The Magic Beans are a traveling band from Nederland, CO set out to bring their unique, genre-blending music to the masses and inspire a good time. Their diverse songs move your mind, while tight grooves move your booty when they come to town or through the speakers. Drawing from a wide range of influences, The Magic Beans leave nothing off the table as they combine americana, funk, rock, and electronica into a one sound and sometimes even one composition. Their sound has been described as space funk, ameritronica, and groove grass. The group uses no pre-recorded tracks or samples in favor of a more traditional approach to music: original songwriting, diverse instrumentation, and continually pushing the envelope are what have set this group apart. Seamlessly combining acoustic roots music and traditional instruments with modern technology and electric dance music, The Magic Beans are as unique as their place of origin, the Colorado Rockies.
Chris Duffy’s first shows with The Magic Beans will be this weekend in Keystone, Colorado.
On November 16, DSO barreled into the Palace Theatre in Albany, a place guitarist Rob Eaton said is near and dear to the band’s heart. There are more Grateful Dead cover bands than I can count in the Albany area alone. These groups keep the spirit of the Dead alive and well.
Dark Star Orchestra
Nationwide, the number of Dead tribute acts is basically astronomic. Hell, there’s even a website to help us keep track of them all.
But there’s only one who is universally known across the jam band scene: Dark Star Orchestra. As of November 29, DSO has played more than 2,500 concerts since forming in 1997, either recreating old Dead setlists, or creating their own from the Dead’s hefty 30-year catalog of shows.
From the opening pair of “Alabama Getaway” and “Greatest Story Ever Told,” it seemed as if the band might be playing an early 1970s set. Then “Dupree’s Diamond Blues,” “Black Throated Wind,” “Ramble on Rose,” “Easy to Love You,” “Passenger,” “Shining Star,” “Beat it on Down the Line,” and “China Cat Sunflower?I Know You Rider” made me think the group had concocted it’s own setlist.
And in grand Grateful Dead fashion, DSO even had an equipment issue, when keyboardist Rob Barraco lost power to his rig following “Dupree’s,” prompting Eaton to talk about how the Palace is one of the band’s favorite venues to play.
The second set was a non-stop roller coaster, kicking off with a tender “St. Stephen>Lost Sailor>Saint of Circumstance>Terrapin Station,” before giving way to a somewhat boring “Drums>Space.” “At a Siding>Terrapin Transit>Terrapin Reprise>Hey Jude>Visions of Johanna>One More Saturday Night” closed out a fun, but at times slow second set.
One of my personal favorites, “Unbroken Chain,” finished the night in style, sending the near capacity crowd home with one of Phil Lesh’s songs.
Albany jam rockers Formula 5 announced Thursday that founding keyboardist Mike McDonald, is departing the group at the end of 2015 for personal reasons, so he can focus his attention toward building his family.
Here is the announcement as posted on their Facebook page:
Hi friends and fans,
We’ve reached a juncture here in Formula 5 camp and it pains us to announce that our own Mike McDonald will be stepping down as a member of Formula 5 at the end of 2015. Mike has been with us since the beginning and has been a big part of what we have built here with our music, business, and community. As a group, we have been discussing this change for some time now and while it is a very emotional and difficult decision for us all, we all support Mike with his decision to step down and wish him luck in his future endeavors. This decision was made on good terms – it was simply a personal decision that had to be made.
One thing we want to assure everyone of is that Formula 5 will continue on. Mike will always be a big part of Formula 5 but his decision was made to allow F5 to continue to grow, and keep making music and bringing joy to people. And that is what he has urged us to do. While bittersweet, we are accepting of the changes and excited to announce that we will welcome a new member and long-time friend Matt Richards to take over keyboards and vocal duties. Matt is an excellent musician that has experience playing with the prog-funk group The Assortment of Crayons and we are excited to see how this new chapter of Formula 5 evolves. We are very grateful to be able to perform music and appreciate everyone’s continued love and support for F5.
