Head Cases - Phish Followers June 8, 1995 - St. Louis Post-Dispatch By Michael Mehle ...AREN'T THE ONLY PHANS WHO SWIM IN SCHOOLS ... The summer concert tours this season are featuring some pretty heady stuff - as in Phishheads, Deadheads and Parrotheads. While monster acts like REM and Pearl Jam are immune from the concert doldrums that have hit the music industry the last two summers, other groups, such as the Cranberries and Live, are seeking safety in numbers - performing as part of multi-act billings to try to assure big crowds. But that tactic isn't necessary for the Grateful Dead or Jimmy Buffett. These classic rock staples have been selling out shows for decades - not by falling into heavy FM or MTV rotation - but by delivering kick-ass concert after kick-ass concert to their loyal followers. They vary widely in style. Buffett tells a story before each song and depends on lyrics to deliver his musical message. The Dead give fans only a "thankyouverymuch" from Bob Weir and perform half-hour instrumentals that, to paraphrase something Jerry Garcia said years ago, only make sense if you're high. Whatever the method, fans are hopelessly devoted. They criss-cross the country, bartering for tickets and creating their own communications network. Now, another group of fans is demonstrating this same kind of behavior. They are the Phishheads. The Vermont-based band Phish played more than 100 dates and attracted more than 600,000 fans last year. And it did it without much help from FM radio and MTV, which rejected the act's video for "Hoist." Like their Deadhead counterparts, Phishheads have been tagged as stoners. At a Phish show at the Fox last November, security forced fans to wait in line for a half-hour, frisking them for dope and jamming up Grand Boulevard in the process. St. Louis will get another whiff of Phish on Tuesday when the band plays Riverport. Here is a quick look at the mystique surrounding Buffett, the Dead and Phish. Phish The band: Page McConnell, keyboards; Trey Anastasio and Mike Gordon, guitar and vocals; Jon Fishman, drums. The quote: "I'd like to think that musically we're doing things a lot differently than the Grateful Dead." - McConnell.