PHISH UNLIKE ANY OTHER BAND IN MUSICAL SEA April 4, 1994 - The Times Union (Albany, NY) by Bill Syken People bringing tape recorders to the Phish show at Recreation Building on the Penn State campus won't have to hide them under their overcoats. That's because Phish doesn't mind bootlegs. In fact, the rock band encourages its fans to tape their shows and trade around. In recent years, they've established a special section for people who want to tape the show. Such an area will be in place for the band's sold-out performance on Friday. "Even before we signed with Elektra we had a good-sized following of fans due to people trading tapes of our shows," said Phish vocalist and keyboard player Page McConnell in a telephone interview. "We said, 'We've got to keep this going. It's gotten us as far as we are."' The band, which started in Vermont in 1983 and put out its first album in 1988, just released its fifth album, "Hoist." The album will be accompanied by the single and first-ever Phish video, for "Down with Disease." Rolling Stone grouped Phish together with Blues Traveler and Spin Doctors as bands that were throwbacks to hard-jamming, road-heavy groups like the Allman Brothers Band and the Grateful Dead. McConnell said that lumping Phish's fans with Dead fans is a generalization. "It's something that's been an element to our crowd from the beginning and I don't expect it to go away. We have a fairly close relationship with our audience and somewhat of a personal relationship. We do a lot of improvising. A lot of people that would say something like that would see a lot of tie-dyes and say, 'That's the same crowd.' Not necessarily." McConnell said the way to get to know the band is to see them perform. Last year Phish played 107 concerts. The performances were characterized by all-out jams and quirky stage escapades. At some shows, the band tosses balls into the audience. Each ball is keyed to a member of the band and the band members correspond their playing to the movement of the ball. It's an opportunity for audience members to "play the band," McConnell said. Their antics have been collected over time, and different ones will pop up at various shows. Some staples are guitar player/vocalist Trey Anastasio and bass player/vocalist Mike Gordon performing while jumping on trampolines, or sliding back and forth on Easy Gliders, and drummer Jon Fishman playing a vacuum cleaner with his mouth. "Every tour it seems like there's something else we pick up along the way," he said. McConnell said he is happy with that pace, but couldn't imagine that they'd be as active in 10 years. The band members are between ages 28 and 30, are all single, though Trey is getting married this summer, and most of the members still live in the Burlington area. As the band has moved from little bars to big bars to arenas, hard-core fans have expressed concern that the band will get away from its roots, McConnell said. The band is always changing and modifying its approach in the studio in part because they haven't been entirely happy with what they've done there. The live shows, however, provide a base of consistency, McConnell said. "I think that in terms of the live show we have really tried to stick with what we've always believed in ... the unexpected events that will happen and the jams that get going, that's what we love and that's what we've always loved."