McDonald took to the social media site to express his sincere thanks for his time in the band.
It is with a heavy heart that I announce that I will be stepping down as a member of Formula 5. This was not an easy decision and one that I (and the band) struggled with for quite some time now. First off, I want to say that I love music, I love performing, and I love this band. That isn’t going to change. Writing music with these guys, performing live, learning about the business, and traveling around the northeast and meeting some amazing people and musicians has been phenomenal and something that I will be forever be grateful for. The business side of music can be quite grueling and often not even close to profitable – But this band, the music, its members, our fans, and the northeast music community is something very special and has made it all worth it.
The struggle of balancing my family, my “other” full-time career, and the development of this band has become too much for me to commit to the countless hours I believe are necessary to keep pushing Formula 5 upward with the momentum we have seen over the last few years. Despite all this, it would pain me to see this band simply fade away because of my own personal situation changing. This is something that we, as a band, have discussed greatly over the last year or so. While a very difficult decision for me personally, we all have worked too hard to get where we are today and I would hate to see this band and community fade away – that is why I am stepping down.
But Formula 5 is far from done. These guys are my family and I know that they are making better music than ever before and the future looks very, very bright. The band is very excited to announce that a long-time friend and a fantastic keyboard player and musician, Matt Richards will be stepping in as a new member. He has written and performed with The Assortment of Crayons and I truly think he is a fantastic addition to push Formula 5 into its newest chapter.
Change is good. While still a somber situation for me personally, I strongly urge all of you to still support Formula 5 and the great music that they are and will continue to create.
I will be finishing out the rest of the calendar year playing the next 3 shows with Formula 5 – my last show being on December 12th at dinosaur bbq in Troy. If you feel so inclined, come on out and bid farewell to this chapter of F5.
Heading into 2015, Trey Anastasio had 32 years of accomplishments on his rock and roll resume. Fronting the most successful touring band of the last 20 years, Anastasio really had nothing to prove to fans and naysayers alike, yet Big Red barreled forth into possibly the most demanding year of his life.
Fresh off a well-received New Year’s run in Miami with Phish, Anastasio didn’t take any time off, as a letter from Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh had requested the then-50-year-old step in to handle the role this scene was built upon: Playing lead guitar at a string of concerts celebrating the Dead’s 50th anniversary, essentially filling the shoes of a guy named Jerry Garcia.
The Grateful Dead formed a massive traveling family built around improvisational music and the most dedicated fans on earth from 1965 until the band’s final show at Soldier Field in Chicago on July 9, 1995. Garcia would pass away one month later, and the Dead would go on in various incarnations since.
While the Dead were ruling the hippie world, Phish was honing their craft, relentlessly playing the bar scene in Vermont, before spreading to a Northeast band in the late 1980s. By 1994, Phish had arrived and had a head of steam that just wouldn’t let up. On December 30, 1994, Phish headlined a venue that the Dead made into a second home: Madison Square Garden.
In the clip above, Anastasio commands the biggest stage in music with authority, head held high, strutting around and picking his Languedoc while brandishing a huge grin. After more than a decade of incessant honing of their craft, Phish — undoubtedly Anastasio’s band at the time — had arrived.
There is so much debate about which year of Phish is “best” among the fan base, and the correct answer is that there isn’t a wrong answer. Phish fans cannot be objective, since the band and its catalog are highly subjective. Experiencing Phish is a purely personal thing. That’s why there is endless internet discussion on everything the band has ever done.
I would argue that 1995 was the most transitional year in the band’s history, as it signaled a full shift from playing medium-sized theaters to headlining the biggest venues in the country on a consistent basis. Their sound, and notably Anastasio’s, shifted for the bigger rooms and sheds.
Then, in the summer, Garcia passed away, leaving an asteroid-sized hole in rock music. The Deadheads that planned their lives around when their band was touring suddenly had nothing to look forward to. Every music critic, journalist, writer and pundit have argued every angle since, some saying Phish only got so big because the Dead went away, others saying their fresh sound gave birth to a new generation of fans.
