No message intended? Sounds Phishy June 15, 1995 - Atlanta Journal and Constitution By Steve Dollar 7 tonight. $ 20, $ 18.50. Lakewood Amphitheatre, 2002 Lakewood Way S.W. 249-6400. All right everybody, time for a pop quiz. No fair glancing at the accompanying fact box. Here are some clues. The band under discussion is: An underground sensation whose music thrives on fans' tapes of its free-wheeling concerts; comprises shaggy improvisers who dine on every influence tossed their way; a group of recording artists who usually sound better outside the studio; capable of inducing a quasireligious pandemonium among legions of young, tie-dyed followers. Who are we talking about? Not the Grateful Dead, although those psychedelic relics are the band Phish is most often likened to. Trend-watchers refer to the 12-year- old Vermont quartet as a "Baby Dead" outfit, chief among a generation of new, groove-oriented acts whose modus operandi mirrors that of Jerry Garcia and company. Comparisons probably should stop there, says Phish keyboardist Page McConnell, 32, who joins the band tonight at Lakewood Amphitheatre. If Dead concerts emulate a ceaselessly winding stream, Phish's are more akin to cable TV, a channel-zap fest in which bluegrass slams up against jazz fusion and progressive-rock fugues explode into free-form boogie. "The thread is that we both improvise," says McConnell. "But from the live standpoint, we really have our own thing going. There's a certain energy that's unique." Having forged recent alliances with performers as diverse as bluegrass queen Alison Krauss and former Sun Ra trumpeter Michael Ray, the band stresses its openness to new directions or amusing detours. Says McConnell: "In not particularly trying to project a message; that may be our message."