A band called Phish March 21, 1994 - University Reporter (Buffalo) by Brian Karp It was dark out, the only visible light was coming from the blurred yellow of the street markers, we passed a turn but kept increasing velocity. Things were strange enough, then he slid the cassette into the deck, what blared out of the speakers would have given a rabbi heart murmurs. It was a modern version of Alvenu Malkenu, a hebrew prayer, that was being performed by what I thought was a Bar-Mitzvah band on acid. With thick guitar rhythms and a heap full of strange, this band was molding beautiful psychedelic sounds around hebrew lyrics. A few more miles and the tempo sped up as a hard driven emotionally packed jam discussing microscopic organisms permeated the air. Strange but good, I thought, and I couldn't help but sing along, "I saw you with a ticket stub in your hand". The car screetched to a halt. "we're here" I said to myself. Puzzled by the music, I look over to my left...he pressed eject with a long finger, takes a drag on his butt and exhales,"phish",he says ,"the band is called phish,with a ph for extra phunk". Formed in 1983 at the University of Vermont, Trey Anastasio, Page McConnell, Mike Gordon, and Jon"Greasy Fizeek"Fishman began to create a style of music that brought together a buffet of eclectic flavors ranging from country bluegrass to psychedelia; from jazz to art rock to just plain weird. For years the foursome jammed locally at area bars, making their home at Nectar's in Burlington. Jon Fishman, band drummer and occasional Electrolux, describes their growth as an auditory pyramid that grew with word of mouth. And with this growth came their first release in 1988,Junta. It was a jam-friendly album that contained studio and live outtakes of their now classic hits such as Fee, Golgi Apparatus, and Contact. With more work the band began to reap the benefits, and in 1992, Electra agents signed phish to a contract and re-issued Junta and their second independent release Lawn Boy. That very year the group also released A Picture of Nectar, an album that pays homage to the bar they used to call home. Phish fans couldn't get enough and Rift was released the next year. The pyramid was quickly increasing, last year alone over three hundred thousand fans witnessed phish's instrumental magic and on-stage antics, which include trampoline bouncing and Jon Fishman's awe inspiring vacuum cleaner solos, where musical notes are produced from an Electrolux, Fishman's preferred brand of cleaning equipment. March 25th brings the world Hoist, phish's fifth musical venture. This time around, the band took a different approach to their recording. "I think that musically it was different for us because it was all new stuff, all written in the studio and recorded in two weeks...we tried to make a better album in terms of using material that we haven't played live for years," says the man known as Greasy Fizeek. What fishman was referring to is a concept the group used to use, they would write a song and then play it live till it took a life of its own, then the jam would appear, as it is performed live, on the disc This time around the group put their efforts into crafting a better song lyrically: musically the band created tighter, leaner songs that are more mind friendly. "The (hoist) songs are more song oriented because they haven't been played for years, so their arrangements have not been able to be stretched out." Down with Disease, a song with an easyto love funky groove, is the bands first single. Mike Gordon, bassist, produced their very first video for this release. Lifeboy is another notable tune that is a classic phish song in the making, surefire lyrics combine with an open ended melody that just screams for a jam. This tune and Scent of a Mule both feature the banjo talents of Bela Fleck of Bela Fleck and the Flecktones. Mule is an obscure bluegrass and psychedelic tune that deals with the confrontation of a mule-riding country girl and a UFO. Asked to decribe the release, Fishman told me,"it's an album that you can clean your house to...it's not too short or too long...you have to fill in the spaces." With phish touching down in Buffalo for an April 10th show at Alumni Arena on the University of Buffalo campus, now is the perfect time to experience the zany world of this band. With trampolines and vacuum cleaners aplenty, one never knows the surprises phish might pull out of their grab bag. Mike Gordon, whose mother coincidentally designed this year's stage, phishlosophizes "I think our deal is to have music be an experience that can transform consciousness, to sparkimagination, to put people into the groove. It should make people realize that life is a thing worth celebrating."