Whatever the case, the two bands were completely different in every way aside from the ethos of what they did: The live show is why both groups have their respective followings. Outside of that, Phish and the Dead couldn’t be more different, but I will let you all continue that discussion.
For the remainder of the 1990s, Phish was the biggest band in America that nobody knew. Anastasio was a guitar god, with his ability to play complex songs without error or hesitation. In 1999, Lesh returned to the stage after some health issues in San Francisco with a band that included Anastasio on guitar and Page McConnell on keyboards. The three shows performed are some of the most highly regarded post-Jerry Dead music, and for good reason. Everyone was in fine form and the music felt inspired and not stale.
Skip to 2000, and the rigors of the road had burned the band out. Anastasio has admitted that the backstage party that was once an intimate setting for Phish in the early years had become an out-of-control animal. Often erratic playing by the band, which in a band like Phish is highly amplified when its leader flubs a composed section of a song he has nailed hundreds of times, led fans to speculate on the guitarist’s health and state of mind.
The final two shows before the break were at Shoreline Amphitheater in California. The first night featured a sit-in by Bob Weir for takes on “Chalk Dust Torture,” “West L.A. Fadeaway” and “El Paso.”
The Dark Days?
Following a 15-month break, Phish returned for a triumphant 2003. The next year, however, spelled doom for the band, as Anastasio announced in a letter on Phish.com that the band “had run its course” and they were breaking up after the Coventry Festival in August, 2004.
Anastasio looked and sounded like a man who needed a break. The guy who used to practice hours every day appeared to be uninspired, aside from a few magical moments, in 2004.
It was an up-and-down 2006 for Anastasio, who formed a group with Mike Gordon, Marco Benevento and Joe Russo, and co-headlined a summer tour with Phil and Friends. Many of those shows featured Anastasio sitting in with Lesh, and speaking as someone who saw the majority of them, I can say it was magical. My favorite guitarist playing my favorite songs was the highlight of my music-going life.
Later that year, in December, Anastasio was pulled over in Whitehall, N.Y., and arrested for possessing prescription drugs including painkillers. Fans’ worst fears were validated: Anastasio wasn’t doing well.
I will call that the turning point, because since then, Anastasio hasn’t missed a beat. He successfully completed Drug Court and stayed out of the public eye for a while. Fans wondered if Anastasio would come back, and if so, how would he be? A healthy Anastasio, though, was all we really wanted.
Then, BAM. October 20, 2007 happened, at the Glens Falls Civic Center in Glens Falls, N.Y., just a few minutes from where his arrest happened. Phil and Friends had a show that night. I just had a deep feeling that we would see Anastasio that night, in one way or another. All of my friends told me I was nuts, that he wasn’t playing with Lesh that night. I was convinced, and to this day, it is one of the only concerts I went in as early as I could.
As I ran down the steps of the bowl, I could see a familiar sight directly in front of me: Anastasio’s unmistakable Languedoc sitting on its stand in the middle of the stage. Throughout the night, Anastasio and Lesh were all smiles, tearing through favorites such as “Help on the Way>Slipknot!>Franklin’s Tower,” “Bertha” and a magnificent “Unbroken Chain.”
That was when I became convinced not only that Phish would one day return, but that Anastasio was a different person. He looked relaxed on stage, he had an enlightened look on his face and he was simply happy to be doing what he was born to do.
The Rebirth
In 2008, Phish announced they were playing three shows in Hampton, Va., in early March, 2009, nearly five years after Coventry. The subsequent seven years have been thoroughly documented and Phish has played better and better with each passing tour.
In 2013, the band broke their Halloween tradition by performing their new album in its entirety instead of choosing a classic record to cover. Last year, they took creativity to another level with Chilling, Thrilling Sounds of the Haunted House.
When it was announced early this year that Anastasio would be playing guitar with the Dead in Santa Clara and Chicago, I was among the absolutely elated. Others were skeptical, and a six-month internet board argument ensued between those who thought he was the right choice, and those who didn’t want him there.
