherings, celebrations and events.

Not since John, George, Paul, and Ringo did four unique characters develop such distinct identities and intimate relationships with their fans. It took us all at least a half-dozen shows, but once you got it...Phish was IT.

As they close their final chapter, it’s easy to overlook the little things that made the band such a huge draw, beyond just the music itself. So, taking a phrase from the iconic number "Stash", Glide looks back to reveal if, in fact, we’ve spent the last twenty years chasing the greatest band of all time: maybe so or maybe not?

Maybe So - "Happy Halloween"
They were always making a spectacle out of Halloween, but beginning in 1994, Phish single-handedly turned the random holiday into the biggest live music night of the year. Covering the Beatles White Album in its entirety, followed by complete replicas of The Who’s Quadrophenia, The Talking Head’s polyrhythmic Remain In Light and The Velvet Underground’s Loaded, Phish propelled October 31st to give the more traditional New Year’s Eve a run for his money. Now bands can’t just play a show on Halloween anymore, they have to make it a major production. Have you seen Michael Kang’s Chiquita banana lady costume?

Maybe Not - "The Hiatus"
You know when that girl broke your heart, and told you “we need time apart.” Then you spent a miserable year trying to get her back, and when you finally convince her to give it another shot, after two weeks you realize she was right all along. But you have a good couple months of drunken, sloppy sex anyway before you both eventually decide to just break it off for good? That was the hiatus.

Maybe So - "Trendsetter"
First, Trey wrote epic compositions about Dungeons and Dragons characters and the band quickly developed a cult-like following. Then he wrote those quirky, start-stop jam style songs that epitomized the early 90s in New England. Around the H.O.R.D.E. era, with bass player Mike Gordon leading the way, the band perfected bluegrass 101, and early stages of jamgrass began to take form.

When Jerry died, and the Phish phenomenon really began to build momentum, they took to long, extended improvisational jamming and, well, you know what that created. But what was even more amazing was the steering of the whole jamband ship. Bringing the funk to the scene in '97, spawning an entire new breed of funk/groove bands to sickening proportions. And then the techno Phish of ‘99, which pushed the live electronica bands to pile one on top of the other. And by 2001, even taking a hiatus became customary! It’ll be interesting to see what happens to the jam world without the pied piper leading the way. Next year everyone will come out with solo orchestra albums.

Maybe Not - "One Man Band"
Remember how the real fab four had three prominent song writers? Well for Phish, there was only one. To the point that you could argue Trey = Phish. Of course, there are fans who adamantly deny that’s the case, but try booking Pork Tornado or Vida Blue at Deer Creek.

Maybe So - "Vacation time, two personals and a sick day"
Lets face it…50 weeks in the office and only 2 weeks off pretty much makes you an indentured servant. So most Americans use a week in the summer for beaches and boating, and the other week with the fam during the holidays. That seems to keep the masses at bay and the working public satisfied putting their money back into the economy.

But Phish managed to turn that entire corporate structure on its head. Rather than setting up shop in some tropical destination or beautiful getaway spot to relieve you of those mundane workweek blues, and your hard earned dollar, they somehow managed to make cheap, rundown cities like Camden, New Jersey a 4th of July hotspot and Worcester, MA a place to spend Thanksgiving break. And they were so inviting, you got creative! Instead of hitting a local show on a Saturday night, you learned how to squeeze out an 8-show run from Virginia to Illinois and only use 2 personal days, 1 sick day and that vacation time you borrowed from next year. Hell, you weren’t gonna be there next year anyway.

Maybe Not -"On the cover of the Rolling Stone"
So your favorite band finally makes the cover of the most recognized and prolific music magazine in the world, and what do they do? Something resembling Disney's Drag Queens On Ice. It was a true rock-and-roll tragedy. Everything we worked for was ruined in a pink-leotard-second. The only thing worse than the photo itself was explaining to your girlfriend that this really was the band you'd been following all summer.

