Hidden Track Staff

We’d like to welcome our longtime friend and HT commenter Andy Kahn to the site with an editorial he wrote about the overwhelming acceptance of Phish by the mainstream media over the last few months. You can read more from Andy over at Loudlooppress. Welcome to the team, Andy…

From the mid ’90s until their breakup in 2004, Phish was often mocked by the mainstream press for a variety of reasons, namely their lack of radio and commercial success, relatively weak album sales, their obsessively devoted fan base of neo-hippies who follow them around to show after show (on drugs, always on drugs). With the band’s return at Hampton this past March the common perception of the group is not so common anymore, with Phish now getting treated like any other major act in the industry.

Phish has finally stepped out of the shadow of the Grateful Dead and are getting the respect they deserve. Every article written about them does not need to include a reference to their Dead-like fanbase or similar jamcentric style. Instead, music journos from a wide spectrum of publications are acknowledging the quartet as a band that broke the mold and created their own business model that never relied on album sales and mainstream commercial success but rather focused on the live performance and free sharing of their music amongst its fans.

Showing how far ahead of the curve they were, drummer Jon Fishman – in an interview with Rolling Stone in February 2003 stated, “I could fucking care less if everybody downloads our album off the Internet. We’re not in a position to be screwed by that at all. We have the one thing the Internet can’t touch – live music. If you can actually go out and play your fucking instruments, you won’t be replaced by the Internet. If you’re a good live act and you put on a good show, people will buy a ticket to see your show.”

READ ON for more from Andy on Phish and the mainstream…

Exactly one month ago, on June 29th, I attended a concert in Wellington, New Zealand. The Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra performed to a sold-out hometown crowd in one of the country’s most acoustically-pleasing auditoriums, The Michael Fowler Centre, and they blew the roof off the place. Yes, this 12 member, 11-ukulele-ensemble actually blew the roof off the mutha. Eleven ukuleles and one double bass. Yes, that’s right- 11ukuleles. I feel icky just typing that. The ukulele. The red-headed stepchild of the acoustic guitar. Eleven of them on stage at the same time and I actually liked it? Maybe I’ve been in New Zealand too long…

[All Photos by Matt Mueller]

I think its fair to say the ukulele has never been one of my favorite instruments. If I were asked two months ago to come up with a top ten list of my favorite musical instruments, ukulele might rank 37, just behind the French horn. But in the hands of these skilled ukeists (ukeleists? Ukelers?) this four-stringed-mandolin-wannabe not only becomes a pleasing instrument, but an impressive one. (You can see why its taken me a month to write this review- I’ve been struggling with such conflicting internal emotions. Someone hold me.)

The WIUO (as they will henceforth be referred to… since I’m into the whole brevity thing) were founded about 5 years ago in Wellington, New Zealand. The twelve member group play an unusual combination of modern hits, classic rock, kiwi standards and original compositions. In New Zealand, the band is pretty well known, thanks in no small part to a devoted hometown following, many high profile performances, two albums, and the recent success of founding member Bret McKenzie (yes, that Brett. Brit? Briiit.) Internationally, this “international” orchestra has yet to make a very big mark. However, if they continue to play shows like this one, all of that could change. READ ON for more of Neeko’s Uke-tastic review…

Charlie Brinson headed to Masontown, WV on July 9 – 12 for the 2009 All Good Festival and filed this report about his experience…

Let me serve you a little truth sandwich. The All Good Music Festival was my first full-on – no showering – granola bar eating – sleeping in a tent for no more than four hours at the most – festival. There…I said it. It is kind of embarrassing that I just popped my festival cherry at this age but I don’t care. The weekend was a blast and I could not think of a better place to have it happen.

Unlike larger festivals, the guys over at Walther Productions realized that deciding which band you wanted to see at a certain time is about as easy as deciding which of your friends are going to be a part of your wedding. They actually made it possible to catch every single band in the festival’s line-up and it was basically non-stop music with bands performing in and out on stages no less than 50 yards apart from each other.

Thursday, July 9th

I arrived in Masontown, WV (Population: 647) around 8pm and was getting pretty excited to get into the festival. It was an adventure getting into the campgrounds and I didn’t make it to the actual campsite until about 10:45pm with just enough time to spare to crack a beer while setting up my tent before Keller went on.

Jonathan Schwartz, the host of the weekend’s festivities from SIRIUS Radio’s Jam On, introduced him with a brief history of Keller’s time at All Good. Keller has played at more All Good Festivals than any other artist and he was crowned “the undefeated, undisputed heavyweight champion of the All Good Festival.”