Anastasio entered what he called Dead Camp, where he basically dropped everything he was working on and spent months learning the ways of the Grateful Dead (even though he had years of experience under his belt.) He told veteran journalist David Fricke, in an interview for Relix Magazine, that he basically set out to help the Dead, a band he envied so much growing up, be happy.
With all eyes on him heading into the Santa Clara shows, Anastasio hit a grand slam. His tone, which he spent so much time working on, was immaculate and Jerry-like, but you still couldn’t mistake it for anyone but Anastasio.
It didn’t take long at all until Deadheads were clamoring to the idea that Anastasio was, hands down, the only person to play Garcia’s parts for these shows.
The Chicago run was even more magical, as Anastasio stepped to the lead for a majority of the jams and was the driving force behind, and connective tissue of the band onstage. For me, Anastasio singing “Standing on the Moon” and “Althea” were the highlights, along with his reinvigorated guitar playing.
“I just loved it, absolutely loved it. All this planning and rehearsing, back and forth, tempos and all this shit, arguing about where you’re going to set up, and we walked onstage, and then it was the Grateful Dead. It was amazing. I was freaking out. I loved it.”
The five GD50 shows did something special to Anastasio. On July 21, in Bend, Ore., Phish opened their tour and Anastasio immediately turned heads. His guitar playing had something that seemed to be lacking in previous years. He wasn’t taking a backseat the majority of the time; he was back to leading his band, with those fun microbursts of notes and flurries of scales that had propelled him to Guitar God many years prior.
“When Trey is leading on guitar, that is when we are at our best.”
He even wrote a handful of new songs that Phish would go on to perform (Mike Gordon gave NYSMusic a little preview back in July), songs like “Blaze On,” “No Men in No Man’s Land,” “Shade” and “Mercury,” among others, that have already become fan favorites and jam vehicles.
This 2015 Summer Tour was the best Phish has sounded in a very long time and you can thank Anastasio for that. At the Mann Center for the Performing Arts on August 12, Phish played one of its best sets in years, with highly notable versions of “NMINML,” “Twist” and “Bathtub Gin,” as well as a personal favorite bustout of “Scents and Subtle Sounds.”
In the Relix article, Anastasio even references that show as being a highlight of the summer, saying how free-flowing and easy-going of a set it was.
Then, Magnaball. Phish’s 10th festival is already highly regarded among fans. Tickets sold out in advance. There was a serious buzz in the community. The band, and Anastasio, delivered one of the most memorable weekends of my life. For an idea of just how great Anastasio has been, take a listen to the “Run Like an Antelope” from Magnaball. It’s a throwback to the mid-90s, and Anastasio rips his guitar to shreds while building to a manic peak that I cannot get enough of.
Vintage Trey, if you will.
That’s a pretty successful year, right? Anastasio isn’t done, as he’s about to embark on a tour in support of his new album, Paper Wheels, with the Trey Anastasio Band this weekend.
This year isn’t over, but it’s already Anastasio’s most successful. Thirty-two years ago, he and some guys in a band called Phish were playing Grateful Dead covers in the basement of some building on the University of Vermont campus at an ROTC dance.
In 2015, Anastasio was the leader of the Grateful Dead for five nights in front of millions of fans.
In 2015, Anastasio led Phish on one of their best tours in years.
The former Albany home of sports bar and adult arcade Jillian’s from 1999 to 2012 was purchased last month by two locally established bar and restaurant owners who have a vision of turning the space into a bar and music hall on the first floor, with a dance club upstairs.
The 34,000-square foot building at 59 North Pearl St. is located not far from the Palace Theatre and the Times Union Center, and it’s right in the middle of many bars and clubs in Albany’s downtown area.