Maybe So - "Cover Art"
There aren’t many bands that can pull off cover songs with such bravado that they are revered as much as the band's originals. Songs like Edgar Winter’s "Frankenstein," The Velvet Undeground's "Rock and Roll," Deodato's funk version of "Also Sprach Zarathustra," Stevie Wonder's "Boogie On Reggae Woman," Talking Head’s "Crosseyed and Painless" and "Cities," Rolling Stone’s "Loving Cup," The Who’s "Drowned," Led Zeppelin’s "Good Times, Bad Times," Frank Zappa’s "Peaches en Regalia" and Ween’s “Roses Are Free” became fan favorites and set makers. Even obscure covers like the Mustang’s "Ya Mar," were welcomed regulars. And Fishman rarities like Neil Diamond’s “Cracklin Rosie,” Marvin Gaye’s “Sexual Healing” and Prince’s “Purple Rain” brought shows to must-have status. But for true inventiveness, you gotta hand it the boys for their acapella rendention of “Free Bird,” complete with vocalizing not just the lyrics, but the long-winded instrumental segments in entirety. Just don't be "that guy" and yell for it between every song.

Maybe Not - "I Want My MTV"
“Uh, this sucks Beavis.” For better or worse, in ‘94 Phish tried to make the plunge into MTV with a video for "Down With Disease," and it sunk the band to a new low. Directed by Mike Gordon, the band donned scuba gear and found themselves swimming around in a fish tank in between some live clips of the band from New Year's ‘93. Where a full VHS copy of that show would have been a prized release, the subsequent single left fans scared for the future. Much to their ironic delight, aside from a brief heckling by Beavis and Butthead, the video was scraped from rotation.

Maybe So - "> Narration >"
Before the joy and ease of Internet downloading, Phish shows were traded on beat-up cassette tapes that had been on the floor of your friend’s car for the whole summer and the last song was missing ‘cause it didn‘t fit on his 60 minute Maxell. But we took what we could get. And rest assured, if you were partying in his dorm room, perusing the tape cases and you found one with >narration> scribbled somewhere on the j-card, you grabbed it!

Maybe Not - "Practice Makes Perfect"
Phish used to be the hardest working practice band this side of the London Philharmonic. According to band members, the practice sessions were even more intense and fulfilling than the shows themselves. But alas, all good things must come to an end. Families, wives, side projects and growing pains left little room for practice time and soon the rust began to shine through. Perfections and intricate timings were abandoned for more muddy jams. And sure, some of those jams were great, but "Fluffhead" is no "Smoke On The Water."

Maybe So - Midnight To Sunrise
"Meatstick" -> "Auld Lang Syne," "Down with Disease" -> "Llama," "Bathtub Gin," "Heavy Things," "Twist Around" > "Prince Caspian" > "Rock and Roll," "You Enjoy Myself," "Crosseyed and Painless," "The Inlaw Josie Wales," "Sand" -> "Quadrophonic Topplings," "Slave to the Traffic Light," "Albuquerque," "Reba," "Axilla," "Uncle Pen," "David Bowie," "My Soul," "Drowned" -> "After Midnight" reprise, "The Horse" >"Silent in the Morning," "Bittersweet Motel," "Piper" -> "Free," "Lawn Boy," "Hold Your Head Up" > "Love You" > "Hold Your Head Up," "Roses are Free," "Bug," "Also Sprach Zarathustra" > "Wading in the Velvet Sea," "Meatstick."

I mean, come on people...how were they ever gonna top that?

Maybe Not - "Piss Break"
Ever feel like your bladder is in such dire need of release that you’re surely damaging your insides by holding it this long? Lucky for most fans, Phish had a number of “piss breaks” to help you through the show. “Bouncing Around The Room” comes quickly to mind, but the lines at the men’s room during “Bouncing” were nothing compared to the wait during “Prince Caspian,” “Roggae” or any newly penned ballad for that matter. Oh yeah, the piss break song of all time was the nauseating pop hymn, “Jennifer Dances,” better known as “Jennifer Sits,” which made its rounds during the December 1999 tour.

Maybe So - "Special Guest"
What do B.B. King, Wynona Judd, Neil Young, Bob Weir, Kid Rock, Les Claypool, Steven Wright, Carlos Santana, Bela Fleck, John Medeski, Jay-Z, Sugar Blue, Son Seals, John Popper, Sarah McLachlan and Ben &Jerry have in common? They’ve all shared the stage with Phish in the middle of a performance.

