Phish success a slow and melodic evolution November 25, 1996 - The Vancouver Sun By Katherine Monk For more than a decade, Phish was primarily a migratory species. The Vermont-born band toured more than eight months of every year. Mike Gordon, Page McConnell, Trey Anastasio and Jon Fishman would pack themselves tighter than sardines into tiny buses and tour the eastern U.S. seaboard to convert the masses one by one. They pulled in some of the biggest single-night hauls of any American band, including selling out the 18,000-seat venue in Chicago in a record-breaking 32 minutes. The band is now one of the top grossing acts in the United States, consistently making Pollstar's (the music industry touring trade magazine) top-50. But the nomadic days of Phish grow shorter every season. The men areno longer college kids with too much time and too little money. They are men with lives, bank accounts and families. "We're just in a completely different phase of our lives right now," says Phish-head Mike Gordon from a stop in Minneapolis, before the band heads north to Vancouver for a show tonight at the Coliseum. "We still love touring, but it's not the priority it once was. We've played over 1,100 shows, and right now we want to spend more time in the studio and with our families." Gordon can't say for sure if it's the new, emptier travel itinerary that made the band examine its routine. But with the release of the band's new record, Billy Breathes, something remarkable has happened to the Phish sound. Instead of moving forward along the Grateful Dead's well-worn path of sprawling sound, Phish has actually tightened up. "I think before, we really used the melody as the central focus and spun out from there. Recently, we've become more rhythm-driven," says Gordon. Part of that new definition was an offshoot of working with producer Steve Lillywhite. The other parts have more to do with finding a different space on stage, says Gordon. "We used to do listening exercises all the time. If we don't listen to each other it sounds awful. But we aren't doing the listening exercises as much. We're all focusing on the rhythm, and things all stem from there." Rhythm is the blood pumping through your veins, the spinning of the earth, a "simple part of human nature that makes you want to move," says Gordon. By moving through the rhythm lines, Gordon says the whole live show has evolved even further. "It's hard to say where our minds really go when we're playing. All I know is that it all has to start from a place of peace. If the acoustics are good, you can feel it resonate inside you. When the show is good, it almost feels like your flying. Really. Flying," says Gordon. "For me, it's really a mental trek when I go on stage," says Gordon. "I swear, sometimes you can feel a real oneness with the whole audience." And though it might not sound like it, there's more to Phish than derivative psychedelics and long, noodling blues-inspired progressions. "We have the ability to appeal to a broad cross-section of people, not just mathematicians and frat boys. I love looking out into the crowd and seeing a wide variety of people. To us, that's success." Phish play the Coliseum Concert Bowl tonight. Tickets are $ 29.50 and available through TicketMaster and the Coliseum box office, 280-4444. © 1996 Vancouver Sun