Chris Pratt and Alessio Depoli own the Pearl Street Pub, Barrel Saloon, The Capital American Eatery and Public House in Albany. The duo bought the Jillian’s building for just $855,000, a big discount from the more than $2 million the former owner, New York Business Development Corp., had reportedly been seeking. The NYBDC is a nonprofit that uses its sway to work with banks to help local economic growth by facilitating deals. In 2010, it acquired the building for $2.3 million.
“We see this as an investment in downtown Albany,” Pratt told the Times Union last month. “The building cost far less than (Spillenger) paid for it, and it hasn’t deteriorated very much at all.”
He also said that he has had offers to make similar moves in Schenectady and Troy, but he cited Albany’s recent growth as the reason he chose the city.
Pratt added that he will need to invest more than $100,000 into the building’s infrastructure, and he’s hopeful he can have the doors opened before the end of the year.
The building has a few apartments on the top floor. Pratt said he’s looking into making the basement, where the arcade used to be, into a fully functional workout center.
The 2015 incarnation of the Catskill Chill Music Festival may serve as a farewell to host site Camp Minglewood, but since its inception, the festival has really been a big introduction to new music and groups, while also bringing in established bands that many people know.
For instance, this year’s lineup features moe., Lotus and Zappa Plays Zappa as the headliners, while groups such as the Motet, Lettuce and Electron also support the bill. Just like all festival flyers, the headliners get the most ink, while the font size shrinks with each passing line.
Twiddle
Enter Twiddle, on the fourth line of the Chill’s flyer. Just three years ago, it seemed Twiddle was a name at the bottom of so many festival advertisements. Yet, now, the group from Vermont has risen steadily up to headlining smaller festivals such as Disc Jam, while throwing down what band members describe as one of the best sets the group has ever played at this year’s Bonnaroo.
At the Chill last year, Twiddle played a normal set, and a Grateful Dead set, the latter being one of the most well-received sets in the history of the festival. Since then, Twiddle has exploded, headlining tours and playing venues such as Red Rocks in Colorado.
“One tidbit I often appreciate about our fest is what is great about a lot of small-to-medium size fests, which is how great it is to hear bands who are still in the early stages of their career on the main stages and in prime, night time slots,” Catskill Chill organizer Josh Cohen said in an email.
He went on to specify about Twiddle: “For instance … Twiddle. Twiddle always plays daytime sets at larger festivals, even have at the Chill the last couple years actually, but their Dead set was at night. Anyway, (they’re playing a late-night Dead set this year) and I’m pretty sure that’s going to make a lot of Twiddle fans very happy (including me!).”
This kind of exposure can do wonders for a band, especially in the jam band scene, where people listen with the most open of ears.
Just ask Ryan Dempsey, keyboardist from Twiddle.
“Last year at Catskill was one of my favorite Twiddle sets. Ever,” Dempsey said. “I thought we were all very connected and we had the privilege to have some of our mentors and favorite musicians from the scene sit in on our songs with us.
“It was also the debut of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles hats idea that took on as a fad even after Catskill.”
That statement says a lot about just what the Chill has done for Twiddle. In the last year, every Twiddle show is littered with fans wearing Ninja Turtles hats, shirts and even full-on Turtle costumes. It also helps that Twiddle has one of the most dedicated young fan bases in the entire scene.
Mihali Savoulidis, guitarist for Twiddle, summed up his thoughts on Catskill Chill in a few short words.
“Bottom line is Catskill creates a super creative environment that I believe all the artists can feel and feed off of,” he said.
This year, Dopapod and Turkuaz are collaborating on a late-night set that Cohen referred to as Dopakuaz, saying this type of community mindset is what sets the Chill apart from other festivals its size or bigger.
“Point is that when comparing us to larger festivals, we’re at this cool stage attendance-wise where in many band’s cases we have the best ‘music’ out there in our prime slots,” Cohen added. “I love tons of bands who’ve been around since the ’90s or earlier but there’s nothing like seeing musicians in their youthful stages, when creativity is just exploding and you can feel it dripping off the stage as opposed to later-in-their career bands who are playing mostly songs they first wrote and fell in love with decades earlier.”
