'Phish' phenomenon results in record company contract December 27, 1991 - Telegram & Gazette (Worcester, MA) by Paul Jarvey Phish is a phenomenon. How else can you explain a band that has built a national following entirely by word of mouth, that has people following them around the country just like the Grateful Dead and that plays a variety of musical styles ranging from country to Latin and includes trampolines and a vacuum cleaner in its act. They are also promoting themselves by pulling stockings over their heads and distorting their features for their new publicity photo. Strange band. You may have never heard of this unusual quartet from Burlington, Vt. The group's two self-produced recordings are not available anywhere. Phish isn't heard on the radio. AUDITORIUM APPEARANCE But band members expect to jam Memorial Auditorium with fans - Phish heads - in a special New Year's Eve show at 9:30 p.m. Tuesday. More than 3,000 tickets have already been sold. Phish attracted 3,000 customers at a different venue last New Year's Eve and had to turn away fans, according to bassist Mike Gordon. People have been know to travel hundreds of miles to see Phish, he said. Four fans followed the group around the country on its recent two-month national tour. Others caught all the shows in one region. These people aren't like the Deadheads. They are the Deadheads. Phish has been attracting them since the group formed almost nine years ago. "I think there are a couple of similarities that attract that crowd," Gordon said over the phone last week from Vermont. "One, we do a bit of jamming. Two, a lot of the lyrics aren't love songs. They're more fantasy lyrics. The third thing is we change our set list from night to night so people can travel around and see us. We used to get more stigmatized as a Dead band before, mostly by people who hadn't heard us. The music really sounds different from that anyway." The music defies categorization. Gordon said band members are into different styles. He admits Phish might not be as proficient at one particular style as it would be if that's all it did, but it's still the same four people lending their interpretation to whatever they try. DIFFERENT STYLES "We've always been kind of eclectic and people have come to expect different styles," he said. "When it is working, it sort of all flows together. I don't think it happens much anymore, but I used to think our song lists were too diverse. Along with the different styles, there's a bit of improvisation, free-form jams as well as the structured jams. That's another thing we've always done. We set aside time to actually practice communicating while we're playing." When they were putting together the songs for the new album ("A Picture of Nectar," Phish's major label debut due on Elektra Feb. 15), they realized they had unintentionally included at least one tune from each style they play. "It's not that we wanted to show we could play different styles of music, because we're only so good at playing each style," Gordon said. "We were surprised it came out like that. It's almost humorously diverse." Most rock 'n' roll bands dream of the day they can sign with a major label. But there was some dissent within Phish about the decision. Gordon said many of the people who come to see Phish play view themselves as members of a private club. The feeling could be lost as Phish expands its audience. "My opinion is it's just a challenge to grow and keep that atmosphere," Gordon said. Elektra plans to re-release Phish's two earlier albums. PLEASE FANS That should please its fans who have heretofore had to satisfy their taste for Phish with home-made tapes. Gordon said the band didn't go out looking for a record deal. Companies, noticing how many people Phish was attracting to shows, came to the group. "We never really set a course," Gordon said. "Some bands say, "our goal is to play stadiums.' We never said that. Our goals were to work on the music. We tried to stay idealistic. We never expected to play before as many people as we do now. We did expect to be around for a long time and keep improving as musicians. We never expected to be on a major label." Copyright © 1991 Telegram & Gazette