Trey’s Road Back: Phish Frank About Breakup In New Feature

Either tonight or tomorrow the new issue of Rolling Stone will be hitting mailboxes of subscribers and newsstands across the country and within the magazine is a lengthy feature on Trey Anastasio penned by David Fricke. In the piece the members of Phish, including Anastasio, discuss the band’s breakup in frank and direct terms for the first time in a long time.

[The Phish cover of Rolling Stone, circa 2003]

Among the hard hitting quotes are Anastasio recalling a conversation with keyboardist Page McConnell, “Page [McConnell] pulled me aside and said, ‘For 20 years, I’ve had 100 percent faith that you would lead us onstage, and it’s always made me feel good. For the first time, I’m not sure I feel that anymore.’” Drummer Jon Fishman also chimes in by saying Trey, “came to the band, in ’04, totally out of his mind, saying, ‘The only way I can describe this is, if I don’t get out of Phish now, I’ll die.’ When your good friend says this to you, you go, ‘It should have never come to this. Absolutely, go home. Nobody should die over this.’ ” Trey also espouses on his current hatred for drugs now that he’s become sober, “I fucking hate drugs. I really do. It’s funny, coming from me.” He also talked about his first experience with blow, “The first time I tried cocaine, I fell asleep.”

The main focus of the feature is on Anastasio’s latest solo album, Traveler, and the coming-soon-to-Broadway musical Hands On A Hardbody. So far the article hasn’t been posted on Rolling Stone’s website. We’re hoping that they not only post the entire two-page-plus feature but also outtakes from the usually press-adverse (at least when it comes to their main gig) members of Phish.

[via Relix]

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14 Responses

    1. Bill, he says he hates drugs, not the people who do them. People get offended by the strangest shit…and usually it’s because they read something wrong.

    2. Bill,
      Your comment has about as much spin as a FOX news story. Please don’t classify me nor my friends in your 90% comment. I would be willing to bet Trey isn’t referring to those of us who may have a few beers and smoke a little weed at a Phish show when he mentions his hate for drugs. I don’t believe nowhere near 90% of the fans are spun out on hardcore drugs at Phish shows.

      1. JohnR, Jodi, Frank, Pops, et al — spot on.

        I frankly hate the hardcore drugs too. But I don’t hate anyone who uses them. And god dammit do I love weed and a few good beers.

  1. Bill – do you know anything about Trey’s past? Watch the video of him giving the drug court speech. I lived in the town he was staying in in Upstate NY when he was doing his 14 months there, and we were happy to have him stay there. We embraced him when he needed us, and will continue to do so. Sober Trey is Happy Trey, and that’s how we like him. He isn’t talking about the people at shows. He’s pretty aware of what is happening….and he gives every person at a show a treat whether it be with Phish or TAB. Get off his back, already…he’s been through enough. Love you, Trey!

  2. sober trey is great and all, but his lullaby songs are too soft. Need the dark side back to bring a little grit & edge to the stage.

    1. Phil-haha as sad as is may be, it’s pretty true. I do give them a lot of credit lately, they are finally sounding pretty tight again, but I do miss the way that Trey used play, gotta love the long dark jams.

  3. As somebody who has struggled socially without a little extra help from some kind of depressant, reading some of these responses is actually painful. It’s cool to be honest and hopefully Trey is strong enough to ignore the pressure of his fans. How would you like if people were to say, “i like you better f’d up.” We are capable of tempering these kinds of thoughts so direct that energy PLEASE to something more positive for those who do struggle. Sorry for sounding preachy but addiction is one of the toughest battles one can face.

  4. Glad Trey is sober. Music is sounding better than it has in well over 10 years.

    Interested to hear what the boys have to say. They’re *always* so terse about the dark stuff that went down. Perhaps it’s time to take off the “kid gloves” and lay it out there, if for nothing more than to potentially help keep some of the fans in harm’s way safer than they might have otherwise been?

    Don’t feed the trolls.

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