Dempsey echoed that sentiment: “They are a great ally of ours and have helped us play in front of new and old fans. They have a strong and professional staff and crew along with a lot of great music and people.”
Camp Minglewood has a unique setup which allows attendees to rent cabins if the traditional tent-style camping is not wanted. Savoulidis closed his interview by summing up not only Twiddle’s experience at the Chill, but also spoke for fans, calling it one of the best festivals he has had the opportunity to play.
“Catskill is one of our fans’ favorite festivals,” he said. “It gives them the opportunity to see us play and interact with our fellow artists in an incredibly unique setting. The way that Minglewood is set up provides a very cool experience for both the festival goers and the artists. I believe this is our fifth Chill and each year is better than the last. Our career has grown as the festival has and it’s usually the last one we do of the season so I think whenever we play at Minglewood all our creative juices are primed from a long summer of shows enabling us to come up with some really strong performances. This year should be no different.”
If hearing these words from the Lion’s mouth got you as pumped as I did writing this, clear your weekend plans and get yourself to the Lion’s den. It’s an experience that cannot be recreated anywhere else.
Anyone need a little sauce in their life? This Tuesday, G Love & Special Sauce with guests Big Head Todd and the Monsters and JJ Grey and Mofro will be spicing up Paper Mill Island Amphitheater in Baldwinsville, N.Y. With roots in Philadelphia, Colorado and Florida respectively, these three acts will be serving up a taste of the east, west and down south with a range of funky blues, hip hop and soft rock melodies.
The three bands will assemble in Baldwinsville mid-August after performing a handful of gigs together throughout New England earlier in the month. After Paper Mill they will venture further west and perform three more shows together in Minnesota, Illinois and Iowa before branching off to continue touring the U.S.
Doors at 5 pm, show starts at 6 pm. Enjoy a lovely sunset over the Seneca River at 8:04 pm.
Here’s a little appetizer:
Love and Special Sauce performing “Baby’s Got Sauce:”
Big Head Todd and The Monsters covering a John Lee Hooker song, “Boom Boom:”
JJ Grey and Mofro performing “99 Shades of Crazy:”
STS9 has announced its 2015 Fall Tour, and highlighting the 22-show trek are two stops in New York. On October 25, the jamtronica act will headline the Town Ballroom in Buffalo before weaving its way through the Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland before landing back in the Empire State for a November 5 show at the Best Buy Theater.
STS9 Fall Tour 2015:
October 22 – Minneapolis, MN – First Avenue
October 23 – Madison, WI – Orpheum Theater
October 24 – Detroit, MI – The Fillmore
October 25 – Buffalo, NY – Town Ballroom
October 28 – Cleveland, OH – House of Blues
October 29 – Columbus, OH – LC Pavilion
October 30 – Pittsburgh, PA – Stage AE
October 31 – Silver Spring, MD – The Fillmore
November 01 – Live Oak, FL – Suwannee Hulaween
November 05 – New York, NY – Best Buy Theater
November 06 – Boston, MA – House of Blues
November 07 – Philadelphia, PA – The Fillmore
November 08 – Richmond, VA – The National
November 11 – Charlotte, NC – The Fillmore
November 12 – Raleigh, NC – The Ritz
November 13 – Knoxville, TN – Tennessee Theatre
November 14 – Nashville, TN – War Memorial Auditorium
November 15 – Columbia, SC – Music Farm
November 18 – Birmingham, AL – Iron City Music Hall
November 19 – New Orleans, LA – Joy Theater
November 20 – Austin, TX – Austin Music Hall
November 21 – Dallas, TX – House of Blues
Just ahead of its Summer Tour opener in Bend, Oregon, tonight, Phish has released a few updates on MagnaBall and also the band’s annual pre-tour sampler download, LiveBait 11.
Photo by Andy Hill
MagnaBall, a three-day festival at Watkins Glen International from Aug. 21 to 23, is Phish’s 10th festival. In a second wave drop of news, it was announced that the JEMP Record Store, which was a big hit at Super Ball IX, will return this year. Rift will be released on vinyl for the first time. On 180-gram water-blue vinyl, it will only be available at the JEMP store.
