Are Deadheads Phish naturals? July 25, 2003 - The Charlotte Observer By Courtney Devores Fans explain appeal of 2 groups that are similar yet different Erin Demund appears to be the quintessential Deadhead. The Community Charter elementary school teacher is a vegetarian, wears her wavy, red hair long, swings to the political left and sews the bags she carries and the patchwork dresses and overalls she wears. For these reasons, you might expect to see Demund, 26, twirling on the lawn at Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre Friday to the music of the Dead's most heralded successors, Phish. But while comparisons between the two generations of jam bands and their followers have been documented time and again, not all Deadheads are Phish Heads. "My brother took me to see the Dead in Northern California when I was 12. It was a very welcoming atmosphere," said Demund, who saw the Grateful Dead perform five times. Demund won't be at the Phish show. "I don't like their music," she said. "They're very different from the Dead." Jason Hildreth, 20, puts the Dead/Phish phenomenon into context. "A lot of people were looking for another band to follow (in the mid-'80s), and Phish were there at the right place at the right time," said Hildreth, a Charlotte butcher who has seen Phish four times but prefers the Dead's music. "I liked Phish because I liked the Dead," he added. "They do have the improvisational jamming in common, but I think the Dead had so much more soul. They had roots in Americana -- blues, country and bluegrass." Phish and the Dead both have phenomenally faithful fans, some of whom follow the groups' tours all across the country. Both bands sell a respectable number of albums with minimal publicity. Both have Ben and Jerry's ice cream flavors named for them. The two bands (the Dead has dropped "Grateful" from its name in honor of its guru-like late guitarist, Jerry Garcia) are bigger than any mainstream flavor-of-the-month act, yet they remain on the fringes of popular music. Chandler Cargill, 31, was an unlikely fan of either band. The clean-cut bartender and psychology student said, "I was reluctant to go see the Dead because of the stigma attached to it, but an old girlfriend talked me into going and I enjoyed it." Cargill, who has seen both bands, said he finds some diehard Deadheads unwilling to give Phish a chance. "I know people who were rabid Grateful Dead fans, and in the wake of Jerry Garcia's passing, other people tried to turn them on to Phish," said Cargill. "But they were reluctant because they didn't want to think of replacing their band." Throughout the Grateful Dead's four-decade-spanning career, the band continually accumulated new, younger fans. Phish has had a similar effect on high school and college students who don't identify with mainstream pop trends. "I've never been to a Dead show, but I went to my first concert to see Phish when I was 14," said Sandy Redd, a bearded, blond 21-year-old. "Phish was really big at my high school, West Charlotte." While Redd likes the Dead, he said he prefers Phish and Widespread Panic because he can actually go see those bands. "Phish is definitely more my generation," he said. Most of Phish's older fans were exposed to the Grateful Dead first. That's not the case with some of the band's younger fans. "I saw the Grateful Dead teddy bears and my parents said, `You don't want to listen to them,' " said Ashley Perryman, 18, a rising freshman at UNC Greensboro. "When I was growing up, I thought they were associated with Satanism." She laughed: "The Grateful Dead? Is that like zombies?" Demund, Cargill and Hildreth agree that Phish seems to attract a wilder audience than the laid-back, peace-loving hippies who religiously flocked to the Dead. If the more organic folk and reggae of the '70s is the tie that binds Deadheads, younger Phish fans seem to be grounded more in the dub reggae and hip-hop beats of the post-electronic age. "I saw Phish in Oswego County, New York, and they were having raves in the campground after the show," said Cargill. "It was a great show, but I couldn't get over all the kids that didn't appear to be there for the music." Demund simply finds the scene at Phish shows lacking the same positive attitude that emanated from the parking lots of Dead shows. "Although the Dead's music wasn't overtly political, a lot of people at the shows were political and helped inform my views," she said. "I felt like (the Dead) were more interested in perpetuating a certain way of life and changing society, but my experience tells me people go see Phish for the party." Article Copyright © 2003 The Charlotte Observer