Phish ignores creativity for Dead atmosphere March 11, 1993 - Austin American-Statesmanr By Andy Smith This past weekend, Liberty Lunch hosted Phish, a Vermont quartet that has acquired quite a following as one of a group of retro-hippie bands. In front of a sold-out crowd, the band did its best to recreate the atmosphere of a Grateful Dead concert. To the delight of their loyal fans, they succeeded. Playing two sets that stretched close to three hours, Phish had the crowd dancing and swaying from the moment it took the stage. There is no question that all four members of Phish are accomplished musicians, but their music is both shamelessly derivative and very dull. Phish definitely wears its Grateful Dead influence prominently on its collective sleeve. Its songs noodle endlessly through solos and jams, and over hazy, senseless lyrics. In fact, after a while, it became difficult to distinguish when one song ended and another began. Along with such bands as Blues Traveler, the Spin Doctors, Widespread Panic and Blind Lemon, Phish is part of a scene that revolves around the use of the subculture of the Grateful Dead as both stylistic and musical inspiration. The goal of these bands is to capitalize on both the immense popularity of the Dead among people in their 20s, and on the thirst for new music the Dead cannot provide. The fans of these new hippie bands follow them with the same zeal as they follow the Dead. As was evidenced by the Liberty Lunch crowd Saturday night, these bands are a strong draw, even though Phish receives little exposure in the mainstream press. Much of what Phish has accomplished has been through its own promotion; only one of its four albums has been on a major label. Yet, while it is easy to applaud Phish and its fans for their do-it-yourself, grass-roots attitude in the creation of their scene, the bottom line is that they still want to be the Grateful Dead. Rather than use the music they love as a springboard for their own creations, the members are content to just make copies. In fact, the whole retro-granola scene still believes that the Grateful Dead are the end-all be-all of music, and though others may try, no one will be as good. So why does any musician want to associate himself with this whole scene? Since there is no way of ever having your fans think that you will be on the same level as the Dead, the motivation must be an instant popularity, which seems to contradict the countercultural, anti-materialistic, nonconformist ideals that inspired the Grateful Dead in the first place. Underneath all the trappings of peace, love, dope and tie-dye is a pathetic sense that the apex has been reached years ago, and the only thing left to do is create some facsimile. What is sad and maddening is that rather than try to invent something of its own, the band has just been satisfied with taking someone else's music and identity and claimed it as its own. Article © 1993 Austin American-Statesman