In an effort to help the environment and keep the grounds clean, Phish announced its MagnaWater Program, where attendees can bring up to 32-ounce, refillable bottles and top them off with cold, filtered water for $1 per fill. Each dollar goes to the WaterWheel Foundation. There will also be stations throughout the festival to fill up with regular drinking water.
The band also released LiveBait 11, a sampler of live songs for free download. Highlights include a 24-minute “Runaway Jim” from Shoreline Ampitheater on 7-31-1997, a raucous “Tweezer” from Pauley Pavillion on 12-1-1996 and the “Prince Caspian>Light” from Dick’s Sporting Goods Arena on 9-1-2012.
Life is good for Mike Gordon these days, with Phish coming off arguably one of the most creative years in its 32-year history and his solo band gaining steam across the country.
On top of that professional success, the 50-year-old bassist says he has a wonderful family life, one that allows his wife and daughter to travel with him when he’s on tour. This time spent with his 6-year-old daughter has changed his perspective on a bevy of things.
“I waited until I was older to have a child,” Gordon said. “And I was so ready for it. I spend time with her every day and I don’t tour as much as I used to. It’s cliché, but I get to see the world through young eyes. It’s a unique and whimsical perspective.”
Gordon, who is in the middle of a tour with his band, treks through New York this week, stopping in Buffalo on Tuesday and Syracuse on Thursday, before stopping at the Egg on Friday in Albany. Accompanying Gordon is Max Creek guitarist Scott Murawski, Craig Myers on percussion, Robert Walter on keyboards and John Kimock on drums. This is the second tour Gordon has done since he released Overstep, an 11-song LP featuring songs such as “Say Something,” “Yarmouth Road” and “Tiny Little World.” Gordon and Murawski wrote all the songs over a handful of trips to places in New England, such as North Adams, Mass., where Gordon’s mother, Marjorie Minkin, owns a loft.
“With Overstep, our goal was to rock and display a lot of raw energy,” Gordon said. “Moving forward, we don’t want to stop that, but we want to be more experimental, maybe a bit thrashy. We’re exploring all sorts of themes.”
Gordon added that his daughter has been a big inspiration for a lot of the lyrics he’s written lately, and added that Tessa also influenced some of the writing on Phish’s most recent album, Fuego.
This band has become Gordon’s personal artistic outlet. Trey Anastasio and Tom Marshall are the “chief” songwriters in Phish, and this band gives Gordon the ability to do what he wants. Full creative control, if you will. He spoke of seeing the Trey Anastasio Band recently.
“Trey is great about running a tight outfit and I admire it a lot,” Gordon said. “I saw them recently and the horns really work great in the band.”
Seeing as how Phish fans are highly critical of just about everything anyone in the band does, it’s easy to draw comparisons between Gordon’s band and TAB, but none of that seems to affect the bassist.
“I want to be edgy, to push the limits further,” he said. “I love it when we’re tight and loose at the same time. I don’t have much to prove — we take chances, especially with the strange, angular parts. We try to just live in the moment.”
Gordon has been a fan of Max Creek for many years, and recalled the first time he saw Murawski and the band.
“It’s pretty cool,” he said. “Not just his playing, but his whole vibe. Seeing Max Creek play a long time ago – people say they sound a lot like the (Grateful) Dead. I see them as a tweaked version of country rock. Scott smiles so much and is always in control, yet he’s humble at the same time. Before I knew him, I noticed that he always looked so comfy (on stage) and I really like that influence.”
So in his two bands, Gordon plays with two different guitar monsters in the jam band scene in Murawski and Anastasio. On the surface, both guitarists share some similar themes and styles in their playing, but Gordon did his best to explain the differences between the two.
“Scott is very clever about outlining chord changes as they happen,” he said. “Trey is the opposite. He’s good at flowing over the changes, creating textures. Sometimes he sounds like a movie soundtrack in the way he flows. But I definitely think there is some cross influencing going on between them.
