I’m not sure whether to file this under “news” or “rumors” considering that this speculation of Phish getting back together seems to have picked up a set of legs. Popmatters recently sat down with Tom Marshall, longtime Phish lyricist and best-friend to Trey, and he made it pretty clear that they’ve been writing together and feeling pretty good about what they’ve accomplished so far.
“Trey wants Phish to come back.”
Are we to worry that Trey may be getting a little bit ahead of himself by announcing all of this to the media ahead of actually sitting down with the band and hashing through all the gory details? How many Vida Blue songs will they play? How much of Trey’s solo work will appear? Do they care about any of this right now? No. The interview makes it pretty clear that Anastasio and Marshall are still in the early stages of writing again, and that it feels, to them, like they’re young again and in the midst of producing some of that original magic that made Phish the band it was.
Marshall was elated about his recent work in the studio with Anastasio. “We’re on our fourteenth, fifteenth song in like two months,” said Marshall. “We’re extremely productive and got the drive again. I have the old Trey back, which is incredible.”
I’m excited to hear all the speculation again, because it’s warming us all up to the idea that this thing might be able to come back with a tremendous amount of passion that fans realized was missing from the final few tours. They were smaller tours and we all expected that, but we didn’t always expect to see the band come up short on fan expectations (read: Vegas Run ’04). When you see comments like this, there’s a tremendous amount of hope and excitement in those words that I’m sure many fans are considering
“It’s spilling out of us. We’re both look wide-eyed when something meshes up because it’s meshing up a lot better these days then it did when we were under the fog, under the haze,” said Marshall. “We’re not in the haze. We’re just moving forward, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.”
And regardless of whether or not the band comes back, I think everyone could agree that it’s a great thing to read that last snippet. It’s inspirational to see them putting the pieces back together, and I really hope it all works out for Trey. He really brought a lot of joy into my life musically, and rather selfishly, I hope that it continues.
Phish lyricist in studio with Anastasio, hints at Phish return [Popmatters]
Previously: Trey Anastasio Hints at Phish Reunion
