Phish an overnight success after nine years of work August 14, 1992 - The Arizona Daily Star by Gene Armstrong Santana in concert, with opening act Phish. When: Wednesday at 6 p.m.; gates open at 4 p.m. Where: Pima County Fairgrounds, 11300 S. Houghton Road, one mile south of Interstate 10. Admission: Advance tickets cost $11, or $16 the day of the show; available at Dillard's. Children under 12 get in free. After nine years as a working band, three national tours and two albums, the Vermont-based alternative-rock band Phish still is greeted occasionally as an overnight success. "Isn't it funny how a band comes up and people always look at them like that?" mused drummer Jon Fishman over the phone a few days ago. He was dragged away from his drums at his Vermont home for the telephone interview. "I guess nine years of overnights makes an overnight succees," he chuckled. Fishman says success for him came four years ago, when it became apparent the band could make a living at music. "That's when I quit any other jobs I had. When we could devote ourselves to making music and make a living from it, that was success to me." The eclectic, conservatory-trained band plays a fascinating combination of jazz and rock with a variety of other influences. Its wide-ranging style is well-illustrated on its major-label debut, "A Picture of Nectar," which was released earlier this year. That record features elements of art-rock, country, bluegrass, reggae, funk, Grateful Dead-style jamming, Irish music, fugue structure, Big Band and free jazz. Now, the band is on the road with veteran rock band Santana - the two acts will play at the Pima County Fairgrounds on Wednesday night - and Fishman said he couldn't hope for a better audience or a more compatible band. Of the Santana fans, he said, "They're definitely paying attention. They're music lovers, and it shows by the way they listen." Guitarist Carlos Santana and his band have made the members of Phish feel welcome, too, Fishman said. "Carlos invites us to play with him every night. We do a few songs with his band, and usually a blues jam. "It's a really good feeling, all of us playing together." Fishman admitted he grew up listening to classic rock 'n' roll, including artists such as Santana, Led Zeppelin and Jimi Hendrix, as well as art-rock bands like Yes, King Crimson and early Genesis. But these days his musical horizons, like those of his bandmates, include much more, from percussionist Trilock Gurtu to jazz sax player Rahsaan Roland Kirk to traditional bluegrass. Although Phish's range of influences and their scholarly background - guitarist Trey Anastasio studies neo-classical composition - are extensive, Fishman said enjoying the band's music does not require a degree in music. "If you slap something on, and it moves you, and even if you can't identify with it for any other reason, that's what matters." Challenging each other with different musical tastes, the members of Phish often throw together seemingly disparate ingredients. As an example, Fishman points to the tune "Glide" on the band's recent album. "Trey went back to Ireland to visit his mom. He came home with the melody line to `Glide.' And I had been practicing a jazz thing, playing my high-hat with my foot with a five-beat pattern with one hand and a seven-beat pattern with my other hand. "They're not the sort of things you'd put together, but Trey said, `Try that beat with this,' and it worked. "That's sort of the American way; it's the melting pot in every way. It's inevitable that it's going to happen in music." At other times, certain songs call for straightforward percussion work, which is what Fishman finds least challenging. "For me, the most challenging thing is to play music that is not like riding a bike for you. I'm always finding new ways to fall off." But sometimes the character of a song decrees what's important about it, Fishman said. "A song is bigger than any of the individuals, and to be true to that you have to play your part." Fishman said Phish (a name he suggested, but which means virtually nothing) will begin work on its next album in September, after it completes the Santana tour. Other than enjoying the increased recording budgets and distribution power of their record company, Elektra Records, the members of Phish don't really live much differently than when they were touring the country on their own, he said. "Now we're on a tour bus, which is really nice, because we used to drive ourselves around in the van, always with one of us dead tired at the wheel. "Half the time, I'd get out of that thing and I don't know where I am, except maybe to see the landscape." A recent article in Rolling Stone magazine lumped Phish into the "neo-hippie" movement that includes such bands as Blues Traveler, Spin Doctors, Widespread Panic and Col. Bruce Hampton and the Aquarium Rescue Unit. Other than a love of music and a short concert tour with the above groups, Phish doesn't have a whole lot in common with them. "To tell the truth, we had never heard the Spin Doctors before we played with them; I had heard like one song of theirs before we got together. "But it's like they say that `these bands are this big scene."' (The Spin Doctors will play The Rock in Tucson on Aug. 25.) According to Fishman, Blues Traveler singer John Popper organized the combined tour, calling it Horizons of Rock Developing Everywhere (HORDE). "The guys in Blues Traveler really think of themselves as these marauding Huns. They say their music picks you up and slams you down." After it finished the HORDE tour, Phish took up with Santana, whose attitude toward music is the complete opposite of Blues Traveler's. Fishman said it was a breath of fresh air in comparison. "Carlos came to us and said the audience is like drinking from our well. He said when you see their heads out there, it's like a mass of flowers, and we should think of ourselves as the hose and the music as water, and we're spraying the crowd with our water." Copyright © 1992 The Arizona Daily Star