“One week after I met Trey, we went and saw Max Creek. Not long after, Trey got his Ibanez. Maybe it was just a coincidence. And Scott now owns a Languedoc. Trey is great at melody, and I’ve noticed Scott bring some of that in. Every connection is based on another connection.”
Gordon went on to conclude the topic: “Scott and I spend so much time together, it’s just organic. Scott is the one who wants to jam as long as possible and stretch things out. So I guess it’s apples and oranges.”
While Phish is lauded for the light show that accompanies its marathon concerts, Gordon’s band takes stage production to the next level. He and Murawski had special guitars built for last year’s tour, and they are all black with sensors on them that reflect the light, making them appear luminescent.
Gordon also revealed that he is going to debut another new bass sometime soon, which he dubbed it the “2.0 version” of the bass he had been playing in his solo band. The concept was designed by Gordon, who said it looks like a Modulus, but is a hollow body, which gives the appearance of a 3D effect. He said it has an EMG/Modulus sound. The guitar was built by Ben Lewry of Visionary Instruments, which Gordon gave high praise.
“This is very organic,” he added, saying Murawski’s guitar has basically the same concept. He didn’t specify when he will be debuting the new bass, but said it will happen on this tour.
Back in 2011, Gordon played The Egg, a venue nearly universally applauded for its stellar acoustics, uninhibited sight lines and friendliness to performers. It ended up being one of the few official Mike Gordon Band releases, and Gordon said he is quite excited to return to the venue.
“I loved that show,” he said. “The sound at the venue is conducive to what we do and it’s very technical. A lot of times there are different challenges at venues like unpredictability and that can make a lot of things pretty hard. We already have enough to think about and the Egg is just so easy to play. I can hear it all, both the loud and the soft, and it all resonates in a very controllable way.”
As for his work with Phish, Mike Gordon said that he’s mostly focused on his work on this solo tour, but did give a glimpse into what Phish has been up to recently.
“It’s hard to think about, because I have so much going on with this band, but I’ll tell you this: The guys in Phish all got together two months before our tour is starting, and this is the first time in a long time I can remember us practicing so much, this early before a tour,” he said. “Who knows, we may even have a handful of new songs.”
He even shared a brief thought on the upcoming Fare Thee Well shows, celebrating 50 years of the Grateful Dead.
“The Grateful Dead have obviously been a big influence, and it’s really nice they feel proud enough to commemorate the 50th,” he said. “All four of them still have the fire.”
Over the past two years, Gordon has been sharing his own version of Couch Tour with fans via his Facebook page, posting photos of him on various couches, often with a funny look on his face.
Is the couch tour going to continue? More importantly, has Gordon settled on a couch?
“Yes, I am going to continue it and yes I found a couch, but … it needs a little work,” he said.
And in grand Grateful Dead fashion, DSO even had an equipment issue, when keyboardist Rob Barraco lost power to his rig following “Dupree’s,” prompting Eaton to talk about how the Palace is one of the band’s favorite venues to play.
Fresh off a well-received New Year’s run in Miami with Phish, Anastasio didn’t take any time off, as a letter from Grateful Dead bassist
STS9 Fall Tour 2015:
Gordon added that his daughter has been a big inspiration for a lot of the lyrics he’s written lately, and added that Tessa also influenced some of the writing on Phish’s most recent album, Fuego.
So in his two bands, Gordon plays with two different guitar monsters in the jam band scene in Murawski and Anastasio. On the surface, both guitarists share some similar themes and styles in their playing, but Gordon did his best to explain the differences between the two.
“I loved that show,” he said. “The sound at the venue is conducive to what we do and it’s very technical. A lot of times there are different challenges at venues like unpredictability and that can make a lot of things pretty hard. We already have enough to think about and the Egg is just so easy to play. I can hear it all, both the loud and the soft, and it all resonates in a very controllable way.”