READ ON for more from Charlie Brinson about All Good 2009…

For the past 13 years, music fans in the northeast have always looked forward to the one weekend of the year when they can totally let their freak flag fly. While other festivals have come and gone Gathering of the Vibes is still going strong and this year is no exception! Since 1996, Ken Hays has been working hard to get together the finest collection of bands keeping the spirit of the Grateful Dead alive. While times have changed and many attendees today never saw Jerry perform live (or Brent, or Keith, or Pigpen) this festival continues to bring out the best in attendees.

However, along with the typical jamband fare – Strangefolk, Deep Banana Blackout and Assembly of the Dust to name a few; GOTV always brings in one special act you may not see anywhere else. This year, the legendary Crosby Stills and Nash grace the stage on Sunday proving that you don’t need to wear tie-dye to have fun at the Vibes. With increasing attention on family, Vibes has an outstanding Kids’ Corner as well as separate Teen Scene for those who want to show their kids that mom and dad still know how to have some fun. Another new addition this year is the GreenVibes Stage which will run partially on solar power and “trash talkers” who will be helping attendees to recycle and properly dispose of waste.

On a personal note, I have been a GOTV attendee since the farm at Red Hook in 2001, in fact the Vibes was my very first festival! I was young and stupid and didn’t know anything about how to pack for a festival. I brought way too much stuff that I didn’t need and way too little of things that I did (duct tape and ponchos anyone?) I know lots of people out there have similar stories…so let’s hear them! What was your first Vibes experience and which bands are you excited to see this year? Take a look at our list below and offer your favorites! – Carla Danca

READ ON for a band to look out for each day of the Vibes…

Recently, our friend Bob Margolis spoke with Nels Cline about what got him into the music of Wilco, who creates the setlist each night and much more… When asked if

Last weekend, the 8th Annual Forecastle Festival brought about 17,000 people from around the country to downtown Louisville. This year’s fest has garnered rave reviews and went off with only a single hitch – 16 felony drug arrests, which the media picked up on instead of the fantastic music goin’ down. Matt Speck shot the festival and returned these photos…

READ ON for a full gallery of Matt’s Forecastle Festival photos…

Words and Videos by Benji Feldheim

It started with two stages. Bands played on one large stage at the bottom of a hill and under a tent out in the woods over two days. A red barn with room for no more than a thousand was used for musician clinics during the day and late shows going into the early morning. Tents dotted only the wooded area east of a main road that snaked all the way from the barn to the main stage, with nothing but empty west and north. You could lie in your tent between five and 10 in the morning and just scream. People also lying in their tents would hear you and join in.

Summer Camp Festival 2001

The organizers then stretched it a day, making Summer Camp three days before Memorial Day weekend. And they added the third “Sunshine” stage. It stood west of the main dirt road, nearly as big as the main stage – which was then dubbed the Moonshine Stage. The extra day on Fridays was followed by a Thursday “pre-party” and two more stages called Starshine and Campfire. The barn became too tiny for access to all attendees, as numbers swelled from just over 1,000 when the fest was first thrown in 2001, to 10,000 this year.

Not only the numbers grew. The grass area north of the road is filled nearly as far as one can see with tents, booth spots for various breeds of non-profits and a full bar. There’s a tent that alters its roles from yoga class to coffee house-like stage for acoustic sets to a DJ tent real late for those “too excited to sleep” (in the immortal words of Trey Anastasio). But somehow it never feels cramped. One can still get to their campsite from near the soundboard at the Moonshine stage during a set break and get back without missing a thing. READ ON to check out the videos Benji put together…

We’d like to welcome back Ryan Holiday for a look at how the music industry got to the point it is at as well as his take on how to save it…

With the music industry in such a shambles, young bands have the unfortunate duty of figuring out which way to take their careers. On the one hand, some bands are taking the traditional route of getting signed; other, less conventional musicians are trying to find innovative ways to sell their music on their own.

However artists go about eking out their livings, one primary problem remains: any way you look at it, no one is buying music anymore. How did the industry get to this point? The simplest answer is that we have all gotten greedy. Musicians bought into the idea of selling out arenas, dating supermodels and being on Behind the Music as the only benchmarks for success, while the industry brainwashed bands into thinking that major labels were the holy grail of a noteworthy career. The new, casual listener became king and instead of building a loyal following for acts through hard work, record labels began to strip-mine and water down the talent. The consumer? Well, he’s just looking for a deal. “Free” is everyone’s favorite four-letter word.

READ ON for an example of why the music industry is failing…

Yesterday, word came down that the name of the new Phish album will be Joy. While the band announced the tracklist last night on Phish.com, we’re still awaiting our first look at the cover art for the new release. We figured we’d take a shot – as we did for Wilco’s Wilco (The Album) – by proposing five different images that would work well as the cover art.

Here’s what our resident artists came up with…

1.

[By Monk]

READ ON for four more potential album covers for Phish’s Joy…