Phish keyboardist McConnell is tickled Blue April 10, 2003 - The Providence Journal By Paul Robicheau Keyboardist Page McConnell is on quite a roll. Last fall, his longtime jam-band Phish reunited after a two-year break, made a CD, and returned to the stage with a triumphant New Year's Eve bash at Madison Square Garden. Two short rounds of winter concerts followed, Phish landed a cover story in Rolling Stone, and a 21-date summer tour is on the way. So what is McConnell doing with a breather in his schedule? He's back on the road with Vida Blue, his side project with bassist Oteil Burbridge of the Allman Brothers Band and drummer Russell Batiste of the Funky Meters. A year ago, one of Vida Blue's first shows was a sellout at Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel, where the band returns to play on Saturday. "I didn't know I could have so much fun with another band, because the Phish thing is so special, but there's a real bond with the three of us," McConnell says. "My first commitment and love would be Phish, but as long as I can keep doing this, I'm going to keep doing it." McConnell wasn't that gung-ho about starting another group when the Vermont-based Phish disbanded after a fall tour in 2000. "When we started the hiatus, I didn't do anything for about a year," says the New Jersey native, calling from his parents' house in South Carolina. "But about a year into it, I felt like I wanted to do something else." He started a wish list of people he might want to play with, and solidified his ideas after he saw the Allmans and the Meters within the same week. McConnell had known Burbridge since the early '90s, when Phish toured with his former band, the Aquarium Rescue Unit. And McConnell played with Batiste's Meters when they teamed up on a benefit CD for a medical clinic in that band's native New Orleans. "I had always hoped to do some sort of a keyboard trio," McConnell says. "Oteil is phenomenal and so is Russell, and I think they really enjoy playing with each other as well." Met in New Orleans Amazingly, the rhythm section first met in the New Orleans studio where they recorded the trio's eponymous debut Vida Blue, named after the Oakland Athletics pitcher who was a sensation in the '70s, and gave his blessing to the band. Loosely modeled after another '70s inspiration, the funk-jazz outfits of Miles Davis, Vida Blue found common ground between atmospheric pop tunes written by McConnell and jam-born grooves. Some songs adopted an organic techno feel, iced with bubbly synthesizer tones, as McConnell eschewed acoustic piano in favor of organ, electric piano and synth. "I didn't necessarily plan for it to be that kind of feel, but it's definitely a primary feel of Vida Blue," McConnell says, crediting one of his synthesizers. "It was very instrumental no pun intended in what ended up going down on the record, and what we've been doing live. I would lay down some sort of a synth sequence and [the other guys] would play to the rhythm of it. That's how we would start some jams, then just let it go from there. Once we had jumping- off places, the recording session went very well." On the road, Vida Blue added other wrinkles through unusual classic-rock covers like Pink Floyd's "Sheep," John Lennon's "Jealous Guy" and Led Zeppelin's "No Quarter." McConnell plans to update this tour's mix with a few new originals, hopefully to be recorded later this year, and other covers. "Similar and expanded is what I'm hoping for," he says. "It's curious to me that I'm even leading the band with these two guys," McConnell says of Burbridge, who can scat-sing with his facile bass lines, and Batiste. "These guys can play jazz as well, and somehow we enter a sophisticated sound, but what I bring to the band isn't necessarily the chops or technique, but hopefully some grit." Phish out of water McConnell also did more singing, as well as impressionistic lyric- writing and producing, things he wasn't called upon to do in Phish. "It's definitely a different discipline and a different animal, going out with this club band where I'm leading the band and calling the shots and all that. So it gave me a confidence that wasn't necessarily there before. . . . "When I got back together with Phish, I was confident not only in my own ability, but in that I can be this," he says. "But I don't necessarily have to be doing all this stuff with Phish. I'm happy with my role in Phish." Even though that band is back together, he adds, "We're not committing as much time each year to Phish." That leaves more potential for guitarist Trey Anastasio's solo band, bassist Mike Gordon's film projects and duo work with guitarist Leo Kottke, and drummer Jon Fishman's club band Pork Tornado. "We'll do a couple of tours and maybe do an album [this year], but try to leave it a little looser, so there's more flexibility. If we want to do more Phish stuff or more side-project stuff, there's the opportunity." Phish's only New England appearance this summer will be "It," an Aug. 2-3 campout at the former Loring Air Force Base in Limestone, Maine. The band drew more than 50,000 fans to each of its previous festivals at that site, "The Great Went" in 1997 and "Lemonwheel" in 1998, honing the model for its millennial celebration in the Florida Everglades. "We decided to go for it - we're really happy to be going back [to Loring]," McConnell says. "The stage may move locations a bit, but the vibe will remain the same." First, however, he's looking forward to resurrecting Vida Blue's intimate vibe at Lupo's. "We've toured a lot more [since the last show]," he says. "But we really did have a good time there. I hope it's as much fun as it was then." Vida Blue and Trainwreck play at 9 p.m. Saturday at Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel, 239 Westminster St., Providence. Tickets are $22.50 in advance; $25 day of show. Call 272-5876. Copyright © 2003 Providence Journal