Gordon's Post-Phish Groove August 23, 2005 - Burlington Free Press By Brent Hallenbeck Mike Gordon was the reluctant one, the member of Phish who didn't want the band's long, incredible ride to end. Just over a year after the four members played their final show together in the muddy muck of Coventry, the bass player has accepted that Phish won't go on forever. It helps that he's doing something he really digs: continuing his association with acoustic-guitar legend Leo Kottke. "It's so perfect for me to be with Leo right now," Gordon said Friday over lunch at Henry's Diner in Burlington. "To team up with him, it's such an honor." Gordon, who during Phish's hiatus in 2002 released a CD with Kottke called "Clone," made a second disc with the guitarist after Phish's breakup last August. The new recording, "Sixty Six Steps," comes out today on the RCA Victor label. The duo starts a 25-date tour Sept. 15 in Lawrence, Kan., and swings near Phish's ancestral home of Burlington on Oct. 25 at Higher Ground. Gordon's interest in Kottke's signature guitar-picking sound dates back more than 20 years, when local guitarist Shane Brody taught him how to play some of Kottke's songs. Gordon also remembers joining Trey Anastasio, his then-new band mate in Phish, at one of Kottke's gigs at the old Hunt's nightclub in Burlington in 1983. Gordon recalls how still the crowd was during the quiet parts of Kottke's show; considering how hard it can be to silence the chatter and clinking glasses at any nightclub, the reverence the audience showed to Kottke's performance that night stuck with Gordon. He met the guitarist about four years ago when Kottke played at the old Higher Ground in Winooski. The two wound up jamming at Anastasio's studio, The Barn, in Westford, though Gordon said he and Kottke had trouble meshing musically at first. Kottke's style is so "busy" that it almost sounds as if he's already playing bass, Gordon said, so it was hard for him to figure out where to squeeze in his own notes. "I guess I went in without any expectations," Gordon, a longtime vegetarian, said while lunching on a veggie burger and salad. "It's just kind of a discovery. But after that, we've really been clicking." Gordon and Kottke rehearsed "Sixty Six Steps" at the home Gordon's father built on a cliff in Costa Rica. They recorded the disc at the famed Compass Point Studios in Nassau, Bahamas, where AC/DC made its legendary album "Back In Black." Gordon said he and Kottke were aiming for a calypso vibe on the part-instrumental, part-vocal "Sixty Six Steps," a feeling that comes out in the disc's fun, relaxed feel. One of the standout tracks is a funky, chunky cover of Aerosmith's "Sweet Emotion." Gordon was especially pleased with his work on the track "Over the Dam," in which he was focusing on that island sound. "Somehow I just nailed it on that song," he said. "This is that lilting groove I had been hoping to get." Gordon was impressed by Kottke's performance on the song "Cherry County." "It was just the prettiest thing. I hardly wanted to add bass and drums to it," said Gordon, who was joined on the disc not only by Kottke but by Compass Point's in-house drummer, Neil Symonette. Once the tour with Kottke ends Nov. 2 in Washington, D.C., Gordon expects to return to his on-again, off-again collaborations with jazz-rock instrumentalists Benevento/Russo Duo. Gordon is especially anxious to start playing with his new toy -- the studio he's having built in the attic of his home outside Burlington. He expects to record his next solo CD there, though he has no expectation of what it might sound like. "I like not knowing," he said. Gordon, 40, has learned to embrace uncertainty. When Anastasio announced in May 2004 that Phish, at his urging, was breaking up, Gordon was left reeling. He wondered what he would do next. He remembered how hard it was when he took his own band on the road before Phish broke up; though he sold out the entire nine-date solo tour, he lost a lot of money because he had to pay eight band members. "It's scary, because 99 percent of people in the music business don't make any money or get much exposure," Gordon said. His cause is helped, though, by the fan base he built after more than 20 years in a group that became one of the most successful touring bands in American rock history. He still talks to and occasionally sees his former band mates; he sat in with Anastasio during the New Orleans Jazz Festival, and the four run into each other at the occasional mutual-friend birthday party. They also meet to discuss topics such as whether to release live Phish recordings from the band's copious archives. He noted that he and drummer Jon Fishman will probably collaborate at some point, and that Fishman played on Anastasio's upcoming CD and has recorded demos with Phish keyboardist Page McConnell. Just because Phish has broken up, Gordon said, doesn't mean they shouldn't play together in pairs every now and then. "It would be sort of stupid not to," he said. Gordon said he has made it through the grieving process that followed the "dismantling" of the band that meant so much to him. "The whole thing has been remarkably easy for me," he said. "I was pretty accepting by the time Coventry happened." The fact that he has a rewarding partnership with Kottke and a new studio on the way has helped Gordon move on. "Even if I was the one who felt like I could go on forever with Phish, I told Trey his decision to break up the band was the greatest gift he could have given me," Gordon said. "It feels like a lot of doors are opening." Still, he said, there are times he misses his old band, especially the camaraderie. He said he sometimes dreams at night that he and his former Phish mates are hanging out with various "crazy people" back stage, with a waterfall or some other incredible natural wonder serving as a backdrop. "That's where I miss it," Gordon said, "in those dreams." Article Copyright © 2005 Burlington Free Press