Post-Phish Anastasio has lots to say as he heads for the Lawn August 5, 2005 - Indianapolis Star By David Lindquist The singer-guitarist has a new six-member band that will accompany him Tuesday at the Lawn at White River State Park. He's playing new songs from an upcoming album. He also has a new record label -- Columbia -- after 16 years of Elektra issuing studio and live albums by his old band, Phish (plus a handful of his solo efforts). In the end, Anastasio didn't shy away from discussing the tangible and emotional fallout of the popular group's demise: When I interviewed you in 2001, you talked to me about (Nigerian band leader) King Sunny Ade and it was possible to hear his influence when you toured with your octet. Is there any figure who's kind of guiding you now? I don't know if I could name one. I went from being very interested in arranging to really focusing on songwriting, because I just finished a new album four days ago. What can you tell me about the album? I did this record with (producer) Brendan O'Brien down in Atlanta. We played a lot of the instruments ourselves. One of your hometown musicians -- Kenny Aronoff -- was there. We had one track that we thought he would sound great on. So we called him and he hopped on a plane. He was just incredible. We tracked as a trio: me, Brendan on bass and Kenny. It was happening. Does the record have a name? At this point, it's called "Invisible." It's primarily songs with lyrics? Yes, very song-oriented. I feel a little bit like I've been let out of the cage, and I'm just writing this stuff. I've always written in the past, but I had a lot of things I wanted to sing about. A lot of the songs came out very fast. Did any specific topics pop up? Well, it was a very emotional year. Aug. 15 will be the anniversary of the last Phish show. Right after that, I wrote a lot of songs very quickly. My perspective has changed over the course of a year, but I've continued to write. There have been times when I felt this next album would be almost like a letter to fans who have been following the band around. It felt very personal -- stuff I just wanted to say. Are these things you've never thought to communicate or never had the opportunity to communicate before? I've touched on a lot of these things, but maybe not the rawness of the emotion. During the past year, certain points were confusing, and at other points it was thrilling to be jumping off a cliff. There were times I felt guilty. It's difficult, for instance, when a lot of people lose their jobs. People don't really think about how big the organization was. That was the hardest part. It was very big and it's all gone. Gone. We had a merchandising company and computers and warehouses. In a very brief period, the whole thing was taken apart. . . . We employed around 40 people full-time, and we kept one or two. At the same time, I'm totally convinced it was the right thing to do, and I think the other guys in the band feel the same way. It's exciting that the whole journey of music continues. Instead of feeling like it stopped, it's charging into the next era. I feel like I'm going to have the energy to continue to make music that hopefully will inspire people and make them feel good and make them dance. I love that, and that's also what was hard about this year -- the anger and backlash from people who felt like the rug was being pulled out from under them. Deep in my heart, I knew that wasn't what was happening at all. Music is organic, and it grows. So, now you got me talking, and you see why that as soon as I was able to do an album I started writing about this stuff. It's been great and it's all in the album. Article Copyright © 2005 Indy Star