HT Interview: Trey Anastasio, Part One
While Phish has famously kept its lineup intact for the past 25 years, guitarist Trey Anastasio has tinkered with the lineup of his solo band frequently since first forming TAB in 1999. Twelve years after that first tour, Anastasio seems to have settled on his ideal ensemble as he returns to the road on Friday in Portland, ME backed the same set of musicians from last year’s TAB tour.
[Photo by Adam Kaufman]
Just as he did on that first tour in 1999, Trey will start things off with an acoustic set before welcoming the rest of his seven-piece band for a full electric set. Reaction from the fans to the tour has been enthusiastic as tickets to 10 of the 12 shows on the run sold out quickly, including the septet’s first-ever west coast dates.
For the next five days, we’ll dedicate one post a day to previewing the upcoming solo jaunt as part of Hidden Track’s Trey Week. Today, we present the first part of our two-part e-mail interview with Anastasio in which Trey shares his thoughts on the current lineup of TAB, the return of the acoustic set, the signs that have popped up at Phish shows and much more…
Hidden Track: The size of your band has constantly grown and retreated over the years, but for this tour you will keep the size of the ensemble at seven pieces as you did in 2010. What was it about the size and composition of this group that made you want to keep the lineup the same for this tour?
Trey Anastasio: That’s a good question. We need a minimum of three voices in the horns if we want arrangements that use any kind of rich chord voicings, (which we do). When the section got up to five horns at one point, it was a big full sound, but it was overpowering the rest of the band a bit. I really don’t feel the need for alto or soprano sax right now. I love throatier, lower, brassier horn sounds.
Russell plays baritone and tenor, Natalie plays trombone and Jennifer trumpet. It’s an ideal combination for three horns. We also needed two female singers, and Jennifer and Natalie sound fantastic together, like sisters. We can cover a lot of territory now with only three people. Russell also doubles – or triples – on flute, and the flute has always worked extremely well in this band. [Anastasio suggests checking out the flute solo on the title track of his 2007 release, The Horseshoe Curve]
The miraculous thing was meeting Natalie last year. It was like the final puzzle piece falling into place. The rest of us have been friends and playing together for many years, and Natalie fit right in, both musically and personally. She is just a wonderful person to spend time with. We all feel really lucky to be playing and traveling with her.
READ ON for more of our chat with Trey Anastasio…
