Phish man Mike Gordon October 2, 2003 - Colorado Daily By Wendy Kale Mike Gordon may be a Phish out of water - but not for long. Phish's multitalented bass player is not only launching his debut solo record and tour, but he's also ready to start Phase Two of the group's career. Yep, Phish is back full force as a touring and recording entity. The godfathers of the modern jam genre, Phish's loyal following spawned a new generation of bands that led to the formation of the jam-based HORDE Festival. The freeform genre also allowed acts such as Widespread Panic, Dave Matthews, and Blues Traveler to spread their musical wings and attract fans that would follow these bands from gig to gig. All that popularity led to a bit of chaos, and by the late '90s Phish was banned from venues like Red Rocks due to overzealous fans that literally took over the small, nearby town of Morrison. All the touring eventually took a toll on the band and its families, and Phish went on hiatus in 2000. The band members worked individually on various projects with groups such as Osyterhead, the Jazz Mandolin Project, and Gov't Mule. To keep the band in the public eye, the group's Elektra label has put out 20 live Phish CD's - which probably is only a drop in the bucket of its vast archive of recorded performances. "We were just ready to do other projects," explained bassist Gordon. "I've always had lots of interests and always worked on side projects. I now have this studio called Cactus Unlimited where we can work on film and music projects. I'm also working on some invention projects there, but we're just firing them up and can't say anything about them yet." Gordon has already directed two films in his short movie career. In 2002 the tribute movie "Rising Low" was released. The movie pays homage to late Gov't Mule member Allen Woody. The same year, Gordon wrote and directed his first "experimental drama" called "Outside Out." Much of the film's music found its way onto his new solo CD "Inside In." Last year, Gordon made news by releasing the CD "Clone" with veteran guitar picker Leo Kottke. The duo experimented with freeform and countrified tunes and sold out venues around the country - including an SRO show at the Boulder Theater. Gordon's latest scheme involves an art installation project that he's working on with his mother. "She's an artist and she just made up a bunch of individual paintings inspired by my new album," said Gordon. "When people come to the gallery, they'll be able to walk up to the paintings and each one will have background sounds looped to them. It will all work on sensor system. As you walk up to the painting music from 'Inside In' will start to play. It's a very radical idea and stretches the limits of her artwork." Despite his 20-year history with Phish, "Inside In" is Gordon's first solo record. "My last record was a duo, so I'm just working my way down," laughed Gordon. "I was always inspired recording with the band, and seeing how creative we could get in a recording setting. However, I found that the less people involved, the more opportunities for creativity you can find. I didn't bring in an outside engineer, so I was able to look into more layers of sounds and textures and it really was a lot of fun for me!" Gordon says that he wanted to create a record with "sparser sounds," so "Inside In" purposely leaves gaps in some of the listening spaces. The musician also wanted to experiment more with the country sounds he featured on "Clone," so he fused bluegrass, jazz, and funk grooves into the new record. "This was a great chance for me to branch out and let the spontaneous stuff come through. I also had some very talented musicians join me on the project and it gave us a chance to experiment with some very intricate rhythms." The list of guest musicians on "Inside In" reads like the guest list at the jamming Bonnaroo or Telluride Bluegrass fests. Jon Fishman, Bela Fleck, Vassar Clements, Future Man, and Col. Bruce Hampton all contributed licks to Gordon's solo debut. Recreating those sounds in concert was going to be a challenge, so Gordon scooped up some of the best road warriors to play with him on his sojourn. Long-time Phish collaborators James Harvey and Gordon Stone will be there, as well as Josh Roseman from the Charlie Hunter Band, Scott Murawski from Max Creek, and Doug Belote from Anders Osborne and the Tony Furtado band. However, the group's secret weapon is percussive tap dancer Jeannie Hill. Gordon insists that the tapping acts like an additional band instrument. "We're only doing this is as an limited run and see how it feels. It's such a short tour, that I'm already feeling nostalgic," joked Gordon. The reason Gordon's tour is abbreviated is because Phish is about to hit the road again. The band already has a four-show run planned for Thanksgiving weekend. The East Coast shows will culminate with a 20th anniversary concert to be held Dec. 2 at Boston's Fleet Center. At the end of December, Phish will head off to Florida to play its annual New Year's Eve run of shows at the American Airlines Arena in Miami. "Phish is still a viable entity," confirmed Gordon. "We have a lot of dates on next year's calendar and we'll be doing some recording in 2004. We all thought we'd never get back together again. We all tried our other pursuits, but we all started missing it too much." Gordon still recalls the Phish shows he played at CU. "I went back through some of my journal entries and realized that playing Boulder came at a time when our career was just unfolding. That made me very nostalgic to back on the road. It feels pretty good; longevity definitely does something for a sound," said Gordon. Copyright © 2003 Colorado Daily. All Rights Reserved.