When the crowd roared in approval and you saw someone else grace the stage, it was often instant bragging rights. Getting the late night call, "Oh man, you missed it, Phil Lesh came out and laid some bombs during YEM" had to hurt.

Maybe Not -"Kill Your Television"
With only about five minutes to show their stuff on late night TV, the band’s performances on Letterman, Leno, Conan and even Saturday Night Live never got people rushing to the record store the next morning. With no time to get settled in and only a small window to nail a song, Phish consistently stumbled in the awkward setting. The most interesting thing was wondering if the “thanks, that was great” handshake from the host was genuine or just “tv talk.”

Maybe So - "Cause We’re All In This Together"
The “Stash” clap, “Wilson” chant and even those controversial glow stick wars made the band and audience interaction something of rock legend. But the Big Ball jams introduced in November 1992 and played until venue sizes got in the way were truly an “only at a Phish show” experience. Maybe only outdone by the chess match during the fall 1995 tour, which challenged the audience to two games in the first ever band-versus-audience chess match. You don’t get that at Ozzfest.

Maybe Not - "Bury The Meatstick"
Ok, so they were getting bored and decided to start a dance craze with “Meatstick.” In almost each performance, Trey and Mike would put down their instruments and teach the audience the very loosely based “dance steps.” When enough of the crowd had it somewhat down pat, they invited the Guinness Book Of World Records people to a festival gig in Oswego, NY in the summer of 1999 to witness the possible world record for the most people dancing in unison. But with its juvenile hand twirling, off-beat clapping and frantic jumping from side to side, it's no wonder that audience participation was impotent. This was no "Macarena" and a far cry from the "Lambada."

Maybe So - "You Snooze, You Lose"
You would think that you'd be rewarded for following a band around the country, spending endless amounts of cash keeping up, and just plain trying not to miss a thing. Most bands step it up for the soldout gigs and big events but not Phish. Instead, fans at the most out-of-the-way show, the one only accessible with a full case of Red Bull, would be rewarded with such epics as Dark Side Of The Moon, or a show filled with rarities. It became so customary that shows prior to major stops or those well undersold close to showtime were almost guaranteed to result in mind-blowing performances. What other band could get you to fly to Bonner Springs, Kansas on a Wednesday?

Maybe Not - "Record Deal"
In addition to changing setlists every night and being followed by red-eyed hippies from town to town, this is where Phish is truly reminiscent of the Grateful Dead. They just couldn't really work it out in the studio. Yeah, there are moments, and a few decent efforts, but when was the last time you got in your buddy's car for a road trip and his CD holder was full of Phish studio albums?

Maybe So - "Find Yourself A City to Live In"
Before Phish, tents were for the KOA. Beginning with 1996’s Clifford Ball and followed by The Great Went (1997), Lemonwheel (1998), Oswego (1999), Big Cypress (2000), IT (2003) and this year’s Coventry, Phish festivals became legendary with their 3-set extravaganzas. Air force bases and Indian reservations were transformed into cities where the only rule was…well, we can’t think of one rule, actually. But the point is, the Phish festival set the standard for the summer festival season as we now know it today, where every weekend is cluttered by “Gathering Of This” and “Jamboree On That.” Tents aren’t just for backpacking anymore. Now they are portable hotel rooms for sleeping over at rock concerts.

Maybe Not - "Geek to Guitar God"
Remember when you went to your high school reunion and that random, skinny, redhead guy from the A/V Department ended up being the hippest guy in the room? That was Trey.

When a spiffy wardrobe used to consist of a tank-top, shorts and Converse sneakers soon blossomed into leather jackets, Banana Republic button-downs and trendy layered hair cuts. The stretch limos, bodyguards, and Kid Rock and Nelly hangouts made the guy who wrote Gamehendge become one of the rock scene’s most durable socialites. Wonder if those guys talk about the Lizards, the Mockingbird and multi-beasts over bottles of Cristal...

All photos courtesy of phish.com.